The Downhill Side

Fr. Philip, or Chappie as he is sometimes fondly called, has finally settled into a "life" at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. He and I were talking just today about how he isn't quite sure what he's going to do to actually find all the time needed to get everything done on his very long "To Do" list before it's time for him to return home!

Funny . . . it doesn't feel the same for me! Although, I must admit, this side of our long 12 months apart is going by a bit faster than I'd thought it would.

Thank you, God!!

I think I may actually be able to get a bit of a handle on my life during this "downhill side:"

• Our boat is in the water!

Now, for many reasons, this is a real miracle!!

First or all, there were months and months of repair after a terrible accident while the boat was being shipped across the country; followed by battles with the insurance company(s); schedules and weather delays . . . need I say more? The list goes on and on!!

Our boat - renamed "Pelikan Cliff's" - was finally ready to go back into the water during "Papa's" R&R last month (October). The weather was still really nice, and thanks to a lot of effort on many a family member's part, everything worked out beautifully!

It was a beautiful time together! I thought it might be too hard this time to be together and then say good-bye again . . . and maybe it wouldn't be worth it.

But it was! It was totally worth it!

Blogging Blues

I'm blogging in more than one place now and it takes up a lot of my time - so, here's part of my solution: while Papa (a.k.a. Dad, Fr. Philip, Phil, Chaps) is in Afghanistan, I'm going to do a lot of my blogging on the MEB (Marine Expeditionary Brigade) blog which I've created as the new MEB Parent Advisor. I'll continue some of the family blogging here when I can. If I refer everyone to the MEB Parents blog, then you'll be able to read that blog and I'll be "killing two birds with one stone" so-to-speak and you'll get the added benefit of a bunch of really cool information along the way.

That blog address is: http://mebparents.blogspot.com/

Once you've navigated to the other blog, be sure to check out all the links to the different websites I've put up. There are neat articles - there's one right now where they are interviewing the MEB Command Chaplain - our very own Chaplain Pelikan. You gotta check it out! That article is on the 2nd MEB website.

We had a wonderful time together before the deployment when we went to Disney World for 6 days - just the two of us. Once the grand-kids are a little older, we must take them . . . but this trip was just for the two of us and all of those special days we won't be celebrating together over the next 10 months - all rolled into one week! It was a blast!

The staff gave us the first class treatment and even gave us special stuffed animal gifts and complimentary drinks and food. This one says "I miss you!" and isn't even sold in most stores. We stayed inside the park at one of the resorts for the first time in our lives and had one of the best experiences ever!

Shortly after coming home from Disney World, Phil left for Afghanistan! He's been gone almost six weeks now.

Sherman came along! We got a hotel room the night before so that Phil could check out of his quarters. We made sure it was a dog-friendly hotel, so that we could all be together and he could say goodbye to Sherman too! Here we are just before loading the bus and driving away!

Bye, Honey! See you in 10 months!

Con't . . . A New Day

Ok, well, it worked! For those of you keeping up with my blog, you'll now be able to catch up and read about my precious Uncle Cliff's passing and the beginning of the Lenten Season (A Big Cleaning), which was actually posted about February 25th or so. (Not January as it states)


















It's time to talk about Dad for a bit (a.k.a., my husband, Fr. Philip, Fr. Dad, Papa, Chaps, etc.), and his eminent deployment to Afghanistan. He will leave toward the end of April and return sometime around the beginning of next March! (ugg!) We are in the middle of designing lots of ways to keep in touch with him, but because of where he's going in Afghanistan there's nothing there but sand right now! The Marines are building a base there from scratch, so there won't even be a lot of communication in the beginning. Everyone will be sleeping and working in tents and eating MRE's. It's going to be a bit old-fashioned - we'll have to actually (oh my goodness!!) send MAIL!! And who knows how long it could take to make it from here to there. No one knows at this point. For those of us writing a lot of letters, it'll be like the early days and we'll need to number our letters again so as not to get them all mixed up. Sometimes a whole bunch could arrive at once after not getting any mail for weeks, etc.

Chaps (as I will call Dad for the duration) is the Command Chaplain for the entire operation that you're hearing about all over the news lately and is ultimately responsible for over 8,000 Marines and 15 Chaplains from many different denominations. He's the only Eastern Orthodox Chaplain, however. Interestingly, he once asked the Commanding General what level of involvement he was expecting of him, especially with regard to the civil affairs piece of this operation? And he looked right at him and said, "I expect you to be very involved!" Pretty amazing choice of words in our world!

What does this mean, exactly? Chaps will find out a little bit more today as he goes to a class on government and economics of Afghanistan! Whew!


So, it is really happening! He's really going! As many of us wives so often say in the military, "Here we go again!"

