St. Simeon Skete, Taylorsville Kentucky USA

With St. Simeon, the God receiver, as our patron, the skete seeks to practice the ideals found in our Rule, The Thousand Day Nazareth. In simplicity and poverty, the skete embraces the struggle of inner life through the practice of the Prayer Rope.

See our website at www.nazarethhouseap.org

Donations should be addressed to: Nazareth House Apostolate, 185 Captains Cove Drive, Taylorsville, Kentucky 40071.

Important Notice: All writings, posts, graphics & photographs in this blog are the copyrighted property of (unless otherwise indicated) Nazareth House Media, a division of Nazareth House Apostolate and cannot be copied, printed or used without written permission from NHA Media, Taylorsville, KY.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Some time for refreshment...

James and Kadijah work very hard, so do the girls, to do the work of Nazareth House in Sierra Leone.One of the first things we do when we land in Sierra Leone is to try our best to refresh them. They are tired, worn out and in need some pampering.We take them out to eat, do something different, out of the ordinary for them.
Eating out is special and not something that they have the opportunity to do very often. The first full day we decided to go to The China Garden. A little restaurant on Lumley Beach. The tables are situated under a roof but in the open air.I am determined to make sure everyone eats well. Funny thing is they order RICE, something they eat everyday. While we finish up our food, Fr. Seraphim and Roo take a walk outside, visiting the neighboring merchants. They decide to take a walk to look at the ocean which is high tide right across the street. But Roo has other ideas, he is afraid of the water, especially in the dark. So Fr. S returns him to our table.Fr. S and Lucy decide to walk the beach, Ann Marie runs to join them.
The surf air smells sweet and fresh, the crescent moon lights the wayand the ocean breeze feels good....soon Kadijah, James and Roo join us on the beach, but Roo is not sure, his eyes are big with fear... The roar of the ocean is frightening him.Fr. S. tries to comfort Roo, but he is still worried.It has been a long day, we are tired and ready to return home. As I turn to leave, I notice the fishing boats resting in the sand. Like the one docked as we reached the port of the ferry that said "Believe in God" this one too, has a message. It says "God is with us". The boats scattered all over the beach are like God's little post-it notes, reminding us always of His love and presence.