Festive New Year's Child

7 Quick Takes - 2012 New Year's Resolutions

In the past I have said I don't like New Year's Resolutions.  In my opinion, making a resolution is a guarantee to fail, because it is puts undue pressure on oneself.   Plus, if you want to improve yourself, just do it.  No "resolution" is needed.  I am not saying it will not be difficult.  We can all improve, right?  Here I go again, making resolutions against my own principles that I should not--Baring all my weaknesses here.  But, I am going to take this not so much as a resolution, but rather things I could improve upon.

Here are my suggestions for myself, so I can be better in 2012:

1. Pray. Pray formally, in private, without failing, twice a day, and pray formally with the family twice a day.  Along with prayer at meal times that will make seven times a day--a holy number.  Every time my routine changes a little, it is difficult to keep prayer consistent.

2. Exercise three times a week--Join a gym with childcare!  I think about getting exercise all the time, but unless I can get away from the kids, it's not going to happen.  I also feel bad about leaving them with my husband when he gets off work, because he has already had a long day and me too.  It would be better if I could go earlier in the day and have someone keep the kids.

3. Eat better - In line with the previous resolution, eat smaller, controlled portion sizes and only eat when I really feel hungry.  Delicious holiday food is really hard to eat moderately.  I always get to thinking I need to watch portions during this time. ;-)

4. T.V. Habits - Stop allowing the children to watch so much T.V. - Stop using the T.V. as a crutch.  Usually the kids watch T.V. first thing in the morning before everyone is ready to do anything else.  And they watch T.V. around lunch time while I put the baby down for a nap.  The T.V. is the only thing that keeps them quiet and occupied while I lay her down and she falls asleep.  Then I let them watch for an hour or so and I get time to make lunch for everyone and eat my own lunch in peace.  But, I would like to see them go more days without T.V. at all, or only during quiet time.  I would like to figure out what to do with the kids when I need them to be quiet.

5. Date my husband.  I really miss one-on-one time with my best friend.  I could spend every minute of every day with him and never be tired of him. :-)  As it is, we spend a lot of time with each other, but hardly ever without the kids.  Therefore, much of the time we are together we are pre-occupied and stressed.  We need some stress free time together.

6. Quiet time with God--Write an Icon that is not a child's icon.  This longing never goes away.  I guess I need to spend less time on the computer, or something.  Perhaps all those books I am reading will have to wait a little longer.

7. Patience without yelling, anger or spanking, even when I am tired, stressed and not feeling well.  Alex is older and can be reasoned with, I have seen a lot of improvement in behavior by remaining calm and working through whatever behavior problem.  I need to be conscientious about how I treat ALL the people in my life.  I need to treat everyone with kindness, gentleness, respect and cheer.  These are the traits I am trying to teach my children.

With a lot of these I need my husband's cooperation and support.  I think I have an important conversation forthcoming with my other half.

 

 

 

 

 

The Nativity Project

It's finally done.  A friend asked me to help her make Nativity figures so that she could sew a plush Nativity set that her kids could play with, without breaking.  I drew the figures and she is having them printed on fabric and will sew them.  I took my drawings and laminated them and the kids painted a cave.  Then we placed the figures as though it were a Nativity set.  I laminated the figures so we can reuse them from year to year.

Kristiana was my big helper.  She worked the longest and hardest on it.

This time Annie helped paint.  She finger painted. :-)

This is one of my favorite parts of the set - the two angels and the star.

Happy Christmas Season!

S'nami Boh - God is With Us

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

As much as l love the truly unique food which helps to commemorate Christmas Eve, Holy Supper celebrations, this year I really enjoyed the fellowship celebrating the meal with our whole church.

Folks brought their cheer and their finest cooking skills.  We began by eating blessed garlic dipped in honey commemorating the bitter sweetness of life.  This was followed by a wonderful meatless meal.  Cedar plank salmon, pyrohies (potato stuffed pasta), kutya (honey and wheat porridge), kapusta (sauerkraut and peas), fruit, cabbage slaw, mushroom soup, stuffed cabbage and bread.  I did not take pictures of any of the food.  I was so excited about it, I was eager to make it disappear into my belly!

