How’s life?
The Ladies Lounge - What’s on your mind?
- Thread starter TheLearningWife
- Start date
I find I'm missing TruckDriver9's succinct updates in the Russia-Ukraine thread. What's happening in Avdiivka? The History Legend's youtube channel has an analysis of movements and counter-movements but I can't justify the time it takes me to watch it.
[or maybe TruckDriver9 is now Ember?]
ETA: No, I see they are different people. TruckDriver9 is now onboard, and posting current news.
[or maybe TruckDriver9 is now Ember?]
ETA: No, I see they are different people. TruckDriver9 is now onboard, and posting current news.
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Life is pretty great! We spent a good chunk of the summer in Argentina visiting my family. We traveled together and had an amazing time. It was very hard to leave them, but I'm thankful to our Lord that we got to see them and are already planning the next trip 
Also, our daughter is going to Rome with her school choir to sing at the New Year's Eve Mass of Nations. Regardless of what opinion one can have about Pope Francis, singing at the Vatican is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we're very excited for her! Things will be busy between now and then because, in order to raise funds for the trip, the choir has to sing at different churches around the the city. They sing Gregorian Chants. It's beautiful!
How's life going for you, Learning Wife?
Also, our daughter is going to Rome with her school choir to sing at the New Year's Eve Mass of Nations. Regardless of what opinion one can have about Pope Francis, singing at the Vatican is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we're very excited for her! Things will be busy between now and then because, in order to raise funds for the trip, the choir has to sing at different churches around the the city. They sing Gregorian Chants. It's beautiful!
How's life going for you, Learning Wife?
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I'm enjoying autumn, the best time of the year for the senses. The trees surrounding us change daily, becoming more bright and colorful, a delight for the eyes; the combination of cool air and warm sun is a delight to the skin; the autumn flavors (pumpkin everything) and apple cider are a delight to the tongue; and I especially love the sound of walking on crunchy leaves. It's now time for evening bonfires and the memories evoked by wood smoke wafting through the air on a clear night.
Life is good. My husband and I just moved from cold country to the tropics and I'm so, so thankful to be back in my element 
It's been stressful and hectic and it's tested us, but we'll be settling into our new place soon and the heavy lifting is done. This will be the first time we've made a place our own together, and I think it's going to be cool and fun.
It's been stressful and hectic and it's tested us, but we'll be settling into our new place soon and the heavy lifting is done. This will be the first time we've made a place our own together, and I think it's going to be cool and fun.
It’s back in the 80s, but we just had some atypically cool weather recently, and it was wonderful.
That sounds lovely, and makes for the best family memories. It looks beautiful there. I wish I visited my family overseas more as an adult. We’re still in the process of getting everyone passports… hopefully my husband will be able to visit Russia next year. I learned all the Russian I know between the ages of 8-11 on summer trips and would like to continue this with our kids.Life is pretty great! We spent a good chunk of the summer in Argentina visiting my family. We traveled together and had an amazing time. It was very hard to leave them, but I'm thankful to our Lord that we got to see them and are already planning the next trip
Also, our daughter is going to Rome with her school choir to sing at the New Year's Eve Mass of Nations. Regardless of what opinion one can have about Pope Francis, singing at the Vatican is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we're very excited for her! Things will be busy between now and then because, in order to raise funds for the trip, the choir has to sing at different churches around the the city. They sing Gregorian Chants. It's beautiful!
How's life going for you, Learning Wife?
I hope she has a nice time and safe travels! It is definitely something she will remember. My church choir sang for Patriarch Bartholomew (mixed feelings on that now), but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
Ever since Covid, things got so expensive where we live… we had a great group of young Orthodox families at church, we were all on the same page (for example, we don’t watch TV or give tech to our young kids), but everyone moved away because housing is so unaffordable. Some to out of state, others a couple hours away. Our oldest kids are the oldest of the group, and I’m learning the ropes of homeschooling by myself. None of the churches we attend have a homeschooling group or even Sunday school, so it’s up to me. Honestly, I prefer it this way in a sense, but it’s a challenge to balance secular friendships with our values, etc. I really miss having that sense of community.
