Sibling Revelries

That After Christmas Glow

2012-01-03T07:25:00.003-06:00

Or is it more of "burn" than "glow"? As in "crash and...."

Either way, I am up. "Too many kids in the bed and too much mess in the house," I told my confused husband when he woke up for work this morning. Of course, by the time he was down, I was online instead of whirling around the deserted (and yet stuffed beyond recognition) school room.

We have more than this today, but this was the first a few weeks ago.

I awoke sometime before 5 AM and lay there trying to be sleepy. Mad at myself for making too many bedtime exceptions probably leading to all of them being in the bed this morning. Resolving to be better tonight.

First taste of snow. Literally.

Truly, it has been better lately. They stay in their beds after we put them there. Stay, but do not necessarily sleep. Some kind of tweaking of the process is definitely in order. In a little over two months, another will be added to the mix, and then I will have even less patience and energy, at least for a time.

Definite approval for this white stuff.

Why is two months nearly always the magic number? Doesn't matter how old the older child, but it seems that two months before the next sibling arrives, I feel a sense of order, routine, peace with my household duties. The meals get made regularly, the kitchen cleaned. The "nearly former baby" has some semblance of routine, naps well, is cute and cuddly.... All to be displaced and upheaved in such a short time.

Why is eating snow the first thing they want to do when it starts falling? Not that there was enough or the right kind for snowmen.

I'm getting to the stage where the baby seems to be pushing its way out... but through the wall of my stomach instead of the usual process (which is, of course, just fine since it's too early!) so that I have a large lump that I suppose is a foot sticking out of my side at odd times. Getting crowded in there, baby? Let's not continue the upward trend in birth weights, though, OK? Nine pounds and 13 ounces is quite enough.


My nearly ten-pounder, all grown up into a toddler.

These photos make him look ginormous!

Back to that school room: if I can get it in order and pantry cleaned out (my brother is installing shelves in there for me for my Christmas present) by Thursday, I'll be satisfied. Then we can celebrate Theophany that evening and Friday, and get back to school on Monday. Which also means I'll have to look over what we need to be doing in that area. Our Friday co-op classes resume next week as well, so it will feel like a "real week."

Watching how it's done.

And goodness, before the ten weeks of classes are over, God willing, I will have another baby. I'll be a confirmed "crazy person Mom of four." There's really no hiding the fact that you desire a big family and are OK with "lots" of children once you cross the line to four, is there? I mean, two is not a big family. Three is big to most people, but then, maybe #3 was "unplanned." We have the added excuse that the first two are girls and the third is a boy, so maybe we were just "trying for our boy." Surely, now we can "shut down the factory"? (I kid you not, a man at a rest stop asked me if I was going to do that—in those words—a few weeks after we had John.)

Busy.

Well, it's been about an hour since I stopped glowing with cleaning fervor. Time for second breakfast, another cup of coffee, and another go.

There's big sis. She was moving so fast from project to project out there and plenty far from me (as far as you can get in our little yard) that she didn't end up in many photos. Plenty more opportunities for snow photos in 2012, I'm sure!

{phfr} A Few Nights Before Christmas...

2011-12-22T10:03:00.002-06:00

...and all through the house...

{pretty}

I've been a little lacking in {pretty} or at least, I've been lazy about photographing it. But I do think this is pretty. Actually, there's plenty of it in progress, only we aren't finishing our decorating until tomorrow when Fr. Andrew is off and it's right before Christmas. We don't like to decorate too early, in order to maintain the spirit of preparation and fasting for Advent. (Sorry about the quality of these photos. It really is time to replace our camera instead of making do with the iPhone, isn't it?)

Playing church.

We were babysitting some boys and the youngest just loves church things. He went around the house and collected as many crosses, icons, and church things as he could find. Then he set up this little altar to "play church." He actually wasn't satisfied with this amount and wanted more "Jesus stuff." I'll be very surprised if he doesn't end up serving behind the altar in some way later in life. Isn't his lectionary stand creative? (It's a nursing footstool.)

{happy}

You'll notice a theme here:

All three cuddled in, watching something on TV.

She just loves babies. Good thing, too, because there will be more in her life!

She loves to read to John too. Here they are cuddled around the board book basket.

It's a good thing my eldest likes babies, because she will be their second Mommy! Most of the time, she does an excellent job—especially when anyone needs cuddling. It works out well for her because she's such a touchy person. I just don't have as much cuddling to hand out as she wants from me. So she gets a lot of it elsewhere. And it makes for some pretty cute photos.

Oh my. I almost forgot {funny}!

So, one day, I gave the kids a bath. I put John in his jammas. I began to let the water out of the tub, and then I turned my back.

A tiny bit of water remains....

Guess who jumped back in. Necessitating new PJs.

Oh, but he was proud of himself.

{real}

Anyone recognize this meal?

It's a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving lunch. With added fish. This was the weekend after Thanksgiving, I think.

I think the toast went largely ignored.

A new tradition?

OK, back to the Christmas prep. I'd also like to get out of the house with the kids today. They've been kind of cooped up all week. I think a trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory is in order! Let's see if I can make it a quick one! (I'm not very good at that.)

A blessed final days of Advent to you all!

St Lucia Day Swedish Meal

2011-12-13T13:13:00.001-06:00

Beverages

Hot Mulled Cider
Sparkling Pear Cider

Cold Course
Smoked Salmon
Vinegar Potato Salad

Pickled Cucumbers*

Pickled Mustard Herring
Cole Slaw
Olives
Pickles
Lingon Berry Preserves
Limpa and/or Flatbread

Hot Course
Broiled White Fish with Dill
Lingon berries
Boiled Potatoes
Roasted Beets
Swedish Brown Beans*

Dessert
Coffee
Pepparkakor
Vegan Rice Pudding* served with lingon berries
Saffron Lucia Buns*

*We'll see if I get around to linking any of these to recipes, but a lot of it is self explanatory and possibly even prepackaged.
**This meal would contain more meat and cream sauces, etc., if it were prepared outside of the Orthodox fasting season of Advent. In fact, we'll have something similar to this as our main Christmas dinner, which will include a mustard cream gravy, potato sausage, and pot roast. But I'll stop there!

Daybook: Mid-Advent

2011-12-05T10:02:00.001-06:00

I don't often do a Daybook post. I'm really wanting to keep up this blog, but I just don't have any great epiphanies at the moment. Too much to do! Must keep doing the next thing! I'm getting to the point in my pregnancy where I cannot make it very far into the evening without a nap during the day. This usually happens while John is napping, which is a little bit of a shift to me because I had that time slotted for Maggie and Susannah's Math and Handwriting. However, recently, they've been insisting on doing these on their own. This is a part of homeschooling I'd love to get into, the self-taught thing. I mean, in addition to schooling them, I have babies to care for, the house to clean, the food to cook. If they could get into the habit of doing some school on their own (with my checking over their shoulders, of course), that would be just fantastic. So, maybe the timing works out.... (Ha. I just suggested to Maggie that she do some school by herself—"I can't do it by myself!" We'll see!)

Daybook: Monday, December 5

Outside my window...

The gray-ness of impending Winter. Do I want to open the blinds completely to let in as much light as is available, or keep them down (but open) to somewhat mask the color of the sky?

I am thinking...

That we are over halfway through (Orthodox) Advent. I awoke this morning, my mind buzzing with Christmas preparation lists, grocery lists, school lists. It's a list day, for sure.

I am thankful for...

My husband's jobs. He works hard and provides for our family. May God help me to manage what we have well.

From the school room...

Regularly, we do prayers, reading (Bible or saint story, poems, a fable, and either Beatrix Potter or James Harriot), handwriting and math, and a focus book. (I'm not sure what else to call it.) Right now we are working through Paddle to the Sea. Oh how I would love to finish it before Christmas! It's the part of the day I so often forget to do. Maybe we should do it first for a while?

From the kitchen...

Fasting food: Tuna Tettrazini, veggie pizza (cheese-less, which my weird kids actually prefer, although, theirs doesn't even have the veggies), hummus (so much hummus), pasta with red sauce (Johnny's favorite), broiled salmon and baked sweet potatoes, tomato soup, mushroom shrimp pasta. This week? Hmmm... I think everything on my menu is missing a vital component, which means I either need to go shopping or make a new menu or both. Low on tp, here, so the shopping is a must!

I am creating...

I'm a little embarrassed to say... friendship bracelets! No, actually, I am not embarrassed at all. It's just that I don't have anything much to do with what I create. I was at a fabric store for something else and was wandering the aisles (very dangerous, however, turns out they have a lot of nice wooden toys and other creative, longer-lasting type toys... who knew?), and I happened to spot a friendship bracelet pattern book for about $6. I used to do these when I was a kid, and I am enjoying the repetitiveness of making something with a pretty pattern. I would love to be working on something more useful (quilting, please? Someone teach me!!) or trying to knit or crochet, but there's a lot of sharp things involved. Friendship bracelets only require the thread, a pattern (most likely stored in my head), and a safety pin. That's about all I can handle with my little kids running around right now. I'm hoping it will lead to bigger and better things in time. At least, I can use them as bookmarks. We always need another bookmark.

I am going...

Not many places. There is so much to do around my house that we go to church, an occasional store, and we stay home a lot. Not for everyone, but it works for me!

Well, actually, I take that back. This week, I'll have a prenatal on Wednesday with a stop at Trader Joe's afterward, a trip to IKEA for some Swedish Christmas fare (family tradition) and some household basics, and hopefully, I'll be able to make it to Vespers on Wednesday. I decided last week that I'd like to try to get our family to weeknight Vespers, at least for the season of Advent. There are no extra services at our parish like there are during Lent, and I think the kids are all old enough (and going to bed late enough) that we can manage this.

I am reading...

Hmmm. What am I reading? Most often, Like Mother, Like Daughter and Praying With My Feet. But I think of this question as referring to a book or some type of great literature. Most recently, I finished Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, went on to Little Men, and finished with Jo's Boys. Very much enjoyed them all, though I think I preferred the first.

I am hoping and praying...

For Mat. Anna in the loss of her baby at around 12 weeks gestation.
For a families at church going through deaths, extended hospitalizations, and other hard times.

I am hearing...

The pitter-patter of John's little feet as he runs around the house. He was sick for a couple of weeks and it makes me appreciate having him healthy again.

In the music department, we've been playing hymns to St. Nicholas, the Akathist of Thanksgiving, Handle's Messiah, and other Advent-y type things. Right now, though, it is silent. That might be the first thing I'll need to do today is pick a soundtrack for the planning I have to do today.

Around the house...

Oh the house. This is an exhaustive list, isn't it? Bathrooms need attention. The floors need to be swept. The girls room needs to be sorted once again. It takes so much upkeep, and while they can help, I am the one who needs to spearhead the organizing efforts. Make me want to hide it all in a closet.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

Monday: Lists and planning; laundry/housecleaning; school.
Tuesday: Possible visit from a friend; or IKEA trip; school
Wednesday: Prenatal, with glucose test. Blech. At least I get to drink real juice instead of that watered-down orange pop stuff; Trader Joe's; Vespers.
Thursday: Bulletin; school.
Friday: Possible visit from a friend; school.

Here are some picture thoughts I am sharing...

Sorry this is soooo blurry. Maybe we'll replace our camera soon. The iPhone camera is just not cutting it. Anyway, this is Susannah asleep in a chair, and Maggie cuddling with her while watching TV. It's the only way Susannah will consent to cuddling with Maggie (most of the time)—by being asleep. :)

Home again, home again...

2011-11-27T11:06:00.001-06:00

No jigs, though. Just sickies again! Thank God for a mid-week Liturgy in celebration of Thanksgiving! I wondered about whether to go (the kids were fussy, we were trying to pack to leave town that night or the next morning), whether to receive communion (we were somewhat late, was I prepared enough?), but ultimately, the reality of Winter with three kids who are passing around colds and fevers hit me with enough force for me to think, "Who knows when I'll have the opportunity again?"

And as I'd suspected, we're home again this morning. Susannah had a slight fever last night and hives. She slept in a lot (after tossing, turning, and itching through parts of the night), has lost the fever, but the hives remain. Anyone have any magical ideas on how to convince a picky four-year-old to take benadryl?

Thankfully, my little guy is mostly back to normal. Fever's been gone a week, and I finally get the sense he has slept and eaten enough to make up for being sick for several days with a high fever. His giggly, inquisitive personality is back, he chatters up a storm, and he tries to scale various pieces of furniture once again. Just now, he crawled into my lap and nursed to sleep. Cutie.

Well, I'm off to try some more tactics on the benadryl front. Wish me luck!

We Thank Thee Dear Father

2011-11-22T13:40:00.001-06:00

We seem to have a history of illness at Thanksgiving. (And Christmas, for that matter....) When we lived in the tiny apartment, it was stomach flu. The next year, we spent Thanksgiving with dear friends in Pennsylvania. I think I had a bad cold and a breast infection. I don't remember the next Thanksgiving, but the one after that, the week previous we had a horrible stomach bug (Noro virus or something like that—it was going around Chicago) and then the actual week of Thanksgiving, nearly everyone at my parents' house (except us because we'd had it the week before!) had the same thing. Ugh.

This picture makes me happy. Stomach bugs do not.

This year, it's a bunch of sniffles, colds, a fever for the baby (that lasted forever and accompanied other symptoms, but he's now on the mend), and other stuff for other family members. I'm sure we'll all be well enough to travel (barring any unforeseen stomach flus!), but it's been a little hectic getting ready for the big day and trying to fit in some school while a certain cute boy wants to be held all the time.

This is a healthy Johnny.

Who happens to be diving into a bowl of bacon.

What's odd about that?

What's been nice today is that the kids have been coming up with all kinds of things that sound to my ears like "school," all on their own! Maggie wants to start a weather chart to document the daily weather. Later she did some phonics at Starfall, and then she followed that up with inquiring about "curvess" (cursive), pulling out the letter formation chart to check it out (she was shocked by the cursive b and also surprised that the uppercase E looks like a backwards 3), and finally tracing some block letters to spell various words. Next on her self-made agenda is playing the game Mastermind (which I think fills the Math void for the day).

Baths followed by french braids provide the curls.

Meanwhile, her sister Susannah tagged along and while Maggie was tracing, Susannah was writing out the alphabet from start to finish. Right now, they've been playing happily for some time, and John has again fallen asleep in my lap, as he still seems to need about three naps a day to recover from his illness. At least he's cheerful today and letting me put him down to go to nap occasionally!

Something intellectual, certainly, going on here with Grandpa K.

Most of our days are not quite so free-form (or at least, I do make them sit and do various workbooks and read from previously chosen—by me—books), but it's so helpful for them to have so many interests all on their own on a day when I need to get our lives back together after tending to a sickie!

Fr. Andrew and Grandma K.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my kids' inquisitive minds, for our (mostly) healthy bodies, for the good food we will have, and for a holiday that brings my dispersed siblings back together in the home of our parents once again. Yes, there will be plenty of sibling revelry this weekend. God bless!


This girl gives me lots of love. :)

*Photos from our trip to Schmidt's Sausage Haus and Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Isn't it impressive that we managed to capture all of us at some point on this outing?

Mug Shot

2011-11-15T15:25:00.000-06:00

I'm very particular about the mugs I use. This quirk of mine particularly struck me tonight as I gazed into our china cabinet at over ten different mugs, considering the merits of each, and instead of choosing any of them, went to the dishwasher still in progress. Out of the steam, I picked the one I'd been looking for, my North Park University mug.

Thinking about it, I've been this way for a long time. I've given my Mom several mugs over the years, and in all the instances, part of the impetus towards the gift was to provide me with something pretty and feminine to drink out of when I come to visit.

More recently, my brother used to live with us. He owned a set of colorful stacking mugs that sat in our kitchen. One day I confided in him that there were certain colored mugs that I refused to drink from because I disliked the hue. I think he just shook his head. But as I was visiting his new apartment a few days ago, and the coffee was nearly ready he asked, "So, would you feel more comfortable drinking out of an orange mug or a blue one?" Definitely blue.

The one's I rejected tonight? First of all, my regular set, which we registered for when we were married. I really like these dishes: white with a blue border and blue backs. Sturdy, hardworking, easily matched with other patterns. But not in the evening. Not after a long day.

