the domestic zoo

First, let me set this up: I’ve been praying for God’s guidance in my “journey” to Orthodoxy. I don’t feel like there’s anything that is holding me back, and yet, I have my doubts. What can I say, I’m human.

For the past few days, I’ve had the Liturgy playing in my head. I find myself singing along with bits and pieces of it throughout the day. This morning, the matter of conversion was weighing especially heavy on my heart, and I asked God to clarify things for me. Just a little bit, a little light on the process, that’s all I need.

Tonight I arrived at church for Discovering Orthodoxy class, and was informed that because the other people were not able to make it (for various reasons), Christine and I would have our own private class tonight. Sounds good…

Christine got there a few minutes later, and just as we sat down, Fr. Constantine got right to the point, first asking how we were feeling about things, and then the big question:

“Are you ready to become Orthodox?”

And there was no longer any doubt. “Yes, absolutely.”

Fr. said that he thought Holy Saturday would be a good time for us to be chrismated and receive communion. At that point we both burst into smiles – what else would we do? It’s so exciting!

That gives us a little over two months to do things like find godparents and such; classes are continued even after chrismation, for as long as we’d like to go to them.

There aren’t words to adequately describe how I feel about the whole thing – excited, elated, jubilant. I’m beaming.

thank you, God. thank you, God. thank you, God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

I give them food, shelter, and everything their little bunny-hearts could desire…and this is how they repay me.

ingrates…

I cannot make small talk. I can’t just “chit chat” with people. Really. I don’t know what to say.

And I’m sure I come off as snotty or antisocial (don’t most introverts?) because I just sit there not saying anything, not initiating conversation, not even making a casual observation about the weather or the price of eggs in China*.

* 57 cents per dozen, export price

I must have spent 20 minutes on my cell phone with the vet’s office (in my car, in between classes), trying to get the mice in for a second opinion. The receptionist was very nice, albeit somewhat spacey, and she squeezed us in for 12pm this Wednesday (my only other option was Sunday evening – um, no thanks).

But do you know what this means? I have to skip Bio lecture. For mom and anyone else who may be concerned, I talked with my professor, and she said it was fine. This was after she gave a schpiel to the class about how humans and mice are quite closely related. Yeah, I know it’s a stretch, but if it works to generate sympathy in my favor, I’ll take it.

Now it’s just a matter of taking a deep breath and reminding myself that I don’t have control over everything. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been praying that these mice stay active and strong – so far, so good…Thanks, God.