Well, it's happened.

Anytime I am looking for my eldest daughter now, this is what I find. She has finally become a serious reader. I am so thankful for this. I had hoped that she would be a lover of books and I pray it continues.

What was the book that hooked her? Harry Potter. Fr. Justin has been reading the books to her-but just not fast enough. One afternoon as she was complaining that we weren't reading to her at the pace she wanted, I told her to read it herself if she couldn't wait. And so she has.

Now, to get number two to start reading. Thea claims that she doesn't want to read. She said "Why should I read Mommy when you and Papa read to me?" Hmmm.

Quick Update on Miss Zoe

We went to the Dr. today for Zoe and all seems to be headed in a good direction. He said her lungs sound good and her fever is gone. He thinks Zoe may have some asthma going on and so we'll start looking into getting her some help with her lungs.

Thank you all for your prayers!
M.Michelle

Linen, always a conversation starter

Young male nurse who helped us at the ER: "Is that linen?"

Me: "Huh?"

RN: "Is that linen? Your shirt, is that linen?"

Me: "Uh, yeah, it is."

RN: "I love linen."

Me: "Uh, yeah..."

So, we had to take our little Zoe to the Children's Hospital ER Sunday night. She's been battling with what we thought was pneumonia for about a week. She's not responded to antibiotics at all so we thought she needed help. We found out that she has a respiratory virus, hence the reason antibiotics aren't working.

Anyhow, the guy who checked us in and got us in a room was the person inquiring about my linen shirt. Seems he's in to the whole medieval dress up thing. He told us that it's hard and expensive to find the type of clothing for his extra curricular activity, so he taught himself how to sew and now makes his own clothes. At first I thought his conversation was a little odd, given the circumstances and all, but then I realized that he was just being kind. He was making conversation-any conversation to pass a few minutes, to lighten up the situation a bit...to take the edge off. It worked.

By the time we were finished and walking out the door we were talking to everyone in our area of the ER like we had known them for years. Everyone was smiling and waving and cramming more stickers into Zoe's hands-wishing her the very best.

What a job. That place was absolutely nothing short of insane. From where I was sitting it was total chaos. Our nurse told us it was a really calm night. Everyone there was so very kind-except for the patients-all children (a constant stream of no less than 200 or so)-who were screaming and crying and sick and in pain.

I was so thankful for those people who must really love their jobs. How else could they do it? I mean when I got there I was stressed. At that point Zoe had been sleeping for about a week with a fever floating between 102 and 105. Her lungs didn't sound good. I knew something was very wrong. So, by the time we made the decision to go to the hospital I was pretty worried. Everyone there made a concerted effort to smile and speak kindly to us. I'm sure they knew I was worried-which parent who brings their child to the ER isn't? Nonetheless, I was amazed at their patience and their joy. Really. I sat and watched them interact with very upset parents and children and all the employees were calm, loving and genuinely concerned for every person they encountered. I was amazed and impressed with it all.

We're home now, thanks be to God. The Dr. didn't feel Zoe warranted a stay-just close monitoring. If she's not doing well in a few days we will go in for some tests. I ask for your prayers for this little one. She needs to make some improvement over the next couple of days. Also, say a little prayer for all those Dr.'s and nurses, EMT's, paramedics and employees who work crazy hours and take care of people. I personally can't imagine doing those jobs, but clearly they can.

Glory to God for all things

For years I worked for a very successful company in the film industry as the general manager. My responsibilities were a little of this, a little of that and a lot of everything. One of the things I prided myself on while in the work force was organization. I could work under loads of pressure and juggle several different projects on a daily basis. In fact the busier I was the more I liked it.

I find it ironic that the one of the things that hinders me most in my daily life now as a wife and homeschooling mother is my lack of organization. Some days when I feel especially disorganized and frazzled I have to laugh at how I used to manage in my old job. Everything in my office was perfectly organized, neatly labeled and filed. Everything in my office was very clean and neat. No one ever had to ask me where something was, how to do it or when because I was typically several steps ahead of them. Another life...

Now, don't get me wrong. I would love to still have those skills that I somehow, somewhere lost. I'm sure my husband wishes I had them back too (although he never complains). I'm certainly not condemning being organized-unless of course it's an obsession. But I find that the Lord truly does give us what we need. These days my oldest usually wakes up before I do...she's eight. Aren't I supposed to be up, showered, prayed, read, dressed, baked and all ready to go before anyone else hits the floor?!

Since my ability to run a tight ship did not seem to follow me home when I left that job for this one, I have had to change my expectations in a very large way. I spent a great deal of time beating myself up over the years for not being able to run my home life like I did with my old job. While I did live my faith in my job it is only now as a mother that I have really begun to live my faith. Of course I can contribute this to my marriage, but I largely contribute it to having children.