My regular set is my go-to for morning coffee. They are the right size: not too small (too little beverage) or too large (beverage gets cold before I can finish it). No words to read early in the morning. Just calm white and blue mugs that evoke images of hearty farm-house crockery. But in the evening, I can't face their peppy shape. All day long they are telling me to wake up! Get the kids dressed! Let's get doing our school for the day! Get that clean! Figure out what's for dinner! What do you have to do tomorrow! You can do it! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Not now. At this moment I crave a mug that can receive my exhaustion. My NPU mug is not my idea of pretty or feminine. It's a dark blue and has straight sides. In a way, it's "all buisness." It is connected across what feels like many years to dim memories of studying through the night in college. It's there to keep me going just a little longer. It's not for a night of cheery, intentional relaxation as would be my over-sized Touchstone or AFR mugs, but for an evening of "Finally, I'm done." Hard work was done today, and now you may rest, this mug tells me.

Giveaway at Praying With My Feet

2011-09-21T08:49:00.001-05:00

A good bloggy friend of mine, Mat. Anna at Praying With My Feet, is celebrating 1000 posts and having a giveaway!

Click on over to her post to enter to win the above lovely handmade quilt!

Congratulations on reaching this blogging milestone, Matushka! Many years and many more posts!

September Busy-ness and Some Baby News Thrown In

2011-09-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that as soon as I get into writing this post, John will decide his nap is over, but I'll start anyway. :) We have been into our homeschooling schedule for about three or four weeks now. I'm pleased to say that it is actually rather enjoyable, the kids have declared they "love math!", and the house is in no more disarray than it usually is.

Today, instead of jumping into our usual homeschooling day, I planned a housecleaning day. I've been intrigued by this idea of once-a-month cleaning. I have the suspicion that I probably only get around to changing the sheets, scrubbing the tub, or mopping the living and dining rooms about this frequently (or less), so it wouldn't be a radical change. But by doing it all at once and scheduling it in, I wouldn't have to feel guilty about not checking these things off the weekly to-do list for weeks on end.

Of course, instead of actually getting into the actual cleaning, I instead opted to clean up from the massive explosion of clothes upstairs as necessitated by (a) the weather and (b) my new shape—wow, wait! I've been so busy homeschooling, etc., that I haven't announced why I have a new shape.

Yes, we are expecting Number Four!

(Did I really just say four?) I am due March 14 (anyone want to hope for a St. Patrick's Day baby?).

OK, so with that out of the way, back to the clothes. I sorted through many random laundry basket, have resolved to get myself a dresser (rather than the baskets-under-the-bed-and-in-the-closet "system" I've had for a while), laundered two loads of towels and have a lights load ready and waiting for me to get off the computer, fed us all lunch, straightened the kitchen counter, and got the dishwasher running. I'm even dressed, showered, and somewhat groomed!

(I'm mainly typing this out to convince myself that I have more to show for my morning than two loads of towels!)

So, I now hear the boy waking up—that's my cue to get the next load of laundry in and then get him. I hope to get back here soon with a photo of our new living room wall art! :)

Walk Accomplished!

2011-08-24T17:27:00.001-05:00

We made it out again today for a little walk before starting a sort of trial school day. (We're officially beginning on Monday, but I need a few dress rehearsals to remind what I still need to do!) Since we had luck with the flower garden in a neighbor's front yard last week, we ambled over there again today. We also visited yesterday, but as it was raining, there was no wildlife to spot.

A cursory glance did not reveal any butterflies, but suddenly I noticed something bigger! A small, bright yellow bird perched on a flower and nibbling at it! I hushed the kids and tried to point it out quickly. A few moments later it was gone. Maggie (6 years) had seen it, Susannah (4 tomorrow) had not. I promised I'd go home a look up a photo online.

I discovered many photos that looked like this little fellow:

From www.birdjam.com on the American Goldfinch page.

Then I wondered what the American Goldfinch sounded like and at the above website (www.birdjam.com), I found a place to listen to birdsong! Lovely.

Now, maybe I was imagining it or just so unfamiliar with different birds' songs that I can't tell the difference, but a song that was quite similar to the American Goldfinch's kept wafting in the open window as we were sitting in our school room doing our math....

I'm really enjoying Charlotte Mason's focus on nature and especially becoming familiar with the plants and animals in your particular area. How useful! I feel so much more connected to my surrroundings just knowing a tiny bit about them. That's a Maple, this is Queen Anne's Lace, we just saw a Red Admiral and an American Goldfinch! The internet makes it so easy to identify the wildlife you see on a brief walk. And of course Anna Botsford Comstock had something to say about it too. And then there's plenty of fodder for the Nature Journal, which is just the first step into Science.

Oh, and for fun, I was going to add this video, too. For some reason, this bird comes to this family's window every day and knocks!

One More Week, Kind Of

2011-08-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

The school year is approaching! Amazingly, I'm looking forward to reclaiming routines. While in some ways this feels like The First Real Year of School (we actually have a math curriculum this year), in other ways, I've been here before. I've done Fall. I have some resources and ideas stashed away (somewhere) and some activities that would be fun to repeat. (Leaf window art, anyone?)

Lovely books are coming to our house almost daily. I finally ordered a new calendar for this year. Fr. Andrew and I have used these for several years and love them. I didn't order one last year because I was going to try going digital, but it totally destroyed my calendaring abilities! I entered things in there and then because I am apparently rather visual, it was like they were just gone! I'd completely forget they existed. I even tried printing paper calendars from iCal to hang on the wall, but then I was entering info in two places again. So, paper it is!

I looked at the Ambleside curriculum I'm planning to follow, and to use their week-by-week schedule and be able to take off the weeks where I know school just won't happen (and to avoid having to go too long into next Summer), we actually need to start next week!

So, this week, we need to get the school room cleaned up, for one. We've been starting to get back into a semblance of a morning routine, and I'd like to continue adding things to that this week, maybe even Math. (A wise, veteran homeschooling Mom friend of mine once told me not to start everything all at once, but rather to stagger. Genius!)

I'm a bit worried about how I am possibly going to stick to a school schedule and still get all the household things done. I'm not good at doing little bits of everything all day long... I do better with big chunks of time. If I plan to school in the mornings and then assign a household chore to the afternoons, it looks something like this:

Monday:

AM: School
PM: Housecleaning and Quick Laundry

Tuesday:

AM: School
PM: Desk (bills and budget, planning, menu, bulletin... this is way too much for one afternoon)

Wednesday:

AM: School (somewhat shortened?)
PM: Groceries (This is not an ideal time. Don't all the sales start on Thursday?)

Thursday:

AM: School
PM: Baking and other cooking projects (stock, etc.... I wish I could confine this to one day, and one consistent day. Maybe my kitchen would be less likely to explode that way.)

Friday:

AM: Homeschool Co-op
PM: Laundry and Quick Clean

I'm still not sure about this. The Friday tasks seem like a lot for a day I've spent out of the house. But I suppose they can be tweaked. I was going to start doing these this week, but I've already had to be out of the house today (to visit with a moving friend, so it was completely worth it—plus, I just can't stay inside on these perfectly temperate weather days when I know disgusting, cold, Chicago Winter is coming). I do still have a little time for at least some straightening and maybe some bathroom scrubbing.

I haven't had a housekeeping plan for so long on purpose, and I hope I'm not going down the same route again by trying to make one. But I do feel like certain things are being missed. I think I also need some detailed checklists for the tasks that I'm planning to do so that I don't have to stand around scratching my head and reinventing the wheel each week. But that can wait until I've had a few weeks to practice.

This may be another post where all you veteran homeschooling Moms are guffawing into your elbows, so bare with me. And come back and comfort me in a few months when I am doing None of the Above.

{pretty, happy, funny real}: New Living Room!

2011-08-18T14:21:00.001-05:00

{pretty}

Remember last week when I was lamenting that I had a less-than-pretty view when I opened my front door? Well, it turned out that moving the homeschool shelf was the missing piece to my living room jigsaw!

Here's the before picture to refresh your memory:

Looking back at this, it's not exactly ugly, it's just that the first thing I noticed was the pile of papers on my desk. :(

Here is what I've got now!

I'd like to improve the wall art, but this is so much better!!

{happy}

My desk is now (at least initially) hidden behind the door. And actually, I love sitting over here by the windows with the breeze blowing around me. The internet is a tad slow being this far from the modem, but we'll have to see what we can do about that....

I've had fabric meant to recover that chair for years. Must. Acquire. Crowbar. And. Staple gun.

{funny}

What would a {phfr} post be without some photos of this guy?

I put out the ottoman for one of these shots... reminded me why I don't leave the ottoman out. Not to mention the underside is all cracked and full of nails sticking out at odd places. Nice for putting up feet, though!

I then put away the ottoman, but John protested so much I gave him the pillow. He likes to "sleep" on small pillows like this. Normally, he gets the right end on the pillow, though.

{real}

As in, we REALly need some storage back here. I was hunting around on craigslist for something to put in the place of the homeschool shelf. Good thing I didn't find anything I really liked, because that was where the TV needed to go to make this new arrangement work! Now I'm hunting for some kind of long and low shelving or buffet or cabinetry to put back here under the windows. I do love that it's open now, but we need the book storage space! And I also like couches in front of bookshelves. Makes it feel like a library.

Linking up...

Walks and Butterflies

2011-08-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

I always envy people who go out and take walks. I'd love to make it a part of our routine. I tend to spend a lot of time at home: I'm just not coordinated enough nor can I transition fast enough to do a lot of quick outings. I tend to go out and stay out all day. But a walk—even just around the block—to get some air and look at our neighborhood, should be doable. Even in the Winter we can handle something short! And I have nice memories of going on evening walks with my Dad (often reciting poetry such as The Cremation of Sam McGee, for some reason).

But in general, getting out of the house, even for a 15 minute stroll, usually eludes me. As do many of my daily responsibilities at times. Sigh.

But today—success! I was showered, all were dressed, we said our family morning prayers, read from the Bible, and made it out for a walk! Now, in theory, this will all happen before we do school in the morning and it will happen at more like 9:00 AM instead of 10:15 AM, but seriously (all you seasoned homeschooling Mommies are guffawing into your elbows, I know), this was progress!

And in reward for our little around-the-block jaunt, we saw one of these in a sweet wild-flower-esque front yard not far from us:

I didn't think to bring the camera.

The above is an illustration out of this book from a trip to the Chicago Nature Museum, which (among plenty of other things) features a "butterfly room" where you can stand around as they whiz around your head and possibly land on you!

I don't think John had any idea what was happening. As you can see, Maggie (on my right) is not too happy about a giant bug landing on her Mommy.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the Red Admiral is what we saw. I looked around for some pictures online and found quite a few. I then stumbled upon this neat resource:

BAMONA: Butterflys and Moths of North America with specifics on the Vanessa atalanta species of butterfly.

Of course, then I started daydreaming about planting some kind of butterfly garden next year to attract them to our house. Anyone have any experience with this? Maybe I'll read up on it this Winter. We actually planted and had success with tomatoes and some basil this year (with lots of help from our downstairs neighbors, who planted flowers and lots of other veggies, and did lots of clearing and watering).

I'd say if we manage to do this three times a week (even twice a week!) I'd be happy. But I'd love to shoot for daily!

Maintenance Laundry Day: Recovering from laundry paralysis

2011-08-16T12:06:00.001-05:00

First Load: Outfits to last until the next available laundry day (I use the laundry on Mon, Wed, and Fri, so my list reflects that):

2 complete outfits per family member (don't do what I did and forget Dad!)
2 pairs underwear per person (add undershirts, etc., as desired)

This is the bare minimum. I added these optional, but helpful, items:

1 pair pajamas per person
1 swimsuit per person (we're going to the beach—I hope!—at the end of the week)
1 church-worthy ensemble per person (that way I'm not surprised with nothing respectable in their closets if I we can swing Wednesday evening Vespers)
a few extra onesies for messy babies
as much additional underwear as fits!

Second Load: Towels

Kitchen towels or bath towels—whichever is most dire

Third Load: Sheets

Master bed sheets (unless another bed literally is unfit to be slept in)

This is what I did on Monday. I read a tip (probably a comment somewhere on Like Mother, Like Daughter) to do the one outfit per person part when you have a mountain of laundry to do. There are few things more frustrating than spending a good part of one day doing loads and loads of laundry and to wake up the next morning and find that you managed not to actually clean an entire outfit that actually matches!

I plan to sort the rest of it today so that it's all ready to go in the wash tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm so relaxed knowing that I have clothes for today and tomorrow! I may even make my first load tomorrow another one which I know contains enough outfits to get us to Friday. Or maybe I should just start with the bottom of the basket first. ;)

A School Room of Their Own

2011-08-12T11:50:00.003-05:00

Does the "to have a school room or not to have a schoolroom" debate just seem endless to you? I've been on both sides for awhile. I thought the idea of a dedicated school room sounded lovely. A little table. Surrounded by bookshelves.

But then, downstairs, we literally did not have a room to spare. We did school at the dining room table. I enjoyed being in the heart of our home (we spend so much time at the dining room table), in the company of our icon corner, being startled to discover that my kids really wanted to learn things from me and actually listened to what I had to say a good part of the time. As long as I didn't go on too long....

The Entrance of the Theotokos Feast Day Box from Orthodox Christian Craft Supply. How we love these—must order a few more for the Fall.

But then we moved upstairs and gloriously found ourselves in the possession of more rooms! A dedicated floor for bedrooms! Even if there are only really two rooms up there. And you have to walk through the first to get to the second. And there's no bathroom up there. But still! Lying in our giant king-sized bed (which had formerly been squeezed into a typical Chicago apartment bedroom—I kid you not, we could not even close the door) in our giant master bedroom, looking up at the sloping ceilings because, yes, really, it is the attic of the building: well, it is like this blissful cocoon in which to slumber and forget about the stresses of the day lingering a flight of stairs below.

The little not-really-insulated-heated-or-air-conditioned back room that had been (downstairs) my husband's office was freed to be something else, and since my kitchen is awkwardly filled with doors and doesn't exactly have room for a table, we settled on the back being a breakfast nook.

Breakfast by candlelight on a dark snowy day

And it really did a lovely job of being that.

Our view of snow-covered garage roofs, which I quite like.

But in my quest to provide some order to my house and not always have piles everywhere, I gradually begin to remove the kid things from the living and dining rooms. Out went the tiny toys in the corners of the windowsills, the bag of blocks, the kids' books that were always just being pulled off the shelf into a pile by the baby. (Don't worry, there were still some kid books down there. I love to see my kids poring over books!)

I thought that doing that, combined with confining them to the back of the house when I couldn't be mentally present to chaperon them in the adult living areas would do the trick.

But their homeschooling stuff and craft supplies were still out there. Any time they wanted to make a drawing of a sun with girl eyes and legs or cut a piece of paper into infinite tiny bits, there it was on my dining room table (and floor) to be picked up mostly by me when I'd surfaced from whatever consuming household chore or project I had happened to have been engrossed in at the time.

An answer came to me slowly. After a visit to a friend's house that contains a small school room in the back of her house, the thought, Move the school stuff. Make the breakfast room into a school room, began to float in the back of my mind. Rather, it nagged.

The breakfast room was really difficult to keep clean of food debris after all. The table had awkward gate legs that were hard to sweep around and it is a tight space for that big table and all that seating.

I began looking on craigslist for a tall table and stools to replace the chopping block cart/island in the kitchen. Then we could eat small meals in there if we wanted to. (For a picture of what I found, go back one post to this one. Scroll down awhile to see the table. Just yesterday, I picked up two more stools so now Mommy can sit down and eat too! Very important!)

Then I did it! I moved the table to the other side and folded up one side of it to make some room.

(Goodness, I am finally getting to the point of this post!!)

This is just after I cleaned the floor. But nothing has been put back on the corner shelf yet. The table is full of little projects the kids have come up with: Feast Day Boxes, sorting beads into cups—I love what they do of their own leading!

Then we moved a corner shelf—which we call the "homeschool shelf" and which had not been hitherto residing in a corner in the upstairs apartment— into the only available corner in this room.

Nothing organized yet....

I sort of let the kids run amok in there for several days. I have to go through and toss or store what doesn't apply to this year. I also had to actually order this year's books but that is finally done (mostly!) so I didn't want to waste time "organizing" when I was really procrastinating from getting our actual books.

She turned and made this face just as I clicked the button, I swear.

Yesterday, I shooed the big kids outside while I attacked the floor of this room. I wish I had a before picture! Just imagine the above table contents (but individual items about 90% bigger, as not to be choking hazards for Baby John) all over the floor. But one of the organizational ideas I had was this:


Blocks in one, random baby-friendly toys in the second, little board books in a third (unpictured).

I'll get back to you on whether this system has any merits!

I know this post has gone on forever already, but here are a few other corners I wanted to show. I was browsing Like Mother, Like Daughter (when am I not?) for some motivation to get back into our routines and schooling very soon, so clicked on the "education" category and found one on Nature Tables.

