Bright Week

Bright Week is coming to an end. In the Orthodox Tradition, it's the week following Pascha, during which there is no fasting. I've had pizza, loaded with meat and cheese, my bacon & sour cream noodles, the ever-popular corndog, and lots of ice cream. It's no wonder I find myself sluggish and sleepy this week. Nature is waging war on our brick-covered driveway (and winning) so Gram sent me out to tackle the weeds. I now have some sort of allergy/sinus thing/cold. I spend almost half the day sleeping and the other half barely functioning. Gram hasn't been feeling her best either so it's been quite a week. Between Gram and myself, we have our own little pharmacy in the kitchen. And there's plenty of tea for me to drink, unfortunately. I wish my mom was here because she is really good at rubbing the pressure out of my sinuses and the tension out of my neck with Vicks.

The Detroit Red Wings are down 3-1 in their series against the Nashville Predators and tonight is Game 5. My cousins love the Preds so I'm hearing a lot of talk from them. I can't say which would be worse: losing to Nashville or Chicago, which is my brother's favorite team. When the Hawks won the Cup in 2010, my brother sent me a postcard about 2 months later saying, "We won! We won! We won!". I'd like to think that the Wings could come back and win the series but that is too much to hope for, though, unlike any other team, the Red Wings have earned the benefit of the doubt. And I won't even think about it possibly being our captain's last game.

I'm reading a book by John Crowley called, Little, Big, which I really don't understand. (Seriously, somebody needs to read it and tell me what is going on.) I read a paragraph to my gram last night and she said he was probably on drugs when he wrote it. I requested this book a couple of weeks ago via interlibrary loan and I'd hate to give it back on Monday without finishing it. It was a mistake getting it right before Holy Week. I am also trying to catch up on reading my Bible. One of my goals this year is to read the entire Bible. On average, I have to read about 3.5 chapters a day. Since I fell behind at the beginning of Holy Week, I'm having to read several chapters a day. Last night I finished 2 Chronicles, which has the Prayer of King Manasseh at the end of Chapter 36. This is a MUST READ! Part of it says:

"Now therefore, I bow the knee of my heart, begging goodness from You. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I know my lawlessness. I ask and beg you: forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and do not destroy me because of my lawlessness; neither reserve evils for me, or be wrathful forever, nor condemn me to the lowest parts of the earth; for You are the Lord God of those who repent. And in me, though I am unworthy, You will show Your goodness, and will save me according to Your great mercy. Therefore I shall praise You continually all the days of my life, for all the powers of the heavens praise You, and Yours is the glory unto the ages. Amen."


As promised, my next post will be about my conversion to Orthodoxy. It might take more than one post but I haven't decided on that yet. I wish all of my Orthodox friends a blessed Bright Week and my non-Orthodox friends a blessed week.

Until next time,

~Staci~