I am beginning to look at things that are not working, and hope to replace them with things that work better. A birthday is an awesome reason for renewal and making positive changes.

Yesterday, January 29th, was my puppy, CJ’s first birthday. That was a nice reminder to appreciate my furry companions and let them both know how much joy they bring to my life. Even though he may not have realized his day was special, in my heart I had a new-found appreciation for him and his unconditional love.

Yesterday also, I was at the closing ceremony for a Kairos retreat my son attended. I was struck by the words of his teacher and mentor, and those of the others who attended the retreat. Words that stick in my mind were the words he quoted from a book he had read. That if a parent was on his or her deathbed, what were the three things they would say to their kids: “I love you. I am proud of you. Please forgive me.”  Those are some pretty powerful words that ring true to me and definitely have special meaning in my relationships with my kids.
My son’s birthday is in a week, and it reminds me that birthdays are not about expensive or extravagant gifts, or impossible standards of attention and behavior you could never realistically hope to achieve. They are simply markers of the passing years, milestones or landmarks in a life that is a gift from God.  My life itself is a daily gift to me, and the birthdays of my loved ones is a reminder of just how lucky I am that they are here with me.

Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday. I hope it is a great one.

This morning my thoughts went immediately to my friend, Br. Eugene, I mean Deacon Eugene, who is now Fr. Eugene. I thought of him awakening early on this very same day, with joy, with enthusiasm, with tremendous faith. Without that kind of faith, without that loving heart, it would have been impossible for him to get out of bed this morning either, just like it was for me. What had happened to my faith? Thinking of what a special day it was for Eugene, I climbed out of bed and began getting ready. I helped my dog, Comet out of bed and woke my kids…was it really that much effort?

Upon getting to the church, I found it nearly impossible to park, let alone to find a safe place to park. I had to drop my son off near one of the entrances so he could get inside in time to serve as an altar boy. At the last moment he seemed hesitant, but I gently urged him to do it. After all, it isn’t often that you get to serve at an ordination. I had a sense this would be a good experience for my young man to have.

At last, I parked and we walked quite a distance to the church. Even since I had been coming here, how very much the neighborhood had changed! You could easily see how this community had been built around this beautiful church and how everyone used to walk to it, and how so many years later the residents of the neighborhood do not attend this church. It is a world that no longer exists. Like that church, I thought of Eugene standing nearly alone in a world that hardly believes that any of this faith stuff is worthwhile. Yet there it stands, as he stood there today an island of faith in a faithless world.

Once inside the church and seated, my attention turned as it inevitably does, to the enormous, other-worldly image of The Blessed Virgin Mary on the dome of the church, behind the iconostas, above the altar. All at once, I was whisked back to my childhood, when I spent my time in the Roman Catholic churches in Detroit, gazing up at the images of Jesus, saints, angels, and Mary above me. Those images were like my very own Sistine Chapel and I wondered about the artists who painted them and the God who inspired them.

I am haunted by this image of Mary. She is like my Mona Lisa. I cannot decide if she is happy or sad, smiling or crying. I could almost swear her expression reflects my mood. Today when I gazed up at her I believed her to be sad. Her eyes looked mournful and troubled, it was as if she was pitying me for what I was feeling. I don’t know if others have this experience with her, as I have never spoken to anyone else about it. My eyes blurred as I focused hard on her image and prayed. I noticed I had tears which I quickly wiped away. Where was my faith? Why am I not strong and brave like Eugene? This breathtakingly beautiful church was built by such people. Such an artist had painted the image of Mary who was now looking over me.

Next thing I knew the ceremony began, with bread and salt, as is Ukrainian tradition. There was Eugene, looking peaceful and quietly happy. No need to be nervous as he is filled with faith. There was the Bishop and just seeing his bishop outfit let me feel the importance of the event about to take place. The only time I had ever been near a bishop before I joined this community, was the day I was confirmed. Then there was my son serving as altar boy. His smile made it all worthwhile. There is just something about that mother-son relationship. One of the things that makes me happiest in this world is to see my son smile. It does something to my heart that I can’t describe. I felt a little twinge of guilt that I don’t help him to smile more. I am not always a very good mom, because sometimes I just don’t believe. My mind went to Eugene’s mother who was there today. What kind of mom must she have been that he had the love and faith to give up so many worldly things to become a priest? And looking at Mary above me in the church, what about the faith and courage required to be the Mother of God!

The ordination ceremony was full of symbolism, faith, courage and love. I know Fr. Eugene will make a wonderful priest. His faith will move mountains. You can already feel it. He is a very special guy and I was honored to be there.