So I repurposed the top of this tiny bookshelf to serve as such for the time being. We'll need more space later on, and maybe I'll get a bookshelf to put between the tiny one and the homeschool one. But this will do for now.

Let's see rocks (top left and continuing clockwise) from Grandma and Grandpa's house, wooden cross from craft shop, jar of shells from a lake at a camp I went to as a girl and from beaches in France (!), acorns and buckeye from a nature walk at the start of school last year. Small collection, but we had no place to display them until now! We'll add to it this year.

Of course, nothing prompts interest like a new arrangement!

So that, mostly, is that!

Here's a fuller view of that side:

The little chaos-maker himself on the floor....

School should be extra interesting with John around this year.

Thank you, Auntie Leila, for the motivation to make many of these changes and for this post on educating children at home in particular!

A Less Messy Entry

2011-08-10T10:28:00.004-05:00

I can't quite bring myself to call it something along the lines of "pretty," but I'm joining a linky over at Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Here are the befores:

This is what awaits just around the corner of the backdoor. It's not really where guests come in unless they've gotten a ride from us (which happens), but it is where my husband comes in every day, and I think it's important to spruce up what he sees first.

Why does everything end up here? There's about half a square foot of space there and for some reason, that's where I unload my purse as I'm coming or going. I do like to store my purse on this thing, mainly because I just need somewhere in the kitchen for it to live (there's a tiny bit of entrance hallway—which I may show you later if the kids don't all mutiny at once while I'm writing this—but it is already quite tight).

But this is not what I have in mind for it, generally.

Notice this little book in the middle of the chaos? Confessions of an Organized Housewife. Clearly, I need this book.

So, I don't have any pictures of the process, but I took everything off of the cabinet and sorted it into piles. I had the idea that the piles needed storage here somehow, that that was why they were there. I even went searching for this odd organizer thingy I'd made a while back.

But you know what, as I sorted, 90% of the stuff could just be put away on this floor. I did repurpose a little basket for all the tiny toys and kid stuff that ends up down here somehow and that needs to go back upstairs.

Here's what I came up with:

That is where the purse usually lives. But look just above the purse. There's a cute little head up there....

Let's pause for some cute baby.

Boy, do I know I'm cute or what?

OK, back to organizing.

So, I don't really consider this "pretty" or even ideal, but at least it is neat.

I think I'm going to have to say goodbye to that island thing next to the cabinet and then I'll need some more storage over there....

There. Not too bad. Don't like the radio antenna hanging all over, but it's the only way to get reception. Also don't really like the stuff on top of the radio and speakers, but again, it's neat.

Here's the rest of the first view of the kitchen from the back door:

So from that picture, the whole kitchen just looks covered in dishes. And it is. I could give you the excuse that I'm sick (which I am), but even when I'm not, the evening and bedtime circus often leaves the kitchen this way. But you know what makes it instantly better, if only slightly?

Clean table. Ah. At least it doesn't look completely out of control now.

And just for good measure, here are few other views, of which I do not have before shots:

This is the aforementioned tight back entrance. No room for a big bulky purse/diaper bag. I severely edited what is hanging on this thing. It's somewhat necessary right here, but it's also what you see right when you come in.

I have since mopped those back stairs, which really brightens my day when I open the back door. But picture that landing nearly covered with boxes. I decided that it just clogged up my life to have things living down there. That one remaining box is full of glass bricks and I'll have to get one of the men in my life to move it.

Hmmm... I need a better shot to end this post with.....

That's better. This is slightly related to entries since it's one of the first things you see when you enter my front door. It's fun because I really like those pillows and because I repurposed a duvet cover to cover that couch. The arms are still bare, but they actually match the blue of the checks, so it works!

***************Addendum******************

You know, I keep wishing I'd done the real front guest entry... but it really is just a door into the living room which views my desk of all things! I am terrible at keeping THAT clean. Here are the before and after pics of that:

Before: kinda cluttered. A pile on the desk. And while I like that display of cards, it just looks like a mess in this photo. Maybe I should edit it?

Desk pile cleared... but really... what to do when you just walk into my living room and dining room? I've relocated most of the toys and kids books (which I'm not so sure about because I like to watch them lounge around reading...) and the school stuff is now in our cute little schoolroom, which I should show you all when it gets organized. Part of the problem is that when I go online for something, the kids sort of run amok behind me. Maybe if I started bringing the computer into the back half of the house and stuck to Aunt Leila's rule about confining the kids (and myself when online!) then maybe that part of the house would stay tidy? Thoughts?

{phfr} What a break!

2011-08-04T09:08:00.003-05:00

What has it been, two months since I last posted? A few weeks after Fr. Andrew's ordination, we made a last-minute decision to attend our Parish Life Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Well, my decision was last-minute. Fr. Andrew had been planning to attend already. But the thought of my husband having several days off in a row for a long car trip with a giant hotel room to himself? Bah! We're coming too! We lucked out with a fridge and microwave in the room and mostly ate out of those! We had a nice time meeting new people and seeing some old, dear friends. On our final evening (well, we were only there for two evenings and the first was the day we arrived, I think... whirlwind trip, it certainly was), we joined a seminary friend's family in hunting down St. George church in Cleveland, our hosts, and exploring a giant urban park across the street, complete with interesting bistros and good corner coffee shops.

{pretty}

On the day we departed Cleveland, we headed over to Fr. Andrew's sister's house to visit with her and her husband. We brought them quite a variety of lunch food from our stash for our hotel room. And in return, Aunt Leanna gave us this beautiful bowl from their recent trip to Turkey. I just stuck it next to this icon of the resurrection (which in and of itself is fairly interesting, since it's not an icon seen very often in the East) and I love how the icon echos the shape and color of the bowl in the aura (is that the right word? energies?) around Christ. Not planned at all.

About a week later, we had a fun-filled visit from Fr. Andrew's other sister's family. We had a total of ten people staying our house that week—and a total of six kids! We had a great time having them here and we did a lot of exploring the city.

{happy}

One day found us in a park that was set up for some kind of outdoor theater. The kids all ran around at random, and John was just so happy that he could now join in like the big ones. His walking in earnest began somewhat simultaneously with Fr. Andrew's ordination, and he's happiest when all the adults in the room quit telling him how cute he is and trying to cuddle him already. He just wants to move!

A couple of weeks later and we were off on another quick adventure. My parents had gotten us tickets to an outdoor Shakespeare theater west of Madison, Wisconsin. We picked up Daddy from work a bit early and raced up to meet Grandma and Grandpa at a Culver's (Mmmmmm....) near American Players Theater. We had dinner and then left the kids with the grandparents who would take them to a nearby hotel to play in the pool. We booked it to the theater for our walk "up the hill" to the stage. If we'd have had more time, we could have picnicked in the park near the theater. It's a beautiful location.

We slathered ourselves with bug repellent and grabbed the ponchos packed by my parents (hadn't thought of that...) and it was certainly a good thing we did the latter! We got the full APT experience by getting thoroughly soaked as "the show must go on!" The rain did let up for the touching final scene of The Taming of the Shrew and as we applauded the riveting performance, the cast applauded us for sitting through the weather!

{funny}

Here are our girls modeling their similar dresses in the hotel room the next morning. They look a little too sweet, don't they?

And here's an out-of-order shot of John in our picnic basket. Silly boy.

Finally, a week later and the National Antiochian Archdiocese Convention made its way to Chicago. We left the kids with friends for "clergy day" so that Fr. Andrew and I could go to our respective meetings without boring the poor kids to death. They had fun playing with their favorite two-year-old girl (whose blog hasn't been updated in a little while). Mommy and Daddy had a fun day in downtown Chicago, sipping Starbucks and renewing friendships with fellow clergy families.

That Saturday, we joined my parents again, this time at the Convention hotel rather than Madison for some downtown shopping (can you guess how often I do that?) followed by Vespers. The following morning, All Saints worshiped with many bishops and three metropolitans at the Convention. It was a beautiful liturgy with many, many worshipers in attendance!

So, I think that about brings us up to the present. No wonder I've felt somewhat off in my housekeeping and blogging and general normalcy. There hasn't been any normalcy since the ordination!

{real}

A final monkey wrench in our life has been that a few members of our family have needed to be off of white flour and sugar. So these cookies were made with whole grains, stevia, and "date sugar" (which is just ground up dates). Yes, the chocolate chips had a wee bit of sugar, but I only put on three per cookie. Not bad for a non-refined-sugar cookie, though!

And now, it's the beginning of August, we haven't been to the beach even once, and I need to make some decisions already about our homeschooling books. Really, I just need to sit down and order them already. I'm half excited and half terrified to beginning homeschooling again. We sort of winged it last year (and considering my kindergartner taught herself to read, I think we did OK), but I'd like to be a little more organized for the big First Grade. I'm sure I'll look back on this or on our future kids' first grade years and barely blink, but for now, I think it's a lot about establishing good habits—mainly for me! Wish me luck!

****Update: Boy am I rusty. Here's the missing button!****

Axios!

2011-05-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Dear! You've been preparing for this since before I met you. Thank you for letting me share this journey with you.

Axios! Mustahek! He is worthy!

(As a side note, the girls now want to call him "Father Daddy.")

Remembering Constantine

2011-05-21T08:41:00.000-05:00

I'm slightly belated in this post. Two years ago yesterday evening, I completed the miscarriage of my third baby. While I was only eight weeks along (little Constantine didn't measure more than six) and while his presence in my body apparently doesn't even count towards the number required for my goal of attaining grand multipara status, he was missed, mourned, and loved.

My girls still talk about him occasionally. I remember their assumption that he had a name. The question wasn't "Did our baby have a name?" but "What was our baby's name?" Of course he had a name. Of course he was a person. He was a baby, just one who was too little, too sick, to come out to be with us. He went to live with Jesus instead. Mother Mary cares for him, I'm sure, as he prays for us.

At the time, I didn't know where to go for advice and information. Sure, I knew people who had miscarried, and so many people came out of the woodwork to share their stories with me. Being at St. Tikhon's Seminary, we were surrounded by people who knew how to handle a miscarriage in a loving, Christian way. So many had gone before us and could act as guides with suggestions for where to bury, how to pray, how to grieve, how to remember.

But for actual technical information? My options were limited to Google searches and www.babycenter.com. While I am indebted to the information I found—as it allowed me to recognize my baby's tiny amniotic sac—the site used sterile terms like "products of conception." It gave me no indication of a respectful (Christian) way to deal with my baby's remains, but thankfully, as I said above, I was not alone to figure that out.

Thanks to Mat. Anna, we Orthodox now have somewhere practical and comforting to turn. A few weeks ago or so I added a new button to my blog: Lost Innocents: Practical helps for miscarriage from an Orthodox perspective is as a tribute to her little Innocent who passed away sometime during this past Lent. She has convenient liturgical information for burials, a practical section with photos to help you prepare for delivery and know what to look for, and plenty of other resources. Sometimes it just helps to immerse yourself in other people's stories, to know that other people have been where you are now as you allow yourself to grieve and release your plans and expectations for this little person's life. You'll find that there too. If you'd like to have your story included (even miscarriage labors cry out to be "told"!) I'd encourage you to contact Mat. Anna and offer.

Thank you, Matushka, for your work on this resource. I pray that it provides support and comfort to many.

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Reasonably Clean

2011-05-19T10:24:00.002-05:00

I have something I've wanted to write about for a long time. It's nothing deep or weighty—just one of those every day ramblings about housework. The photos will have nothing to do with that (or almost nothing). There is just so much to do every day that spending a long amount of time blogging just doesn't happen. It's thanks to Leila's idea for {pretty, happy, funny, real}, that I do any blogging at all lately!

{pretty}

Two out of three in their Pascha (Easter) best. This was actually taken on Bright Wednesday since on Pascha proper, they were all asleep by the time I thought to take any photos.

What I wanted to write about, though, is this. Awhile back, I stopped doing housecleaning "systems." I've done FlyLady, I've tried rigid schedules, and finally, I just stopped them all. Instead, I vowed, I would clean things when they were dirty.

It seemed that with any kind of imposed system, I was training myself to ignore dirt. I tend to have this problem in lots of areas of my life. I ignore the time on the clock, the crying baby in the playpen, the alarm on my phone going off under my pillow—all because I don't feel like attending to it. With housecleaning, I talk myself out of needing to do it right then because it doesn't fit into my "system."

So, with the "no system" system, I simply look around, and if it's dirty, I clean it. No talking myself out of it unless it's truly dinner time, bedtime, or time to leave for somewhere.

{happy}

These are the bay leaves that are thrown around the church on Holy Saturday. As soon as I put John down in them that morning, his face lit up with delight. He didn't know where to crawl first. Of course some of them went in his mouth, but they're just spices, right?

Now, I'm not truly satisfied with this way of doing things, but I think I needed the step to sort of tune up my awareness of mess. I'm incredibly indebted to FlyLady's system as a beginning point. When you have absolutely no idea where to start, go there. She told me exactly what to do and my house was a whole lot better than when I was doing nothing because I was so overwhelmed. But I also noticed that I never seemed to finish anything. With all the timers and not doing "too much," I never actually seemed to get anything to the point where it was actually clean.

I do understand that a huge part of her system is not being a perfectionist (which is, amazingly, what often causes me to do nothing) so I see the value of learning to do a "good enough" job. But I was coming to the point where I knew what a clean floor was, and with her way, I never had one. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but I wanted to actually spend as long as it took doing the floor occasionally. I suppose she does provide for those tasks somewhat with her daily missions, but since I am terrible at doing anything every day, I would often skip the missions because inevitable adding them to my life would cause me to "crash and burn."

{funny}

This kid will not leave the DVD player/VCR alone. Doesn't matter what I put in front of it—he is obsessed.

Getting back to my "non-system," though, I knew it was lacking—things were going too long between cleanings, and I knew I could be more regular about it. Plus, I needed to be able to set aside time for homeschool. I'd noticed some things about my laundry that were starting to fall into a sort of routine. We'd gotten rid of enough clothes so that the task wasn't as daunting and actually needed to be done at least weekly instead of me being able to stretch it to two or more weeks without really doing it completely. I also started to finish it up by Saturday so I didn't have to do it on Sundays.

I finally thought I could handle some kind of schedule without falling apart, so I went back to one of Leila's Reasonably Clean posts—The Moderate Clean: Two secrets to keeping your house on track. I was a bit nervous about this, but I sat down with a pen and pad of paper and tried to make a system out of it. One thing I realized was that I still hardly ever "cleaned. the. room." (Quoting my Dad. It drove us nuts when we were kids, but we'd ask if we were done cleaning, and he would inevitably respond, "Clean. The. Room. Listen to the words. When the room is clean, you're done." Makes a lot more sense to me now!)

{real}

Notice the artful stacking of these dirty bowls from smallest to largest?

So, here's what I pulled out of her post:

I need to clean up (blitz) the house every day. Blitz! That implies quick!
Most of my hard work each day should be in one zone.
In zone cleaning, I need to "clean. the. room." Begin by putting things away, removing things that aren't supposed to be there, getting the room into an ideal (or passable) organizational state, and then actually clean (as in dust, sweep, maybe even mop!) the room! Now, this probably won't need to be done weekly in each zone, but at least I should assess the room (with my new-found "dirt awareness") weekly from the aspect of "is it clean?" and daily from the aspect of "is it passably tidy?"

I did come away with a schedule of sorts, but I'm also being very flexible with that. Yesterday was not supposed to be kitchen day, but I felt like the kitchen hadn't been truly clean in weeks, so I went there yesterday—and finally figured out how to clean our toaster oven (by... um... scrubbing it.... I'm a slow learner). Basically, I'm making the zones fit my actual house and how much I can do in a day (or week) and I'm making the schedule flexible as dictated by what is actually dirty. But the schedule is there so I don't neglect to truly clean, say, the bathroom (as opposed to a quick wipe-down) for a couple of weeks!

The thing I'm trying to figure out is how she gets it all done in an hour (including dishes and laundry!) every day. It gives me a good goal in that I need to work faster and that I need to be OK with "good enough" in some aspects and just move on to the other things in life. And I'm sure that after these days of initial cleaning after a period of neglect, the work will go faster on subsequent days.

If you made it this far, bless you! Here's your bonus photo:

{just because}

Someone having a blast at the Chicago Children's Museum. His gap-toothed smile is SO. CUTE. ARGH!

My personal bonus in all this thought about housekeeping is that after truly cleaning something, life is actually easier! Whee! For example, it's so much easier to cook in a clean, orderly kitchen! And I certainly don't feel like I was lazy. I'm even a little bit sore from all that scrubbing!

{pretty, happy, funny, real} Holy Week, Pascha, Etc.

