Speaking of Resurrection...

It's been a while. I know. And the longer I went without writing here, the more futile it seemed to try to start it up again. But with echoes of hallelujahs still ringing in my ears so soon after celebrating the Resurrection, I thought it would be a good time to make all things new...or at least some things new, like the blog. Since 6 months is a rather large and daunting period to span, I figured the best way to bring the blog up to date was to do month by month highlites. Here they are:


November, 2011

Convocation
I am so, so proud of you Dr. Pigott. You are the greatest role model for perseverance that I have.

American Thanksgiving
We got to visit the family in NYC for a few days. It was so nice to be with family at Thanksgiving...we got spoiled!

December, 2011 - January, 2012

Christmas
The True North Strong and Free didn't behave very "northerly" this year...not a speck of snow for Christmas--not in the east or the west! Just a dusting of it high up on the Rockies. Nevertheless, it was a Joyeux Noel. We were very blessed to have been able to spend so much time with both of our families this Christmas season.

Words, Words, Words
Brian surprised me with a gorgeous, illustrated copy of my new favourite book(s): The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake.

The trilogy includes: Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. Rather than go on, in my bumbling, inarticulate way with sentiments like, "oh my goodness, these books are incredible! You have to read this trilogy!" let me instead share with you what C.S. Lewis wrote about them: "Peake's books are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." Can you imagine having your stories described that way? And can you imagine having them described that way by C.S. Lewis?



February, 2012

Sacred Space
I FINALLY got around to finishing the prayer room. I had been wanting to set one up ever since seeing the one that Chris and Melinda had done in their Etobicoke house before they moved to Tweed. Here's our version:

and here's a better shot of the left wall, which features a picture of St. Mena (bottom) and a work by Christian artist Christine Peterkin, titled "Loved," (top) given to us by Marian:

To give you a sense of scale, the floor space of this prayer room is about 4.5 x 2.5 feet. I picked up the wooden desk, and all the frames in this picture, from the Rescue Mission. There was some cleaning to do, but I was pleased with it in the end. The Bible sits on an old wooden bookstand my dad had given us. This prayer room took 5 months to think about, and 3 days to actually put together. The lesson there was: less thinking and more doing!

March, 2012

"Be our guest, be our guest..." 
We had our first overnight visitors! Trish and Regis stayed with us for a few days...and what excellent guests they were. While they were here, we toured Old Salem, and visited the mountain town of Boone. And Regis made us paella.

The Ottawa of America
Brian and I made our first trip to the nation's capital. He had a conference to attend in Washington DC, and I tagged along. We were about a two minute walk from the White House. Highlites for me were the magnolia trees, and the scrumptious Indian meal we went out for (one of those things I miss about big city life).

Oh, and seeing Obama flossing of course:

Third window from the left...can you see his green floss?

April, 2012

From harmony, from Heavenly harmony...
Back in March, Brian and I attended an Ash Wednesday service at St. Tim's. Now growing up in the Coptic tradition, praying the canonical prayers of the Agpeya, I was very, very, familiar with (to the point of taking for granted) Psalm 51. This psalm is among the opening prayers for every hour of every day. But on Ash Wednesday, I heard it sung by the St. Tim's choir in such a passionate, sorrowful way that it suddenly took on a new meaning for my life. When I got home, I tried to find the piece on the internet to no avail. So, I emailed the choir director to ask her about it. Her reply included an invitation to join St. Tim's choir...and I did! I am sure I will write more about the richness of this experience in another post, but for now, suffice it to say that it has engaged me very deeply in prayer. I had been afraid that in being apart from the Chapel in Toronto, I would miss Holy Week this year. Thank God, this was not the case, and singing with the choir played a substantial role in this.

Well, that very loosely covers the dash from November - April. Thanks for reading!