camp photos

who has them?

pt 2

Canada Day happiness

more photos -->HERE<---

He's here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andrew "Andy" David Gabriel Lanteigne was born at 3:42am on Thursday, June 26th. He weighed 7lbs 14 oz and was 53 cm (20.75") long. He is perfect!

We are home from the Hospital now and are all doing great (besides being slightly sleep deprived). Thank you for all your prayers - we'll see you in about a month!

Love the Lanteigne's - Gabe, Amy, Owen and Andy!

with trepidation...

the Deacon and I are going ahead with the traditional Canada day party this coming Monday June 30th/Tuesday, July 1st. However, as many of you know, we are in the middle of trying to sell our house, so the issue is how to have the house back in mint condition for the next day.
Solution: how about if the people who choose to stay overnight for the post-party breakfast volunteer to be part of the clean-up crew the next morning, to get the house back in shape?
sound reasonable? good. so it's on.
byo: bottle, brush, bbq (& sleeping bags if you're an overnighter.)

see you there!!

welcome Andrew David Gabriel Lanteigne!

weighing in at 7lb14oz, he arrived on the scene at approximately
4:30 am this morning with the help of doula Matushka Sarah.

good work mom and dad! a baby brother for Owen.

St Herman's Monastery

Apparently there is a wild fire, out of control, on the ridge above the monastery in Platina, California. The monks have been evacuated to Redding, and they are asking for prayers to save the Monastery.

I had to beat her to it!!

Phil and I are excited to welcome into the great wide world our new daughter, Macrina.
Macrina kicked her way into the world at 2:33 pm with a beautiful cry and an energetic shove.
She weighed 3.33 kgs (or 7 lbs 5 1/2 oz) with a head circumference of 33 cm.
She is absolutely gorgeous.
Her patron saint is St. Macrina the Younger, older sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa and credited by them with being the driving force behind the saintliness of their entire family (including their mother). We thought this an appropriate name for an older sister.
We are overjoyed to meet her face to face.

Thank you for your prayers,
Phil, Biss, and Macrina

memories of camp

Long time no see!

That's right! We're coming home for a visit. And bringing our offspring to meet you all...

My cousin is getting married in Abbotsford on Friday the 27th, and we found a seat sale, and it's a great excuse to see old friends, family, and church family, and get away together for a week, all in one go...and introduce our son to everyone...the long and the short of it is that we'll be in town from June 24th to July 2nd, and at church on Sunday and hopefully even Saturday night vespers. We just can't wait to be there again and see you all...

We're also looking for places to stay while we're there. Do you, or does anyone you know have room to sleep two plus a baby (we're bringing a portable crib)? For all or any portion of the week we'll be in town (we don't mind hopping around if we have to)? We'll likely rent a car so we can get around, and we can look after our own food, but we don't have a place to stay yet.

I just can't believe the tickets are booked and we're actually coming...

Can't wait!

Cheryl, Matthew, and John Samuel

“Members of one another”

“Members of one another”

ORTHODOX CHURCH IN AMERICA
15th ALL-AMERICAN COUNCIL
November 10-13, 2008 ~ Pittsburgh, PA


November may seem a long way off, but this upcoming council should be the subject of all our thoughts and prayers well in advance.

The latest issue of the Canadian Archdiocesan Messenger is now available at church in hard copy. It should also soon be posted online at our Archdiocesan website. There you will read Vladika SERAPHIM’s article “The Time for Reconciliation”.

The OCA, of which our Archdiocese and thus our parish are both part, has been struggling with a crisis of trust for a long time, more and more openly since the last AAC in Toronto in 2005. This is not a crisis about the Holy Orthodox Faith, but with our failure as a church to live up to that faith in everyday matters of church governance, in particular the stewardship of finances.

You can find a timeline of the development of the crisis at this link. This site, Orthodox Christians for Accountability, is the initiative of concerned lay people. There have been posts from respected clergy and lay leaders in our church, such as Fr. Thomas Hopko and Fr. Theodore Bobosh.

You can find the blog about preparations and news of the upcoming council at this link.

Please pray for the clergy and lay representatives who will go to this council from all over the continent; for the Holy Synod of Bishops; for the Metropolitan Council; for the Pre-Conciliar Commission who are making the plans and preparations; for the ‘town hall’ meetings happening in several locations in advance of the council; and for all the clergy, monastics and faithful of the OCA. The first of these has already taken place in Ottawa, and I have heard an encouraging report of it from Mat. Laurie Rodger, who was there and who presented a statement which is now available online here.

Here is an appropriate prayer to Saint Herman by Mat. Julianna Schmemann.

Saint Herman's publications & communications

The June 2008 newsletter, with fasting rules and details of parish activities is now up at the saintherman.net homepage:

http://www.saintherman.net/index.htm

Hard copies will be at church this weekend with the June calendar attached, which is also updated online here:

http://www.saintherman.net/calendar/

Please be sure to get your copy and post it in an easy to see place!