During his homily, the bishop spoke about the kind of heart it takes to be a priest. I had never considered this before. I will never forget his words. And how most of us look for a career that will be finically lucrative and a job that is interesting. Yet Eugene was called to do this and for none of the usual reasons we seek a particular career. He simply had to trust and still has to trust that he will be cared for on his journey, and here he is, a priest. And to be a priest in a world that mostly worships money and wealth, and nothing much beyond that. He already possesses the faith and the kind and generous heart, as well as the courage to walk a different path than most of us. I have seen only glimmers of that kind of heart in myself, like when I adopted my kids.

I was reading about all the rich symbolism in the booklet we had received. The special words that are spoken, the way the four directions are honored, north, south, east and west. The long ceremony seemed to connect heaven and earth, God to man. It connected us all and weaved us all together like the vines of the vineyard mentioned in the prayers. I was a vine in a lush and fruitful vineyard.

At last Fr. Eugene was ordained, and soon after, the church bells began ringing, as if it had been planned all along. I noticed just then that the sun began to come out even though it had been cloudy and dismal. It began to get brighter as the warm sunbeams poured through the clear windows of the cupola above. I noticed that one pool of sunlight was pouring down upon me. It felt so good to be there in that sunlight. It was beautiful and powerful. I looked up at that moment and was convinced that Mary had an almost imperceptible smile. She was smiling. God was smiling.

Fr. Eugene’s faith led me there today. And even though I am at on shakey ground at times, I felt my faith grow a little. The energy in the church was amazing and contagious.

Thank you Fr. Eugene, may God bless you always. May we all find the faith that we need.

A week ago, I was feeling kind of down. Some unfortunate things had happened that brought me so much disappointment, and it was hard to face that certain aspects of my life, or things that I had know and loved, were gone from my life.  I didn’t know if I would ever get to enjoy those things again. My daughter’s knee injury seemed more serious than I’d originally thought.  That same day, I discovered that my sister’s much-loved cat had to be put to sleep. I felt so sad about the death and loss, that I was in tears as I was driving my son to our YMCA.

Just then, I looked to my left and there in the pastures near the Y, were the sheep I always look forward to seeing.  All at once I saw the newborn lambs frolicking in the pasture! They were leaping, kicking up their heels, and thoroughly thrilled with life and the sunny day! I could not have imagined anything more joyful and beautiful if I had dreamed it up myself.  I felt myself smiling and feeling so grateful for life and the rebirth that spring brings.  There will always be winter, deaths, loss. pain and disappointment. However, the lambs frolicking reminded me how much is new and beautiful in life, and even death doesn’t diminish it.  I just had to open my eyes to see, and it was there in front of me in all it’s beauty and enthusiasm. Thank you little lambs, you were just what I needed!

Like most everyone, I have made my own personal list of resolutions for the New Year, and I have created a list of favorite things, and of course this includes resources related to health and fitness, art, and storytelling. These are all things and people I feel passionate about and that are helping me get off to a great start this January.

Eischens Yoga

especially my teachers Lynn Shuck

and Kari Tomashik

Storytime Yoga - Sydney Solis!

Arbonne Shakes (great for nutrition and weight loss)

Arbonne Detox Tea

Arbonne Natural Hormones

Skechers Shape ups (exercise shoes) – they have been great for my knees and help me use the whole back of my body…calves, hamstrings, etc.

Alternative Medicine Solutions

Health and Healing Chiropractic -  in Rochester

North Oakland Family YMCA – a great place to work out!

Auburn Hills Community Center - a great place to work out!

Woolynns – fiber artist Lynn Shuck…beautiful scarves

Beyond Barbie – beautiful, figurative work by a beautiful artist

Please note, these are all resources that I have had a great experience with, your mileage may vary!

On Sunday, my daughter and I ran in the 4-mile St. Patrick’s Day race in Detroit. Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, and seeing all the green, reminded me that spring was even closer than I’d realized. The day was so warm and the sun so bright, that we even had sun burned cheeks! It felt so good to run in my first race ever. I felt like celebrating, as I had spent so much time frozen with the pain in my knee, and then to be able to run, free of pain, was like the first day of spring.

My classes schedule is busy, and I am looking forward to new experiences in the spring and the summer. My new yoga classes with Fill in the Blanks workshops in Ferndale, have gone well, and I am beginning another session of family yoga classes in a couple of weeks. There have been many ups and downs, but it seems as though the kids really do enjoy yoga, even more than I’d expected. I love working with kids and seeing them try new things and learn to listen to their bodies.

