Current real life experience of someone I know has made me much more cautious. Because of the potential for bad things like MRSA, I would go to the doctor with any boil.

We are also on the Julian calendar liturgically which means we still have until Jan 6 and 7 before we celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For us today is December 13th, so we are still very much in preparation mode which feels odd when everyone else had already celebrated the Nativity. Not all Orthodox Christians are on the Julian Calendar but many are, especially in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

We do much of what you listed,excluding fake tree, birthday celebration, crackers, and bonfire. We also do a Jesse Tree during the 40 day Advent fast. We also receive three small gifts from St. Nicholas on his feast day. We celebrate the 12 days of Christmas starting on the feast of the Nativity and we continue to give a small gift for each day. We close out the 12 day festal period with the feast of Theophany which often includes jumping into freezing cold water! We live in the PNW.

I buy them at Bob's Red Mill! You can, too, online. I'm not sure about shipping costs but if you make a big enough purchase it's probably worth it. When I lived in CA my local co-op carried pretty much everything. Whole Foods and other natural grocers usually have a good supply!

We only buy USA for all seafood and fish for this reason. Thanks for posting this topic. It's important to know where your food is from, what's in it, and how the wokers in the supply chain are treated. Another insidious ingredient is palm oil. 👎

I have been there. In my case, I have joints that move easily including the tendency for my spine to go out of alignment, especially in the thoracic region. I encouraged you to ice the muscles between your shoulder blades and get a good professional massage. You can often find therapeutic massage practitioners in chiropractic offices. I would start with soft tissue remedies like massage and acupressure and acupuncture. Get a referral from a friend or look up chiropractic offices online and find the best rated office. Good luck! I hope the leg pain is just stress and anxiety. Keep us posted!

Dh and I are both pretty domesticated. We share housework but we don't have a schedule or task list. Some nights he does dishes and I cook and other nights he cooks and I do dishes. I sort and wash laundry and he folds and puts it away. I vacuum, sweep, and mop. He takes out the trash and mows the lawn. I clean the bathrooms and he cleans the gutters. Apparently we are divide and conquer types! We both like to do housework and listen to podcasts. I guess we're a match made in heaven. ðŸ˜

What has been working in my home is keeping a positive "spin." I used to do "worry time" with my anxious dd every night at 9 pm. She would have 15 minutes to obsess over and rehash all of the day's worries. This was the only time she was allowed to talk about worries. It got to the point where her worries were really escalating in severity and type and it was revealed that she needed me to respond to her worries with an unhealthy level of concern. It came out that her worries were escalating because my response was becoming more healthy with less reassurance being offered by me. I decided to steer her toward behaviors and coping mechanisms to manage each worry with and this change provoked a whole new level of anxiety. Once I zeroed in on the pattern and brought it up with her, we were able to openly discuss what she gains from me feeling bad for her. We talked about seeing one another as separate and different beings. After this, whenever her worries would escalate, I would cut "worry time" short and switch to "accomplishment time" when no worries can be spoken of. She would have to come up with at least 3 things that she was proud of in coping with stress and anxiety and I would tell her 3 things that made me proud of her. This had immediate positive results and I soon eliminated "worry time" completely, replacing it entirely with "accomplishment time." At first she tried very hard to sneak worries into this special time, but I was adamant that she could not give voice to her worries. Once she started making a habit of noting how well she had handled various situations and challenges, she became like a whole new kid. It's been a few months since our last official "accomplishment time" session as it just naturally faded into the background after she started focusing on her coping achievements. I'm amazed at how well she's been doing. She recently went away to her first weekend long camp experience last month. I was sure I was going to get a call to pick her up, but I didn't hear a peep all weekend. She had a rough time being bullied while at camp and she was able to articulate how she coped with that and what she was proud of herself for. I was blown away. This past weekend she even went on another overnight trip with the same group including the same bully and she came home beaming with pride in her ability to stay the course and see the trip through without melting down even once! She actually had a wonderful time and she's looking forward to the next trip! It's so hard to believe! I'm a big fan of phasing out the reassurances and getting anxious kids to feel empowered by each accomplishment over anxiety no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem. In the beginning, dd would rack her brain trying to come up with an accomplishment but I wouldn't let her give up. Even something like "I finished problem #33 in math today even though it was very hard and I wanted to give in and look up the answer" counted an achievement worthy of praise. Then I would say, "Wow, I'm so proud of your perseverance!" Eventually she was able to say, "I really wanted to blame you today because I didn't want my teacher to know that I hadn't really practiced piano they way she wanted. Instead, I told her the truth that I didn't know how to sing the notes and play at the same time. It felt good to be honest and now I know what she wants me to do." All our kids are so different and I don't know if this strategy would help your dd, but I think it's good to get our kids focusing on how strong they really are. I'm not talking about teaching them to brag, but encouraging them to see how capable they are at handling stress and anxiety.