All of the children present were very adorable and squirmy.  One person told us their children were with a babysitter.  While we think it is important for the children to be present, the 30th time the toddler wants to be picked up, then put down, then runs up the aisle, you start to think a babysitter for evening Liturgies is a VERY good idea. ;-)

I made braided cheese bread for the priests for Christmas.  I was particularly pleased by the results, because totally winged it.  I did not have a recipe and I made tasty bread!  This is a big accomplishment, because I am not a baker.

This is Sister Vitae.  She was one of the kids who was in the youth group I lead.  
We have not seen her since our wedding nearly 7 years ago.  A lot has changed since then.

P.S. I think my camera is on it way out.  It does not seem to be focusing well anymore.  It's only three years old. :-(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Momma Renee's Advice for Finding a Mate

I woke up in the night the other night and dating advice is all that was running through my head.  Strange, I know.  But, pregnancy hormones will do strange things to me in the middle of the night.  Anyhow, I thought I would write them down and try to formalize them.  Perhaps, someday my children will benefit.

This advice is for the purposes of finding a life long mate.  And in my experience this advice leads to marriage success.

1. Pray about it—pray for God’s will to be done.  Freshman year of college, I tried out a couple of awkward college relationships (too much expected early intimacy, too much guessing where one stands) and I thought, this really is not working out for me.  I decided to give it up, get my head straight, focus on academics and just seek God first.  I simply was not interested in this awkward dating game.  Finally after a happy semester hiatus, I prayed.  I prayed to God for Him to bring me to my husband, or to a religious vocation.  I prayed to have no hand in this.  I prayed that I only wanted to follow His will in this matter.  I prayed telling God I was surrendering this all to Him.  God was now in charge.  Soon after I began emailing a few college friends over the summer break from school.  One friend stood out.  It was clear I was enamored, but I was still not pursuing this friend in any other manner than frank conversations about God and other transcendental ideas.  We were simply enjoying a burgeoning friendship.  One evening we were talking about something completely mundane, but I prayed to my Guardian Angel in the middle of our conversation that my friend would want to talk about his Orthodoxy, as I saw this as a conflict that would keep us apart.  At that moment, he asked me what I thought of his Orthodoxy.  I pardoned myself for a moment as I freaked out in another room and got myself a glass of water.  There was no reason on earth, at that moment, he should have asked that question other than Divine intervention.  From that point our relationship exploded into a lot more, as I like to think guided by the hand of our Maker.  As I have explained before when we finally came around to more in our relationship my future husband was clear that he was interested in courtship with the intent to marry and not simply dating.  Therefore, in your relationship seeking, both in friendship and love, be sure to pray for GOD’S WILL BE DONE.

2. Know what you believe.  It is incredibly hard to solidify what you want in a mate if you yourself are not solid in what you believe.  You should have a firm grasp on central beliefs essential to life.  Such matters include mind, body and soul (e.g. faith, money, nutrition, exercise). This will help in discerning who would be a suitable mate.

When your beliefs are still changing and forming and you have committed yourself to a partner, that person may not see fit to change his/her beliefs as you seek what is true.  Your relationship is likely to end.  This is why the Catholic Church recommends that Catholics marry the same denomination or someone who is seeking communion with Catholic beliefs.  Catholicism provides for a solid belief system covering a broad spectrum of life.  If you are going to commit to becoming “one flesh,” you must believe in the same things to act as one flesh.

That is not to say that your future mate cannot help you discover and solidify what you believe.  However, once in a relationship, when irrational, erotic, emotions take hold, and especially if it is a physical relationship, it’s hard to discern whether what you have come to believe through this person is true.  It is much easier to use one’s knowledge and intellect to discern true beliefs outside of the emotional factors of romantic relationship.

3. Good character is key.  It is obvious that you do not want a lasting relationship with someone who lies, cheats, steals.  Even little dishonesties could lead to bigger ones.  He/she should not be immoderate/intemperate either.  If he/she cannot control his/her appetites this could play a big role in damaging your relationship later.   A person who habitually overeats could become morbidly obese and die—similarly for a person who drinks too much; smokes.  A person who gambles, or person who is addicted to material goods, leads to destitution.  