In my yoga class for senior citizens, it is so nice to see how much they appreciate their practice, and how they are grateful and happy to see me.  Just the same way that I feel about them.  I love all of my students and I love seeing them feel better and more at peace.

I have so much to be thankful for!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Lisa

It has only been about a week, but a month of ups and downs, leaving old things behind and finding new. Old friends reappearing and some newer friends disappearing. These changes bring with them both joy and sadness. But today, the warm sun melted away any sadness, and I felt as though I could begin anew. There are SO many new opportunities each day when I awaken.

I am back to painting window murals at the North Oakland YMCA, a project that doesn’t pay anything but satisfaction. Sometimes for me, meeting the challenge and having it turn out the way I want is the best payment there is. I can only hope the work I did has been a great advertisement for our upcoming YMCA Halloween events! We will see! Today I also began painting aliens on the windows at the Y, with more alien invaders on their way…fun! Our theme for HAY (Halloween at the Y) this year is Alien Invasion! Any day that I get to make art, is a wonderfully satisfying day for me.

The best part of my day was spending at least a good portion of it with my girls. I know they enjoy being with people their own age, but today we seemed more like girlfriends and it was fun. We met at the Y after my volunteer work (and their volunteer work) was finished, and we went and had an early dinner. We came home and did some much-needed work around the house and the yard. Then we all went on a bike ride which turned into a real adventure (for me). For some reason they took me on this adventure into a world I didn’t know existed, until now, and it was cool. Also, it was a nice workout! We also saw deer galloping all around us, rabbits, birds, and many wonderful autumn colors. The weather was perfect and the afternoon felt perfect. We laughed together and I wanted to write it all down, or paint it in a picture.

At last we came home and worked on our Halloween decorations. We had a nice time doing that as well, as our Golden Retrievers, Comet and Chili, supervised our work. Then, we had to go to Van Huessen Farm, where the girls had volunteered today, to see the jack-o-lantern display there in the evening. They had carved a pumpkin as well, so we got to see it on display with the others. There were hundreds of glowing jack-o-lanterns lighting up the dark night. It was breathtaking. We walked around looking at the pumpkins, and waited until 9pm had passed so we could take their jack-o-lantern home. It was so much fun. I loved seeing how children and adults had created their beautiful and expressive art on pumpkins! SO many creative ideas.

The funniest part of our evening was our trip to Party City to look for witch capes for the girls. There were these two young guys working there who were dressed up in these outrageous costumes and they followed us around the store, flirting with with the girls the entire time. The one guy had a skirt on, and was asking us if skirts were always this uncomfortable to wear. What a perspective you get shopping with your teenage daughters when there are young men around. So funny. Halloween seems to bring out the creativity and adventurous feelings in people. I love Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, I am looking forward to telling/singing the poem, The Skeletons’ Ball, translated from Spanish by my teacher, Sydney Solis! I will begin practicing it and my plan is to tell it at the HAY event, Halloween at the Y! I received it this weekend, and it sounds great!

I am now teaching Storytime Yoga in our North Oakland YMCA Child Watch, three times per week. I love it. These are children who are at the perfect age to realize there’s more to life than watching cartoons on TV. I love the time we spend together, and I look forward to it each week. I do leave exhausted, but it is worth it! The kids need to feel that they are WORTH spending time with! Learning should be fun. Adults should enjoy them and nourish them rather than tolerate them or babysit them. I am excited this week because I am bringing in my magic wand which I believe they will LOVE. I will give them each some Storytime Yoga Magic with my magic wand before I leave. I believe they will get a lot of joy from it!

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I am really enjoying my longer Storytime/After School/Tweens Yoga at the Auburn Hills Community Center. I have a nice group of children. Together we are sharing so much. What I love is how they are opening up to me and sharing things that are not always easy to share. We also made our own journals to keep and use for our classes. I think that will be something they will always enjoy having. We are learning some wisdom stories, we are learning some challenging poses such as L-handstands, and we are also learning about poetry. I am going to post our art projects/journal projects in the Art Ideas section so that anyone reading this blog can get some ideas on how to do the great activities we are doing in class. So stay tuned!

Another great love of mine is working with Senior Citizens. I adore seniors as much as I love kids. They are another wonderful part of our society that, like kids, we don’t spend enough time nurturing them and loving them. I love my time with my seniors. I now teach a class that is called Golden Yoga, at the North Oakland YMCA. It has become so popular that they want me to teach a second one beginning in winter. I love that I am finally able to spend time with this wonderful group of individuals. It is so much fun.

So the fall continues, and Halloween is coming. I am hoping to bring many more art ideas to my blog here, to inspire yoga, art and story in your lives too!

Lisa