That time of year…when my family gathers for Thanksgiving. We will be leaving tomorrow for Ohio. Parents can commune with (sometimes naked) grand kids. One of them I have not even met yet. This should be fun.

Next week, I will post new snoods to the Etsy Shop.

The winner of the brown snood is:

Raquel !

I will send you an email and you can reply with your shipping address. I will mail the snood tomorrow.

Next month I will give away a snood in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra, whose feast day (according to the Old Calendar) is December 19th.

Had some “Aha!” internet stumbling around today. The fruit of which is the following articles:

Aspies Empathize Too Much

and

Remarks on Autism and Catholicism

Follows up nicely on the Love and Vocation post I wrote a couple weeks ago.

My etsy shop, UnderThere, is open! I am selling snoods to start.

Check out the Snood Giveaway, too!

I need some talk-therapy for a few moments. Do you mind?

Been pondering my internet presence…on how “private” I should be or not. How far to take my minor popularity here in the interwebs. For instance…

I am thinking about getting my name as a domain name. My brother has one. Lots of other people have one. I am scared of having one. The fear is a weird-o reaction to what I do on this here platform.

I  write some personal stuff, though less so than before. I want to have kids but you all do not hear about the endless TTC chatter. [You can thank me in the comments section.] Clothing is a personal thing; though less personal if one dresses against societal norms. People want to know what is up but are just too mean or polite to ask. So I blog…

What my deeeep down fears are that the IRL people will know the Internet Me, which is close to the IRL me, but not. You get it for reals from me, I promise, sometimes more real than the IRL people. Disjointed Universe of the Mind. Ha ha ha.

The other fear is that people from my past (though getting more distant with the years) will find out what I am doing and slander me. My Past is rpfoundly ugly. I did incredibly Stupid Stuff. If the fact that I use the word “crap” bothers you on this here blog, you would faint right away at the Sinful Horror I was 7-9 years ago. My life NOW is a testimony to Christ and to the love of family, friends, who have picked up the tattered pieces of me again and again.

Maybe I need a domain name as a healing tool. I might get slandered if those of my past have a big enough gumption to do it. But what of it? I have repented and changed and keep repenting and changing. That Old Way of Doing Things is no longer this Anna. The New Way of Doing things (with a headscarf and skirt and prayer) is helping shape me into forms I never thought possible 9 years ago. Glory to God for ALL things!

Ruth asked this past week why I/we had not chosen the Roman Catholic Church over the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is a fitting question, one which I probably would have bungled by video (or I may turn this post into a video montage, for my YT only crowd) so I am answering it in text.

To start off, I have close and extended family who are Catholic. I have dear blogging friends who are Catholic. You know I love you all. This post is light on the theology (feel free to correct if I get too far off) and heavy on personal opinion.

Firstly, I have first-hand experience (obviously) with the RCC Mass and culture. Grandma had vigil candles in front of Mary and Jesus. Attended weddings and funerals. Never was baptised into the RCC.

Edit: Mama J wanted to know where the “Pro” was for Catholicism. You can count the following two paragraphs as my pros, plus I am adding some more after them.

During my high school years, I became enamored with Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Like, so seriously enamored, I even flirted with the idea of joining the Church and becoming an MC. But, my mind was so firmly entrenched in Protestant thought that I couldn’t get over the Mary and Eucharist stumbling blocks. I later discovered Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers. Wow-wee! I still would totally cozy up with that crowd if there were any in town. Social Justice and doing the Works of Mercy are big on my list. I recently discovered Mother Maria of Paris. She gives me hope that I am not too late to the Kingdom of God.

Early in our marriage, I broached the idea of Catholicism with Jeff. We even had a “Mary moment”. His uncle loaned us a movie about Fatima. Shortly after watching it, we went over to the local church to see if it was open for prayer (WAS NOT on a Friday evening?!?). We walked around the side of the church to a garden courtyard where there was a bench in front of a statue of Mary. On the bottom of the statue was engraved, “Our Lady of Fatima”! HA! That left an impression.

We never went to a Mass. Keep in mind, Jeff had NO previous liturgical worship experience. It would have taken a major, major leap of all stuff and sorts to get him into a “traditional church”. It was about a year later that we began investigating and visiting an Orthodox church.

For some other Pros:

1.) The RCC is everywhere and widely (mis)understood by the larger culture. The Orthodox Church in North America is clustered mostly in major cities and on the coasts.

2.) The force of institutional girth. Somewhere, somebody might be doing what you want to do (within reasonable faith limits). Special interests abound.