I always say that a man who cannot fast, or you have never seen fast will not make a good mate, because he will not sacrifice for you or anyone…Likewise, your mate should protect your own virtue.  You should not be asked to do things against your own moral character and beliefs.

Further, your partner should keep company of the same high moral character.  Sometimes people have family members or childhood friends of poor character.  It is often difficult for people to see the faults of such friends, because it is someone they have loved from childhood, and or cannot avoid the person.  At which you should point out that the person is of poor character and you both should have limited contact with that person.  At this, your partner should agree and protect the virtue of you both.  Association with people of poor moral character will always result in damage to you.

4. Save it for marriage. Keep physical relations limited during courtship.  This is the most difficult for those courting (dating) to keep.  Everything about our culture, and our natural chemistry, tells us that we ought to have physical relations with those to whom they are attracted.  So why not test out the fun physical stuff?  Well, simply put, the first three dating advices are near impossible to discover and complete when intercourse is on the mind.  Further, there is a lot of game play involved before getting into bed.  This takes up a lot of time that could be better spent in procuring a solid friendship and partnership with your future mate.  People who court without falling to a relationship’s physical nature marry quickly.  This is NOT because they are trying to hurry up and make their relationship legitimate so the can have legitimate physical relations.  They come to the conclusion of marriage quickly because they did not play a lot of games trying to get into bed with each other.  Rather they spent a lot of time sharing beliefs and coming to understand the whole person.  (People make mistakes.  But, you can always try and try again.)

5. No secrets amongst partners.  Total honesty about your beliefs and past life is important.  Do not pretend that you share the same beliefs if you do not.  Do not pretend you have achieved more than you have.  If there is some ideal you hope to achieve, be honest and humble that you have not accomplished it, but hope to.  Tell the truth about your past.  Your past is what made you.  Share also what you learned from your past and how you became a better.  It will always come back on to you if dishonesty plays a role in your relationship.

6. Honor thy father and mother.  In general, your future mate should have a loving relationship with parental like figures.  Not everyone is privy to good parents.  But, your future mate should be able to forgive his/her parents their faults and love them for the good things they did.  And if there really was nothing to love about his/her parents, then he/she should have cut all ties and have a loving parental relationship with someone who was a nurturing parental figure.   If there is no one like this in your future mate’s life, this is a sign he/she will not be able to have a successful, permanent, loving relationship with you.  Some people are damaged and your love will not fix it.  They have to heal from within.

That’s what I have for now.  I am sure there are lots of well-written courtship books that could say this better than I.  But, should my kids ever ask my advice (they likely never will), I can say, “Funny you should ask. I have just the thing for you.”

 

 

 

The Conception of Blessed Theotokos

Here is a late post for the feast.  All last week I was very ill with the flu and strep throat.  I did manage to muscle through the week caring for the children.  We even managed to write the icon of the Conception of Blessed Theotokos, but I did not get pictures of the kids working.  Kristiana finished her icon of many colors , but Alex did not finish his.  I have been working on a major Nativity project, so I did not work on this icon.  But, I thought that such a feast could not pass without remembrance.  I scanned the Icon I drew and decided to fill it in in paint.  It's a far cry from iconography, but it is a remembrance.

Troparion (Tone 4)

Today the bonds of barrenness are broken,

God has heard the prayers of Joachim and Anna.

He has promised them beyond all their hopes,

To bear the Maiden of God

By whom the Uncircumscribed One was born as mortal man,

Who commanded an angel to cry to Her:

Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with You!

Kontakion (Tone 4)

Today the universe rejoices,

For Anna has conceived the Theotokos through God's dispensation,

For she has brought forth the One who is to bear the Ineffable Word!