What an amazing experience to have as a child! Are both of your parents Russian? I hope you can take your family there one day. It will enrich their minds and souls! We hadn't been to Argentina since before Covid and this last trip was one of the most significant ones, mainly because our kids are old enough to understand and question things. Sometimes, I feel like life here in the US is too perfect and orderly, so these trips really push us out of our comfort zone. We love showing our kids a different culture and idiosyncrasy.
Thank you! I feel nervous about her traveling without us (my mother-in-law is accompanying her), but I put her in God's hands and trust that He will protect her.
It's a shame that so many families moved out from your town. House prices have gone up exponentially in my area, as well. The other day, I was talking to a realtor and she told me large corporations are buying houses with cash (BlackRock?), so regular citizens can't compete. Still, our city is very affordable and you can have a good quality of life. Have you considered moving? I know how hard it is to not have a community of like-minded people. Keep praying and don't give up! God always provides. In the meantime, you can join some online group of homeschoolers, if you haven't done that already. We found our community, first at a Byzantine Catholic church, and then at the current school our kids attend, which is a very conservative charter Catholic school. None of our kids' friends have phones and the school doesn't use technology! Even the math teacher told his students "TikTok is demonic"
Regarding how to balance secular friendships... ahh, it can be challenging. All of our immediate neighbors are liberal, so our kids are only allowed to play with them outside or on the front porches. So far, all they do is kick the ball, play games, and just have wholesome fun. We speak to our kids frankly and teach them the ways of the Lord, so they know right from wrong. Our oldest ones are very aware of what's going on in the world and are in charge of protecting their young brother. This has worked well, but I'm sure the differences will grow wider as the kids get older.
I notice that many Evangelical Christians do the older child/adult Baptisms. If they never had a Baptism as a baby or traditional one in say a Catholic and traditional Protestant church, such as Lutheran or Baptist: Is this pool water Baptism excepted if the person wants to get married in a traditonal Lutheran or say Catholic church? I doubt it. But was curious to know for sure. I know in the Orthodox Church new Baptisms are required, even for transferring to different Orthodox sects.
I think you should refer to "different Orthodox jurisdictions", rather than "sects". All require baptism into the name of the Trinity, but the more traditional insist on triple immersion, that is full whole-body "dunking" three times into the name of each of the Persons of the Trinity.
Heads up for anyone thinking about renewing a passport— turn around time is 8-11 weeks for expedited and 17-19 weeks for standard processing! That’s double what the website says. Crazy!
I should have said jurisdiction. Anyway, how long is the process to go from Catechumen to the Baptism and fully in the Orthodox Church? I was this past summer staying in a smaller town in Scandinavia that has a Russian Orthodox Church. I plan on moving to this town at the end of the year. I am thinking that perhaps maybe the main or primary thing that brought me to the Scandinavian town was the Orthodox Church there that is easily accessible. So it makes it easier to inquirer about. Also coming across Roosh and his former forum and this one may perhaps be God’s Will in the process.
As of now my fiancé and I are Protestant. We attend the Lutheran Church but he is not happy with it. I was originally Catholic and got out of that, he tried the Catholic Church and was not for him neither. However, he has not discussed the Orthodox Church. Perhaps it will come our way. We are not living in the same town at the moment but I will be living where he is in the upcoming holidays.
Time taken? It varies widely: there is no set rule. You and your fiancé may not make the same progress as each other in acquiring an Orthodox "phronema" (mind-set), but you will need to be patient with each other until you are both willing to make a full whole-hearted commitment to Orthodoxy. The priest wil be the judge of that.
Mother Olga of Alaska has been glorified among the saints! Patron saint of women who are pregnant or abused, (I don't know why the photo is so large!)
