Christ is Born!

Glorify Him!

Last night, most of the family was gathered in Homer, AK. Only James and his fiancee Nichole (couldn't afford tickets and saving dimes for a wedding), and Naomi and her family (Disneyland) were missing. Well, Technically it was this morning, because Dad and Cyp were driving down from Anchorage and didn't get home until after 1 AM, and the Midnight liturgy didn't get finished until about 1:30. So we were all together at about 2.

Joachim was by that time passed out and went straight to bed. The rest of us, including Macrina, stayed up for an hour or more eating a meat and cheese laden breakfast casserole Mom made. YUM! Then we all went to bed.

Now, all of us are up, we've opened up the stockings and Mom is making bacon and eggs for breakfast. After that, we get to open presents!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

What I got Mom for Christmas

Well, I pulled it off. As most of the family knows, I decided to surprise my mother for Christmas. There were some complications, of course. I stayed at my brother Ben's house for a couple days, then we all drove down to my parents house in Homer, about 5 hours south of Anchorage today. My sister, Cyprianna was supposed to come up the day after me, but her flight was canceled, and she is flying tonight into Anchorage. Dad drove up to pick her up, and they will hopefully get back in time for our midnight liturgy.

So it was just Ben, Kari, Joachim, Macrina (Ben's wife and kids), my other brother John, and me. Mom was shocked, almost speechless for a few moments when she saw me. Ben got a great picture of her that I'll post once I find my chord to the camera.

Christ is born!

Glorify Him!

North to Canada!

There is a couple at my church, Bill and Lynn Day, who host a gathering of young single people once every other month or so from all the Orthodox churches in the area. The people from St. Joseph the Damascene's in New Westminster, BC invited everyone up to their church last Sunday.

I decided to go, not least because of the mention of a falafel feast. So I woke up a bit early last Sunday and left my house at about 830ish. Church started at 11. I figured that that would give me plenty of time to get through the border, and probably get there for Matins.

From my place its about 15 minutes to the border crossing in Blaine. I got to the border with no problem, until I realized that I forgot my passport on my desk. So I turned around to get it. On my way home, I stopped at the post office (its on the way) to pick up my mail. I got home, took the mail in and grabbed my passport. Turned around, and headed back to Blaine. Got back to the border, and realized -- I took my directions in with the mail.

So I head back home. I left the first time at 830. By the time I actually got to talk to a Canadian border guard, it was almost 10! And I still had an hour's driving ahead of me. Of course, they pulled me over for additional screening. I finally got out of there at about 1020, and started booking it toward New Westminster. Of course, once I got off the main highway, I got lost, and had to ask directions three or four times. The upshot of it is, I got there just in time for the English Epistle reading (St. Joseph's has a large native Arab population, so they read the Epistle and Gospel in both Arabic and English)

It was a good service, and while the Arab tones were different from the Russian, Kievan, and Byzantine tones I am used to, it was very pleasing.

And the Falafels were out of this world amazing. There is truth in the saying that Arab Lenten food is better than their non-Lenten food.

While I was driving around looking for the church, it had started to snow. I think the most we got was about 2 inches, maybe three. On the drive in, I was going about 140 kph in a 100kph zone. On the way out, because of road conditions, 30 kph on the same highway. It was slicker than snot the whole way home. But I made it home safely.

I'm now looking at getting a Nexus card so I don't get stopped again.

Cold

I moved from Alaska partly to get away from the cold. Back in Eagle River, it regularly got to 25 or even 30 degrees below zero (F). Down here in Everson, it rarely gets below 30 degrees.

The last three days, and probably the rest of the week are an exception. We got a huge wind from the Canadian Rockies moving in, bringing the air temperature down to 14 degrees, wind chill brings that down to 5-10 below zero! To make it worse, my house is drafty. The door leading outside from my bedroom won't shut all the way, so I have a dresser in front of it to keep it from blowing completely open. The window above my bed is SINGLE pane, and poorly installed. There is no insulation under the floor.

So I've spent the last two days with the bedroom closed off, all the taps running to keep my pipes from freezing, and sleeping on the couch next to the furnace.

And they call this global warming.

I Lost an X

I have been struggling with my weight for quite a long time. I've been overweight my entire life. Last year, I resolved to do something about it. I've resolved the same thing about a hundred times since high school. But something about the dial on the scale creeping ever closer to 300 lbs (I never quite got there, thank God) did something and I have been dieting and exercising (off and on) since mid February.

Since then, I've lost 45 lbs.

Yesterday, I finally went shopping for new clothes. I hate shopping, and I get sticker shock even at the Value Village ($15 for used jeans?!?) I know, I'm cheap. Anyway, I used to wear XXL shirts and 38 x32 jeans. Now, I fit inside XL shirts (and can almost squeeze into an L) and 36x32s are comfortable on me!

Green tags were half off, so I bought just about every pair of green tagged pants that didn't have holes or huge stains on them, and a couple of shirts too.

I still have at least 30 pounds to go, at which point, I'll decide if I look good, or if I need to loose more weight. The charts all say that a 6 foot man should weigh 165-190 lbs. I think that is bunk. I know people that when they were at their so-called ideal weight, they were sickly and anemic. They were healthiest when they were about 20 lbs over "ideal" weight.

Anyway, just to let you know, there is now alot less of me to love.