Last Year's Post:

http://theclaytonianchronicle.blogspot.com/2010/12/icon-writing-with-kids-conception-of.html

Legendary St. Nicholas

I am really so confused about why we lie to children about St. Nicholas and Santa Klaus alike.  A few years back when people started to tell my kids about Santa Klaus, of course it was all lies--"Legends" I guess people call it.  Then of course, friends and family asked us about what lies we would be telling our children--you know, so they could keep our lies consistent with the lies they were going to tell our children about Santa.  I felt the need to keep the lies consistent as well, especially since this year my son has 101 questions about St. Nicholas/Santa, which is what I have turned the lie into.  The more questions he asks the more lies I have to make up on the spot.  Initially, it did not occur to me to tell the truth, because Santa was a fun part of childhood for me.  It took me to eight or nine to stop believing.  I felt like a grownup that year but, if you think about it, that's not very old.  When the lies began for our kids, I initially thought that I did not want to be Scroogey and banish such fun from childhood.  However, this year as Alex asks more questions the more I have bitter taste in my mouth about lying.

Why can we not tell the children the true story of St. Nicholas including the fact that he is dead and in heaven?  I suppose because most of the stories of St. Nicholas that survive in perpetuity are that of mythological legend.  It's really no better than all the stories we make up or is it?  There are some very good lessons to be learned from those legends that I think are lost today.  The legend of St. Nicholas giving dowries secretly in the stockings of three sisters teaches of giving to the less fortunate.  There are legends of him protecting children and this teaches us to protect the helpless.  All of the legends, involve acts of great faith, fasting, prayer, works of mercy and almsgiving.  These things are good.  Perhaps we ought to do better learning the proper legends rather than making up our personal pack of family lies about St. Nicholas.

I think a far better thing would be to tell the children that they are receiving gifts in secret, because that is the way St. Nicholas gave gifts, not because St. Nicholas is actually the one giving them.  We want to give in this way for several reasons.  If we give in secret we need not take glory for ourselves.  All glory ought to be given to God who gave us all things.  We must not forget this fact that all we have are not rights, but gifts from God.  We also ought to give in secret so as not to embarrass the recipient as one may not feel worthy and not accept the gift.  No one likes the feeling of receiving a hand out.

The pack of lies of has been told to my children for this year and will sustain through Christmas, because we have family obligations to fill (family traditions are important too).  However in the future, I would like to tell the kids the truth about the gifts and tell them the legends as well along with the corresponding morals.  It will be so much easier to not be making up lies and stories on the spot that do not express the meaning and importance of good works and gift giving during preparation for Christmas.  I think that we can really make this fun too.  For example, I think I will ask each grandparent to give a small secret gift for the kids stocking on St. Nicholas day next year.  The children will receive the gifts with an understanding that those who love them gave them gifts. They can give a larger not so secret gift to the kids on Christmas day.

One interesting thing that came out of the Alex's questioning this year was, "Why does St. Nicholas like to give to children?"  I told him it was because children have nothing.  Everything they have must be given to them, because they do not go to work and earn the things they have.  And even if kids did work, they would not be able to work enough to be able to support themselves.  So we must give to children.

…Okay enough heaviness.  How about pictures from the two St. Nicholas parties we went to:

Here is Alex telling St. Nicholas that he has only been "a little" good this year.  St. Nicholas told him he needed to be "a lot" good.

Here is Kristiana and St. Nicholas trying to divine toddler speak…Then St. Nicholas gave the kids gifts, but not in secret. (I guess the real gift givers were secret).

At the second, St. Nicholas party the kids are playing "Pass the Money Bag."  Music played and when it stopped the child holding the bag won the bag of chocolate coins.  But, she also had to come to me to learn a secret about St. Nicholas.  I told her that St. Nicholas would share the gold coins with others and I asked her to share them.  The little girl excitedly passed out the gold coins to everyone.  She was really sweet.

The kids put their shoes under the Christmas tree to receive a secret gift from St. Nicholas.

 

I made ornaments for the kids to decorate.  The far left is the back side of the ornament.  We also had coloring pages and a picture I drew that the kids could glue cotton balls on for a beard.

Alex drew the St. Nicholas below all by himself.

