Celebrating Holy Transfiguration

We will be attempting our first evening liturgy tonight since John's birth.  I'll let you know how it goes!

For the hours leading up to our departure time (early enough to pick up Daddy and drive to our sister parish about an hour away—or more during rush hour), we are working through Matushka Emily's list of things to do to celebrate this feast with children.  I printed it off and put it in my Cycles of Grace (seasonal home management) Notebook #5.  I've got most of it checked off—what practical and doable ideas!

For an icon of Transfiguration to display on my rotating art wall, I wish I had something that matches my collection of icons generously given (once-upon-a-time) by Mary.  However, instead of just wishing, I created my own in a similar style using this icon from www.oca.org:

Then for an icon for the kids to color (or paint, as we like to do), I downloaded a line drawing of the icon for the Transfiguration (scroll down the page to select the appropriate icon) from the OCA's Department of Christian Education website:

I grabbed a couple of matching white wire baskets (one for each girl) that used to house bath toys and gave them a good wash.  Then I threaded some blue and white ribbon through the holes around the middle of the basket and made a little off-centered bow.   I resisted the urge to add any more decoration since they looked so simple and beautiful the way they were.  We'll stop at a grocery store for grapes to fill those baskets on the way to church this afternoon.  Maybe I'll even get a photo of them at some point.

I also hunted around on the Antiochian Archdiocese website and found our collection of hymns (mostly byzantine style).   I located the Major Feasts page and scrolled down to the Transfiguration Series to download a PDF of music including the troparion for the Feast of Transfiguration.  We sang this at lunch time with our meal prayers.  We've also been playing our copy of Kh. Gigi Shadid's Celebrate the Feasts CD, paying special attention to the song about the Transfiguration.  (I love her CDs!)

Wow!  I feel like I'm back!  I in no way planned to be this proactive about finding ways to celebrate the Transfiguration with my girls today.  Matushka Emily just made it so darn easy and I just jumped in!  It's been fun, and we'll finish it up tomorrow with a special evening meal and lots of blessed grapes!

A Blessed Feast to you all!

Photos from Holy Week (and More)

So of course, as soon as I commit to updating my blogs, I end up getting a writing assignment, so that will take up much of the time I thought I would use for blogging. Maybe I can do this when I get bored. In the mean time, if you'd like to see some photos of our kids (and other people's) at the church we are assigned to in PA, go to their lovely website: http://www.stmaryorthodox.com/photo-gallery. And for more recent photos, go to their home page (http://www.stmaryorthodox.com/) and click on "Recent Photos" in the bottom right hand corner or "Photos of Parish Life" on the left.

Move Along

If there are any readers of this blog left, you probably already know from other sources that we are moving to NE PA (northeastern Pennsylvania), and the date is fast approaching! We drive out of Chicago on the 9th of August and will arrive (after a few stops) in the Scranton area (no, I have not seen The Office) on the 12th. We have an apartment waiting for us, Andrew will be attending seminary at St. Tikhon's, and we'll have the monastery community and a new church in Wilkes-Barre to adjust to. It should be an interesting adventure!

In blog-related news, we were given a new camera by my parents for all of our birthdays this summer. So, we should be better at updating this thing -- especially since we will be so far from so many friends.

Here are a few recent shots -- many are from a tiny birthday party we had for our family's birthdays since we'd be moving when most of them occurred.

Gramma Baum with Susannah

Looking for kitties

Birthday gifts with friends, Sofie and Delaina

A birthday card for Maggie

Susannah with Delaina and Clifton

No, it's not a cigar... it's a wooden teething toy/rattle....

Singing Happy Birthday... notice Maggie is hiding (just like her Daddy used to do)

Sorry, Hal. I couldn't resist putting this up here.

Get your own.


It's empty, I swear.
(OK, so now this post contains photos that make it look like I let my 11-month-old smoke and drink....)

Decorations made by a friend

Susannah loves being able to get around on her own

Maggie being cute
(These are small because I wasn't paying attention, and then was too lazy to change it!)

Sleepy babies just waking up in the morning

Andy's test photo... containing our family motto

Christmas Day (Observed) with the Baums

Merry Christmas!

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Sorry this is a bit late in coming. While the girls and Patty went up to Madison Christmas Day (Andy came too, but returned the next morning to work), we didn't celebrate Christmas until the following weekend. Here are a few glimpses into that day, and since there are no pictures of me, you can tell who played photographer.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Daddy helps Maggie open her gifts.

Maggie got some Play-Doh!

Grandma and Aunt Ellie open some gifts.

Grandpa wore his new coat all morning, and there's Hal in the background.

Grandma received a set of nesting bowls in the shape of a lotus flower.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas Celebrations

Sorry it has taken me so long to post these! Christmas is a crazy time of year....

We had matins and liturgy for the Nativity of Christ beginning at 10pm on Christmas Eve and ending well after midnight. With only a late-afternoon nap, Maggie went strong through the whole service, surpassing many an eight-year-old (and many of us adults...) in alertness. I don't have any photos taken during our Christmas service; however, I took this when she finally crashed on Daddy's shoulder and was so soundly asleep that she could be put down:


Being that it was 2am, we went home to go to bed. Maggie, however, did not wish to enter our apartment. We picked her up and carried her in the door, where she stood defiantly with her coat on. When Daddy began to remove it from her body, she flung herself to the floor in what promised to be a glorious tantrum. Our expectations were not to be fulfilled. After the dramatic fall and a very short wail of protest, Maggie was asleep where she had landed:
And there she stayed for a good hour, because every time Daddy came near her to try take off her boots or, in the very least, move her to her bed, she would scream and kick.

The morning was better received by our older daughter than had been bedtime the night before. I think you can guess of what breakfast consisted from the chocolate smear around her mouth -- she is also clutching a DVD of some of the first seasons' episodes of Sesame Street:


Here's another present -- Maggie really got the hang of ripping off the paper this year:


And here's Susannah wearing her Christmas outfit (which reads, "Daddy's little present") and posing with one of her presents:


I'm sure Mommy and Daddy were around somewhere, but we were too bleary-eyed from the night before to bother with taking pictures of ourselves.

When I get around to it, I will post some pictures from "Christmas Day (Observed) with the Baums," having taken place the weekend following Christmas. As for us, currently we are all fighting a cold (even Susannah, poor thing), and we are leaving for Ohio on Friday evening, for the baptism of our little niece, Laurel Annabel Heetland, and returning the following Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how the kids like the car for that long drive!