A New Day

This is a test to see if my post will work an actually post with today's date???

A Big Cleaning

(I wanted to write about cleaning at the beginning of the Lenten Season, but I was having trouble posting to my blog at that time. I'm trying again to post today and will then add a new post if this works)





Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Japanese do o-souji, cleaning that is!

Literally, it means free and clean. It refers to the year-end cleaning Japanese do. Not just a little neatening up. Hands-and-knees, sweat-equity scrubbing, sweeping, waxing and buffing so they enter the new year ready for whatever awaits them. It's big business too! In the month of December, even Hello Kitty gets in the picture! More broadly, it refers to the custom of getting your affairs squared away before Dec. 31. That means paying all overdue bills, performing any obligations yet unmet and metaphorically purifying yourself. We move, if we follow the Oriental calendar, from one Year to the next.

"Hungry for Words" writes: In the west, at the start of spring is the time to do a big cleaning. In Japan, (o-souji), which literally does mean ‘big cleaning’, is at the end of the year. O-souji is not just about getting the house in order before relatives and friends come over on New Year’s Day. It has a spiritual and religious significance.

I was talking with a friend yesterday, explaining a little bit of this to her, and how after living in Japan for so many years I began to look at spring cleaning more as my o-souji! Meaning that I have found more spiritual and religious significance to it than just the spring cleaning I was brought up with stateside. I've blended it a bit more with my Christian life and here is the outcome:

Liturgically, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Clean Monday marks the beginning of Lent—and thus Lent itself—begins on the preceding (Sunday) night, at a very moving and special service called Forgiveness Vespers, which culminates with the Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness, where all present will bow down before one another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin Lent with a clean conscience, with forgiveness, and with renewed Christian love. This first day of Great Lent is called “Clean Monday” because Christians are called upon to begin the holy season with “clean hearts and good intentions.” It is also because the season of Lent is regarded as a time when Christians should clean up their spiritual house; coming to terms with their lives and rededicating themselves to a more holy and righteous way of living. The entire first week of Great Lent is often referred to as "Clean Week," and it is customary to go to Confession during this week, and to clean their own home thoroughly. The theme of Clean Monday is set by the Old Testament reading appointed to be read at the Sixth Hour on this day (Isaiah 1:1-20), which says in part:"Wash yourselves and ye shall be clean; put away the wicked ways from your souls before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, consider the fatherless, and plead for the widow. Come then, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool (v. 16-18).

Clean Monday is a public holiday in some countries such as Greece and Cyprus, where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting food, and the widespread custom of flying kites. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally forbidden to Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days, but shellfish is permitted. This has created the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood (shellfish, mollusks, fish roe etc). The happy, springtime atmosphere of Clean Monday may seem at odds with the Lenten spirit of repentance and self-control, but this seeming contradiction is a marked aspect of the Orthodox approach to fasting, in accordance with the Gospel lesson (Matthew 6:14-21) read on the morning before, which admonishes:"When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret... (v. 16-18)."In this manner, the Orthodox celebrate the fact that "The springtime of the Fast has dawned, the flower of repentance has begun to open..."

Ideally, what I like to do is begin cleaning just as soon as Meat Fare Week begins and have a final "big cleaning" during the first week of Lent. This helps to set the tone for Lent and keep me free of the distraction for needing to do a lot of housework during the Lenten Season. Once the Paschal (Easter) Season begins, my home is fresh and clean, ready for the new year and all that awaits me. (This is the goal) One day (or year, as it were) I will fully succeed in my quest!

Will you join me this year in "A Big Cleaning?"

Cliff Tyner - Of Blessed Memory

Blessed Memory:


Yesterday morning, our precious Uncle Cliff ended his six-year long battle with colon/liver cancer, and went home to be with the Lord! His family was by his side.

My earliest memories of him are when I was 14 years old and I was in his and Auntie Karen's wedding in Flaggstaff, Arizona. Not long after that, I stayed with Auntie Karen when Uncle Cliff was away with the Navy when I was 15 years old; their twin girls, Christy and Cathy, were born when I was engaged to Phil, and they were a year old when we were married and moved to Japan . . . and the list goes on and on . . . ! Many of our families memories are shared memories, and Uncle Cliff was always there - the stable rock!

He was a brilliant engineer, inventor, faithful friend, and gentle leader of his family.



















These pictures were taken two years ago when he and Auntie Karen were visiting us in Japan. He was very sick then too and wasn't even sure he was going to make the one-month trip. But he had a wonderful time - as did we all! Mom and Dad were with us for a two-month stay too, at the same time. I love the sweet expressions on his face. It was a trip of a lifetime and chalked full of preciously sustaining memories!




May his memory be eternal!