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Sunday Gratitude – 5.IV.2026
To those celebrating today – Christ is Risen! – Happy Easter!
And then there are the “weird” ones here who are still waiting another week, among which I count myself. There have been a lot of services already – yesterday, I think I was in church for nearly four hours. I’ve really struggled this Lent; from the beginning, I felt less ready for it than most years and this year… wow. For the greater part of Lent, I believed that the Orthodox were also going to be celebrating Pascha today, and it was only looking at the calendar more carefully a couple of weeks ago when I realized that no, there’s a one-week difference. I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting to spend so much time in church this weekend, but I was at vigil last night, and I certainly had the feeling of moving from the darkness into the light, and by the time the service was over, there was an air of hopefulness and joy there. For that I am grateful. (My brain did fight against this on the way home, though. *sigh*)
I am grateful for the more spring-like weather, and the opportunity to be outside. I’m also grateful for my neighbor who invites me to come walking with her.
I am grateful for friends who take the time to talk even in the rain.
I am grateful for making it home in a storm the other day; I wasn’t expecting it, then all of a sudden, I was driving down this country highway with lightning flashes all around. I don’t think that they were very close, as there was only a tiny bit of thunder, but what a show! The next day, driving down those same roads, I could actually see how high the water is, and I’m grateful that there were no issues with low-lying stretches of road or the bridges.
Time to take the Christmas wreath down! I am thankful to have had a little bit of time to be outside with my kids, and I’m thankful that they have places around that they can enjoy riding their bikes through, and that they’ve been fine with this “exploring”.
I am thankful for the joy of singing.
I am thankful for the things that are showing signs of life (and even blooming) even after a very cold winter and long periods of neglect.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have been in contact with a number of people on this day, in the joy of Easter.
I am grateful for yet another sign that I’m not alone through the hard stuff.
Thank you so much for being here! Christ is Risen!
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Sunday Gratitude – 29.III.2026
I really hate it when it seems like I blink and yet another week has passed. Somehow so much of this time ends up feeling like a blur, and it seems like all that is left is a growing list of things that should have been done long ago, but haven’t been done yet.
In the meantime, though, I’ve been trying not to lose a sense of gratitude, and to also try to make the most of the days at hand. We’ve had a couple of days that have hit 70F, which has been amazing, and especially as the days are getting longer, it would be terrible if we didn’t do something to take advantage of the warmer weather. My younger son had a day off of school a couple of weeks back, and the two of us went out on our bikes and rode ten miles together, and it was amazing. He also started taking pictures with my camera that afternoon, so I’ll be sharing a few of those in this post.
A couple of weeks after the real birthday, my youngest, in kindergarten, had her first real birthday party. It was a bowling alley affair, and, per the terms of the contract, was less than two hours long, but for a group of 5 and 6 year olds, it was fine. I was completely stressed out over this for at least a week for a number of reasons, but it turned out really, really good. Even the weather held out, kind of… It started raining about the time that the party started, and it was still raining as people left. Had we started a couple of hours later, everybody would have been going home in sleet, because we had a blizzard come through the next day. The kids were thrilled to get the day off of school, and despite the crazy wind, we never lost power. The next day, our dear neighbor made a path for our car using a snowblower.
I’m grateful that even though I managed to break a spoke on the one bike (a different one than before), this happened in a place where I could ride to a place where I could leave the bike for a couple of days, and which was very close to the bike shop. On the night that this happened, I was also able to get a ride back home with one of the ladies from church. I’d never talked to her before, and she’s incredibly sweet, and lives just a couple of streets over from where I live.
I’m grateful for the amazing time I had at St. Haralambos in Niles a couple of weeks back. Not only were some very dear “real life” friends there, I finally got to meet Fr. Andrew Damick in person. We have been online acquaintances (friends) for over 20 years, and it seemed like high time to meet him in person. He actually recognized me by sight as well, which is crazy because it’s been a looong time since I posted any photos of myself that he might come across. 🙂 That was a lot of fun, though.
Breezy days and kites! I am grateful, as well, for the opportunity to visit an old friend and just enjoy sitting on the front step, having a conversation in the sunshine.
In many ways, I feel pulled very, very, very thin. There have been a lot of good things, to be sure, but there have been a number of very, very frustrating things as well. I don’t know; at this point, I’m not sure that I’ll ever have things “figured out”, but there’s a path to go forward on, and that’s the way through this all. Forgive me again for the blog silence – I truly am grateful for you.
