"I am the vine, and you are the branches, and if you remain in me, fruit will abound...."

So I decided to finally start writing on this blog… It’s been a while since Jordan last wrote, and a long time since I wrote a post :) I’m going to start writing more often, I hope :P So this week Jordan’s out of town until Wednesday in Seattle. She’s hanging out with a friend over spring break. That leaves us to a small family, having Joel sleeping for work most of the time, though quieter… Well I can’t necessarily say that with Gregory, AJ and Isaac all still here :)

We all just finished our Creative Arts and Writing projects for the contest. It’s through our church; we’re given prizes for our age group in the whole west side of the country. The theme this year was “Doing good works” and “Bearing Fruit” so through the weeks we’ve been talking about what it meant by “Bearing Fruit”. We talked about in John, where Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”. Hearing that, I did my art showing a flower, around it, there were mini pictures of a seed being planted, then being watered, sunlight hitting it, and it being pruned. On each little picture I would write “Planting is like Baptism, Watering is like Communion… etc.” I Used watercolor pencils, and I think it looked great :P AJ drew a tree, and in the branches, showed the fruit of the spirit being done (for Love, he showed people with arms around each other, and for patience he showed a big brother playing with a younger sibling, things like that) in each branch. For writing, I wrote about our OYO (Orthodox Youth Outreach) trip, and helping the poor. Then I also did poetry, which I wrote a poem on what one of the homeless people said on the trip. We were passing out donuts, and after they were all gone, a lady came, and after hearing they were all gone she looked disappointed, but then smiled and said “Well, how about a hug?” That really touched me, and so I decided to make a poem out of it, which turned out nicely. (Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them before we sent them out, so for now you'll have to put up with my clip art, nice huh?)

Okay like I said, I will try and be more consistent, and I hope I can write more often… So ttyl! (For now) :)


(Title Lyrics from "I am the Vine" by Steve Green)

"Studyin' about that good ol' way..."

So, we’ve been busy this weekend and the week before preparing for it. Bishop Joseph, the current bishop presiding over the western diocese of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, came to visit our church and spend time with the other Orthodox churches in the area. It was a great blessing.

On Thursday, we picked up “Sayidna” (Arabic for “master”) from the airport around noon. The following day, he spoke to a number of different groups in the area combining the three churches (Christ the Savior, St. John’s and St. Nicholas). This time was for Sayidna to be asked questions, and he would also talk to the different groups about specific things. He talked to the woman first in a luncheon at Christ the Savior with tea and a brunch. I went to that, but unfortunately I didn’t get to hear him talk, because I was baby-sitting for all the little kids. Later that evening Sayidna spoke with the teens. They prayed over a soup dinner and got to hear him speak for awhile about subjects apropos to being an Orthodox young adult in the world. A couple questions were asked and answered and Sayidna moved on to the more important group… my group!

The younger kids (13 and under) got to spend an hour with Sayidna before Akathist. He didn’t talk much but there were lots of interesting questions. I asked him if it was okay to pray for animals, even if they aren’t human beings. He told me that we should pray for and respect all creation. Referring to the rug that the bishop stands on during the service, one boy asked, “What does the eagle mean on your rug?”. Designed onto the rug is an eagle flying over a city. Sayidna told the boy it meant that the bishop was like the eagle, higher than all other clergy or people in the church and responsible for protecting them.

Early Saturday morning the family (minus Jordan who was at work) went to Christ the Savior for liturgy. Afterwards Sayidna talked on how we should not care about where people come from and focus less on a person’s outward life, but more about their inside. When a flight attendant asked him what accent he had, he explained to us that if you get to know a person, talk to them for a while you would find out. But you should learn more about the inside, instead of focusing on their outside. That night there was Great Vespers at St. John’s. He talked about how we should not shush the babies while we are in church. They have excuses: they are tired, they are excited, “whatever”. Because of this, we should never be angry at them. They are young and this too shall pass.

Sunday was a very big day. We celebrated a hierarchical liturgy and it was beautiful! Afterwards, the ladies of St. John’s provided a stunning feast of ethnic Arabic food and we kids provided some entertainment. We sang three songs: John 3:16, Walking in the Light of God and the favorite, Down in the River. Also, we presented a gift to Sayidna, a collage of pictures taken of the kids at St. John’s, all in the shape of a cross. Sayidna enjoyed the singing so much that he thought that we should make a CD! The choir sang as well, song composed by our own Rdr. Michael. It was beautiful.

Last but not least, people from Christ the Savior and St. John’s joined the parish of St. Nicholas in a vespers service on Sunday night. Fr. Barnard (pastor of St. Nicholas) was elevated to Archpriest and it was wonderful to spend time with their congergation. We said good-bye to Sayidna but hope it won’t be too long before we see him again…

(Title lyrics from "Down in the River" an old gospel song)