Finally, at our party I introduced the kids and mothers to the Ukrainian hymn "Children Who Love St. Nicholas" (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/children-who-who-love/).

All the party ideas and coloring and materials are from www.stnicholascenter.org

Let's Make Lemonade Part II

 

Taste Testing the Lemon Rinds: Look at those great sour faces.

One giant lemon produced enough lemon juice to make about 1.5 quarts of lemonade.  It was tasty lemonade too.  We finished by the end of the day.

Let's Make Lemonade

My neighbor just gave me this giant, baby-head, sized lemon.  His brother sent it from his garden in Florida. Yum. It smells great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 Quick Takes: Yoda

1. Faith and Tradition! - I am still learning the traditions of our Byzantine faith.  Some Byzantine family needs to write a book about all the traditions throughout the year complete with prayers and a cd of different tones for the prayers (please).  There are prayers for everything and it seems some people know where to find them, but we do not.  I would love to learn how to sing all the tones as well, because not only would I enjoy singing the troparians and so forth, but my kids would love it as well.  As it stands, I sing only the trisagion prayers and I think the kids get tired of it day after day.  

We started by learning the Great Fast and Pascha traditions.  In the past four years we have been learning the St. Phillip's fast and Christmas Eve traditions.  The Christmas Eve traditions are so wonderful and beautiful.  One thing we have never done is use a St. Phillip's Fast candelabra with the prayers.  But, hopefully for future Advent seasons we will do this…just thinking about Eastern traditions.

2. They call him, Yoda. In college, my husband was given the nickname, Yoda, among others, because he gave great sage advice to our peers.  Lately, my husband is full of good parenting and family ideas.  I do not know why he does not share them with me more often.  Day-by-day, I feel like I scritch and scratch, and barely get by parenting our children.  Honestly, I think I do pretty well, but it is a lot of hard work.  Here are three stories of how my husband has helped solve family problems.

3. Yoda Part 2 - Recently, we both struggled a lot with our daughters' sleeping habits.  13 month old Annie was still sleeping in our bed and no one was happy about it.  Kristiana was waking frequently and screaming at the top of her lungs.  So there was a lot of waking up in the night by both parents.  But, we problem solved together.  I moved Kristiana into Alex's room thinking that a roommate would squelch her nighttime fears.  They both liked the change, but she was still waking.  Kristiana was also taking milk to bed with her and she was requesting more milk in the night as though she were a little baby.  I told my husband she was cut off from milk.  She simply needed to eat more at dinner time.  He agreed, but he talked to her all day long about it reminding her that she was not allowed to request milk and she was not allowed to scream.  They seem to have a special bond.  All his talking to her really helped and now she is sleeping better--not always, but it's better.

4. Yoda Part 3 - With Annie, I bought a crib and moved her to the girls' room by herself.  She still would not go down by herself, but Andrew put a blanket over the end of her bed so she could not see light shining in from the door jam.  And she could not see us leaving after putting her in bed.  Now we can lay her down and leave immediately and she sleeps all night. Yay!  We will get some sleep before the next baby comes along.  And though I have enjoyed snuggling all night with our little babies the next baby will not be allowed to sleep in our bed.

5. Yoda Part 4 - The BEST advice of the week came from my husband at the end of last week.  He worries greatly about homeschooling Alex, because he is high intensity and non-compliant.  He gives me grief when I ask him to do his school lessons, which only take an hour if he is good about doing it.  We both feel Alex needs an outlet outside of the home, but public school is not our answer.  Our reasons for wanting to homeschool are concrete.  But, Andrew requested that I get more organized and start earlier in the day with Alex.  He said I should sit down on Sunday nights and plan out the entire week.  We should get up early get ourselves ready and then wake the kids.  Then each morning, after breakfast, after the kids dress, we pray, say the pledge of allegiance to the flag and dive right into homeschool.  This has worked brilliantly all week.  Kristiana gets little lessons too and enjoys it.  Annie can be a trouble maker though.  I try to get Alex done by 10:00 a.m. so we can have morning outings.  My problem now is what to do with the kids in the afternoon.  The kids play a little and spend a little time outside.  Alex always asks if he can play computer games, but he always wants to play too long and throws fits when he has to be done.  I feel like he needs to keep well occupied in the afternoon too…We are very much considering sending him to preschool next semester just so he can have a better outlet and more activity.