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Wordless Wednesday #41 – Capitol state of mind
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Sunday Gratitude – 6.VIII.2023 – August is Here
August comes with the realization that summer is fast fading, and that any of the summer things we want to do need to be done as soon as possible. I don’t like that pressure, but it’s part of the deal. This is one area where homeschooling was wonderful – September is a wonderful time to travel! *L*
I am grateful that the appointment that had to be suffered through went as well as possible. I won’t know the result for awhile, and it scares me, but it’s all in God’s hands at some point.
I am grateful the property taxes have been paid. I’m thankful to feel like I’m at least halfway on top of bills and stuff – now if only I could stop losing/misplacing things!
I am grateful for a priest to go to for confession. I am grateful for old friends. I’m grateful for coffee hour. I am grateful for the internet acquaintances/friends I’ve made over the last year or so.
And I am thankful for a reason to wake up in the morning. Mind you, I’m not always grateful to be getting up – I’d much rather sleep in for a couple weeks – but I’ve never had the thought that maybe I shouldn’t even really bother.
Once the laundry is done, I think I’m going to get some sleep. I’m exhausted!
I am thankful for each one of you, for reading, for those who share their writing as well, and for those of you who support this blog in whatever capacity, even if it’s with a random “hello!”
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Saturday on Substack – 5.VIII.2023
Oof. Four Roman numerals for August. I think it’s the longest of the twelve. You know, I’ve never gotten a check returned for writing my dates like this, though the DMV made me change it once. Craziness.
Click on over for my weekly Substack feature – Forgive me for the lack of writing this week; I went from sliding off schedule at the beginning of the week to not finishing a book review. Hopefully, I can mend my ways next week! In the meantime, please enjoy!
https://breathofhallelujah.substack.com/p/saturday-on-substack-5viii2023
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Lilla Rose August 2023 Update
For the latest Lilla Rose posts, please check out the following:
The author of this blog is a “Flexi Rep/Affiliate” with Lilla Rose, and is not employed by Lilla Rose. Purchases made through this link <https://www.lillarose.com/katja> will earn the author a commission.
One of these days, I’m probably going to have to find another banner picture for Lilla Rose posts, but in the meantime – I still like the one that’s there, even though the picture was “half mistake”.
August’s Mane event is here!
Until tomorrow night (3 August 2023) the Mane Event bundle is 20% off.
The monthly promotion: Get a free purse sized “essential” with any purchase of $50 or more.
And… New releases!
I got myself a couple of things with Christmas in July, including a second Flexi Sport XL and gifts for a couple of people. I like that hair things are pretty, but at the same time useful. With all the Lilla Rose designs, there’s a lot to choose from as far as getting something to go with a person’s personality, but it’s also not something that comes off as too personal.
To order, make sure to click through with my link; every little bit helps.
https://www.lillarose.com/katja
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Wordless Wednesday #40 – Orthodox stained glass windows
South window, outside, 2022
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Sunday Gratitude – 30.VII.2023 – Mondays
I was hoping I was done with the Monday editions of Sunday gratitude, but things don’t always work out that way. I helped friends move on Saturday, and nearly fell asleep on the keyboard writing Saturday night (luckily, I pushed the computer away first). I finished Saturday’s post later on Sunday, and figured I’d write again later on. Well, I had to find a couple of things, and I found a couple of things (unfortunately, not what I was looking for) and ended up working on another couple of things that had to get done yesterday. By the time I looked up again, the clock said 11:47pm. Oh well.
It was a hard week. Besides my cousin’s death, there was something else that happened earlier in the week as well, and… we’ll see what happens. That’s all we can do sometimes.
So, as for gratitude. I’m thankful that I ended up helping my friends move. Had that not happened, I probably would have stayed at home most of the day and while there is plenty that needs to be done here, the physical work and the human interaction were both really necessary. Besides, even after the main “work” part was done, it was obvious that just being there for awhile was helping bring down stress levels and everything. The family has been through a lot the last couple of years, and I hope that this place ends up working out for them until they’re a little bit more “back on their feet”.
The kids and their dad and I went up to Green Bay for a visit to the Bay Beach amusement park this past Monday. It was nice, though exhausting. This summer has flown by with not a lot in the way of “special stuff”, so the change of pace was good. The weather was pretty good, it was cloudy enough that the sun wasn’t just beating down on us most of the time and it wasn’t extremely hot. I’m thankful that this worked out.
