Let the reading begin

My books showed up Thursday....I'm currently on page 36 of the "Becoming Orthodox" one and so far so good. I like that it is a personal story of why they converted rather than a how-to. It makes it easier to read and allows me to see the process that happen that lead them to find Orthodoxy.

I had to have some lab work done and for some reason the hospital didn't have all of my info anymore...when I went in a couple months ago they had my high school address from 15 years ago but in the past two months I disappeared...go figure. Anyway, we had to go through all the usual "martial status, employer, next of kin" crap and she got to religion and I just stared at her for a minute. I guess she assumed I didn't hear her because she asked again and I said, "Sorry, Serbian Orthodox I suppose." "You suppose?" "Yea, it's not really official yet but I'm marrying a man who......never mind, you don't care about the story, just put down Orthodox." She just chuckled and me and moved on to the next space on the form. When she printed it out and gave it to me to give to the lab I look and it said, "REL: Sb Orth" and that was so strange to me because for my entire adult life that has always said, "REL: None." I figure if I'm converting and going to church and all that jazz I may as well have someone I know and like there to pray for my ass if something should happen, da nada Bog (God forbid).

Usually when Milan and I go to church we leave Eric with his dad's parents for the morning. They have been watching him a lot lately as we've had one thing after another that is MUCH easier without him present (like meeting with Father) so I told Milan yesterday that I didn't want him going over there this morning. I said, "I know you want to go to church and that's fine...but we're either taking Eric or he and I will stay home and you can go." He understood my reasoning and said, "Well, I guess we need to buy him some church clothes then." So off to Target we went to find a pair of dress pants and a button down for a 4 year old. It was oddly hard to find! Granted we could have gone to the mall and had no problem but I was trying to avoid that. So luckily for Eric, Target had no ties for little boys so he only got stuck with some black pants and a blue oxford....oh and some uncomfortable (they look like it anyway) black dress shoes. Most of you who may read this don't know my kid but he has the attention span of a fruit fly and can stay still for about 0.82 seconds and is only quiet when he's sleeping. So church should be interesting today. We decided we would sit near the back so we can easily duck out when he starts being crazy. Besides, it is Mother's Day...what better day to take my son to church with me right?

While we were shopping I also found myself some new church shoes. I have A LOT of shoes but most of them are sandals (like Birkenstocks or flip flops). I have some flats but they are either uncomfortable for long term wear or meant to be worn with pants. I was seriously lacking flats that were comfortable and skirt appropriate...so after MUCH time in the shoe store I found a pair that I hope will be okay and not kill my feet today. They were really comfy in the store but you just never know until you have to stand in them for 45+ minutes. I also dug a jacket out of my closet so my elbows will be covered today...good thing I remembered I had it...otherwise I'd have been wearing a sweater and who wants to do that when it's warm out?

Well, back to my reading while everyone is still asleep and the house is peacefully quiet. :)