2011-04-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

{pretty}


I bought a couple of potted plants, intending to take one of them to church for our Pascha flower display. This little stalk of lily of the valley broke off, so it briefly adorned my kitchen icons. Incidentally, I forgot to take a potted plant to church. A lot going on that week, no?

{happy}

The rest (I apologize) are going to have my kids in them. But these two have a special bond, and their happiness makes me happy.

{funny}

This guy loves the cat. And surprisingly, the cat loves him back. Opie (the cat) has been recently deprived of his partner in shedding, as we had to put down our other cat Faust. Faust used to sort of manhandle Opie quite a bit, which perfectly prepared him for John's expressions of love. Here we have John trying to crawl into the shelf (which used to store my wok) to be with his cat-friend. According to my five-year-old either of them (when in this position) is "pretending a pot."

{real}

My children fell asleep quickly at the Pascha Vigil. We didn't even make it outside for the procession.

I think next year, I'll do my best to keep them awake for that and then allow them to pass out at will. This one, at least, was rouse-able for communion.

Not a great shot, but a little perspective on their "church beds." At least I got to go this year!

{Joining up at Like Mother, Like Daughter}

Ordination

2011-04-19T09:09:00.000-05:00

Dear friends, we learned recently that my husband Dn. Andrew will be ordained to the priesthood of the Orthodox Church! On May 29 at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, we will enter this new stage of ministry, the culmination of much preparation and prayer, with both trepidation and joy. After a Lent full of revelations of my inadequacies, I ask for prayers for both of us as we become a Father and Khouria.

Should anyone wish to attend, please email me at perelandracbc [at] yahoo [dot] com (replace the words in brackets with the appropriate symbols) for details.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

2011-04-13T12:27:00.001-05:00

I love the photography over at Like Mother Like Daughter. It has seriously helped me to stop lusting (seriously) over magazine photos and decorating blogs full of looks I like but can never have (or at least, not for a while). It's good to get ideas. It's not good to despair because my home will never, ever, look like that.

Leila's photography is filled with little corners of her beautiful things. Not designer things, just beauty in the form of little bowls, filled vases, flowers, food being prepared.

An old insulator from those ubiquitous electrical and telephone wire poles in the alleys of Chicago made into a candle holder by my father-in-law.

Yesterday, she invited us to join her. Tomorrow is the first day. Thursday. Plenty of time to figure out what to post. None of this Monday nonsense. ;)

So, as an explanation of why this blog has been so quiet lately...

I offer a few shots from our dining room window sill.

Q Day in our home school

I know my shots aren't that clear. The camera attached to my hand-me-down iPhone goes only so far. But it's what I've got. It's quite convenient, since every time I need to charge it, I plug it into my computer, and it ~~magically~~ automatically syncs my photos. (Yes!)

Plus, our real camera was stolen. Sigh.

I'd like this blog to coexist with me living life, rather than be an escape from it. I have so many things to write about, but the reality of homeschooling with three children five-and-under means any posts must be short to fit in all that they require. (Which is mainly eating and cleaning up, right?)

This is totally something I can do.

Prayers please

2011-04-01T09:15:00.002-05:00

A dear friend has lost her baby at 12 weeks gestation. Her family would be greatly comforted by your prayers. It is in the times of death and grief where I most want to defiantly cry,

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

My Sweet Girls

2011-03-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Daddy turned on a Star Wars: Clone Wars DVD this evening and the following ensued:

Nanna, my three-year-old, said, "Is this scary?"

"A little. I'll bre-tect you," said her older, braver five-year-old sister Maggie.

Nine-month-old John simply fussed and tried to make it to the DVD player before someone intercepted him.

Pithless Thoughts: Orthograph #55 - Lenten Morning Routine

2011-03-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

Pithless Thoughts: Orthograph #55 - Lenten Morning Routine

Tee hee.

Lenten Almsgiving Calendar

2011-03-09T19:40:00.000-06:00

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the threefold commandments for Lent. I don't know about you, but for me, the easiest one of these to over look is almsgiving. Obviously, we're fasting, and there sure are a lot of services to remind me to pray. I may even be fasting from certain forms of entertainment, hoping to use the ingrained pull to do these things to remind me instead to pray. But giving alms? Unless I plan a way to fit this into our Lenten journey, it tends to get overlooked.

From a recent visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago.

We Antiochians are provided with little boxes to collect money during this period. One thing I did last year was to try to remember to get "cash back" at the grocery store when I was buying the week's groceries. I'd estimate how much we were saving by not buying meat (or at least, not as much—I was pregnant last year!) and put that cash into our box on our table. It seemed easier to do that than to write a check at the end of Lent. The kids also got a kick out of searching the house for loose change to drop in the slot.

What do you think this plant with the strange long thing hanging off of it is called?

This year, I printed out a Lenten Giving Calendar from the Food for Hungry People site. It has a different suggestion each day for collecting funds to give to the poor during this season (the dates seem to be from last year—I just crossed them out and replaced them with the correct ones). I know my girls will get into this. They already love using our Magnetic Lenten Calendar to mark the days of the Fast, and adding another little Lenten activity to our days is a simple way to make this time of preparation stand out to them as different from the rest of the year.

Laila over at Like Mother Like Daughter suggested recently, "Instead of setting out to teach your children about Lent, just try living Lent." I think this fits the bill nicely.

Can you read that? It says "Sausage Tree." If sausage grows on trees, I think that makes it suitable for Lent, don't you?

Helpful Lenten Staple Recipes

2011-03-06T09:22:00.001-06:00

During Lent, whether you use "substitutes" (you know, soy/rice/almond/etc. milk, margarine, soy meats, and the like?) is your business. However, I would guess that some days, the simplest thing to do is to have cereal with a milk product for breakfast, to get those veggies into their diet raw with some kind of dip, and that bread and butter/margarine (my Dad calls it "lubricant") will have to do for the lion's share of their dinner because there's no way they are eating more than "five bites 'cause you're five" of that lovely veggie soup you made.

Apples are good for you. Unless they happened to be poisoned á la Snow White!! (Happens a lot in our house.)

It's not my job to tell anyone else how to fast. The church gives guidelines, and our parish priests interpret them for us in our particular situations. Thank God that this burden does not rest on our shoulders!

As Fr. Schmemann is often quoted, "The purpose of fasting is to be hungry." Along those lines, we are also called on to think less about food and to use less time and money to prepare it. We are to replace those thoughts with more prayer, use our extra time to attend more services, and give our excess food funds to the poor.

While I don't often do much in the way of actually following the food guidelines (since I am a nursing Mom of young kids with a dispensation not to fast) I still think of this as a fasting time. I make a Lenten dinner for our family, and some years, the kids and I try to give up meat. The other parts of the fast—thinking less about food and using less time to prepare it—are things I can attempt.

That being said, we still have to eat often—usually about every two hours! Being somewhat frugally inclined, I (try to) homemake much of what we consume, and well, reducing the thought, time, and money required to prepare that much food every day is tricky. If I am to think less about food in spite of the frequency we need it every day, then sometimes the way to do that is to make something easy, something I know, which often requires something in the dairy department. (I can't make something my kids hate every night for dinner.)

Unlike St. Nicholas, this baby does not refuse the breast twice a week. His chubby knees make that obvious.

I have never met anyone who goes through fasting periods without some kind of non-dairy milk in the fridge, so I am going to share a recipe for making this at home. Personally, I try to avoid soy because I've read that too much of it can play with hormones in bad ways. I'm not a fanatic, but since I don't want my (or really, my husband's) entire lenten diet to be something like soymilk for breakfast, tofu dogs for lunch, and soy chik'n strips for dinner (with soy shreds on top), I try to get other things where I can.

Milk-wise, though, there are not a lot of options that also provide any protein. Rice and almond milks taste better and don't contain soy, but at about 1 gram protein per cup, there's just not much there.

Since we have some dairy allergies in the family, I've had a lot of practice substituting in various recipes. As a prelude to the non-dairy milk recipe, here is a recipe for Cashew Sour Cream that we use in things like stroganoff or Ranch Dip. I list this first (even though it's less of a "staple") because I find the technique helpful for the non-dairy milk recipe. Both of these were shared in my Mom's parish's collection of Lenten recipes.

Cashew Sour Cream
by Ruth Baum (my Mom)

1 cup RAW cashew pieces (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc...)
1 cup cold water
3/4 tsp. salt + 1/4 tsp. onion powder (OR 1 tsp. onion salt)
----------------------------
1 cup vegetable oil
----------------------------
1/3 cup lemon juice

Combine in a blender: cashews, water, salt, and onion powder. Blend until VERY smooth. Then, while blender is running on HIGH, slowly drizzle in the oil (this technique creates an emulsion—which is a big word for the texture of something like mayonnaise—and helps it not to separate later). Empty the contents of blender into a storage container and stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Makes 2 3/4 cups.

For soup or sauce recipes calling for heavy cream or half and half, leave out the lemon juice. Can also be used in place of ricotta to make a vegan lasagna.

For a good Ranch Dip recipe, visit the Hillbilly Housewife and scroll down. I use the half mayo/half sour cream variation, combined with the seasonings from the Yogurt Ranch Dressing recipe.

Now, I've been using this recipe for a while. I got to thinking that if I changed the recipe somewhat, I could probably come up with a non-dairy milk recipe. Then I remembered that my Mom had come up with one of those too. And that I'd used it before, long ago. At the time, I made it with cooked white rice, which doesn't have the nice flavor or creaminess of raw cashews, lacks the higher protein content, and has to be cooked first. Blah.

More babies. Top: me (red shirt) with a friend. Bottom: My grandmother (and namesake) with my father.

Cashew Milk
by Ruth Baum (with my variations)

1 cup raw cashews (may substitute other raw nuts or seeds or cooked grains—some substitutions may need to soak over night to get a smooth texture)
1 cup cold water
1 T honey (or 2 T if you like a sweeter non-dairy beverage)
1/2 tsp. vanilla (or more to taste if you want "vanilla milk")
1/4 tsp. salt
--------------------
2 T oil
--------------------
2 1/4 c. additional cold water

My Mom's recipe simply says, "Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth." Try that if you like. I feel more assured of smoothness by following the same technique as for Cashew Sour Cream. So, add the cashews through the salt and blend that until smooth. Then, with the blender running, drizzle in the oil. Once you are satisfied with the texture and smoothness, add in the rest of the water and blend again to fully incorporate it. This should produce a quart of Cashew Milk. Refrigerate and serve chilled. Although, you can use it in coffee too—or mix half and half with the above (un-soured) Cashew Cream recipe... but is that starting to get too complicated?

*****Additional Note on the Cashew Milk: it will separate in the fridge. Just give it a stir and everything will be fine.*****

If you follow these proportions, you end up with about 5 grams of protein per cup (a little less that the 8 grams in real milk, but better than the 1 gram in rice or almond!). You can leave out the oil if you prefer less fat or are fasting from oil, although the cashews themselves do contain fat. Actually, with their 12 grams of fat, maybe the oil isn't necessary? Maybe the whole "drizzle while running" step could be skipped? I'd still start with the one cup of water to get the mixture as smooth as possible and then add the rest of the water.

I would say that the above qualifies as a substitute. "...at which, being a man of little imagination, he failed" (Dickens).

Finally, yesterday afternoon, at about 4PM, I had (amazingly) already finished making our Mexican Corn Chowder for dinner. I wanted some kind of bread to go with it. But I didn't want to do a true cornbread because that seemed redundant. I didn't have any QuickRise Yeast to make a quick breadmachine recipe. I didn't want biscuits, and I was trying to save our sliced bread for sandwiches or morning toast. I finally tried this recipe from Mark Bittman's tome How to Cook Everything, which I highly recommend. Great recipes for simple food. Actually, on the cover it says "Simple recipes for great food." You will find both in this book.

Not a baby. One of my paternal great-grandmothers.

This recipe has it all: whole wheat flour, no yeast (so it's quick), and then I noticed it doesn't call for any eggs or oil, just milk. I used Cashew Milk.

Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread
by Mark Bittman (with a few notes by me)

butter or oil (margarine) for greasing the pan
1 2/3 c. buttermilk or plain yogurt, or 1 1/2 c. milk + 2 T. white vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat from Trader Joe's)
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. molasses

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and 8X4-inch or 9X5-inch loaf pan.

Add the vinegar to the milk and let rest (Bittman advises to warm the milk gently, but I didn't, although it wasn't fridge temp either).

Mix the dry ingredients. Stir molasses into the milk mixture. Whisk the liquid into the dry ingredients, then pour into the loaf pan. Bake until firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour (mine was done in 45 minutes). Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. (Ooops… I removed from the pan and then cooled… make sure to cool it somehow before slicing though, or it will probably fall apart).

Very molasses-y, but if your kids like brown sugar and are somewhat accustomed to whole wheat bread and corn bread, they should like this. My five-year-old did. Bittman says you can even use this for sandwhich bread, although as a quick bread, it would be a bit crumbly. It was great leftover for breakfast this morning with margarine and jam! (And actually, for protein, with some mild cheddar cheese sliced on top of the jam... sounds weird, but it was good!)

There you go! If I have another burst of free time (read: time in my PJs while one or more kids are sick), I'll try to post my lenten menu for this year.

Two of my sickies. Although, this was taken when they were well. My kids are not that happy when they are sick.

Eggs and Pure Prayer

2011-02-16T09:59:00.001-06:00

On the Wednesday following the Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican, your breakfast might look something like this:


Have I ever told you how much I love my cast iron griddle? It has a "grill line" side too.

And your spiritual reflections might be fed by something like this:

Three Characteristics of Christian Prayer
(a meditation on the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, by Fr. Patrick Reardon)

Good Point

2011-02-11T21:24:00.000-06:00

"If you're becoming Orthodox and you're becoming a jerk, you're not doing it right." Fr. William Christ, Orthodoxy in the Home Online Conference

Dn. Andrew and I enjoyed listening to Illumination Learning's Orthodoxy in the Home Online Conference this evening, and we're looking forward to tomorrow's speakers.

I hope Illumination Learning will make the DVD available to purchase later on because it's going to be a fantastic resource!

Did you have a favorite point this evening?

Registration Complete! ***Additional thought...

2011-02-10T15:20:00.001-06:00

Are you? I'm getting excited for this!

Leave me a comment if you are attending!

************************************************************************

Wouldn't this be a perfect opportunity to kick off my planned Orthodox Home series of posts? Or even, possibly, some real-time blogging? We'll see what I can manage with a home full of kids and all.

L'Oven

2011-02-04T16:28:00.000-06:00

I love finding me a new, good blog. It's almost like finding a new friend. Or maybe like stalking a new friend, but whatever. Something clicks.

Allow me to introduce to any of you who are unfamiliar, Oven Love!

I have to admit that I stumbled upon this particular blog when I searched for a recipe for Homemade Spaghetti O's. I don't even remember having this much as a child, really. And I didn't like tomato sauce that much, so why would I have had it?

Regardless, recently, my brother recently moved in with us and brought a few bags of dry goods with him. One little box contained Creamette "rings." I actually sort of laughed. Who buys rings? What do you do with them? But then I thought of Spaghetti O's. So I added them to Beef and Slaw Soup. And then I needed more.

I'm working on my Lenten Menu (can it be so close?), and one of the lunches I had down from last year was Quick Mac and Cheese (which is a genius recipe of my own creation), but unfortunately, my middle child has decided since then that she doesn't like cheese. Well, she didn't really like cheese then either, but I don't think she realized that "Macaroniandcheese" had cheese in it. Too bad.

Answer, Spaghetti O's! (I hope.)

Here is the recipe that looks so simple and promising:

Oven Love's Homemade Spaghetti O's
(Caveat: above recipe has dairy, so may not fit your Lenten needs.)

That is one in a series of homemade convience foods:
Oven Love's Pre-Made Our Way Series

Here's a list of her upcoming posts for the year:
Oven Love's The Great Food Adventure 2011

And finally, some truly hunger-inducing photos and recipes:
Oven Love's Superbowl Friendly Recipes

Prepare to be hungry! And inspired!

Winter Sunshine

2011-02-04T10:19:00.000-06:00

Perusing one of my favorite blogs, Like Mother Like Daughter, and I just read this:

So much of how we live the spiritual side of our lives as mothers and wives has to do with how we live the feeding and clothing side. Since that's inescapable, I long ago decided to embrace it.

That is one of the reasons I love her blog. Down to earth, traditional Christian, practical, and so sweet! The post that quote is from is something like preparing for Easter or something (which, crazily enough, isn't as far away as it seems!) but that little paragraph leaped out at me.

