A Bunch of Stuff

We've decided to go back to HTC. We like St. Stephen's a lot, but there are so many people that it is difficult to be comfortable with our children in the way we are accustomed. At HTC we feel free to walk around and let the boys venerate the Holy Icons if they start to get fidgety. But that just isn't possible at St. Stephens. It is wall to wall people. I guess that is a good problem for a parish to have, but it does make it dificult. So, we are going back to HTC, and the very long drives on Sundays.

But what about the problem of missing so much church? Well, we discovered that the distance from San Francisco isn't the problem. It is our schedules that hinder us. Those schedules did not allow us to attend St. Stephen's much more often than we attended HTC. Hopefully, our schedule will lighten up in about another 16 months.

The boys and I went to the beach yesterday. We had a lot of fun. It was cold but the beach and the sea were beautiful. After being there for a while we drove to the little village of Capitola-by-the-Sea where we had a great time.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that my entire family was sick a couple of weeks ago. Well, we still are. Not the kids, just Cyndi and I. Cyndi has been left feeling exhausted and still has a cough. I still have a cough and have lost some hearing. It is troublesome.

Speaking of troublesome, a few months ago my wife did a lateral transfer in her department so she could work for a very highly respected and much experienced person in the department. But ever since the transfer happened she has been miserable. Cyndi is used to working with a high degree of independece and managing her team the way she likes. But her new boss has a very different style. The result is that my wife's employees are very unhappy and my wife is very unhappy. Last night, Cyndi came home in tears. Friday (tomorrow) my wife is meeting with her boss's boss to talk about the problem and ask for a different position in the department. If you have a chance, please pray for her. Her patron is the Venerable Athanasia of Egypt.

My friend Jeff, with whom I used to blog is comming over for lunch today. Menu: cioppino, hummus, pita-bread, pickled mixed-beans, dolmas, coffee, and San Peligrino. We are going to talk about a group of men from his Church who are going to visit HTC on the 31st. Jeff is the pastor in charge of finding men who have leadership potential and grooming them. Part of that process is a one year course of study during which they visit lots of different kinds of churches. This is the second year that I am giving a his group a tour of HTC and explaining Holy Orthodoxy to them.

My oldest son has been in Afghanistan for a few days now. I haven't heard anything. So, I am super happy about him getting to fight in Afghanistan instead of Iraq, but I am still anxious. Does anyone hate war as much as a parent. I thank God he is with such a tough outfit. They aren't the kind of men civilized people would want to hang out with, but they are good in a scrap. It seems that the last time the 173rd Airborne Infantry Brigade was in Afghanistan they killed more than than 3,000 enemy fighters in their first week, while suffering very few casualties. Lots of the people in my sons unit are veterans of that first deployment to Afghanistan and know what to expect and how to fight this enemy. That is comforting to me. I told him to kill anyone who even looks like an enemy and come home alive, but I am so afraid for him because of the horrible things he will see and have to do. Sometimes all I can do is cry and pray.