Feeling pretty special........

St George Greek Orthodox Church, Albuquerque

The interior of the church....it's fairly small, but has been here in Albuquerque since 1948.

However, the Greek community has been organized for services since 1918.

I've been attending since October, so I thought maybe it was time to post some photos (I liberated these from their website).  It is a lovely small church.  It has been a huge change for me, as I've been outside of the church for 20 years ~ both figuratively and literally.   Plus, the Orthodox church is very different from any protestant church service I've attended.  Everything is different ~ the icons, the service (which is looooong, but more on that in a minute) ~ it has taken this long for me to feel like I know what I'm doing, but keeping up with the hymns is hard.  I have taken the "I'll figure it out eventually" approach.  Sometimes I sneak a peek at what page other people are on, and sometimes I find it immediately.  Today was different, since it was Holy Theophany Sunday, and the father blessed the water ~ I really can't explain much of it, but wow was today's service looooong.  House blessings will commence soon and go through March, and that's one of the things he'll use the water for. But services start at 8 am for Orthros, then the main service starts at 9 am.  I usually go from 9 to 11. 

My racquetball peeps have been playing on Sunday at 10 am for years.  I asked Denise if there was any way folks might want to start at 11:30, which is the earliest I can get there.  But she said no, she didn't think everyone would go for it.  But today !!!!  she said we are playing at 11:30 now, just for me!  I was so grateful.  I had really missed playing on Sunday.  I'm going to have to put a snack in my car to eat on the way to the gym though.  By the time we were done today I was starving.  It'll be easy to put a protein bar or something like that in the suv during winter, but I'll have to figure out something else when summer gets here.  Maybe I'll find a small cooler to put stuff in.  

Anyway, I hope all of you have a great second week of January.  Personally, I am ready for summer NOW.  

Love, 365