Outside my window…

Not much to report. Gray, cloudy, looks like Seattle :)

I am thankful…

For our bishop, Bishop Thomas of Charleston, Oakland, and the Mid-Atlantic. We have been blessed to have Bishop Thomas visit St. Philip’s several times since we’ve been there, and I’m always grateful to have such a wise and loving father overseeing our Church. Paul says that he takes the Gospel very seriously, the Gospel very seriously, and himself very unseriously, which seems about right to me :) He led a mini-retreat at St. Philip’s last Saturday on “Raising Godly Children.” We prayed the beautiful Akathist to the Mother of God, the Nurturer of Children, and afterwards Bishop Thomas spoke to us about raising children to be holy in the midst of a very unholy culture. Both on Saturday and again in his homily on Sunday, he spoke of the need to raise children in an atmosphere of holiness, wherein there is no difference, no confusion, between the life lived in the Church and that lived at home. Yesterday, we commemorated the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, who we honor as protectors of the True Faith. He spoke of the Holy Fathers and said that the Holy Fathers probably became Holy Fathers because they were raised by holy mothers, by holy fathers, and in holy households. He encouraged us to truly make our households holy households and make Christ the center of all we do, that our children may emulate a holy example.

I especially appreciated his answer to the question, “how do we get our children to desire to pray with us? When it comes time for morning and evening prayers, should we require they join us, or should we just pray ourselves and hope one day they will choose to join us? Is is right to “force” children to pray with us? Will it make them see prayer as a chore?” The bishop answered, “We require our children to eat healthy food. We require that they take a bath. How much more important is training in prayer and the spiritual life? We try and make the food palatable, we try to make bathtime enjoyable, but in the end, they still need to eat, and they still need to bathe. You can do your best to make morning and evening prayers something they look forward to, something they understand and participate in, but in the end, they still need to learn to pray with the family.”

I also appreciated the answer he recounted to us that he gave to a mother once that reproached him when he was a parish priest and had told his parishioners to keep their children from evil influences. She said, “We need to teach our children about the real world!” The bishop retorted, “Out there is NOT the real world! Out there is corrupt! Out there is perversion! THIS (pointing to the church) is the real world! What could be more real that our life in Christ and the salvation of our souls!”

I am hoping and praying…

That the right part-time work will come my way. I’m looking for part-time childcare or housekeeping work that I can bring James along to, and also hope to start doing some editing from home. I’ve had a few inquiries on the childcare front, so hopefully I find the right match soon.

Also praying for several friends and aquaintences that hope to be blessed with children soon.

From the Kitchen…

I’m currently baking my cousin Marilynn Song’s bread recipe. I was getting discouraged with my normal 100% whole wheat bread that never seems to rise high enough, and my sourdough bread is always gummy in the middle, and while I like the super-sour rye bread, I think Paul likes it when I make “normal” bread :) This recipe has been pretty foolproof. Looks good so far - they are risen high and turning golden brown in the oven as I type!

I am reading…

The Iliad, still, and slowly. Yesterday I was SO exhausted with my sciatica and taking care of baby who wouldn’t take a nap all afternoon. Finally he fell asleep, and I took a bath with a glass of wine (until baby woke up 30 minutes later). It wasn’t exactly the time for ancient Greek poetry, so I started one of Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.

When I’m sitting for hours with the sick baby, I’ve been reading him Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by St. Gregory Palamas. I figure it will either make him wonderfully wise and pious, or it will put him to sleep :) They are really beautiful sermons, and explain so clearly why we honor and love our Mother. I highly recommend everyone read his two sermons entitled “On the Entry of the Mother of God into the Holy of Holies,” which is rightfully considered one of the most famous of the writings of St. Gregory.

I am pondering…

On Sunday at the Divine Liturgy, a tiny crumb of Divine Communion was accidentally dropped from the chalice. Of course, as we take dreadfully seriously the teaching of Our Lord and the unbroken witness of the Christian Church over the centuries, we truly believe it is the very body and blood of the glorified Jesus Christ, who is made present by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Often, if a particle of Divine Communion is accidentally dropped, the carpet is cut away and burned, after anything that could possibly be consumed is consumed. Anything used to clean it, such as the cloth, is burned. I won’t detail just how our bishop, who was present at this Liturgy, dealt with this, but I assure you there was a extraordinary amount of care that was taken. One cannot leave the Body and Blood of Christ Himself on the floor to be walked on. While we should never hope for such an accident to happen, it does serve to remind us of how we should approach such an awesome mystery, the Divine Mysteries. We should remember the words spoken by the priest or deacon as they bring the chalice out to the peopel, “With the FEAR of God, with faith and with love, draw near.”

I am listening to…

Part two of our friend Fr. Andrew Damick’s series on Orthodox and Heterodoxy. I highly recommend these lectures and would be happy to burn them to CD and send them to anyone who cannot listen online. I’ll probably continue to link to these as more episodes come available.

One of my favorite things…

James wanted to nurse for TWO HOURS this morning. I can’t say it’s one of my favorite things at the time (at some point Mama needs to take a shower, you know), but I keep reminding myself that it will be a very short time before I look back on this time of him being such a little baby fondly, and I doubt I will be able to spend entire Saturday mornings snuggling my next babies.

This week in the Church…

Friday is James’ very first name’s day! For those of you unfamiliar with name’s days, the feast day of one’s patron saint is a big day in a family, and is a more important celebration than one’s birthday. The Feast of St. James the Just, Brother of Our Lord and Bishop of Jerusalem is on Friday. I hope to go a Divine Liturgy for St. James with our little James on Thursday night, since we have very few opportunities to go to a Divine Liturgy for one’s own patron saint (my name’s day, January 2nd for St. Juliana, always gets eclipsed by the Feast of St. Seraphim of Sarov on the same day) and we’ll have a little celebration on Friday. I will try and post the story of St. James on Friday also. It was reading the life of St. James in the middle of the night, in labor, sitting on my birth ball, that made me agree that the baby should be James should he be a boy.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

We hope to go up to St. Paul’s Antiochian Church in Emmaus tomorrow, pastored by the aforementioned Fr. Andrew, as the bishop will be present to elevate Fr. Ted Mikovich to the rank of archpriest. Paul was assigned to St. Paul’s as a seminary intern and worked with Fr. Ted, so we hope to be present as this honor is bestowed on him. Other than that, the only other thing planned so far is the drive up to the Liturgy for St. James at the same church. I was also up visiting Fr. Andrew and his wife Kh. Nicole yesterday, so that will make a total of nine hours in the car driving to Emmaus and back this week! Wow, I should not have added that up.

James Benedict this week…

James just gets cuter and sweeter by the day. He giggles and “talks” to us. He sits like such a big boy in my lap during dinner. But he’s still my little baby and spends much of his day snuggled in the wrap. He has had a blocked tear duct since birth that causes him to have a constant teary, goopy eye. But this morning he woke up for the first time with a totally dry, clear eye! It’s stayed that way all day so far. I know they can close back up several times before they stay open, but I’m crossing my fingers that his eye will just stay clear. He’s growing more and more hair (after having it all fall out after he was born). It’s still thick and very dark, and we think it may grow straight up like his Papa’s :) He’s sleeping next to me on the bed right now, swaddled up like a little baby burrito.

A picture to share…

I don’t think I’ve taken a single picture this week. I’ll make up for it later :)