It's a good day here. Sunshine is streaming through the windows, the kids all slept in this morning, so I could take a shower and blow dry my hair, and the house looks so clean and spacious after removing the Christmas decorations. Plus, I just started a seasonally appropriate decorating project that I'll share with you when I've finished it. It's great to have a project to work on when you don't feel like reading and learning something any more. Use your hands! I now have a craft cabinet, a craft bag (alas, full of unfinished Christmas ornament presents that are slowly being finished—should I mail them out super late, or send them along next year?), and a basket full of my aforementioned project in progress.

There's a sneak peak into my project. Can you guess what it is? There's another hint in the top photo. Look above the TV.

All these physical things contribute to my good mood. The clean house, the ongoing project, the sunshine. I can't just think myself into a good frame of mind. I can't ignore these physical things and their impact on my soul—which is I think what Dear Aunty Leila was saying with those two little sentences quoted above.

Anyway, it is now 10AM and time for some small amount of school here. Some letter practice, a math activity (butterfly mosaics? board games? Cuisinaire rods?). We read about Saint Simeon from Christina's True Heros, by Maria Khoury during breakfast this morning. Maybe we'll get some kind of project or activity in this afternoon, but it doesn't usually happen. I do want to continue working on our Creation Book from The Garden of the Theotokos curriculum. We'll finish it eventually.

Hope you are all staying warm and cozy in spite of this:

A photo of our street from the recent Thundersnowpocalypse on Wednesday morning.

Happy Feast of the Presentation!

Baked Oatmeal

2011-02-03T10:01:00.000-06:00

I first discovered this dish at Covenant Point Bible Camp. I still remember one of the counselors declaring that it would sit in your stomach for hours. (I think in a good way!) I can't remember if it was at a summer camp or one of their winter weekends, but it seems made for Winter. I seem to recall a generous layer of some kind of brown sugar topping on their version. Maybe I'll try to recreate that some day. That would probably involve using a little less sweetener in the Baked Oatmeal itself.

This recipe serves about four hungry adults and at least two kids five or under. :)

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease an 8x8 pyrex dish.

Mix dry ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 to 1 c. brown sugar (I use 1/2c.)*
2tsp. baking powder
1tsp. cinnamon
1tsp. salt

Mix wet ingredients:
1c. applesauce
1tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (or 2 eggs worth egg replacer)
1/2c. rice milk (or milk)
*We were out of brown sug today, so I subbed 1/2c. honey + 1/4c. maple syrup, mixed with the wet ingredients. It was a little too sweet, but the flavor was great!

Combine thoroughly and pour into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes. A tester poked in the middle will not come out completely clean, but cook it until it is as solid (or as browned) as you like. (Probably any more than 30 minutes is too much, though.)

Optional: You can also stir into the batter 1/2 to 1c. blueberries/cranberries/nuts/raisins/etc., but my kids like everything plain these days. Sigh.

Eat warm with milk poured over it and with other toppings of choice. :)

(With various substitutions, this can be Lenten! I originally googled this hoping for a vegan version. This was my favorite because it used a lot of oats and has a good flavor. It doesn't rise as high with the egg replacer, but it is quite good that way.)

(This is my reworking of a this recipe.)

2011-01-26T08:37:00.002-06:00

Somebody is making it difficult for me to write blog entries.

Can you guess which one it might be? These first two photos are deceiving because the Little One looks happy.

That's more like it! Actually, he's quite the happy baby. Loves to smile at everyone. But he doesn't like to nap for more than thirty minutes at a time. And interestingly, the length of time he's been doing things this way corresponds to the length of time since my last blog entry. Huh.

At least he falls asleep quickly. And he does take four or five naps a day now. But I got kinda spoiled by him taking usually two one and a half hour naps and one thirty minute nap. Thirty minutes is not much of a break or much of a chance to get things done.

Somehow, I feel like I've been really productive since we started homeschooling again after the holidays, though. We moved to a slightly larger apartment the week before Christmas (it was just upstairs, so don't pity us too much, but it was still rather disruptive), and since we moved, laundry and housecleaning have fallen into place a lot better. It helps that the kids now have a large playroom upstairs and that most of their toys stay up there (per parental request). For some reason, I seem to have found a system of laundry that works well for me. I've also found a system (method? technique? set of expectations?) of homeschooling that I am comfortable with. I'll write about those things sometime if The Boy ever decides to start napping.

But right now, I think he's just soiled his diaper. Such a cute little interruption, though. Well, not the soiling part. But he's a cute Little Boy.

Next Time

2011-01-05T11:06:00.000-06:00

It's been a couple of years, but I think I have finally figured out what I will say "next time."

I'm sorry, nursing in public is something I feel very strongly about. I think the more we see women caring for their babies in public and doing so comfortably, the more women will feel comfortable making the decision to have babies and be mothers.

What do you think? Is this respectful enough? Does it get my point across that I think forcing a nursing mother to nurse elsewhere may contribute to our culture of intentional childlessness and abortion? I truly want to be respectful of the hypothetical person asking me to leave, but I very firmly believe that welcoming mothers and children into everyday settings is important for these reasons. I'm honestly interested in your opinions, so please share.

Map of American English dialects

2011-01-04T15:14:00.001-06:00

Being an English Major, grammar geek, and fan of all things linguistic, this post delighted and distracted me for a good while:

Patrick Madrid: Map of American English dialects

Fascinating! (Thank you, husband!)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:24:00.000-06:00


Our tree and front window with stockings hung by the windows (no chimney) with care.


A view from that window: Most definitely a white Christmas!


Our hodgepodge tree. The kids and Dad decorated while I cooked the traditional Christmas coffee cake. I don't think I have pictures of that, though! Maybe on my phone?

[coffee cake photo here!!]

One of our Nativity scenes. Baby Jesus has arrived!


Our Christmas card display. I know it sort of looks like a pile stuck to the wall, but this is where I display birthday and other seasonal or Thank You cards throughout the year, so I love to switch it over to Christmas at this time of year! I used to dread Christmas cards because it reminded me that I never get around to sending them. Thanks to my dear husband who now takes care of this, I can enjoy each card and know that we've reciprocated! What would I do without you, My Dear?

My shy princess.

My boy. With his new musical toy.

My not-so-shy-any-more princess.

There's that lovely smile. :)


Finally, a use for the neglected Boppy pillow. (Opie is the orange kitty, and Faust is the Siamese or Himalayan or whatever he is.)

My first roast duck. It was a success!

Some of the rest of the feast.

The girls at dinner—I think Maggie's going to eat that whole plate of potatoes.

Still sleeping, although they seem to have shifted positions.

A multi-generational Christmas trip downtown later in the week (included grandparents, kids, uncle, parents). I think you can see my reflection taking the picture in the El window.

The Daley Plaza Christmas tree as seen through whatever that weird piece of Chicago art is.

Another view. Some years they have piled many little trees, but this year it was a single giant tree!

Me and my boy in our favorite coat made to go around a baby in a carrier. The monkey hat was a gift from his Aunt/godmamma.


This is the family photo where the average of the sum total of our expressions comes out at "fairly pleasant."

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours from all of us!

Schrodinger's Coffee

2010-12-10T13:36:00.000-06:00

I keep chuckling over this, so go read it yourself.

I'm really going to do it!

2010-12-10T13:22:00.000-06:00

Since Mat. Anna keeps making it look so darn easy, I went here and ordered a bunch of supplies. I will start felt ornaments for my Jesse Tree!

I have felt, embroidery floss, needles, assorted ribbons and buttons in the mail and it was only around $60 for the whole shebang. While I have sewing-machine phobia, I've always sort of enjoyed mending seams and sewing on buttons by hand. I'd love to have a hand project going here and there. Maybe by next year we'll have some real ornaments for our Jesse/Advent/Whatchamacallit Tree.

So excited!

Sink Wall Love

2010-12-10T10:06:00.000-06:00

Like Mother Like Daughter is having a linky party today. We are beautifying the wall or windowsill or whatever it is that you have behind your kitchen sink. I love it!

Mine used to look like this:

Boring, right? I've wanted something up there for a while now—a specific something. But I put it off because notice I use that space for drying large flat things like cutting boards and cookie sheets. That pretty much covers up that little wall.

I haven't been using a dish drainer lately because I find that I empty it and put away the stuff even less frequently than I get rid of this pile. At least when I get rid of this pile, I have the option of an extra square foot of counter space, which adds up in a Chicago apartment kitchen!

Notice the towel my stuff is drying on? Go to this post on Kitchen Flow and scroll down a ways. Leila does the same thing! (I'm so validated!)

Mercifully, my iPhone camera is not high-enough quality to show how dirty the wall back there actually is. And I'm not showing you the rest of the kitchen either. I took some photos of it though... maybe I will show them to you when I have something clean to put with them! Let's just say that since we added child three and homeschooling a kindergartener to the mix, I've been a little out of sync with my kitchen cleanliness.

I didn't have a chance to examine the "flow" in my kitchen. It's a little odd since our dishes are stored in the dining room in the china cabinet to leave space in the kitchen cabinets for food since our pantry is our utility laundry closet. (Whew! That was a long sentence.) And there's only one way the dishes can be stacked and flow which is not very efficient because of the placement of the stove and dishwasher. But it's fine. This is the most counter space I've ever had! (Not showing you the rest of it, though, remember?)

I didn't even have a chance to clean the wall. Shame on me, I suppose.

Instead, I made one change. Just one!

OK. Maybe that counts as two. Although, I'm not sure that anyone else will put my cutting boards up there. In fact, I think my husband actually moved one down from up there thinking it was probably an accident that someone balanced it up there and that it would fall if not moved.

The important change is that little framed Bible verse. For a long time now, I've wanted to have various verses posted around my home that apply to the task at hand. It's similar to what I've seen when our Orthodox priests vest. For each piece they put on, a Bible verse (usually a Psalm verse) is prayed. Naturally, the psalm that comes to mind when I am at the sink is this:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
~KJV, Psalm 51/50

I spent a little time reformatting a file I'd already made for another framed verse on the opposite wall. I think I posted it here somewhere, but I can't find it, so I can't link to it (I think it's still in draft).

This is what I came up with:

(To save, click on the image to enlarge it, then either click and drag it into a document and print, or right-click and save the image and then insert into a document.)

I printed it, trimmed it, and framed it with an inexpensive black IKEA frame. If you like it, feel free to follow the instructions above and use it! I'd like to come up with a few more of these for other places in the house. It's one way I can remind myself to pray throughout the day, especially during the less-than-exciting household tasks.

Thanks to Leila for the nudge to get this up there! Go visit her post and see some more Sink Wall Love or join in yourself!

Intercede for us, Holy Nicholas!

2010-12-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

A friend of ours has recently found out that their unborn baby has passed away at just over 12 weeks gestation. His wife will have surgery today. If you are inclined to pray for them, the baby's name is Nicholas. Pray for him and for his Mommy and Daddy.

Our Baby Constantine's grave, St. Tikhon's cemetery

I know I am incredibly blessed to have (now) three healthy children here with me. When we miscarried a couple of years ago, I was comforted by the thought that if I only ever had my two baby girls, that I would still be blessed and happy with our little family. And as any regular readers know, God continued to bless us with another baby this summer.

But my heart goes out to those families who have to endure the miscarriage or death of their first baby. To have your innocence shattered by the loss of your first child would be one of the most difficult things I think a parent could go through. And the questions! Why didn't my baby live? Did I do something wrong during my pregnancy? Will I ever be able to carry a baby to term? Why wasn't I allowed to meet my little one? Why me?

Any time I hear of the passing of an unborn baby, I am reminded of what my sweet doctor told me after my own miscarriage. He mentioned that some women, for every baby they are able to meet in this world, they have several babies praying for them in heaven. How comforting!

It is entirely possible that I, too, have several unborn children in heaven keeping Constantine company. I have no way of knowing whether we've had just the one miscarriage or if I've had a few very early ones too. It is possible that I may have more in coming years.

What a heart-swelling thought: All the unborn children I have had or may have in the future are a great cloud of children praying for me, my own personal army of tiny saints, perfected and taken before the temptations of this world. How we ache to meet them, but how they rejoice with our Lord!

Icon of the children being brought to Christ, located in a rock outcropping at St. Tikhon's Monastery

I thought it especially joyful and appropriate that these parents chose the name Nicholas for their baby. Of course, the timing is right, being that St. Nicholas's feast day was on Monday. But don't some of the hymns and prayers to St. Nicholas refer to him as a special friend of children? Imagine him surrounded by our lost little ones, their heavenly surrogate grandfather praising God with them and leading them in interceding for us.

Holy Saint Nicholas, special friend of children, pray to God for us!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

2010-12-06T08:21:00.002-06:00

I have the troparion to St. Nicholas running through my head. But not the one you might think.

It starts out all right. And it's in the fourth tone.

O Holy Bishop Nicholas
You appeared to your flock as a rule of faith

But then it gets a little odd.

You give us lots of presents.

Hmm... I guess the final line, though unorthodox (pun intended?), may at least be factually correct:

You are the most famous Nicholas in the whole world.

Well.

As you might have guessed, we caught one of the kids (Maggie) singing this version (chanting it in the third tone would be more precise) a while back. We died laughing. I think we'll work on what he's really famous for when the girls wake up.

See the feast day boxes from Orthodox Christian Craft Supply nestled behind their shoes? Those will help. Oh, and don't worry: Mommy and Daddy will help John with the contents of his shoes.

In case you were wondering, the correct lines to our translation of the troparion are as follows:

O Holy Bishop Nicholas,
You appeared to your flock as a rule of faith.
An image of humility
And a teacher of abstinence.
Because of your lowliness, heaven was opened to you,
Because of your poverty, riches were granted to you.
Pray to Christ our God to save our souls.

Silence

2010-12-03T14:08:00.001-06:00

On the way home from my parents' house on Wednesday morning, I actually drove almost the entire two-hours-plus trip home with no radio playing. It was nearly silence. My five-year-old was talking to herself in the backseat, my three-year-old had conked out early, and my nearly six-month-old gave the occasional coo or fuss—at which point, his awake sister would ever-so-helpfully start singing rather loudly and crazily, to his big-grinned enjoyment. Total silence, it wasn't

I noticed that I hadn't turned on the radio about an hour into the trip. A reflex twitched inside of me. Reach for the knob?

It dawned on me that I was perfectly content with the lack of auditory entertainment at that moment. Why not enjoy it while it lasted? I continued on in that relative silence of my minivan, sailing along the highway, trees and farms whizzing by, thin eddies of dry snow swirling on the road in front of me, then breaking up as we flew through them. Did they reform behind me? I tried to glance in the mirror, but I couldn't tell. My mind moved to other things now forgotten. But the hushed momentum of the moment sustains me.

Molly has a great post up about silence. During this busy, loud season, she's been reflecting on Fr. Hopko's list of 55 Maxims for Christian Living. Her hushed words posted on her refreshingly simple online oasis sustain me too.

Kursk Root Icon in Chicago

2010-12-02T23:53:00.001-06:00

I was first made dimly aware of this icon by Mat. Anna's recent post in honor of its feast day on November 27.

I say dimly, because I didn't think about it much until a few connections were made in my brain through various people and I realized that this icon is in Chicago.

My husband was planning to attend a Synergy meeting tonight, which happened to be at the ROCOR Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Des Plains, which also happens to be the current stop for the Kursk Root icon.

The Synergy group was blessed to be able to view and venerate this holy icon.

Dn. Andrew and two priests spent some time trying to discern the names of the prophets depicted around the Theotokos. King David and King Solomon are the top left and top right, respectively. Isaiah, Moses, Habakkuk, Elias, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Gideon are the rest of them, but we don't remember who is who.

Can you believe that this icon is over 800 years old? And yet this icon is not buried in a museum but is allowed to travel and the faithful are able to venerate it. What a blessing!

(Thanks to Michele for the last two pictures!)

Sit! Stay!

2010-12-02T09:44:00.001-06:00

They look so sweet. Or are they planning something?

I've always envied those Moms who have managed to teach their kids to say, "May I be excused?" before wandering away from a meal. Heck, I envy Moms who have gotten their kids to stay seated while chewing. "Sit like you're going to stay there" is something that I say to my five-year-old at least twice a meal (both legs on the chair is a good start). My three-year-old simply refuses to say anything on command. And since we've tried on occasion to insist she say "May I be excused?" she now refuses to say any phrase that includes the word excuse. Bye-bye spoken manners for a few more months.

My imp

I see the Family Meal as a special time. It is a bastion of culture in our easy-going society. There are generally expected rules of decorum, which, even if you violate them from time to time, you probably wouldn't if "company" were there, or at least if you were having a "special meal" of some kind. At the very least, you probably have a vague idea of what I write.

