Ruthtastic

This space is a place for me to share my exploration of my faith and to network with other spiritual and religious Tumblrs. [Note: if you get followed by someone called Writing to Transgress, that is my personal Tumblr.]

[ruthtastic]

"We find meaning in our lives not by what we build with our hands, but by what we build with our hearts." (A post based on the following: The Book of Ecclesiastes, Colossians 3:1-11, Luke 12:13-21)

[ruthtastic]

My husband is jumping back into blogging, and I would love for you to check it out! (There's only one post so far, but there will be more soon, and I'll contribute, too... eventually.)

[greek-museums]

Museum of Agia Aikaterini:

The first Oecumenical Council, by Michael Damaskenos. Cloister of Vrontissi, county of Kainourgio. 1591.

[by-grace-of-god]

“When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”

St Thérèse of the Child Jesus died when she was 24, after having lived as a cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was a brief edited version of her journal called “Story of a Soul.” Yet St. Thérèse de Lisieux is considered a patron saint of missions and is the youngest to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church.

Her parents Louis and Zélie Martin will be the first couple canonized together on Mission Sunday, October 18, 2015. They lost 3 infants but all 5 of their surviving daughters - Marie, Pauline, Léonie, Céline & Thérèse - became nuns.

[ruthtastic]

Please pray for the family and friends of one of my coworkers who died this morning. He was shot and killed while trying to prevent his girlfriend from being assaulted by an ex. We were just talking a few days ago about his plans to ask her to be his girlfriend. I'm still in shock right now.

[itszak]

It’s 5 AM and I’m greeted with a throb in my chest tugging at me to return to the Abbey. All while dealing with my THIRD stab victim on a Friday night.

[ruthtastic]

We have a new associate rector who was a physician for 30 years before answering the call to be a priest. It's a beautiful thing :)

(Not that it'll be 30 years for you, too, but your post reminded me of him, and I think the connection between medicine and spiritual life is a beautiful one.)

[ruthtastic]

We didn't really go off the main roads either, though I hear there are plenty of trails to hike. We were only up there for half a day, and we were focused on discovering the areas where my husband's ancestors lived.

[ruthtastic]

(Union County, Georgia) We spent the last few days in Georgia for a family reunion. Though the reunion was on Saturday, we went up a few days earlier to go to the Georgia Aquarium and attend a Braves game. We also spent the first half of Friday in North Georgia to get more insight on my husband's family. He had traced back to his 4x great grandfather, who lived in Union County, Georgia (pictured above). As a native West Virginian, it was great to be back in the Appalachian Mountains :)

[canonizedandotherwise]

[orthodoxwayoflife]

This is a rare icon in the Orthodox Church: it is called “The first steps of Jesus”. It’s amazing! <3

[snowcladpines-deactivated202307]

i love love LOVE this icon <3

[professionalgoodgirlfacility]

ok if you’re catholic (or any denom, idc), does the concept of everlasting life after you die freak you out

like say you go to heaven, you’re just there forever. it doesn’t end, you don’t die, you’re just there forever. does that not scare anyone else or am i just 2edgy4u :/ ?

[by-grace-of-god]

I’ve had similar thoughts. As much as I long to go to heaven, eternity IS a long time. I liked this point imagined by John Piper. Full article

[ruthtastic]

I used to think about eternity a lot when I was little. It was trippy!

[ruthtastic]

That's right. I should've known that about depression, too, since I have people close to me who are depressed and on medication for it. It's been a bad night. I haven't been this tired and upset since the newborn days, but it's most likely normal fatigue/blues, like you said.

[ruthtastic]

Thoughts on postpartum depression

Sometimes, I have little flare ups of what could be considered symptoms of postpartum depression, but I don't know if I can label it PPD since I usually only experience them 1-3 times a month, maybe? And nothing has gotten close to matching the intensity of my depression after my first daughter was born, so I feel like I'm playing down my feelings a lot the second time around. I guess the answer to this is "talk to a doctor" but... bleh... Maybe I can wait it out until September when I have a follow up appointment about something else.

[chrysostmomhasmoved]

Portland rent crisis hits home

Keep reading

[ruthtastic]

Definitely praying! We also found ourselves looking to buy much sooner than expected, so we’re not in my ideal home, but we’re in a nice place that we could afford at the time.

[ruthtastic]

We went to a nondenominational church today because my husband was volunteering as the bass player for their praise and worship band. It was both a familiar and a foreign experience for me. My husband and I both grew up Baptist (though I ended up in an Evangelical Free church in high school), so the order of service was familiar, but I can tell I've been attending Lutheran and Episcopal churches for the past several years. (Communion with grape juice did not feel right.)

[karalianne]

Apropos of another post I saw today, you get it the other way too. Brother #2 and his wife just had baby #4, and people were really rude about the pregnancy.

“Another one? You know how that happens, right?”

Like, that’s a totally inappropriate question. Four isn’t even all that many; it’s also how many kids were in each of their families, so it’s logical that they would do it too.

My brother was expressing his frustration with this question at Christmas, and my husband came up with the perfect response:

“Yeah, insufficient stork netting.”

[chrysostmomhasmoved]

I am waiting, EAGERLY, for someone to ask me this. Eagerly. Because I am ready this time, and I am going to say, calmly and slowly, “yes, I do know how it happens, and my husband is GREAT at it.” And then grin while refusing to break eye contact until they scurry away.

If you have more than two of the same sex, the questions get even ruder though. People are constantly offering my husband pity or sympathy and it pisses him off. The nerve of someone to imply he loves his daughters less because of their sex is just really shocking to me. I know I will get tons of “hoping for a boy this time, eh?” which I would plan a snappy comeback for but it just annoys me too much, I usually just grimace and say “hrm.”

[ruthtastic]

My parents have already tried to dissuade me from having three, so I can't imagine what I'd hear if I were on #4. (I am one of two, and so is my mom.) My husband, though, is a third child, so baby #3 is definitely happening sometime in the next couple years.

[ruthtastic]

I’m taking the day off of work to stay home while my mother-in-law (aka my childcare) helps my father-in-law recover from back surgery.

This makes staying home full-time such a temptation... but we would need to make significant changes in our lives to do it financially (and we’re kind of stuck with some things for the next year or two, so we wouldn’t be able to make ALL the changes I’d like to make until late 2016/early 2017). 

Fortunately, I’m starting to do some other work on the side, so maybe that will turn into something significant enough for me to leave my current job (which is a wonderful job... but... I want more babies, and I want to be with them).