the sky is not falling

the sky is falling! the sky is falling! well that's what the market and the media wanted us to all believe but you know i woke up this morning and not only was the sky still there but the sun was shining. I'm a believer in capitalism and to me if a company is to big to fail then maybe they need to hire people who can foresee problems so they don't fail.I'm proud of the politicians who stood up and did what the people wanted and said "no". unfortunately I'm from Conn. and my senator is Chris Dodd the head of the financial board. i was listening to sen.kerry from mass. he was very angry and tried to make the republicans who voted against this bill look like they did it because of negative remarks make by the speaker of the house. i though how arrogant is this man and how little is he listening to the people who put him in office. i remember some one once telling me that politicians need to remember they are appointed not anointed. this is something every politician needs to put on his desk. we are not below these people and we the people put them in office and we can take them out if need be.

less can be better

i was recently reading an article in a magazine about a couple who for one month decided that they and their family would not spend money on anything that was not necessary. they cut their own hair,bought no new clothing, did not eat out , buy coffee or do any entertainment that required them to spend money. the first week was fun, the second week was hard, the third week they became more creative (like making their own board game) and by the fourth week they were sick of it.they said that although it was hard they had learned some very valueable lessons. they could save money,live on less, still be comfortable, increase their creativity and bring their family closer together.they decided that the money they saved would be donated to a food pantry.
we in this country are very wasteful and feel we are entitled to everything we run up debit and have to live in big houses and own expensive cars or we feel we are worthless
my grandparents had ten children and no credit cards if you could not pay cash you did not buy it they did not own their own house but my grandfather worked in a factory then came home to take care of a farm they rented. the children had hand me downs and were lucky to have them.
st.francis beleaved in "open handedness" this means what is given to you is not yours it is on loan when you find someone who needs it more then you its given to that person, st.francis was known to pull the sleeves off his shirt or jacket if he found some one who needed it more then him.
maybe some day our church should ask it parishioners to spend one month not spending any money then contribute what they save to the church or a charity it would be great to try doing this during lent.

parish board meeting

tonight my husband is at a church meeting, he is a trustee on the board and once a month he attends these meetings to discuss church finances,upkeep and upcoming events.
these meetings can be very difficult we are an old church trying to transition into a new world.people who are long standing members do not like change and fight against it,i guess has you get older you lose so much in your life change in your church is the last thing you want to see. but change we must or we will cease to exsist.
when i was a teenager i saw how difficult it was for the older people to change when the catholic church decided to modernise these people were lost nothing that they remembered was the same the service changed, the clothes the priest and nuns wore ,the music and even some of the rules like eating fish on friday ( to this day i can still hear my father saying "how can something be a sin one day then alright the next").
its a hard situation and i geuss all we can do is change and try to understand the feels of the people who just are not ready yet. hopefully we as a church are not to far gone and maybe with prayers God will allow us more time.but in the end its up to him and we are only his instruments.

different kinds of prayers

this moring was my day off and i always look forward to laying in bed reading my bible, then my st.francis prayers and thoughts for the day and do some quite prayer and meditation this usually takes me about and hour and i do find it helps me start my day.this morning while meditating i got to thinking about different kinds of prayers and styles.
iam a talk to God kind of person i tell him what i have to say and hopefuly he will ease my mind or give me directions.i beleave you only have to ask God once begging is not needed the answer is either yes or no- repeated praying is really for my need not his.
some people pray the rosary, my fathers mother was a big rosary payer the last few months of her life were spent praying the rosary over and over my mother said she's already in heaven its just her body dosen't know it yet.i never was much of a rosary prayer iam sure there is a reason to do it but im not sure if its to make me feel better.
being orthodox i do the Jesus prayer especially if i wake up during the night i feel this is a good prayer because its a God praising prayer and its an asking for forgiveness prayer.im never sure if God appreciates the fact that i use this prayer to help me go back to sleep, i wonder if he gets annoyed by the constant repeatition.
unfortunately for me iam not an early morning riser.i always thought it must be nice to be in a monestary or convent and have people get up early with you and pray.it must be something to hear all those voices in prayer and song in the quite hours of the morning.
i tease people i know when they tell me they pray early in the morning i tell them did you ever stop to think maybe God likes to sleep in.oh well things to think about

hospice priest

today at work fr.pasteur came in he works with our hospice program and is a very nice fellow. we were teasing him because he had his cleric clothing on (usually he comes in in jeans and a button down shirt) when he got up from the desk i said look your still casual you have your sandles on he laughed and said i'm francican.how lucky we are to have people in the hospic community who are down to earth and so full of God. i can not think of a harder job then he has it takes a special person to work with the dying and still enjoy being teased.thank God for those kinds of people it makes my job so much easier.

welcome fall its coming soon

the weather here in conn.today was absolutely beautiful. the sun was shinning the air was cool and crisp there is really nothing like new england when fall starts. the other day as i was driving through woodstock i came across a little farm with pumpkins growing everywhere in the field on the side of the house it all seemed so lovely like a post card.
we are getting close to fall the trees are starting to change colors the birds are singing in the trees and the chipmunks and squirels are getting ready for the cold weather.God truly blessed us here in conn. when he created fall.Thank you God for the beauty you have bestowed on my family and my self you are most wonderous .

new blogger

with great pushing from my friend laura i have decided to try to blog. i think this will be great fun. i chose the name convert because for the first forty some odd years i was a catholic and coverted to eastern orthodoxy will great love of this new faith i hopefully am stepping forward toward a better life.i hope to speak more about the challenges i face has a convert to a religion that puts great stress on the ethnicity of the church(greek, albanian,romanian etc.).