Sorry this is so blurry—hand-me-down iPhone and all. It's the outdoor chapel area at my in-laws' church in Ohio.

It is also one area of life that I feel like I have mastered. I can cook. I can set a table properly. (And I usually make an effort to—more often than I think sometimes, because my three-year-old surprised me this morning by getting her own silverware and putting them in the proper places! Score one for Mom.) And honestly, I don't have to think about it the way I do cleaning up the kitchen or doing the laundry. My Mom is a great cook and always puts dinner on the table, and I can't imagine life any other way. (Thanks, Mom!)

Just what is so funny to this child? She usually has this expression on her face.

Don't misunderstand: (1) I do put a lot of thought into it and (2) I am certainly not perfect, nor do we have six-course meals every night (some days, more than one dish at the meal is just too much). But I plan menus, pour over cookbooks, and have many opinions on the Weekly Menu idea. I also, start cooking too late, neglect my crying baby who wants to nurse now in order to finish cooking a dish (he can eat when the rest of us do, right? Well, sometimes....), etc. I don't have some streamlined, very clean, elegantly running kitchen. But dinner always manages to happen. (Can't say the same for cleaning up the kitchen or laundry, although, now that I think about it, those things happen often enough that I need to stop beating myself up over it.)

Don't blink. Don't even blink.

Back to my kids sitting at the table. Up until the very recent past, it was enough effort for me to get them to try something on their plates that I wasn't about to worry too much about how long they sat at the table. They are five, three, and six months, after all. However, if I want to get them to sit there sometime in the future, it follows that I do have to start sometime in the present.

My husband had a thought (he's clever about things like this). What if we had them stay until most of us are done eating (let's be honest here: I'm the one who takes the longest—and of course we're not going to expect them to stay as long as us boring adults keep talking) and then we sing a hymn or prayer and let them go? Andrew had gotten in the habit of doing this in the St. Tikhon's Seminary dining hall. Once most people are finished, they stand and sing a hymn of thanksgiving. We could do the same thing, and we had just the hymn to use.

Sometime back, Andrew's father composed a table grace to use at family meals. Our brother-in-law set it to a familiar western hymn and typed it up. Conveniently, we have a framed copy hanging in our dining room. Once in a great while, it has gotten used as our family's prayer before the meal.

We prepared the kids during some meal (might have been something as boring as a weekday lunch), telling them we wanted to sing a song when we were finished, so they needed to stay at the table until then. There was very little resistance. They like to sing, so they were intrigued. Once the meal was finished, we stood, faced the framed sheet music, and sang. We repeated the performance at dinner.

The simply worded hymn was a hit! The kids even began singing it to themselves during the day. For some reason, they think they need to stand on their chairs to sing it. (It is probably because Maggie wants to see the music, but Susannah just does it—and it makes me giggle to think of some stranger looking in at our post-dinner ritual of standing on our chairs and singing. Maybe I'm imagining the adults doing it too.) Now they have even started reminding us that we need to sing!

We don't always remember to do it, but any time the kids are wandering off well before the rest of us are finished eating, we casually remind them that they need to stay until we sing, and they come right back. There might have been the occasional "I-don't-wanna" but it has been minimal and relatively subdued. And they are getting the idea that we stay at the table together for a meal. We don't stuff our faces and run off with a mouthful of food. (Although, at one time, I considered sitting at the table just long enough to stuff their faces an accomplishment. Progress, not perfection.)

I'm finding with this and some other behavioral things, that it's easier to wait a little longer than I'd like for my eldest to get these concepts. If I wait just long enough for her little sister to catch up, I'm not singling out Maggie. Instead, I am just showing the kids what their responsibility is. Of course their standards won't be adult standards; they will be tailored to fit children. But they will be on the spectrum of forming them into adults. And it won't be a huge surprise later.

Kishler Family Table Prayer
(to the tune of Immortal, Invisible)

We thank thee, Dear Father, from heaven above
For Thy goodness, Thy mercy, Thy kindness, and love.
We thank Thee for family and friends so dear,
And all of the blessings that we enjoy here.
Amen.

© Robert Kishler, 2000


The Author, Grandpa Kishler, with the latest grandkids (not both mine—could you imagine??)

Please see Leila's post The Reasonably Clean Kitchen starts with rules for the kids for more great ideas on this general theme!

Multitude Monday: After Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T08:16:00.000-06:00

Boy, it has been nearly two months since I worked on (among other things) my list:

51. health and recovery from yucky illnesses!

52. my parents

53. my siblings (good times this weekend--this blog had better mention siblings from time to time, eh?)

54. baby's first bite of food

55. old and new friends at my parents' church

56. baby grins

57. my cute, creative daughters (when they are being cute and creative instead of whiny and annoying!)

58. my wonderful marriage and husband (sounds cliche, but I swear it's true)

59. the bond between my five-year-old girl and my baby boy (because she can be so sweet at times instead of obstinate)

60. the way the prayers of the Church seem to express whatever it is I am feeling better than I can (especially when life seems a little blah)

Have a lovely week, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T16:31:00.000-06:00

Matushka Anna inspired and reminded me that I had wanted to create some kind of centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house.

She used things she had around the house, so I figured I could do something similar. My parents have baskets and bowls of pine cones in every room. It's their thing.

Are these called hurricanes? Notice they don't match at the bottom.

After locating two hurricanes, I found two raspberry-colored candles in a drawer.

A ~~freezing~~ brisk walk around the house produced some rose hips (the berries, I think) and some interesting purple green leaves. My Mom had a stash of the smaller pine cones.

A few minutes and some twine produced this!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Deep Breath

2010-11-24T12:38:00.000-06:00

Sitting. Sitting is good.

This is the point before a holiday/vacation/deadline where I have a choice. I must choose between going insane and being realistic.

Do I try to do-all-the-laundry-deep-clean-the-bedrooms-perfectly-organize-the-living-areas-stow-all-the-odd-bins-in-the-basement-make-a-pie-I've-never-made-before-mop-the-kitchen-floor-pick-cute-outfits-for-various-services-this-weekend all before Liturgy tonight?

Sounds real good when it's typed out like that, doesn't it?

What are my goals for the day? The pie needs to be made. The outfits need to be picked. The house needs to be orderly enough to not cause my family stress. And I'd like to have energy leftover to enjoy being at Liturgy tonight.

Really, that is all.

Running around at top speed trying to make up for a week plus of resting from being sick is not the way to that last goal, the one where I begin a secular holiday that is actually devoted to giving thanks with a service of thanksgiving, with Eucharist.

Here's to balance. Here's to reality. Here's to some darn good food tomorrow. Cheers!

Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Orange Icing

2010-11-24T10:20:00.002-06:00

I still have a Pumpkin Chiffon Pie to bake, bags to pack, a house to tidy, laundry to fold, and clothes to put on (maybe I should do that one first), but what the heck, I'll share this recipe now instead of later. Maybe it would work for your Thanksgiving breakfast tomorrow morning?

Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Orange Icing

Scones
2 cups white flour (or you could throw in a little whole wheat if you're compulsive about that like I am sometimes, but I actually prefer all white here)
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon*
1/2 tsp ground ginger*
1/8 tsp nutmeg*
1/8 tsp cloves*
(*Or substitute equivalent amount of pumpkin pie spice or whatever spice combination you like for pumpkin things.... Side note, I'm realizing as I type this that I completely forgot to include these in my double batch of scones yesterday. Sigh. Maybe I can garnish the frosted scones with a sprinkle of cinnamon?)

7 TBSP cold butter or margarine, in pieces if using stick butter/margarine

3/4 cup pecans, chopped (but not minced, we want chunks here)

1 TBSP lemon juice or white vinegar
1/4 cup rice milk (or whatever non-milk you use)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Orange Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP pumpkin
1 1/2 tsp milk substitute
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp orange extract

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet with margarine.

Mix the dry ingredient (flour through spices) in a large bowl. Mix completely. Add margarine, wash your hands, then mix the margarine into the flour mixture by picking up flour and margarine together and rubbing between your fingers until it all resembles "course crumbs." Stir in pecans.

In another bowl (or a pyrex measuring cup), mix thoroughly lemon juice, milk, pumpkin, and vanilla. Add this to flour and margarine mixture. Mix completely until flour mixture is completely moistened.

This recipe always ends up looking like batter until I add a lot more flour. Start with 1/4 cup or so (I want to say I may add up to as much as an entire cup more, but don't start with that) and keep adding until the batter is more of a dough and is something you can kneed a few times (less than 10).

Once the dough is dry enough (but not too dry), dump it out on the counter, kneed a few times, adding flour as necessary to keep it handle-able. Pat and press the dough into a 7- to 8-inch circle. Use a long, sharp knife to cut into 8 wedges. Use a thin spatula to transfer wedges to rows on a baking sheet. Keep an inch or two apart. (Mainly, don't put it back on the sheet in a circle or they will all bake together and won't look as pretty.)

Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Remove when edges are golden brown and tops look done. (You can stick a knife or a toothpick in and see if it comes out "clean"—as in not covered in wet batter—if you are unsure.) Let cool on a wire rack.

To prepare the icing, measure sugar into a bowl (or pyrex measuring cup). Add pumpkin, milk, vanilla, and orange extract. It won't seem like enough liquid, but if you add more, the icing will run off and be more of a glaze. Mix thoroughly. Wait to frost the scones until they are pretty cool. Otherwise, icing will melt. Don't worry about getting the icing perfect—it will smooth out as it drys.

Note
I know this recipe looks ridiculously complicated and long, but it really comes together fast. If you've made biscuits from scratch, you can do this. ;)

Credit
I began with this recipe for Mocha Chip Scones and ~~completely adulterated~~ changed it.

Mary Dolls and Coming Series

2010-11-23T09:28:00.002-06:00

Blessed Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple! (That's a mouthful!)

I have a friend who lives in a very small Orthodox community in a small town. If memory serves, they can only afford to have a priest out for Liturgy once a month. The other Sundays, she takes her children to Sunday School at a nearby protestant church. We were catching up over Facebook and through the course of our emails, she asked if I have any particularly spectacular resources for creating an Orthodox home with small children in mind. I've been wanting to do a post on that, but I think instead it will turn it into a series. This won't quite be the first post because I'd like to organize it a bit better and suggest several resources for similar aspects of an Orthodox home. This is mainly me gushing about a new favorite resource.

We learned about Sunday's feast last week with the help of Orthodox Christian Craft Supply. I knew it would be a hit in our household because for any story my children hear, they instantly want to have dolls to act it out. And they really do get excited about and love Mary. Veneration for the Mother of God is hardly something I have to teach: it comes naturally to my children.

It's interesting for me to discover their love for the Theotokos and how they identify with her. I was raised in churches that gave me the idea that devotion to Mary was "a Catholic thing" and probably wrong. It could be because they are girls that they identify with the Theotokos—that is certainly the case with a feast like the Entrance. Or possibly, they identify with the child Christ in Mary's arms, and their love of Mary comes from their love for me. They are very connected to their own mother, and the Mother of Christ naturally attracts their devotion. (If that doesn't instill the fear of God into a mother, I don't know what will!)

Incidentally, one of the first icons my children have really identified with is the icon I've had as my blog title banner for a long while. Have you noticed that it's an icon of Mary nursing Christ? When my kids (who have all been extended nursers) see that Jesus is having milk(!), their faces just light up. Jesus has milk just like me! I can't think of a more intimate and meaningful way to begin to communicate the mystery of the incarnation to a small child.

Back to dolls. Let me heartily recommend the Feast Day Boxes at Orthodox Christian Craft Supply. The only thing I had to supply for the project was a couple of kinds of glue. I did most of the "crafting" because I wanted them to make something lovely and their little hands weren't ready for some of the detail work. However, they helped paint pieces and assisted in gluing on jewels and ribbon. Older children could probably handle most parts of the crafts themselves.

I'm adding a button on the side of my blog for this wonderful resource. The boxes are inexpensive and nicely organized. When completed, children have a box that teaches many lessons of the particular feast but that is also, essentially, a box of toys! My kids love to take out the box, put Mary in a princess castle, pull her around in their princess carriages, and generally make her an intimate part of their imaginative worlds. With all the secular toys, secular images, and secular music that my children encounter, any way to insert Christ and the Church into their world on a more regular basis gets my approval!

***Addendum to the post: the Feast Day boxes also come with a teaching guide. Before doing each little craft, I read the accompanying short story from the simply worded guide to give the kids an idea of why each item was in the box.***

Grumpies

2010-11-22T15:54:00.001-06:00

I don't know what it is. A week of being home recovering from being sick last weekend? Feeling behind on holiday (both) planning? A gray sky that has looked like twilight all day? (I do enjoy the occasional thunder and lightening. But the blah-gray in between?)

Whatever.

So, I'm dressed now. I'm cleaning up my kitchen to the tune of my Pandora radio station for days like this. I'm about to make two batches of Blueberry Scones and two batches of Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Orange Icing for Thanksgiving morning breakfast at my parents' house. (Amazingly, both are fasting recipes!)

Please, Baby Boy, stay asleep long enough for me to finish this!

A Faithful Saying

2010-11-20T11:33:00.001-06:00

We Orthodox pray this prayer of St. John Chrysostom just before each time we receive communion:

I believe, O Lord, and I confess that thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And I believe that this is truly thine own immaculate Body, and that this is truly thine own precious Blood. Wherefore I pray thee, have mercy upon me and forgive my transgressions both voluntary and involuntary, of word and of deed, of knowledge and of ignorance; and make me worthy to partake without condemnation of thine immaculate Mysteries, unto remission of my sins and unto life everlasting. Amen. Of thy Mystic Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant; for I will not speak of thy Mystery to thine enemies, neither will I give thee a kiss as did Judas; but like the thief will I confess thee: Remember me, O Lord, in thy Kingdom. Not unto judgment nor unto condemnation be my partaking of thy Holy Mysteries, O Lord, but unto the healing of soul and body.

I've had that bolded phrase in my head for a few weeks now.

It's from the 1 Timothy:

15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (KJV)

St. Paul just zeros in at the end there, doesn't he? All of a sudden, he's not talking in generalities. In his mind and before God, he is the chief of sinners.

Improbable?

Yes. But the Church grabs those words and gives them to me to say every time I receive communion. Every time. Doesn't matter what's going on in the world. Online. Next door. Upstairs. Doesn't matter.

When I come before God to receive the gift of His Son's body and blood, mine is to examine my own sins. While not bringing myself to complete discouragement over my flaws, I should simply be concerned with my own salvation.

I cannot claim this to be my first reaction to division or disappointment, not remotely. In fact, more often than not, I reach that line and I simply fail to comprehend it. But through its presence at every liturgy, Christ in his mercy allows this phrase—this prayer—to penetrate my mind and heart.

Eventually, I remember. And though I don't understand, I pray it as the Church directs. I rest in her judgment.

Two verses after that verse in 1 Timothy, I find this:

17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (KJV)

Amen.

Love at First Post

2010-11-17T15:35:00.000-06:00

Or something like that.

I added a blog to the list on my sidebar: Fire In Mine Ears.

The post that hooked me?

Liberal Arts: Who Needs 'Em?

Peperonata Hummus Panini

2010-11-17T14:30:00.001-06:00

Is there any English in that title?

In honor of the beginning of the Advent Fast, a yummy fasting sandwich recipe. This is an oil recipe, in case you avoid that type of thing at some point during fasts.

You'll need...

margarine
good, possibly savory, bread
hummus
Peperonata Sauce (I imagine you can buy something like this somewhere? And I left out the pine nuts... my brother had a bad one and now I'm scared of them.)

Here's what to do: heat a grill pan (lovely grill lines), griddle, or skillet to medium-high heat. Margarine (is that a verb?) the outsides of two slices of good bread as for grilled cheese. Put both slices on the pan to heat. Press down with a spatula (or if you have one of those panini contraptions, use that) to flatten the bread slightly and get the grill lines into the bread. Slather on some hummus on both pieces of bread as they are grilling. Warm the peperonata sauce and top the bread with two to four tablespoons of sauce depending on the size of your bread. Carefully place the piece sans sauce on top of the sauce piece. Remove to plate and enjoy!

I used roasted garlic bread (with whole garlic cloves actually in the bread), greek olive hummus, and a homemade peperonata sauce that I had leftovers of. I assume one can find something like it in stores. If not, roasted red or yellow peppers, sprinkled with (chopped?) capers and kalamata olives, and drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar (leave out any of those ingredients that you don't like or sound like too much work) would arrive at something fairly similar.