It does not matter what he looks like but I imagine him the way he's depicted in Orthodox iconography. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Pantocrator#/media/File%3ACatholicon%2C_Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre%2C_Jerusalem1.jpg

You make a very good point. We had the icons which were written for the edification of all and went hand in hand with the tradition of memorizing scripture. There were also the apocryphal writings that the Church fathers chose not to canonize but were nevertheless part of the Christian heritage that's been handed down.

I wanted to come back today and sit with the specific Bible verses that point to the Harrowing of Hades as not only fulfilling OT prophecy but as redeeming humankind and becoming the central act of our salvation and one that we follow in our own baptisms. Amira mentioned verses in 1Peter chapters 3 and 4, and I will get to that but first I'd like to visit the Old Testament. In an earlier post, I mentioned the verses from Ezekiel that we sing on Holy Saturday, and I will reiterate them here. Ezekiel 37:1-14 are central to the Harrowing of Hades and eternal salvation as the "Dry Bones" prophecy not only speaks to the Christ's work during His physical death but it also foretells the Second Coming and Final Judgment: "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." Ez 37:12-14 The Prophet Hosea foretells the Harrowing of Hades in Chapter 13, verse 14 which reads, "I will deliver them out of the hand of Hades And will redeem them from death. Where is your penalty, O death? O Hades, where is your sting? Pity is hidden from eyes." This message is further supported in Isaiah 25:8 and 26:19: "He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken." "Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead." We learn of Christ's victory over death in Hades especially in the Psalms. Psalm 22, verse 29 states, "All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive." In Psalm 30, verse 3, we read, "O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit." This message of Christ's redemption of those in Hades is further evidenced by Psalm 107: 10-16. "Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons—Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two." Psalm 24 is probably the most profound in its vision of Christ as the King of Glory and conqueror over death and we echo its refrains at the climax of the Pashcal vigil right before the empty tomb is revealed in the midnight service: "Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory." Ps 24: 7-10 Christ's life giving and salvific work in crushing death and Hades are foreseen and foretold of in the Old Testament as I have endeavored to illustrate here. Moreover, we see that there is plenty of evidence that supports the fact that Christ came and fulfilled these prophesies in several verses of the New Testament. The most often cited verses are the ones Amira mentioned, specifically 1 Peter 3:18,19 and 4: 6 which read as follows: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us[e] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,..." "For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." In addition to the preceding verses, Ephesians 4:7-10 further supports this interpretation: "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: 'When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.' (Now this, “He ascendedâ€â€”what does it mean but that He also first[c] descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)" Even in the Gospel of Matthew we see support for the Harrowing of Hades: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Mat 12:40 "Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." Mat 27:51-53 In St. Paul's epistle to the Corinthians he reiterates the salvific work of Christ through destroying death by death when he says, " But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead." I Cor 15:20-22 And in his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul delivers the same message stating, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham" (Hebrews 2:14-16). As you can see, there is plenty of evidence to support what has long been held as the central reality of our salvation through Christ's death and resurrection. Just as Noah and his family were saved through the immersion of the earth in the Flood and Jonah was saved through going down into the belly of the whale, we are saved through a similar renewal through baptism. Just as Christ went into Hades to destroy death, we are likewise called to "go under" as signified in our full immersion baptisms to be cleansed by the waters, casting off the "old man" and putting on a "new man" in Christ, reviving who and what we were created to be for the purpose of life and not death. This exercise turned out to be a lovely way to spend my time today and I am grateful for the opportunity to exam the Scriptures more closely and meditate on the beauty of these words. It seemed a fitting way to prepare for the coming of the light and the Incarnation. Blessed Advent to you all.