While I think that having a game plan, being organized and creating a warm and inviting home is very important for children (and my husband), I have since learned that remaining at peace and giving thanks to God in absolutely everything is the best education I can give my girls-despite my shortcomings. As I think back over the last couple of years and remember different learning, cooking, cleaning scenarios I've tried, that didn't really work, I just remember the anxiety I felt about not doing a good job within our home. Surely my family has felt my anxiety too on some level.

Being able to have a prayerful life and a peaceful heart is largely what managing a home is all about for me these days (I've yet to perfect either of these by the way). I've come to realize that the girls don't care how organized I am, although I will always strive to be better organized, what they want is my love, attention, prayers and direction-and this is not always an easy task. My girls don't need to see me stressed out because I can't think of what to cook for dinner, what they need to see is my ability to ask God for direction and gently begin to move in that way with humility and joy-and this is not always easy either. As my priest always says: "One foot in front of the other, just place one foot in front of the other." That is to say, just begin. Stop fretting about it, pray about it and then begin to move slowly. One can waist a great deal of time fretting.

I love being home as a wife and a mother. I love homeschooling the girls. I feel that my husband and my children are the greatest gifts God has given me, in addition to the Orthodox Church, but I do think it's the hardest work I've ever done. I find it the most challenging because while I can work hard on healthy meals, good curriculum and trying to sweep every day, it won't matter unless I'm living my life according to the commandments of our Lord. I can pray every morning with my girls, but if I'm not putting on Christ in all I do, then my girls will not know to do this either. I have seen the worst of me in my girls before and it is a sad sight to behold. It is very humbling and this is what I need.

I love this quote by Elder Porphyrios:

“What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relations to their children through their mildness, patience, and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children. Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behavior of the children. And their behaviour is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the parents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, harmony and understanding between parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.”

Elder Porphyrios on Nurturing Children

May the Lord bless us and grant us strength in His holy work!

B is for Basil

We've been having a great time following the Letters of Grace curriculum. We've eased in to it slowly and it has incorporated very nicely with some other things I want to do with the girls.

The girls have really enjoyed studying about the Saints for the week. I've enjoyed the easy Science lessons-among other things. ;)

I would love to purchase all the Orthodox books the ladies have compiled for the weekly studies, but it's not in our budget right now. Thankfully I've been able to just Google the Saints and have found a nice selection of stories to read on the internet. I pull up a picture of the Saint on my computer, provided by the Letters of Grace website, and the girls go to work coloring and drawing their own pictures of the saints. It's worked great.

Also, last week I hadn't made it to the library to pick up all the books for the week A. I told the girls to go to their book shelf and pull five books each in which the subject matter started with the letter A. Mission accomplished. I want to go through and alphabetize the girl's library but just haven't found the time as of yet. Hmm, perhaps they should work on that project for me.

This week we've focused on the letter B. Today we planted some Basil along with lots of other seeds. I'm hoping we're not too late to get a nice garden going down the street.

Little Zoe is under the weather this week. As Thea said, "Zoe is feeling b-b-bad".

Blessed week to you all!

Meet...La-la

When Thea was born someone made her a blanket that she has loved from the moment we laid it on her. From the moment she could talk she called her blanket La-la and to this very day the name remains-as well as her love for her cozy friend.

As you can imagine this blanket has traveled far and wide with us and we have only lost it once. It was a sad few days while we tracked it down and had our friends mail it home to us.

Every year when we take a vacation one of the first things on my list to take with us is...La-la.

So about a year ago I told Thea that it was time to start leaving La-la at home on our outings. I told her that it would be best not to bring it to church any longer. While La-la has brought hours of comfort to my little one, it has also been a partner in a little mischief as of late. As in, I've looked down in church to see Thea wrapping her blanket around one of her sisters to annoy them, I've seen it fly around to hit one of her sisters, etc.

Anyhow, after a period of leaving the blanket at home, Thea recently went through a phase where she really wanted her blanket with her in church again. Holding ground I said no and that it would be waiting for her upstairs when church was over. Reluctantly, Thea would put her blanket back in her room and head out the door. The other day when I announced that it was time to leave for Vespers this is what I saw.

Thea, determined to not be separated by her companion, used her blanket as her head covering. I was so impressed with her creativity that I almost let her wear it, but I didn't. I just smiled, told her I loved her head covering, asked her to put her blanket on her bed and get a scarf on and get downstairs. Her response? "But it's really big and beautiful, just like the Feotokos' (Theotokos) head covering!"

Dentist

So, the girls had a check up at the dentist yesterday morning. All went well.

I noticed, however, when we got home, that they somehow looked...different. I can't quite put my finger on it (nor would I want to), but their teeth somehow seemed...bigger, or whiter or something. I don't know, must be my hormones again. I get all weepy these days when the girls appear older to me.

Oh well. The dentist did a nice job on cleaning their teeth. Wouldn't you say?