Just around the corner

We will be celebrating Pascha, the Lord's Resurrection, on Sunday, May 5th.

• Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.
• Monday, I baked kulich with Maria, a friend from our church.
• Tuesday, we cleaned the house, my sister, Mary, her husband, Andrey and 8 month daughter arrived late.
• Wednesday, we bought some special things at the market.  Olivia wanted sliced olive loaf (basically bologna with green olives with red pimentos in it) and we also got some of our favorite Guggisberg baby swiss, smoked cheddar, cheese curds (to make poutine), etc.  That evening, we all went to Confession after church.
• Thursday, we went to church and celebrated the Last Supper in the morning by going to Holy Communion.  I used yellow onion skins and colored our eggs, Hannah polished them with olive oil, so they shine!  In the evening, we went back to church and read the 12 Passion Gospels.  We take the candle we held while listening to the gospel and put it in a lantern and take it home and mark our doorways.
• Friday, a solemn day, we dressed in our darkest colored clothing and went to church, where the crucifix was in the middle...and then replaced by the tomb.  I frosted the tops of the kulich and added almonds & raisins to the top and started making "cheese pascha" (I should've done that earlier in the week).  This is Gretchen's blog post on Holy and Great Friday!
• Saturday, tomorrow, we will go to church in the morning and then again about 11pm, as we have a beautiful midnight Paschal service.
• Sunday, we will probably get home at 4 or 5am, after the service we have our Pascha baskets blessed with Holy Water.  Then, sleep...and have dinner at my parent's house with almost all our family (missing my littlest sister, Andrea, her husband, Wally and 2 boys).

Please pray for my father, Fr. Paul, and mom, Barbara.  It's been a tough week.  Yesterday, Dad's coffin arrived.  If you've seen the film The Island made in 2006 which is about a monk who has his coffin ready, you'll understand why I think this is so beautiful.  This link takes you to the 11th of 12 parts of the film, if you forward to the 8:00 minute mark you'll see what I mean.  They ordered it from Fr. George Brooks in Arkansas.  It's beautiful, smells like fresh pine or cedar, has a nice big cross on top, and the words "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us," around the sides.  My dad fell again today.  Parkinson's disease affects so much of your life.  It's been about 10 years now for him.  He would be at every single church service this week, if it were possible, and so would my mom.  ♥