I’m grateful that the air conditioning in the house worked on the muggy days. There are still issues, but I suspect that the coils are freezing under some circumstances, but in the hot weather, they seem to be fine.
I am grateful that I found out about Isaiah’s death in a timely manner, rather than figuring this out months or years down the road. As much as his suicide is going to affect his sons, I’m glad that Isaiah had kids. I wouldn’t doubt that they would give Isaiah’s dad reason to keep going, considering that he’s lost his dad, his wife, and his son in a space just over five years.
I am thankful for each one of you, for reading, for those who share their writing as well, and for those of you who support this blog in whatever capacity, even if it’s with a random “hello!”
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Saturday on Substack – 29.VII.2023
Click on over for this week’s hodgepodge of things!
https://breathofhallelujah.substack.com/p/saturday-on-substack-but-late-29vii2023
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Cousins, connections, and death
One of the advantages of having had great-grandmothers who lived long enough for me to know them is that I got to know their other great-grandchildren. In the case of both my parents, they had cousins with whom they had been close when they were younger, but had drifted away from as they became adults. However, because those grandparents were still living, it lent itself to occasions where we were all in attendance. When my great-grandma Elsie died in 1989, all her great-grandchildren made it to the funeral, and even then, at nine years old, I realized that this was probably going to be the last time that this would ever happen.
My dad only had three cousins on his mom’s side, but since that great-grandma (Mayme) lived across the street from her son and his family, my memories of visiting her always involved them as well. The oldest of the three, I don’t remember so well, and the youngest of the three was closer in age to me than my dad, who was his actual cousin, but eventually those two would leave as life took them other places, and it was the middle cousin of my dad’s who stayed, got married, got a job, had kids, etc.
Those kids were second cousins, yes, but that’s a pretty unwieldy title outside of genealogy, so, for the most part, those kids of the middle son were just cousins too. (What’s funny is that of all my first- and second- cousins, it’s actually one of the second cousins that I’m the closest to; the last time I saw any of my first cousins was in 2010.)
In any case, I was informed this afternoon that one of those second cousins – one of the “little kids” of my childhood took his own life a couple days ago. He was 35, the father of three boys of his own, the oldest of whom are four. I understand that he was in an awful lot of psychological pain after serving in Iraq, and especially after working on military bases, I’m very sympathetic to that. At the same time, he’s done something unbelievably evil to his kids; while they may not even remember him much as they grow older, no one can take his place in their lives, no one can fix what he’s broken here.
The boys’ mother, the “love of his life”, as the obituary reads, is now left dealing with her own sadness, her own devastation, while at the same time trying to keep up not just with the demands that three little boys of that age and trying to help them through this darkness. It’s not something that can ever go completely.
My mind is trying to wrap itself around the fact that he’s gone, as well as around the fact that he’d do this to these people so dear to him.
In any case, if you are so inclined, any prayer for Isaiah’s family or for his soul is much appreciated.
Isaiah Trovall obituary (St. Cloud Times)
A picture of the boys and their mom (probably from last fall) can be found at the GoFundMe site that friends set up: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lyla-matthewman
A cute news tidbit about the twins from when they were born – apparently they were the first set of twins born in the Twin Cities area (if not the whole state) in 2019. (Minnesota Twins, get it?) https://www.startribune.com/girl-born-at-maple-grove-hospital-makes-claim-for-first-baby-in-twin-cities-in-2019/503775802/?refresh=true
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Wordless Wednesday #39 – Mostly related to Ferris wheels
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Lilla Rose Christmas in July Sale! Final Day!
For the latest Lilla Rose posts, please check out the following:
The author of this blog is a “Flexi Rep/Affiliate” with Lilla Rose, and is not employed by Lilla Rose. Purchases made through this link <https://www.lillarose.com/katja> will earn the author a commission.
Today is the last day of Lilla Rose’s “Christmas in July” sale. Again, this is one of their best promotions of the year, and a great time to try out products or to give them as gifts.
Today’s deal is 40% off hair essentials. I don’t have a lot of experience with most of these, but I do know my kids really have enjoyed the hair mascara! (Which reminds me, I ought to find those so that the kids can use them before school starts!)
To see the details for the entire sale, see my previous post. Don’t miss out!
Thank you very much!
https://www.lillarose.com/katja
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Breath of Hallelujah 