another place to find the Lives of the Saints is here: http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html also, any of the jurisdictions will have that function too. I just linked to the OCA's website.

where does the status update show up? Does anyone already have one I can see??

tess - I researched and walked away too. Sometimes our circumstances and whatnot cause us to need more time. ((hugs)) I walked away in 2001 and started going back in 2005. When I first started my tenative steps back I also tried to live the Orthodox way without going to services. Honestly, it was kind of hard. Like you, I didn't know what I was doing....plus I was disconnected from the Orthodox community. I wouldn't worry about fasting. If I were to do it again I'd concentrate on prayers and reading one of The Lives of the Saints each day. I recieved a lot of encouragement by reading them back when I was first entering the church. that said I wouldn't let the almost 2hr service hold you back. Maybe because I had a long experience with the Charismatic movement, which easily have 1.5-2hr services, it didn't bother me. I would gently encourage you to give it a try - at least a few times. The long distance, I know, can be daunting... especially if you have small kids. PM me and let me know where in VA you are - if you don't mind. Maybe there's something you didn't find the first time.

Congratulations!!

Briva, Here is an explanation of the Feast day from Fr. Tom Hopko's "The Orthodox Faith" series.: http://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/entrance-of-the-theotokos-to-the-temple And, I would encourage you to experience the services and concern yourself less with "getting it". Does that make sense? Experience God through the services and don't worry if you like it or agree with it or anything. Just go and *be present*. Take your time and don't feel rushed. Give yourself time to grieve what has been lost and the happy memories you have from your previous churches. There are definitely times I come away from the liturgy and I'm drained. Definitely. It's not called "Liturgy" for nothin' ;) But for many of us there's something that calls us back... there's a longing for being back there. I think that's what people are talking about.

We're Trekkie fans here and they ran all the movies in order recently. I enjoyed watching a few of them. Most recently we watched "Star Trek: First Contact". Enjoy all of it but the silly Queen-Borg.

that was wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

Agreeing with Wendy. Don't engage, but she probably can't help it. It seems that the older we get our ability to self-censor goes way down. My MIL is getting this way - although not really gossiping, she'll say stuff about her grandkids that is very critical- she never used to do that.

I didn't like it either. Hated it actually. Bad theology poorly written was my synopsis over at Goodreads. I read it for a book club and I think about 3/4 of the group hated it. It did make for an excellent book club discussion though :laugh:

Nice to hear from both Leila and jrn. We have another WR parishioner here too. I can't remember her screen name but we know each other IRL.

My youngest, 11, is almost 6yrs younger than his next sibling. It will be different, but wonderful! Congratulations!

Teacher's pets. ;)

she's beautiful. Congratulations to everyone!

wow. So sad for this little girl... praying.

Kebg - I'm very glad to see that your priest is suggesting to go slow. So often people want to jump into the deep end and then feel guilty if things do go swimmingly. Also, everyone, I wanted to share this lovely music via Youtube that I found at a friend's blog: We sing this every week at mid-week liturgy I've been attending: The words are the Jesus Prayer and we sing it during communion. "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me...a sinner." This particular video loops around so it's been very nice to just have it going while I'm busy around the house.

oh I meant to say that Yes, I have definitely noticed less activitiy. Many of the threads stay on the front page for much, much longer than they used to before the upgrade.

yup, me too. Trying to have a positive attitude. I didn't think about it looking a bit like FB. I'm no longer on FB, so I wouldn't know.

Interesting theme... How about "The Road" ? I was very concerned I wouldn't like it since it had child in it...but it exeeded my expectations. I listened to the audio version and the narrator was excellent

I'm going to try and begin reading "Remember Thy First Love" again. I started it many months ago but got bogged down. Someone told me if I get past the first part of the book it gets easier. I also am reading the Lives of the Saints to my youngest each morning (or at least trying to!). I've always found reading one a day to be very encouraging

I've brined my turkeys in the past and we really like it too. I brine mine in a veggy drawer in the fridge. I clean it out really good and then fill it up with the necessary ingredients and it sits very nicely in there for 12-24hrs.

praying for your silent request.

praying for you this morning.

double post...sorry

you'r'e saying in your previous tradition? yes, I had the same experience since becoming Orthodox.

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev is a very good writer. I have that book on my shelf, but haven't read it yet. I have, however, read his book on Christ's descent into Hell. It's very good. Milovany - I'll see whose email I have. I think I only have 1 or 2.