Year One at SVOTS is Done :)

Here is a brief summary of our year and a little update so you know what we "8-plex" Bozeman have been up to. (We live in the 8-plex at the seminary and everyone here is identified by where they live and who has lived their apartment before them.) So, above is the center of the SVS bubble: the chapel. We've spent countless hours in the Three Hierarchs Chapel this last year worshipping God and celebrating the Eucharist! Lee has sung in the choir, read, and served in the altar while the kids have also served many services in the altar. Meanwhile, we've spent lots of time outside "the bubble" exploring New York, new jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. !

Some of our favorite moments in pictures so you can see what we've been up to:

Above: We've seen so many new things from Ellis Island to Coney Island...from the Metropolitain Museum of Art, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, the Natural History Museum, Jones Beach, Kite Flying in Greenwich, the Mystic Seaport, Times Square, and West Point to name a few---it has all been a HUGE adventure!

Above: We participated in this year's March for life in Washinton, D.C.

Above: Jude's become a pro at navigating the subway!

Winter at SVS was loads of fun due to the snow...

Our first year at seminary--i.e. tow semesters--is finished! We can't believe it honestly. For me, the adjustment has had it's high and low points. I've made some wonderful friends, actually enjoy some aspects of my shoe-box sized apartment (easy to clean!) and I really do love New York. All surprising.

The struggle has been the flipside of the above: my job took some getting used to as all new jobs do, New York living has been a bit of a culture shock, and living in community is work, work, work.

Lee has done a wonderful job of balancing everything from going to church twice a day during the week and attending many services on the weekends, to playing Mr. Mom, to working hard at his studies and attending countless hours of classes, choir rehearsals, seminars, etc. As usual he has stayed calm, cool, and collected. Jamey and Katie and their kids have been a constant source of support & entertainment and we LOVE living near them!!

Now summer is here! The boys will have a break from homeschool while I continue to work full time on the floor at the hospital and teach childbirth classes. We hope to take a trip in August to Florida and this week we have Lee's parents visiting NY for the first time.

This fall Jude starts 7th grade and James will be in 5th! I'm back in school in August to continue working towards the elusive & ultimate Master's degree @ UMKC and I'll also work two nights a week on the floor, teach childbirth classes and homeschool! SHEW!

Lee starts hospital visitation hours this summer and has been looking a lot at chaplaincy and how to incorporate a 400 hr CPE program into his already full workload. His course load for this next year includes classes in things like Greek and Homilitics, Lord have mercy! We are trying to prepare for the future with the knowledge that God's will WILL be done in all things--so we are not anxious! :)

God has been good to us as a family--we have been under His protection and he has kept us all "going" as it were. We are still thankful for & covet your prayers for us as we move into the second year here at St. Vladimir's.

Isn't life strange?

We found out this week that my parents will be moving from Florida to New York in just 3 weeks. They will be in Margaretville:

The town is about 2 hours away from us in the Catskills! My dad will be part of a church there while he continues his other work stuff (the list of what he "does" is long, so I won't go there). We are happy in that they will be closer and we may actually get to see them more than once a year.

In other news, my husband got his cassock from Russia today--and my youngest son asked me just a moment ago:

"Mom, have you seen dad is his casket yet?" 

Thankfully not, but I did see him in his black dress and he looks quite spiffy, if I do so say myself!

Here is my seminarian in all his newfound blackness:

Anyway, I work the next two days then have 4 days off! YAY! I don't know what I'm going to do when I start working nights...no point in worrying about it, I suppose.

Week 4 in New York

I can't believe August is over--what happened to summer? We are entrenched already in our new schedule and I already asked L. last night when this semester is over? tehe.

Work is ok--I mean, it is blowing me away daily in terms of how different it is from my old job. The people are very nice, the hospital is beautiful, and the patient demographic is the flipside of what I've been used to. Lots to get used to.

L. is loving seminary. Last night he told me that being here "is just me." Glad to hear that! :)

Homeschool is actually going quite smoothly. The boys like it and are working hard--so back to that endeavor...

da Bronx

J and A at the Bronx Zoo, New York

A. tries out a bird's nest.

Watching the sea lions.

J. imitates the camels.

Lots of monkeys here.

The Asia Monorail:

takes passengers on a tour of one area of the zoo

My sister-in-law was telling me all about the family membership @ the Bronx Zoo yesterday, and since I had the day off, and the zoo is so close (about a 15 min ride on the Bronx River Parkway), the boys and I decided to check it out. It is a beautiful day here in NY!

We explored just a couple areas of the zoo, which took us about three hours. On the whole, it is very nice, well maintained, and the animals are really well cared for--we had a good time. I was really amazed at how much stuff the boys already knew about many of the animals we saw. We plan to go back, hopefully with L. in tow if he and I have a day off together at some point--I missed him today.

L. started orientation for classes and it sounds as if he is having a good day as well--we have been texting back and forth between his meetings/classes, vocal try-outs, and testing he has undertaken. We have a campus cook-out tonight and tomorrow I have my first 12 hour shift on the floor. Lord have mercy! Things are busy, but good in many ways...

Job startage

Where I am working--thank God I have a job!!!

This is my first week at my new job, and I am shuttling myself back and forth to CT *almost* successfully. GPS is not fail proof, just so ya know. The hospital is beautiful, the people very nice. L. is homeschooling this week before his orientation begins on Thursday. Feeling like our roads are diverging--hopefully we will meet along the way. I'm "all hospital" and already feel out of it. I pray we can get some sort of family time here and there--I already miss everyone. What a wimp!

Times Square and Such

Tomorrow I start my new job, and the fear is at bay for the moment because I have the world's largest head(ache) and am in the throes of suffering. Ha. Having just feasted on a Nathan's hot dog, I am sitting on my very uncomfortable couch thinking about the coming week and the fact that 1.) this crazy-long "vacation" of mine is over and 2.) L starts school in a week. Not sure what to expect, but am ready for whatever may come. I can't believe we live here. What in the world??? Anywho, pics from the first NYC trip we had week one of our adventure:

Waiting for the first of probably many train rides,

this was perhaps the boy's favorite part of the day.

Hm, why all the green folding chairs around the square? Odd.

J and A's first vsit to the big city!

Crossing a busy NYC street (and you may be wondering WHY I chose to take a picture at such a perilous moment)!

Musing on the museum

The boys now have a plethora of marble rear-ends on their cell phones. They giggled so much at all the nudity, and were also quite disturbed by the dis-membered (*ahem*) male statues.

J. outside the Temple of Dendur, a gift from Egypt in the 60's

L. and Van Gogh (Can't say THAT very often!)

Picasso "Nude Standing by the Sea"

Yes, we let him eat another hotdog. *sigh*

Degas

Byzantine Icon of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Egyptian Antiquities, oh, and J.!

He came, he saw, he conquered!

We had the chance to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC today--it was cool for us 'rents--the boys had fun 75% of the time, but were thoroughly unimpressed w/ Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, ya know, all the good stuff. They preferred the armour, the guns, the swords, and the sculpture areas where most statues were missing arms, legs and private parts. Ah, boys! (J mentioned that he was throughly "disturbed" by the broken off, um, appendages.)

Parking was very easy, but as usual a bit pricey, but the museum was donation only. We capped the day with a lovely (accidental) tour through Harlem and once again realized that NYC is a cash city--you must have cash and change on you at ALL TIMES when navigating around here!