This is for people who like a lot of flavor, especially the way I originally made it. For those of you dealing with or recovering from the stomach flu, steer clear. (That would include me for the moment!)

I would have lovely pictures to accompany this post, but "life" ate my camera. Any forthcoming photos on this blog for some time will be from my hand-me-down iPhone/Pod.

All Right

2010-11-17T12:40:00.000-06:00

Apparently, that is what I say when I am getting ready to do something. (Maggie made this clear to me at the age of two when she would toddle up to the front door in my shoes, holding a purse, repeat "all right" several times, and expect to get to go somewhere.)

We've had a lot of "life" happening around here lately: vacations, church functions, homeschooling (some anyway), illness, laundry, general chaos of raising three children who are five and under. I'm still here, and I am taking some time today, amidst a half-cleaned kitchen, etc., to write some posts. Because it makes me happy. And a happy Mommy and wife is much more fun than a grumpy one.

Go do something that makes you happy. :)

Eastern Christian New Media Awards

2010-11-13T05:28:00.000-06:00

First, nominations are in. Second, voting is set up!

And finally, I'm going to second Mat. Anna's incredulity, but certainly not about her blog being nominated.

Someone actually nominated my blog too! Crazy!

Anyway, go over to the Eastern Christian New Media Awards blog and vote!

And more importantly, go visit some of the truly wonderful blogs that have been nominated. I know there are several that I've just been introduced to there, and I'm sure I'll find some new favorites and some new friends.

Hiding

2010-10-26T09:50:00.000-05:00

by Dorothy Keely Aldis
(a local Chicago poet; b.1896, d.1966)

I'm hiding, I'm hiding
And no one knows where;
For all they can see is my
Toes and my hair

And I just heard my father
Say to my mother -
"But, darling, he must be
Somewhere or other;

Have you looked in the inkwell?"
And Mother said, "Where?"
"In the INKWEL?"said Father. But
I was not there.

Then "Wait!" cried my mother —
"I think that I see
Him under the carpet." But
It was not me.

"Inside the mirror's
A pretty good place."
Said Father and looked, but saw
Only his face.

"We've hunted," sighed Mother,
"As hard as we could
And I am so afraid that we've
Lost him for good."

Then I laughed out aloud
And I wiggled my toes
And Father said —"Look, dear,
I wonder if those

Toes could be Benny's?
There are ten of them, see?"
And they WERE so surprised to find
Out it was me!

This was a favorite poem of mine as a can still hear the inflection my Mom read it with. I often think of the first line or two when my kids say they are hiding, so I thought I'd look it up.

John's Baptism Part 1: The Blanket

2010-10-21T09:12:00.000-05:00

It's been nearly a month, I think, so I'm going to eat this elephant one bite at a time. Matushka Anna, this part is for you.

The beautiful Patricia Blanket designed and crocheted by Matushka Anna. Thank you!

John pre-baptism posing on his blanket—he approves.

Rescuing a caught toe. John doesn't seem to care either way. He's a mellow third child like that.

The blanket in action. I think John is eating it.

Definitely eating it.

This is my favorite blanket shot. (Doesn't know what's coming, does he?)

John is being held by his godmother, my sister Ellie. He is being entertained by our friend Liz.

Liz is good at making him smile.

It helps that he's very ticklish. I made him laugh by tickling at about two months old.

Stay tuned for the rest to come!

Holy Hesitation

2010-10-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

We yield all too easily to what we think we know and do not hesitate sufficiently before what we do not know. That hesitation is often a moment of faithfulness or, at least, the moment in which faith can be born. The content of the Orthodox Christian faith is not an argument, it is not something to be compared to other things that we can say, "This is better!" It is the continual life of God lived and known by his people, who through the ages, when confronted by manifold opportunities for more convenient options have been able to say, "and yet...." When pressed by their enemies even to the point of torture and death, they have affirmed, "Nevertheless!" and in so doing have preserved the knowledge of the true and living God and kept intact the treasure of tradition that is nothing other than that true knowledge. May God give us all such holy hesitation. Glory to God!

~From Fr. Stephen Freeman's Glory to God podcast at Ancient Faith Radio. Listen to the beginning of this episode here (choose "Knowing What We Do Not Know").

Mourning Lost Children

2010-10-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

I just read about this year's International Wave of Light that took place on October 15 at 7PM. I'll have to remember this for next year. What a beautiful thing to be a part of—either with a parish or at home. Did anyone else participate?

Monday Break

2010-10-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

I'll be taking a break from my regular Monday posts today because I have a lot to do this week! Will resume next week

I'd still love to know if you are participating in Mess Monday this week! Leave a comment if you are.

And I can't wait to show you the mess I created this weekend trying to take care of last week's mess.

Prayer Notebook: Jeffery Michael Update

2010-10-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

Our family friend Jeffery Michael, for whom we have been praying urgently, was taken off the ventilator last week, and has returned home to his family to recover! This is the second time in his life that things have come so close and the Lord has healed him.

Thanks be to God!

Multitude Monday

2010-10-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

Late, as usual.

Continuing my list:

41. a chance to rearrange the living room

42. clean(er) floors

43. kids who hug their playmates

44. new contacts and clearer vision

45. warm weather in October

46. discovering beauty in my home

47. friends and family who have blessed us by giving us beautiful things for our home... we are truly greatful

48. my slings

49. hand-me-downs

50. small oases of order in my home (very small, sometimes) like the spice cabinet, gift wrapping station, clean lines in the living room, school shelf...

Prayer Notebook: Works Before Thoughts

2010-10-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. -Proverbs 16:3, NKJV

I've never had a good place to record prayer requests that I encounter, especially online. What usually happens is I read a blog entry or an email from our parish prayer chain, I say a quick prayer, make the sign of the cross, and it often stops there. If I am particularly connected to the person, I am mindful of the situation and pray more often.

Today, it dawned on me that the little notebook, which my godmother gave me to be a sort of catechumenate journal before I was chrismated, would work well in this area. As I leafed through the pages, it was evident from a few old entries that I'd made this decision before.

Today, per Mat. Anna's request, I added Mary Evelyn's name to the list. Next is our friend Jeffery Michael, who is off the ventilator and recovering from his ordeal, but still battles his chronic condition. Finally, I checked in on Marianna and added her to the list. As I encounter more, I will add them and allow this notebook's presence at my desk remind me to pray.

The verse above appears at the bottom of the page I was writing on. It struck me today because I tend to think that I need to get my thoughts right and that doing so will order my actions. But it's the other way around. With housekeeping, prayers, homeschooling, practically anything, I need to do not just think. Taking a step, putting myself in motion, is the only way to discover what God wants from me, or even what simply works for my family and me. As one of my Covenant Bible College professors said in a parting lecture, "You can't steer a ship that isn't moving."

My self-talk needs to go something like this: Just do it. Do something. Do anything. Read one book to the kids. Say one prayer. Just get out of bed now. Don't wait until later when you feel like it. Because later will come and you will regret not doing it now.

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

One Lovely Blog

2010-10-05T10:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Mat. Anna for bestowing this award on my little blog! I will second the award going to her blog as well as pass on the love (in no particular order) for a few of the places I find myself checking regularly and which are particularly lovely, thought provoking, and otherwise interesting:

Well, I wasn't necessarily going for 15, but since that's the recommendation and I am over, I'll stop now and attend to my children! (My apologies for not notifying each of you in some way, but if I did that I'm afraid the time it would take from my children would result in my house no longer being left standing.)

For those so inclined, here are the (obligation free!) rules to accompany this award:

1.) Post award on your blog
2.) Thank the blogger who sent it to you
3.) Award 15 other bloggers this Lovely award
4.) Tell them all you think their blog is Lovely

Mess Monday

2010-10-04T08:50:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, this is not replacing Multitude Monday.

After my little Friday night reality check, where I realized that, yes, cleaning actually is work, not just some kind of system, my friend Mat. Anna did something very sweet. She actually posted photos of messes around her home (which I must say seem pretty mild to me) just for little old me! The post has generated quite a few comments!

In her defense, in case you think she or I are posting these things because we want to keep our houses this way instead of being motivated by blog photos of clean rooms, it was posted on a Saturday morning before half her family was up and before she had begun to tackle any of it.

What was so helpful about it for me was that it shows a slice of real life, not a perfected, cleaned room.

Sure, the beautiful rooms are inspiring. But they can also make me want to go the other direction.

Many afternoons, my thought process goes something like this as I click around the internet:

Click. My furniture doesn't look like that! Click. My curtains don't match that well! Click. I don't even have curtains in that room. Click. I don't have any white plates on my wall! Click. How can I possibly do a load of laundry or pick up the toys in the living room when my home is such an a priori failure? (I then proceed to sit at the computer for another hour or two until it is way past time to start making dinner.)

I realize that I quoted this once before (and this will probably not be the last time!), but at Like Mother, Like Daughter, Laila instructs the following:

You need to clear your mind of all those perfect magazine pictures and find your own order.

Here, then, is what I propose: Mess Monday. I will pick one mess in my house that is driving me batty on Monday mornings (trust me, picking one is in itself accomplishing something because I am acknowledging that I cannot clean a whole messy, or cluttered, house in one go) and I will post photos. When the mess is dealt with, I will post the (I hope) beautiful, clean, inspiring photos of my own order.

Will you join me? Call it accountability if you'd like. Call it goal-setting. Call it real living in our homes. Whatever. Leave a comment below and a link to your post if you do something similar!

(And I apologize for the quality of these photos—my camera was charging and these are from my little flip phone—not that anyone needs to see those piles in any more detail!)

Missing

2010-10-02T01:07:00.003-05:00

Missing the mark.

Missing blogging.

Missing cleaning.

I miss writing. I think in blog posts. But then the baby cries or wakes up or the girls start hitting each other. So I've been avoiding (most days) writing while the kids are up. But then who wants to blog when one's husband is finally home from work and the kids are asleep? Well, obviously, many people. But I'd rather spend time with my husband and probably some Doctor Who.

Did I mention my computer eats half of the words I type because of the way I hold my wrists on it most of the time, which makes it somehow select part or all of what I wrote and delete it with the word I am typing at that moment? My hands have the "Undo" keyboard shortcut on speed dial. That adds precious seconds to the amount of time it takes me to type out a thought, by which time all the kids are probably screaming. It's just the season I'm in.

Another thing I'm missing is having a clean home. It's "new normal" around here, and at the moment, "normal" seems to be dirty.

Yuck.

You know what I think the hardest part about having a lot of kids is (so far anyway, with my whole five years of experience here)? It's not having another person in your family. It's having another baby around. Again. And another one. And a fifth time. It's having to pause all your homemaking progress, and get really efficient, yet again, because a little person needs you quite often, but you still need to make the other people dinner. Good thing my body makes the baby dinner. Great thing that I have such a helpful, patient husband.

And trust me, it's great to have an excuse to put my feet up in my comfy über-pillowed papazan chair-nest, grab a book and my too-many-times-microwaved coffee, and nurse my son who gulps and stares up at me with giant eyes while his feet somehow manage to turn in so that they are sole-to-sole and just sort of stay there like he's holding his hands except they are his feet... what was I talking about? Was I cleaning something before I sat down? Eh. I'll just read another chapter of H.M.S. Surprise and hope the girls keep playing quietly with that pile of sponges. Or play money. Or cups of water.

Why are there puddles all over the house?

Sigh.

The last thing I want to do right now is do things I don't want to do. However, those things still "need done."

My littles are big enough to be learning how to help, and they are, but they aren't quite big enough to really take much of the burden. So, I have to bite the bullet and adhere to some standards. While I'd like to believe that allowing myself to cook breakfast, say morning prayers, and read to my kids in my PJs is the key to getting things done around here (boy, does that look silly typed out), that means that I am sweaty and in my PJs drinking lukewarm coffee at my computer until the kids start fighting around 9:30AM (or earlier... or later). I finally jump in the shower, jump out to nurse the baby who has, by now, awakened from his morning nap.... Finally, we end up starting school around 10:30 (or later... certainly not earlier), when we really need to break to make lunch at 11:00 or I will die of hunger. (Nursing, remember?)

I need a higher standard. I know my kids are little and I just had a baby four months ago. But is it the kids needing me that keeps me in my PJs?

No.

It is the coffee and the computer calling to me for just a few minutes while they are playing....

And what do I see on the screen? Photos that tempt and blogs that convince and what I end up doing ultimately is spending money to buy the order that will only come from me tackling my stuff. Yes, italics and bold.

I just read these words at Like Mother, Like Daughter:

You need to clear your mind of all those perfect magazine pictures and find your own order.

Oh.

Yes.

Yes, I do. It's OK to let those blogs and pictures draw me into communities that I love and inspire me to make my home a better place or to buy a product that will serve me well and make my life easier. I live in the denim skirt I bought after reading Matushka Emily's Early Autumn Wardrobe post. But I need to address the stuff I already have that is clogging my house and my life to really find that peace and order I am craving.

Leila also asks,

Are you getting up on time?

I haven't even read that post yet but I know I need to. (And I need to fix my computer. I just did the "Undo" speed-dial no less than four times for that sentence.)

I know that getting sleep and getting up is part of the key. I need to get back to having a goal to get up on time, get showered and dressed at a reasonable moment in my day (maybe it won't be before breakfast, but it sure as heck should be before I meander over to the computer and lose half-to-all of my homeschooling day... and yes, my kids are little, but we need the good habits now), and get breakfast on the table before my husband is out the door.

I don't want to beat myself up about not sticking to some ridiculous schedule written to the minute, but I want some ideals.

Tomorrow (well, today for anyone reading this... well, today for me now that it's after midnight, I suppose), my dear wonderful husband is taking the girls on some errands. John and I will be home alone together.

First, I'm going to get us all our something-with-syrup Saturday breakfast and get our naps and showers and prayers taken care of.

Then, I'm going to think about how to have a Reasonably Clean House by starting with the master bedroom. I've had a hunch for a few weeks now that I need to pay more attention to that room, and Leila wonders

So, although Flylady has you start with your kitchen sink, and certainly, much has to happen before the sink gets shiny, which makes her idea clever, I wonder:

If you start in the kitchen, will you ever leave?

On many days, no. I do not. And although feeding one's family is something for which one should be commended and is no small feat with three kids under five and under my feet, I know there is more I could be doing. I don't want to live in clutter and I don't want to live in dirty.

Once something has been done in our bedroom, I will go visit the Nester (who linked over to Like Mother, Like Daughter in the first place) and I will soak up every one of her 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest posts.

Let's just see what I can accomplish before the Nativity fast.

Or at least before Christmas.

How to Be Well Amused

2010-10-01T14:00:00.001-05:00

First, go watch the video Mat. Emily posted.

I really do wish I lived in a time when most people thought about their appearances regularly, and I love Matushka's insight into these and other feminine matters.

However, for anyone else who had Mystery Science Theater 3000 voices saying things in their heads along with that short, go watch this. It's not actually by The Masters or anything, but it cracks wise it most of the right places.

**To warn you (in case you'd rather not have yourself or your kids see these things), the clips at the links above contain some adult humor (the h-word, some cross-dressing references, etc.). But it's all in good fun.

Prayers

2010-09-30T08:17:00.000-05:00

It was the feast yesterday (in the West) of St. Michael the Archangel. And since my friend in need of prayers is named Jeffery Michael, I found this prayer very appropriate—especially with its emphasis on "battle."

Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Also, I happened to check on Marianna yesterday in time to read that they were having a paraklesis for her yesterday evening. I read the prayers of the paraklesis to the Mother of God that evening with both this little girl and my friend in mind. Here are a couple of prayers from that service:

Bedridden, I lie supine with sickness now, and there is no healing for my flesh; but to thee O good one who gavest birth to God the Savior of the world and the Healer of infirmities, I pray: From corruption of illness raise me up.

And:

O protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, O mediation unto the Creator unfailing: Disdain not the suppliant voices of sinners; but be thou quick, O good one, to help us who in faith cry unto thee: hasten to intercession, and speed thou to make supplication, thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.

Lord have mercy! Lord have mercy! Lord have mercy!

***A note on praying to the Theotokos (Mary) and the Saints:

If you are a reader who has difficulty with these things, we see praying to Mary and the Saints simply as requesting someone who is incredibly close to God to pray for us to Him, in nearly the same way that we would ask a living person to pray for us (as I have on this blog). Some of his saints and angles have demonstrated to us already that they particularly seem to have God's ear in all or certain matters.