6.  Monkey - I have such trouble getting pictures of interesting things Annie does before she stops doing them.  She has begun to climb everything.  She drives me mad about it.  She will climb on top of the kitchen table for almost any reason and she will get into everything.  She started climbing to the top of our backyard play gym too.  This week, she decided she is brave enough to fling her tiny body down the slid with no assistance.  She goes flying down the wavy slide and bumps her head at the bottom, then comes crying to me for cuddles.  Then she goes back for more punishment.

7. Clever - One day last week, Annie dragged an outdoor patio pillow to the top of the play house.  When she got to the top she threw it up and climbed the rest of the way herself.  She took the pillow and threw it down the slide.  Then she slid down and landed on the pillow.  It was awesome and hilarious.  She did it two more times and I did not get the camera in time to film it!  She is way too little for such activities.  She is very mature mentally, but looks like a baby younger than a year.

 

A Christmas Poem You Have Never Heard

I have been reading poetry to Alex at the end of our home school lessons.  I have a poetry book that was my father's.  It's called, "This Land: An Anthology of Australian Poetry for Young People."  It is the best poetry book I have ever read.  Alas, a few years back I tried to get a couple more copies of it for my brother and sister, but it is out of print and very hard to find.  I emailed one shop in Australia that said online they had it in stock, but when they looked they could not find it.  So, I have one tattered, falling apart copy that my sister and brother and I used to battle over.  Right now it is in my possession, but I need to make copies and give it back to family.

Here is a Christmas poem I read to Alex this week, which you have likely never heard because it is printed in an out of print Australian anthology.  But, the poem itself is fresh, beautiful, interesting and insightful.  It was written thoughtfully by a Catholic poet.  Perhaps, it may bring new thoughts and discussions within your family.

A Word from the Innkeeper

By Paul Grano

No luck, there's no room here.
There's not a corner of the yard
but has them sleeping packed
as close as pigeons in a market coop.
I'd not refuse you did I have a spot
where you could even seat yourself and wife.
Look for yourself--baggage and camels, and men,
women and kids, a rowdy, thieving mob,
sprawled everywhere. Now, are you satisfied?
In all my twenty years of keeping inns
I've never seen the like before.
Such avalanche of flesh, such herds of humans!
All day long for days
they've drifted in, mud to the knees,
with blistered feet, fagged and empty-bellied.
They've eaten the whole village out--
there's not a wineskin wet,
not a cheese remains.  And bread!
My friend, the baker, fell exhausted in a tub of dough.
They found him, sleeping there, a monstrous loaf!
Myself, I haven't slept these three nights past.
I daren't--they'd pinch the very doors for wood.
Well, there it's is, nothing I can do.
The Government's to blame--
I ask you, who but fools would take
a census in the wintertime?
A bitter winter, too, it is--
and if I am a weather-man--they say I am--
my father was, he knew the signs--
and shifting ants for floods, and all the rest--
I'd say the sky is full of snow.
Make on, and find some shelter for your wife.
A pretty girl, she is.  You'll be a father soon?
God grant you, sir, a lusty son.
Let's see, let's see--two hundred yards along
you'll strike a narrow track, a cattle-pad,
that branches to the right and leads
into the hills where there are caves.
At least you'll have a roof, and dung for fire--
the cattle shelter there--
but, even so, they're cleaner than the cattle I have here.
The wind has fallen.  There's a flake of snow--
a frozen swallow, if you like poetic terms.
My father was a poet. But make faster.
Yes, light your latern now. The stars
are coming out.  How sharp and cold they are,
like points of silvered spears!  They say
a brand new star arrived the other day,
but stars to me are much alike as sheep.
Good night, good night, my friend.  A sound roof,
and a dry bed, and a sunny morning!
Good night.  See you do not miss the track--
Two hundred yards along, and to the right.
Good night.