My journey with Orthodoxy has been a slow and deliberate one.  I was raised a Christian and was very involved in my church growing up.  After college, I fell in love and married into an Orthodox family.  When we decided to have kids, it was important to me that we attended the same church as a family.  I began visiting the Orthodox church and remember vividly my first experience in the Divine Liturgy.  The beauty of the church was like stepping into heaven; its majesty truly mesmerizing.  There was so much to see and experience.  I know now that it was all of my senses being activated that made the experience so full of wonder.  The smell of the incense, the sounds of the angelic voices, the taste of the blessed bread, the touch of a blessing from the Priest.  I remember my grandmother-in-law trying to show me how to follow along in the liturgy book, but it didn’t help. I was completely lost.  Lost in the process and lost in the experience.  There was so much being sung in Greek and I didn’t understand a word of it.  How in the world was I to follow along?  So, I just listened and absorbed.  By the end, I was in tears.  The only thing I can compare it to, is attending an opera, where you may not understand the words, but you can feel the emotion. You feel something deeper,  something authentic, something ….I couldn’t quite put my finger on. 

So, I began catechism classes and discovered that this faith is the fullest faith.  My journey with Orthodoxy is ongoing and my learning is never complete.  What I do know, is that my heart is full and I thank God every day for bringing me to Orthodoxy. 

Embree Deason is married to Keith Deason.  Keith and Embree serve as volunteers in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Spiritual Formation for Children ministry.  Keith is active on the Parish Council and as an altar server.  Embree serves as a Strategic Positioning Leader and is also a member of Philoptochos (friend of the poor).   They have two children, Davis and Kealy who are active in youth ministries.