I had a wonderful time at the monastery.  It was very relaxing and spiritually refreshing.  We had community prayer four times a day, plus eucharist in the morning.  I also spent a lot of time in personal prayer, using a method of praying with Scripture called lectio divina.  Thursday was the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, so the worship was very high with lots of incense.  Plus, the food that day was incredible.  You don’t know good eatin’ until you’ve been to a monastery.

I have some pictures of the trip up in the gallery.  I have used GIMP to make some of the photos a bit more artistic.

I am currently in Albany in a hotel.  Stephanie and the kids are en route from Massachusetts.  Tomorrow is the wedding of Veronika Paedelt, Stephanie’s cousin.  I am looking forward to seeing Stephanie and the kids after a two week absence.

I have finished my research in Alexandria and Baltimore, so I am leaving this morning for Holy Cross Monastery on the Hudson River in West Park, NY.  I will probably be out of touch by e-mail for several days, which is great.  Saturday I will be connecting with Stephanie, Duncan, and Emma in Albany, NY, for a wedding.  It will be great to be back with them.

We left Tewksbury, MA, this morning and headed down to New York.  We had a meeting today with the missions staff at the head office of the Episcopal Church in Manhatten.  It was good to be able to share with them about the work we are doing in Lithuania and to know that they are supporting us.  We talked about ways that we can help broaden missions awareness in the Episcopal Church.  We also got to meet a few of the people who help us on a regular basis but whom we knew only by e-mail.

When the meeting was over, we headed over to Jersey City and Hoboken to visit with Stephanie’s cousins.  Unfortunately, the meeting had lasted until 4:00, which meant we started our trip during rush hour.  Getting through the Holland Tunnel took quite a while, so a ten mile trip took an hour and fifteen minutes to complete.  But it was great to see the cousins.  We will get to meet up with them again at a wedding in Albany in July, but I was glad we got to have some individual time with them.

The kids both fell asleep on the floor after the meal.  They are both still jet lagged.  So, we carried them back to the other cousin’s apartment where they are now fast asleep.  I will be joining them shortly.