Sunday bulletins have not been getting a lot of use, and the paper has been going to waste, so I am only going to print these on a week where there are announcements out of the ordinary not covered in the newsletter & calendar. If you have something that MUST be printed in a Sunday bulletin, please e-mail me by Saturday morning at the latest at matdonna@shaw.ca

There will be NO newsletters in July and August. There WILL however be a calendar for each of those months and Sunday bulletins is needed. If in doubt about any dates and times, you can always drop by here at Spruce Island and/or the calendar page at saintherman.net!

Come on GOADS, face your nightmare!

Dear Goads:

Please answer this skill testing question below:

We will not face The Island Saints on Monday June 30th because:

a) we lack the humility to lose again;
b) we were all tuckered out by playing on a real rink last year;
c) we don't like pancake breakfasts;
d) we have gotten used to bad coffee;
e) we are apathetic about important things;
f) all of the above;

Yours with sticks,

The Island Saints

+++

a beautiful day with the family

more pictures HERE

The Newest Francis

Basil catching up on rest after an exciting journey into the world.

Matthew gave me the go ahead--so it is with abundant joy that I give news of my sweet nephew, Basil Philip -- born to my brother Matthew and his wife Krista on May 19th. Basil arrived at 34 weeks and is a strong 4lbs 7oz. Please pray for continued strengthening for baby and mama, (and papa too!) xo

Online Homilies

While poking about the net for content for the Facebook group promoting Fr. Lawrence's books etc. I found some of the old homilies on the saintherman.net site. I thought some of the newer folks might not be aware of these, so here are some of the links. The old website needs an overhaul, and these things are not well organized, but there are lots to explore for anyone so inclined. I do know that an overhaul of that site is on the agenda for sometime in the future, but I don't know when. We are very grateful to the work Fr. Justin did for us in this regard when he was with us, but he is much too busy with St. John's to help out any further!

So here I've pasted in what I posted in the Facebook group-- I'm not certain if all the links will work or if the downloads will work either, but for what it's worth, here they are:

St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church: Finally caught up with the homilies...
http://www.saintherman.net/200...

MORE HOMILIES FOUND! Audio files at this page....beginning with an Annunciation homily, soon to be seasonal...I haven't checked each one carefully, so please let me know if any of them don't download properly!

Another homily, seemingly from August 05... I love Fr. Justin's little sales pitch! Many thanks for the work he did putting these up back then, before he got too busy with his own mission!

http://www.saintherman.net/2005/08/homily-blasphemies-of-christ-and-his.htm


And another-- Lazarus and the significance of names. I thought this one was gone, but here it is. http://www.saintherman.net/homilies/FrLawrence2006-10-22TheParableOfLazarusAndTheSignificanceOfNames.mp3

Another-- Cultivating the Soil of the Heart Oct 2006http://www.saintherman.net/homilies/FrLawrence2006-10-15CultivatingTheSoilOfTheHeart.mp3

Sorry these are not in any real order-- I am just posting them as I find them The Fears of St. Peter Oct 2006http://www.saintherman.net/homilies/FrLawrence2006-10-15CultivatingTheSoilOfTheHeart.mp3

This seems to be the main page with homilies indexed by date but no titles. So if you're looking for a particular topic, you'll have to root around. When I have time, I may look through and plan to message the membership or post one at a time at appropriate feasts or seasons.

http://www.saintherman.net/homilies/

The photo you've been waiting for....

God willing, after today's surgery, it won't be long before the pirate priest look is a thing of the past.....

On today's prayer list

As well as Fr. Lawrence's eye surgery today, Gregory G. will be going for his stress test on his heart to make sure that the swooning spells last week really were a result of that flu virus everyone seemed to catch, and not a heart problem. His family does have a very serious history of heart problems resulting in early death. All of his grand father's brothers died before the age of 40, two of his first cousins died of heart complications as babies and two other first cousins have had surgery to correct serious heart defects. To add to this, his elder sister has been suffering from heart palpitations for a year and Greg's heart has always beat kind of funny (skipping a lot). So please pray that the test comes back good.

Thanks everyone!

RHI

The Passion of the Christ

Hi, all,

Gelu passed this interesting article

http://www.laurentiudumitru.ro/The-Passion-of-Christ.php

on to me but with everything that's been going on I didn't get it posted sooner.

Memory Eternal

Joan A., Julianna's nana, has fallen asleep in the Lord. Regrettably, Fr. Lawrence cannot serve as he will be in Calgary at the Archdiocesan Council; but we are blessed to have Fr. John B. attached to the parish, and he will serve the funeral this Saturday at the church at 1 p.m.

Joan was a lovely lady of spirit who converted to the Holy Orthodox faith later in life than most. Her health kept her from frequent attendance at church, but some of you may have met her. It was especially delightful that she was able to join us last December at the women's quiet day at Theresia's house.

The family will be grateful for your prayers for the newly-departed Joan and for all who mourn and miss her. Memory Eternal!