1.  In a few short days, I'll be 29.  Surprisingly, this doesn't seem to bother me.  Perhaps it's because my husband is 33.  I've already passed the emotional threshold of being 30.  When I was a teenager, I had a premonition that I'd die before I reached the age of 30.  After I met Steve and got married, that sense of foreboding vanished.  Hoping ( Read more... )

I really find your struggle fascinating because I've recently begun to wonder to what extent I should share my Orthodox faith.  You see, in our Liturgy, just before we receive communion, we say a series of prayers aloud.  One of the prayers says, "I will not speak of your mysteries to your enemies."  I've often been challenged by this prayer, but ( Read more... )

Some of this may not make sense when removed from the context of the email conversation of which it is a part.  Nevertheless, I'm putting it all here for record-keeping's sake.

It's strange--your talk about reworking your worldview. I'm fairly certain mine hasn't changed in years. Even in converting to Orthodoxy (which really does give a different ( Read more... )

From some recent letters to Burt:

Thinking about this business venture is a lot of fun, hard work.  I've been branding myself with simply my name (www.kristenmichaelis.com), but if Steve's going to market that it might sound kind of weird.  How do you call up a place and say you're working for your wife?  That's not very professional sounding.  So ( Read more... )

Like a swift, but gentle breeze, it blew through our lives this weekend.  On Saturday, Glenn and Burt  passed through here on their way to Memphis, TN with their poster gig.  Today is their first wedding anniversary.  Anyhow, the visit was pleasant but short.  We talked about meaningful things; it was like old times.  We ate a low-key dinner with ( Read more... )

I've been dreaming about Oregon a lot recently.  Especially the mountains behind Talent -- the ones I used to affectionately call "my mountains."  I used to drive those roads so frequently, and everytime a particular view of the mountains came into view, I would let out a deeply satisfied sigh.  "My mountains," I would say inwardly with a pleased ( Read more... )