Tonight during Vigil

Zoe perked up as she heard the hymns about St. Thomas and said "Mommy, they are singing about Thomas!"

Me: "Yes dear, they are."

Zoe: "Oh, I love Thomas the choo-choo train!"

Me: *Sigh*

Check it out!

Wow! Three dear souls, Mary, Matushka Emily and Anna, created (and are continuing to create) a wonderful new homeschool curriculum. Thank you ladies for taking the time out of your busy lives to help us parents have a better, more beautiful homeschooling experience with our babes! I'm sure our children will thank you too!

So, hop on over to the Letters of Grace space and enjoy!

Artwork by Emmelia, 14, daughter of Mary

Prayers please

Can you please pray for a lady named Donna? She has just been diagnosed with an invasive cancer that is everywhere in her body. This has come as a huge shock to her family and they are deeply saddened. Her prognosis is not good.

Do Thou, O Sovereign Lady, by Thy joy-be-stowing honorable Icon "Queen of All," save those who with fervent desire implore Thy grace; deliver from afflictions those who run to Thee; from all dangers do Thou guard Thy flock, who ever call upon Thine intercession.

Troparion Tone 4

Akathist to the Mother of God

"Healer of Cancer"

Bright Thursday

Christ is Risen!

While we are remaining in a festive spirit around here, we are working really hard to finish up the little apartment behind our main house. It partially burned in January and so we took the opportunity to do upgrades. Well, we've had to do much more than upgrades and it's going to be a cute little house. My husband, our GC and electrician have done a great job.

Our new tenants are scheduled to move in this weekend, as their lease is up on the 15th. We aren't quite ready for them, but we will be by the 15th. It's all coming together at the 11th hour.

My dear fried, Eudokia, Zoe's godmother, is taking the girls for the day today and tomorrow. This is going to be a huge help. The girls love being with her too, so they are excited. They'll be at the zoo today and who knows what tomorrow.

So, today I get to start painting. I need to go purchase a new fridge and some odds and ends for the little house. The tile for the kitchen, bath and laundry went in yesterday and it looks so nice. The carpet will be installed on Monday. The heating and AC guys will be out today to hookup the systems again and make sure they are running safely. (Please pray that these systems function properly. We cannot afford new systems at this point...)

I still want to whitewash the living room and kitchen. It has the old knotty pine walls which darken the place a bit. It currently has the old fishing cabin look. It's charming but a whitewash would brighten it up nicely. (I'll proposed the idea to our new tenants and see if they're up for a future whitewashing party.) Also, we want to replace the counter tops in the kitchen. This would be an easy and fairly inexpensive job, but this too will have to be saved for a future project.

There is a second full bath in the bedroom that has and old metal shower stall. We found a way to refinish it, but in doing so we found rust and a past leaking problem at the bottom. So, after much discussion we've decided that we are going to rip out the shower stall and make a nice big linen closet for storage. Our new tenants loved the idea (especially the wife) as there's not much storage in the little house. They will still have a half bath in the bedroom, but now with a nice large linen closet and no leaky shower. (Don't worry, this project won't be done before they move in. I plan to make my husband lay his hammer aside at least for a bit before any new projects start. I would really love a trip to the monastery, but that might be asking too much right now...)

While the fire has caused us major stress, taken money from our main house project and worked my husband to exhaustion, we both agree it was a blessing in disguise. When we bought the house our plan was to get in the main house and then turn our focus on the rental house. The fire forced a different plan, but it also got us a little insurance money to help with the redo. The icing on the cake, however, is our new tenants. We have a lovely couple with a newborn baby moving in who are members at our church.

As I've said before, I was a little nervous about who would be living in our back yard. One of the beautiful things about having a back yard is being able to have your children play safely there. I am so thankful I won't have to worry about this problem, as least for now. Plus, they have a newborn baby I get to love on! :)

One final thing, can I ask that you pray for this couple. They both have jobs but they really want the wife to stay home with their little one. Her husband just interviewed for a better paying job and we would all love for him to get it. I don't want to mention their names for privacy, but the Lord knows who they are. May God's will be done!

A blessed continuation of our celebration of our risen Lord to you all!

Bright Tuesday

Today we enjoyed the afternoon with our precious Vladyka Dmitri. Every Bright Tuesday he invites the area clergy and their families over for lunch. We always have a great time visiting with people we rarely get to see.

The girls enjoyed their day also. One of the priests brought his daughter which made the girls really happy.

A Blessed Bright Monday!

Ahhh, Bright Monday! We are having a beautiful, peaceful, quiet and relaxing Monday. It's so hard to believe that Pascha is already here!

Yesterday we had Agape Vespers and then a picnic and egg hunt for the children in the afternoon. We had a great time.

Fr. Justin and some of the men roasted their traditional lamb for the picnic. We had lots of delicious food and great company.

Here are a few pics of the girls during the egg hunt. Notice Katherine's shoes. I guess they've heard me ask them to not play in their church shoes one too many times. I laughed when I saw her shoes. Thea had on her very dirty and gross cowboy boots with her Pascha dress. Zoe came out in flip flops. Oh well, thanks for being obedient ladies.

Enjoy your week of feasting and fellowshipping with friends and loved ones as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!

Christ is Risen!

Indeed He is risen!

A blessed, glorious and joyful celebration of our risen Lord to you all!