Happy Ostara everyone!  Tomorrow night my coven meets and I go over the ritual with the Summer and the Handmaiden one more time.  I'll also take a break and have a 'story time' maybe.  Then we'll dye eggs to decorate the altar and the ritual are with and if all goes well, we'll be outside!  Whooot!  We've been a little cramped in my apartment for ritual because of the weather.  This year I want to do as many outdoor rituals as possible.  I already have the loveliest spot picked out for Oreana's Wiccaning/Dedication.  I'm so excited!

My dear husband and I have a wedding to perform this afternoon, a traditional Wiccan Handfasting.  We do handfastings but very few traditional ones.  We're so excited.  The ceremony is a little over an hour away so we're leaving Elora at my mom's.  If it were someone we knew, we'd just take Elora with us.  She attends circles at home and within our coven.  Even at 5 months old, she does very well.  At Imbolc she was a little fussy as she had started teething.  People understand so it's not an issue. 

Speaking of our lovely daughter, I found an interesting website with an awesome page for kiddies.  www.proudtobepagan.com.  I'm so excited to have found it!  I'm currently looking for more places that have booka and stories for Wiccan children.  :)

There is a Lunar Eclipse on Wednesday!  It should be lovely in my area of the world, too. 

Here is the link for anyone wanting to know. 

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/13feb_lunareclipse.htm?list741430

I've been mostly reading my friend's pages.  Not a whole lot going on. 

My husband lost his job recently though.  That truly sucks for us, but I'm helping him look for jobs and I'm trying not to freak out over our finances.  My tax refund gives him some time.  He's been hitting the pavement looking for work so hard too.

Heard recently from our lawyer about the case my husband is in.  (My hubby is sueing someone that attacked him) We hope to get this resolved the sooner, the better.

Getting the coven ready for Ostara.  I'm beginning to show one of my newbies the basices of circle work so she can assist as Handmaiden for Ostara.  I think Oreana is pretty excited and I'm excited for her. 

Elora is teething so I'm trying to get back into energy healing to help her some.  She also had her first trip to the zoo this weekend.  It was wonderful!  We had a worn out child at the end of the day though.   LOL

That's pretty  much the highlights of my kinda simple somewhat boring life.  I like it.  :)

I have so many blogs.  Myspace, covenspace, cafe mom, and livejournal.  I'm the most active on LJ (having 3 blogs there and I run several communities.  I'm the least active on cafe mom. Myspace is new, so can't tell yet.  I guess it may be because as a child and for most of my adult years I didn't have any real friendships. 

My mom was over protective and never let me out the house without her tagging along.  It was ok when I was in Elementary school, but my teenage years?  Well, it made a social outcast out of me.  THen as an adult, my mom and grandmother became even worse.  I didn't even learn how to drive until I was 22.  See, if I couldn't drive, I had to depend on one of them to take me everywhere.  THey controlled where I went, how long I stayed, who I was with, etc.  I didn't even own my own car until 5 years ago.  And the bloody thing is almost paid off, too.  Can't wait for that.  The leash became tighter.  I was trapped.  The last few years my folks didn't work so they were financially dependant on me.  THey had me convinced I'd never be able to live on my own.  I'd never have any money, I wouldn't be able to keep a place to live, etc.  I became blind to the fact that young people all around me were doing that every day. 

One day after a particularly ugly fight in which my grandmother told me I was a horrible person and I deserved to be locked up in a padded room in a mental hospital (something I heard off and on all the time) I finally had it.  I ran away from home at 29 years old.  I swore I'd never go back.  Though my mom and grandma and I pretty much get along now, I had to ocme to terms (with some professional help) that I am an abuse victim.  No, I wasn't beaten.  But emotionally abused all my adult life.  It still seems like a bad dream. 

Anyhow, a friend of mine told me about how her English class weekly assignment was to take 10 minutes and write down whatever was on our minds.  So here's my 10 minutes.  I'm just glad now that I have a wonderful and loving husband, a beautiful daughter, and my own life.  For fun, here is me and my husband two years ago.  We were officiating a handfasting.