I was on a voice call to a person. He called another person we know “st**id.” This really offended me. As a Christian cloaked in Christ, I can see how insults and words of abuse said about another human when they are there or not hurts God. Before I officially became a Christian, my reaction would have been more indifferent of another person doing that. (Even then I could never say that word about or to somebody, because even then, my whole life I never had that type of malice in me.) Now though, I even said to the person, “do not say that word about that person it is not nice.”
This was a huge revelation to me.
This was a huge revelation to me.
So it is to specify that a person that would abuse by calling someone an insulting word, especially one insulting their intelligence is not a person of Christ, not sincerely, because a sincere person of Christ could NEVER do something like that. Even a person currently not a Chrsitian, yet has integrity and is conscientious. A person that would especially call it to their face is a sociopathic type, one with malice who is highly unlikely to come to Christ, not impossible but highly unlikely. They are wicked in their nature, of satan than of Christ.
To ask if a malicious or sociopath person can sincerely come to Christ is like asking can a person with a butterknife win in a sword fight with a person using a sword? It IS theoretically possible that a person with the butterknife can win the fight but HIGHLY unlikely. That is the case or the point needed to be made.
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We’re all sinners. We all stumble and fall short of the glory of God.
You don’t know a persons heart and this is exactly the kind of “judgement” that we are warned not to do.
You do not know me and what I have been through and what I have seen in my life. I am being vigilant. There is real evil out there and I am not going to have a superficial piety, not saying you do but it appears that way, just making you aware. Then behave hypocritical and self-righteous by accusing others of being “judgmental.” By this logic accusing someone of being judgmental is being judgmental in itself, here appears to be implied to mean this in a negative way.
“I don’t know a person’s heart.” Please, this is intuition and vigilance. Please take out your Bible and read John 7:24 AND I Kings 3:9
Defending and siding with evil and people who willingly reject Christ “Because we are all sinners (clutches pearls)”, while opposing people who willingly accept Christ and being vigilant against evil. God KNOWS a person’s true heart AND He is watching.
Look Starlight, forgive for coming off like this but I am trying to see you to understand the reasoning here. To suggest this “we‘re all sinners, the protect and side with the “poor and “lost“ people” who do intentional malice to others, how dare you judge them.” Seriously what would Jesus do. Again, John 7:24 AND I Kings 3:9
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To add, I can’t edit the other post since it exceeded the 60 minutes, so here is the updated version (What I added I put in bold):
You do not know me and what I have been through and what I have seen in my life. I am being vigilant. There is real evil out there and I am not going to have a superficial piety, not saying you do but it appears that way, just making you aware. Then behave hypocritical and self-righteous by accusing others of being “judgmental.” By this logic accusing someone of being judgmental is being judgmental in itself, here appears to be implied to mean this in a negative way.
“I don’t know a person’s heart.” Please, this is intuition and vigilance. Please take out your Bible and read John 7:24 AND I Kings 3:9 about how We are to judge.
Defending and siding with evil and people who willingly reject Christ “Because we are all sinners (clutches pearls)”, while opposing people who willingly accept Christ and being vigilant against evil. God KNOWS a person’s true heart AND He is watching.
Look Starlight, please forgive me for coming off like this but I am trying to see you to understand the reasoning here. To suggest this “we‘re all sinners, then protect and side with the “poor and “lost“ people” who do intentional malice to others, how dare you judge them.” Seriously what would Jesus do. Again, John 7:24 AND I Kings 3:9
Here is more scripture that specifically pertains to what and everything I wrote in the two posts that were back to back and what you quoted from me: Matthew 5:22, Proverbs 13:21, Ecclesiastes 10:12-14, Proverbs 12:18, Colossians 3:7-8, Ephesians 4:29-30
Like I mentioned before I did not want to get into some heavy discussions here. My posts were within the reasons of Christ’s examples and teachings but someone had to be “pious” and knock it and not getting the overall message, so I needed to defend it righteously and even include Biblical scripture to defend what I said.
*Also note how I did not target any specific person in my original posts, while the person replying did accuse me directly of “judgmental“ behaviour in a not positive way.
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