I'd wager that you would also love his work entitled, "How it Was" and many of his other poems in Love's Immensity. Here is a snippet from that poem: The whole creation, I say, was astonished; but, when our Lord stood up in Hades – trampling death underfoot, subduing the strong one, setting every captive free – then all creation saw clearly that for its sake the Judge was condemned in order that He might show mercy, was bound that He might loose, was seized that He might release, suffered that He might show compassion, died that He might give life, was laid in a grave that He might rise, might raise

Speaking of poems, here a few of my favorites: Denise Levertov's "Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell," John Bannister Tabb's "Holy Saturday," and Scott Cairn's "Into Hell and Out Again." I would love to read what you come up with. Fixed typo in Scott Cairn's name.

Before my journey into Orthodox Christianity I had never heard of the Harrowing of Hades. It was a significant revelation for me to learn about as it is one of the central acts of great importance performed by our Lord and Savior. Holy Saturday is the most blessed of all Sabbaths because it is the day that the Lord rested in the tomb while destroying death and hades. Milovany succinctly described the Orthodox view already, but I wanted to emphasize how significant it is that it is often overlooked in other Christian traditions. This is part of Christ's fulfillment of prophecy and during the Holy Saturday services we sing from the book of Ezekiel: "And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, O my people. And I will put my spirit within you and you shall live..."(Ezek 37:1-14).

I think of it as a hair "volumizing" climate. People will spend quite a fortune to achieve the same result!

I tease my dh, too. He rides the bus and carries an umbrella on rainy days. It's funny because it rains a lot where we're from in CA and only visitors use umbrellas there, too. Most people just wear a rain barrier over their work clothes. I tease dh that he must really be from the East Coast.

I'd say Portland Oregon but we've been having heavy rainfall with flooding, landslides, sinkholes, and all manner of serious rain side effects!

F.Yeah! The reason to watch TV is coming back! I've seem every single episode of the original many times. There was a period in my life when I only watched the Simpsons and the X-files. Thank you for the good news.

I am happy to say that I did figure out that the people who've treated me this way were not really my friends. Throughout my life there have been people like this who I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to prove my worth to. When you tell your friend that the anesthesiologist for your emergency c-section told you how lucky you were to be getting anesthesia since they probably don't have that where "you come from" and your friend replies that you must've misunderstood...= not a friend.

No. They are not. They are saying, "you don't know what you're talking about." They are telling me that I'm wrong about my own experience. This is the reaction to me confiding to a friend about being marginalized by others, not by the friend. Sorry if that confused you. I don't think you get it though. If you tell a person of color that you don't think of them as a person of color it sends the message that you don't think much of people of color at worst and that you are not observant whatsoever at best.

I haven't had my morning coffee yet and my eyes are still sleepy, so please forgive me if I say or ask something that seems obvious. I've never heard the term micro-aggression until now but I think I've experienced it all my life. I don't mind when people ask me where I'm from. I mind being asked "What are you?" White people never ask each other this question. The other thing I can't stand is when I confide in a white friend about being marginalized and their automatic response is "What do you mean? I never even notice the way you look! I never think of you that way. You must have misinterpreted what was said. I don't think anyone thinks of you as Asian/Native American!" What on earth is that supposed to mean? It almost sounds like they are trying to comforting, but they are really making me feel more marginalized and dismissed.

Have you and he read any Wu Cheng'en works like The Journey to the West? I used to live in Xi'an and Da Yan Ta (Big Goose Pagoda) is Historically linked to the westward journey of Buddhism into China. You could also try tackling Romance of the Three Kingdoms since there's connection to each of your destinations and it's epic! There's so much history in each of the cities you are going to. I have been to them all and I would recommend doing a History plan that places your destinations front and center. Let us know what you decide to do. How fun!

This is great! I was just trying to decide what to do with my ergo now that dd has outgrown it. Thank you!

There's this if you have a Kindle. It's short. I haven't read it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NBZFC8G?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&fp=1

I have insomnia. Dd is going to camp for the first time tomorrow and I'm the one up all night before she's even left! I'm so tired that it has given me terrible heartburn but I'm stubbornly surfing and posting here on the boards.