Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Today and the rest of the week...


There are so many pictures of our DV new home
that I wish I could show you!
But I can't, since it is not our home yet or 
our belongings inside, etc.
*
But the picture above is the one of the front windows...
Cleo is going to just love them.
We have plans of two arm chairs and a small table going there
and Cleo will be in window-watching heaven.
*
So I have been craving cooking and baking lately.
It was so fun making Mr. Husband's cake...
Still have to write that one up for this year...
hopefully this week...
*
So I saw this recipe last week for vegetarian chili
with butternut squash.
*
I was so blessed by you all with ideas and recipes for 
using my last two butternut squashes...
I do hope to make more next year and incorporate ideas from you all!
*
This whole house hunting (we were looking since January,
which turned out to be providential since the landlord of our current place
suddenly told us he was selling the place) and then waiting to see
if we can get the condo we are now DV getting...
some of the time we really did not know what was going to happen with it
or if we would have to house hunt again and with a deadline looming...
So I struggled to pray, doing my Lenten reading in the morning,
and read lots of Madeline L'Engle and just could not cook
much, though I did manage the cake for Mr. Husband and a few other
things... cooking not so much but the cookies and cake yes...
actually baking is something I do often when in transition and
it is quite helpful, at least for me.
*
And I saw this recipe this week ~ for cake with butternut squash and 
So the Pascha baking possibilities continue to call out,
slowly to me.... and each recipe calls for only 1 butternut squash,
and I have two of them, so....
*
I remember years ago when I was in London Ontario
in my last semester in between my 8 months in Ottawa
and then moving back to live and work,
when I was moving back to Ottawa
I did not quite have a job lined up yet;
it was then that I lived with the family that became my
'Ottawa Ukrainian Family' and did land that first great job
and got my U shaped apartment that had great light and 
some wonderful and some not so wonderful times
but that God gave me for a season...
*
Anyway, it was so hard for me at the time when I was just moving back
from London Ontario to Ottawa;
I had Cleo by then, newly, and no one for various reasons
could help much with that packing I did then
and I remember buying cheap frozen pizza and being 
overwhelmed with moving into the unknown.
*
I remember Cleo playing with my hair, which is thick, often curly 
and generally fairly long and how comforting it was.
I remember the shelf with my icons and tea lights 
in that one summer sublet apartment;
I remember crying in front of them with all the overwhelment of that 
time in my life, moving, soon to be new grad...
I remember the closet in the bathroom there and how it reminded me
somehow of my Aunt H. and how that was a comfort.
*
In someways that must of been one of my hardest moves;
I remember I slept a lot that weekend just after moving 
and how it all worked out well then,
thanks to prayers of those who were much higher spiritually then I...
with so much faith...
*
I remember I made cake; 
I think a lemon one and possibly a chocolate one too; in an 
old big oven in a small kitchen in that summer sublet half-basement
apartment that ended up having mold issues and me scraping my bedpost to 
clean them... thankfully it was only a few month's sublet and 
God was so merciful...
*
This upcoming move of Mr. Husband and I is bringing
back lots of memories of past moves and the 
the relief that this move is one that should not be as hard or, rather,
to say it differently, is not into a fully unknown venture.
*
Moving here to marry was wonderful joyous exciting but yet
in it's own way it was also hard, 
with grief of leaving my church family and community of
seven years, my beloved city ~ Ottawa ~ and all that it stood for.
*
I am still reminded of all the many reasons I married 
Mr. Husband and how wonderful it all is, was and we hope it to be.
*
I do not in anyway regret moving to NJ to marry my beloved husband!
*
I was rereading an old blog post of Fr. Stephen Freeman's from years
back on grief, and how he wrote that every death is not only 
the grief of that instance, but of the ones that are before.
*
In a way, I find moving to be like that.
It brings back memories of many other moves,
of times of joy and times of sorrow.
Times when I ate that cheap pizza and times
that I ordered really good pizza for my many
 Ottawa friends who helped me move...
I've moved 7 times since this blog was born in 2005...
so 7 in about 9+ years...
*
I have a lot of hope for this upcoming move.
Walking more, being closer to friends, church;
there's a small library close by, some grocery options;
I will miss my kitchen window here...
but at least this move has so many good things...
*
I have a lot to be thankful for,
including my Mr. Husband, my family, my Cleo Cat, the 
friendships I am making here, for a new home
that we hope will be one of happiness and peace
for many years.
*
And I hope to make many more birthday cakes
for my beloved during many more Great Lents
that I hope we have together...




6 comments:

E Helena E said...

Love to you! Am following all this eagerly. God's hand is in all.

Reinventing Mother said...

I am probably going to show my ignorance..... But what is DV.?

I am so glad the new condo will be yours!

GretchenJoanna said...

To be setting out on this adventure *together with your husband* must feel much better than the ones that you had so do as a single woman. Not to say the part about grief and loss bringing up old griefs isn't true. My priest told me that, but I don't think I read Fr. Stephen's article about it. I will do that now!

I don't know DV either.

Steve Finnell said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Peacocks and Sunflowers said...

Very best wishes for all your moving plans! Even good changes are stressful, and it's so true about similar/repeat experiences bringing back memories and feelings associated with the old ones. Every move can be an opportunity for leaving old things behind, both material and immaterial - but it's funny how 'baggage' often seems to follow us. LOVE the bay window - I miss the one from my last rental apartment. The different angles let in so much more light.

DV = 'Deo volente', Latin for 'God willing.'

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

That is definitely a "Cleo-friendly" window!
Prayers for all to go smoothly during this exciting but also stressful time.