3.) It is Western European. I admit, I love my British Isles and Germanic heritage. The cultural atmosphere is understandable and familiar.

4.) Dittoes with musical heritage. Wrapping my head around the Tonal systems in the OC is exhausting.

5.) Strong(er) stance on Pro-Life issues. This can be haggled one way or the other…but I admire the staunchness of the RC on this subject.

6.) More “missionary” minded. [Which could be a Con, depending on the time/space/culture continuum.]

Ok, so why Oranges instead of Apples, for me? Get on with the Cons:

1.) Theology: The Mary teachings (even to my uneducated Proty sniffer) smelled funny. Original Sin seems to get you no where. Purgatory, iffy. Lack of focus on the Resurrection.

2.) Hierarchy: I like Concilliar over Pyramid. No Pope-bashing. I just like the power spread about and closer to home. Helps the Faithful survive serious persecutions, too.

3.)For the lack of better terminology: Effeminate Atmosphere of Catholic Worship. High Pitched singing by MEN. Lace On Men. [Ok, I know our hierarchy loves brocade and jewels...but full-out 8 inches of white lace on gowns? I can't take it with a straight face.] Girly looking statues of Jesus. Lack of Beards. Priests can’t marry.

4.) Decorated Statues.

5.) Lack of concerted Fasting Rule.

6.) Orthodox have always missionized in local languages and translated Scriptures thusly.

7.) Multitudinous Religious Orders. Even though I love many of the works of various ones (Franciscans and the MC), its all so…entrepreneurial? Confusing? I feel like I need a cheat sheet the size of an Olive Garden menu to figure out who is whom. Within the Orthodox church, its pretty standard (and not standard…LOL) that when one desires to be a monastic, you join up without having to figure out which of the 510 flavors you want.

8.) Smorgasbord of prayer devotions. The OC seems to have a more unified approach to prayer, public and private.

9.) A certain je ne se qua or archetype as to how saints should be defined and legalized. Saint adoration in the OC is organic, from the roots of the faithful and recognised by the church later. Sorry to be vague for the Protestant readers. My RC/OC friends will get it.

—————–

This is all personal impression and guidelines for my research into the Orthodox Church.

Due to circumstances mostly out of my control, I will have to delay my Big Sneaky Project Announcement until Tuesday, November 17th. Thank you for your patience.

Part of the “beyond my control” circumstances is the weather. We’ve had constant rain for over three days now. The rivers and streams are breaching bridges and closing roadways left and right. Please pray the city water treatment plant is not compromised. Our house is up in a hill so we are not personally affected…but our transportation routes are very hampered for at least another 48 hours until the rain stops.

I am still working on the Big Sneaky Project. You will all love it and want to, um, participate.

Next week is the grand unveiling (pun)!

Working two weeks on two separate temporary administrative assignments has taught me a valuable lesson:

I need a vocation where I can love people unreservedly.

I will let you all into an Aspie thing or a weird-is-me-theory. This whole treating people as casual goods in modern society bothers me deeply. Like disposable sporks that touch my lips a few times and then pitched away to never rot. If I stop to think about each checkout girl or medical assistant as an immortal soul, I cry. And crying continuously in public is embarrassing. I buck up like normal people in urban climes and ignore the soul. Just give me my sandwich exactly how I want it, er, please.

I believe an underlying spiritual dimension of this neurological spectrum gift is seeing each human as the unique creation of God. Whether or not the Aspie in question is a God-fearer, they cannot but take people one at a time because of our inability to read emotions or social cues. Everyone interacts, reacts, and acts differently. I have to study these people so I know how to speak with them, how to serve them, how to not get taken advantage of.

A logical way to handle this overwhelming “gift” is to shut out the flood human society and be happy with our particular interests. I can rightly do that and no one would blame me. I can have a Get Out of Socialness Free card.

Or…I can choose to interact with people in such a way that I “feel” their soul, as a wise priest once said. To describe the rush of emotions which make me cry is like being a castaway seeing a rescue boat. You would naturally want to hug every last blessed barnacle encrusted sailor who came to your aid. You will want to talk with them, listen to them, hear them sing. This relishing of human society, from what I understand, is not common.

I believe I have found (or had, its a long story) the right vocation which allows me serve professionally and charitably. Just need some time to get into the “loop” with the right crowd and then embark on a life-long lesson in loving.

Well, for the next week and a half, I am at a temp office job. Blech!! Its awful. I will probably post only once or twice during this time. BUT, hand onto your scarves, ladies! I have got a sneaky project underway!