And as for Mary, the Mother of God, who was closer to Jesus than her? Theotokos means "one who bore God." The living God actually dwelt in her womb and she was able to "see God and live." The heavens cannot contain God, yet her womb did! She literally said "yes" to God, allowed Jesus to live within her, and then bore him to the world. She is the prototype Christian and as we are Jesus's adopted brothers and sisters, that makes Mary our adopted Mother, and who do we run to when this world hurts, but our Mother? While we may use terms like "Save us" or "Heal us" or "mediation," we do not mean these in the way that Jesus saves, heals, or mediates, but in the way that we might say our friend has saved us through his prayers.

Most Holy Theotokos, pray to God for us!

Prayer Request

2010-09-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

The father of a family in our parish (and good friends of ours) is in the hospital right now fighting to recover from life-threatening illness. If you would be so kind, please add Jeffery Michael to your prayers.

Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Multitude Monday

2010-09-28T09:50:00.001-05:00

My priest has asked me on a few occasions...

"What if God took away everything for which you had never given thanks?"

I would be left with precious little.

A little late, as is my nature...

31. a baby who sometimes falls asleep on his own

32. children who want to learn (in spite of my failings)

33. children who play such creative games

34. children who scream bloody murder (yes, I must will myself to be thankful even then)

35. a dirty kitchen because we have had food to eat

36. a dirty house because we have a roof over our heads

37. dirty laundry because we have clothes to wear and have done interesting things that result in dirt

[Can you tell what is getting under my skin this week?]

38. a relatively healthy family

39. the ability to change myself and the way I think about tasks

40. life

Alphabet Resource

2010-09-23T11:02:00.000-05:00

Pondered in My Heart is developing a great resource—Alphabet Coloring Pages!

Check it out!

Saints by Letter: Week Oo

2010-09-23T10:30:00.004-05:00

St Basil of Ostrog

Commemorated April 29

St. Basil (also known as Vasilije) was born and raised in the Popovo region of Herzegovina in the Sixteenth Century. His devout parents taught their son Basil all about prayer, the Christian faith, and love for Jesus Christ. When Basil was old enough, he chose to live as a monk. He moved to the city of Trebinje, where he joined the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Because of his love for the Church and his godly life, St. Basil was chosen to be ordained as a bishop. He led the Church during an extremely difficult time of attacks from the Turkish Muslims and disagreements with Roman Catholic Christians. Even during this hard time, St. Basil was a humble man who prayed, fasted, and did other things for God and the Church. As a bishop, he lived at the Monastery of Tvrdog until it was destroyed by the Turks. After that, St. Basil moved to Ostrog, where he continued to preach and teach the Orthodox faith unceasingly to his flock. St. Basil died at Ostrog in 1671, where his tomb remains to this day.

St. Basil’s great love for Christ and His Church did not end at his death. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us, “You have come to … the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus” (Hebrews 12.22-24 RSV). This means that departed saints like St. Basil are always with us as long as we love Christ and continue to gather with His people, the Church. St. Basil is perhaps best known for the miracles he performed after his earthly life had ended!

St. Basil’s body in his tomb at Ostrog, called relics, continue to work wonders. Each year on the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down to the Apostles in the upper room, pilgrims gather at Ostrog to pray at the tomb of a man who was filled with the grace of the same Holy Spirit in life and in death.

St. Nikolai Velimirovic tells us a story about a healing performed by St. Basil:

“One recalcitrant young man, who ridiculed God and his parents, suddenly went insane. The entire city in which this young man lived saw, in this, the punishment of God and was terrified with the fear of God. The young man was held bound and isolated for three years. His mother wept bitterly and prayed to God for her son. One year, during the Feast of Pentecost, the mother brought her insane son to the monastery of St. Basil in Ostrog. After prayers, the insane youth was cured and became himself again. After that, he became an exemplary person and a true Christian.” (from the Prolog of Ochrid)

St. Basil also healed a United States Senator from Illinois. Senator William Bar was almost killed on June 2, 1970, when an unknown criminal strapped dynamite to the bottom of his car. Senator Bar survived the explosion, but needed to have his right leg removed. He lived in great pain and constant sickness because of this. Doctors tried to heal him from this illness but nothing worked.

However, one night the Senator had a strange dream about a white church built into the side of a giant mountain. He had this dream repeatedly, night after night. He would visit this white church and in it, he would witness an old man with a long white beard walking around and healing many sick people simply by touching them.

Senator Bar did not understand this dream, until one day when he went to visit a doctor who could fit him with a prosthetic leg. He happened to see a picture in a doctor’s office of this same church, next to an icon of the same elderly white haired man from the dream! The doctor, a Serbian Orthodox Christian, explained to the senator that the white church in the mountain is the Ostrog Monastery, and the white-bearded man is St. Basil of Ostrog. Senator Bar received the prosthetic leg and could now walk normally, but he was still in much pain.

In 1980, Senator Bar made a pilgrimage to the Ostrog Monastery, along with a group of people who had also lost arms and legs. He fasted for 40 days and prayed the “Our Father” constantly. He made a very difficult climb uphill to the monastery, where he was finally able to pray in front of the relics of St. Basil. Each time he went to the monastery, a little of the pain went away. "I admit, I was a skeptic,” Senator Bar said later.

“I thought it may be just a superstition. But this is a phenomenon that is impossible outside the Church. I saw blind, deaf, dumb, patients carried on stretchers, children and adults, all climb uphill to the monastery either on foot or in a car. I believe in God's miracles, for I am a witness."

Senator William Bar returned home with no pain, and a much greater faith and love for God in his heart. He became an Orthodox Christian and devoted the rest of his life to helping other people with missing arms and legs, thanks to being healed by St. Basil of Ostrog.

Troparion to St Basil of Ostrog

Tone 4

From your youth you devoted yourself entirely to the Lord, indulging in prayers, labors and fasting; O father, loyal to God, you were an example of virtue to your flock. God, therefore seeing your virtuous attitude, appointed you as a shepherd and worthy hierarch of His Church; and after your passing away He preserved your body undecayed, O Saint Basil, and as you have no fear, beseech Christ our God to save our souls!

Troparion found at www.nikolaresanovic.com

Article about Senator Bar at www.johnsanidopoulos.com

Multitude Monday

2010-09-20T11:23:00.002-05:00

How does it save the world to reject unabashed joy when it is Joy Who saves us? Rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with the suffering doesn’t rescue the suffering. The converse does.

~One Thousand Gifts, A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

excerpted at A Holy Experience

 
Thank you, Lord, for... 

my son now "has Jesus inside" (Maggie's explanation of yesterday)

5 baptisms and 3 chrismations yesterday—truly, glory to God

my mother's hard work on "John's beautiful dress" (Susannah's explanation of his baptismal garment—pictures soon)

the presence of mind (once in awhile) to cook ahead

lively children who remind me that they need me

new friends and old

This is hard to do.  How do I give thanks when my first inclination is to complain?

reorganization, with lots of baskets and books

beautiful dishes I use every day making preparing for special meals easy if I let it be

my husband's nearly untiring help with house and kids

recovery from a cold

Going to Be a Big Weekend...

2010-09-17T09:45:00.000-05:00

Water of Life

2010-09-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

Ann Voskamp's Guatemala experience with Compassion International is beautifully written. Drink up.

Maggie's Take on Boys' Toys

2010-09-13T12:29:00.000-05:00

A lunchtime conversation with Maggie, referring to her brother:

"Mom, we should buy a lot a lot a lot of Darth Vader toys for him."

"Why?"

"Because boys play with bad toys! And we can share our dinosaurs with him!"

A Homeschooler's Daybook: September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T08:59:00.001-05:00

Saint of the Week: Saint Innocent

Letter of the week: Ii (with reviews of Aa and Ee)

Number of the week: 3

Color this week: Yellow

From the Learning Basket: Have You Seen Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim

Circle Time rhyme:

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

Continue here...

Main Lessons: Elevation of the Cross; Beginning our Book of Days

Paint: Wet-on-wet with yellow and red

Music: 1812 Overture (containing troparion for the Cross)

Multitude Monday

2010-09-13T08:44:00.002-05:00

Continuing my gratitude list...

11. baby rolling over at 3 months (and me alerted to it with shouts from my five-year-old)

12. waking feeling rested after bedtime at 10:30PM instead of much later

13. new weeks, new days (ie., new beginnings)

14. time and motivation to clean up several nagging piles (and a husband willing to hold the baby for a while on a Sunday afternoon)

15. a husband eager to help with our homeschooling

16. offers of help with the kids during a long liturgy

17. morning coffee

18. cool fresh air in through the windows

19. a desk of my own and asymmetrically hung picture shelves above it

20. an organized spice cabinet

Saints by Letter: Week Ii

2010-09-13T08:09:00.001-05:00

St. Innocent of Alaska, “Apostle of America”
Feast Day: March 31

In the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament (First Kingdoms in the Orthodox Study Bible), we hear about the calling of the Prophet Samuel when he was a young boy serving in the temple. Three times in the night, Samuel heard a voice calling him, and three times he woke the Priest Eli to ask why he had called. After the third time, Eli told him that it might be the Lord Himself calling. Samuel went back to sleep. He heard the voice the fourth time, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel’s response to the Lord is very important: “Speak, for Your servant hears” (I Kingdoms 3.10). Samuel responded with an open heart, willing to listen to God and do anything God wanted him to do.

We see this same willingness in the life of St. Innocent of Alaska. St. Innocent was born in the village Anginsk in the Irkutsk region of Russia, on August 26, 1797. Originally known as Fr. John Veniaminov, he was a married priest with a son named Innocent, serving and teaching at the Annunciation Church in Irkutsk. But in the 1820’s, though the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church began to realize that it was time to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the land of Alaska. Bishop Michael of Irkutsk asked for volunteers, and Fr. John, like the Prophet Samuel before him, heard the voice of God and decided to go and preach the Gospel as a missionary to Alaska. “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” he said, as he accepted the call from God.

In 1823, Fr. John left with his wife, his son, his mother and his brother. It was a long journey and it took them an entire year to get to Alaska. And when they arrived, they built and moved into a hut made out of dried mud. Fr. John was a smart and talented man, who used all of his gifts in the service of God and the Church. In the 45 years he served in Alaska, Fr. John learned several different languages of the native Alaskan tribes, and even wrote an alphabet for the Aleut language. He translated the Gospel of St. Matthew and other Orthodox texts, and preached at every opportunity he had. “Whoever abounds in faith and love,” said Fr. John, “can have mouth and wisdom, and the heart cannot resist their serving it.” Fr. John built schools and hospitals, and even instructed local doctors on how to administer vaccines and other medicines.

Fr. John traveled all over Alaska, parts of Canada, and even as far south as San Francisco, California, preaching and teaching the Christian faith as a missionary. It is estimated that he brought around ten thousand converts to the Orthodox faith through baptism. In 1838, Fr. John traveled to St. Petersburg in Russia to tell the Russian Church about his missionary work. Sadly, he received word that his wife had died while he was away. This prompted him to take monastic vows and accept ordination as a bishop under the name “Bishop Innocent.” As a bishop, he continued his untiring missionary work among the native peoples in Alaska.

Then in 1868, Bishop Innocent was chosen to be Metropolitan of Moscow, the most prestigious position in the Russian Orthodox Church. He no longer traveled as a missionary after this, but the bishop used the authority of his new position to start a Missionary Society in Russia, allowing others to continue his work in Alaska and elsewhere.

St. Innocent fell asleep in Lord on March 31, 1879. He continues to be a great example for all Orthodox Christians as a lover of the Bible, a preacher and teacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a missionary who believed that all people on earth need to hear, understand, and accept that Gospel.  

Troparion - Tone 4

O Holy Father Innocent In obedience to the will of God You accepted dangers and tribulations Bringing many peoples to the knowledge of truth. You showed us the way, Now by your prayers help lead us into the Kingdom of Heaven.  

That Pesky Question

2010-09-11T12:43:00.001-05:00

Michelle has written a fabulous post on having a large number of children.

The Question That Keeps Being Asked

Go read it!

A Boy Named Well

2010-09-10T14:54:00.004-05:00

We went to the chiropractor today, and the receptionist let my girls choose stickers. They also picked one out for John: a drawing of a smiling little boy with the sentence "I'm a well-adjusted kid!"

Later, over lunch, Maggie asked, "The boy on John's sticker... what's his name?"

"Uh," I thought for a second, "I don't know."

Then she recited what she thought the sticker said. "I'm Well just a kid."

Pause.

"His name is Well?" and she proceeded to giggle.

"No," I said. "It says 'well-adjusted.' The chiropractor gives you an adjustment..."

"... and he takes away your name??" interrupted Maggie.

At that point, we were all laughing hysterically, and any attempt at explaining a spinal sublaxation or adjustment to a five-year-old was finally out of the question.

WWWN

2010-09-09T23:27:00.002-05:00

Nearly done with two weeks' worth of homeschooling. Here is a sample of What's Working and What's Not.

What's working:

Morning Prayers: I detest having to do things like dress or attend to the house when I am still waking up. I know that admitting this is probably being a very bad "FlyBaby." I know that the most efficient way to do things is to jump out of bed, throw on my clothes, take a load of laundry down to the machines, and milk the cows all before my coffee.

That is not me.

In setting up my schedule for this Fall, something persuaded me to schedule our Morning Prayer time followed by some read-aloud time to fall right after breakfast, while still in my pajamas.

The ideal morning runs thus: I stagger out of bed and fix breakfast and drink as much coffee as possible (if I am awake early enough, I unload the dishwasher first—that really makes the day go smoothly). When I am awake enough to clear the dishes off the table, that is done quickly and the table is wiped off. Then we do a quick set of prayers (many are sung, and to my delight, my eldest has been singing along and knows the words!) complete with lighting candles and changing the day's commemoration picture sheet. Then we settle on the couch (me with more coffee) and read the life of the saint we are studying that week and then the girls get to pick some titles. Please do not be misled: This does not happen every day, nor does it always happen closer to breakfast than it does to lunch, but I did say "the ideal morning."

I love it! And by the time we finish all of that, I am awake enough to carry on with my day.

What's not:

Letters and Numbers: While I like the idea of our curriculum's suggestion to let Maggie "experience" various letters and numbers, I really think she is past being interested in that approach. She knows I never sit there and paint a giant A on a page. She wants to use letters the way I do. She wants to make lists and write notes. She reads a lot of words—I think by sight and context, rather than sounding-out, but then, she does some of that too. I've found a website with an amazing number of printables, most especially letter formation tracing pages, that I think I will try with her. According to my curriculum's Alphabet Writing Chart, some of the arrows are going the wrong direction, but that is easily corrected.

Miscellaneous Notes:

One thing I think I have decided over the last two weeks (and I know that is not much experience) is that I don't want to do a bunch of unnecessary crafts, art projects, and invented "school projects." If we are going to have a Kitchen Day, it is going to be something that we need to make anyway. If we put a lot of time, money, and skill into a craft or art project, I want it to be something that is in some way worth having or using. We collected leaves and made window decorations out of them, and I love them because they are very seasonal and remind us of our experience in "the forest" as my girls call the nature preserve we walked through.

I won't hold painting quite to that standard, though. There are some great suggestions in our curriculum for learning some painting techniques that I can't wait to try once we get some real paints, paper, and brushes. This would fall under learning a skill. I'd like to have them able to create some art (if they are so inclined) to put in future learning notebooks of various subjects.

More reflections to come, I'm sure.

Cooling Off? Here Come the Germs!

2010-09-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

Am I a pessimistic Mom if every time my kids cough, I assume I may need to grab a bucket? Last Winter was an absolute illness-nightmare for our family. I swear nearly every week, someone was coming down with a new illness. I sincerely hope we don't do that this year, but I'm sort of expecting it. If it doesn't happen, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Here's a handy article on what to do with a passel of sick kids over at Se7en's blog.

But I promise this doesn't mean we are sick at this moment. Isn't Summer glorious that way?

Off Track—Any Suggestions?

2010-09-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

Partially due to the slight, bandaide-requiring injuries my children have sustained today (and not in the least due to the inordinate amount of time I have spent blogging this particular morning), we are off track for the day. The kids are grumpy (due to aforementioned injuries) and asking for a movie. I am not planning to give in to that request right now (we do a movie at the end of the day most days), but I'm not sure I should try to do my main lesson right now either since it requires a little attention from the kids.

How do you get back on track when a homeschooling day gets off-kilter? Do you plunge ahead with the lesson (I have found this to snap us all out of our funk some days). Do you try to get to everything in as you'd planned? What works for you? What absolutely is the worst idea ever?

Orthodox Homeschooling Resources

2010-09-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

I've begun compiling a list of my favorite Orthodox homeschooling resources over to the right in response to my Mom looking for many of these resources for a friend who doesn't use the internet. Nearly all of the links listed take you to sites that have printable (and often free) resources.