Sunday of the Cross

Sunday of the Cross

"O Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance!

Grant victory to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries,

And by virtue of Thy cross, preserve Thy habitation!"

~Troparion for the Cross 

I was honored to be asked to participate in the "skeleton crew" for Matins & Liturgy at St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral this morning, which was streamed on YouTube for all the faithful. We were allowed to have no more than 10 people at Liturgy and we had exactly that; but we prayed for every person who sent their names in - the living and the departed. 

When we arrived at the Great Doxology with the Cross brought out and we began singing "O Lord, Save Thy People", I almost broke down. The Orthodox Fight Song. Grant victory to the health care workers who are saving lives; to researchers and scientists who are searching for a vaccine and cure; to volunteers who are making masks, bringing food to shut-ins, helping their neighbors; to those who have been afflicted with this terrible virus... the list goes on!

I know that over 250 households watched our service from home, but it was so difficult to sing into an empty church. The hollow echo as Fr. Andrew gave a beautiful homily gave witness to the empty pews behind us. Where there are usually 300+ worshipers, we were few. It is a great task to lead so many in prayer, and I am truly humbled to have done so. Even when faced with adversity, Christians find ways to worship in their homes and this was no different. 

May you all create a small church in your homes during this Lenten period and may we all be able to gather at the Lord's Pascha! What a feast that will be!

Our own decorated cross:

Week 2 at Home

Tomorrow we will begin our second week at home. This weekend there was a lot of screen time. A movie every night (thank goodness for Disney+, Netflix, Hulu...). Tonight was my pick and we watched Free Willy! Didn't think about the fact that we would have to explain foster care, graffiti, whale kidnapping, being homeless... Lots of life lessons, but M & L liked it. N had never seen it either.

So, what do we have planned for the coming week? I have signed up the boys for Center for Interactive Learning classes that run from 8:30-10 am. They are free, live-streamed classes for Kindergarten through 6th grade, produced at museums, zoos, aquariums and the like. We plan to hook up the laptop to the TV and see how it goes. I am hoping we do some art with Mo Willems Doodles and get plenty of exercise. We got out the trampoline this weekend and have had several hours of bouncing time to get those wiggles out.

Other plans:

• Snacks doled out in their bins in the morning - they eat WAY too many snacks if they have free rein of the cupboard.
• Quiet Time space - both boys have a cozy chair to read in with all their books stacked up ready to read.
• More puzzles! I started a 1000 piece one that I picked up at Target. Boys have several going up and down our hallway.
• Build old LEGO sets!

Spirit Week will commence this week with Pajama Day, but M & L are required to change out the the PJs they are currently in. They wore them pretty much the entire day Sunday (did they wear them Saturday, too?). If you join, please post pics for me to see! Who wants to be my twinsie? We can wear yoga pants and sweatshirts. Wait, that means every mom could be my twin!