Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Cousins and Friends

My youngest niece turns 11 today!  WOW!  It is so true what everyone always said when I was pregnant with my first, "the time goes by way too fast"!  It does.  My sister has two beautiful girls, both pictures below with my daughter.  I can remember as if it were yesterday. She called me so many miles away to tell me she was pregnant!  I remember the birth of both of them and can still picture them in their nursery beds.  Here they are now...."big cousins" to my children.  Over the years, between then and now, I always felt a bit of sadness when it came to her children and my "future" children.  While she  is younger than I am, she found her soulmate and had children much before I did.  I was sad in my own way because I had always envisioned our children growing up together, playing together, learning together.  I wanted them to be close since my sister and I are so close.  I had wanted our children to share in that love and joy.   I feared that if there was a big gap in their age they would miss out on that.  I really couldn't have been more wrong.  God is awesome and knows what is best for all of us!    Her oldest is over 10 years older than my daughter - and they are unbelievably close.  Both girls have such a special relationship with my children.   They are awesome.  Unlike most kids I know their age, they are always so willing to get out there and play with Sophia at her level. They are selfless when it comes to her - and in return, they are Sophia's most favorite people in the world. Mine too!  Everything is always more fun if "the girls" are there with us.  I couldn't agree more! So, today's little post is just a "thank you" to them...and a Happy Birthday, of course!



Wednesday, September 23, 2009

TV...or not TV....THAT is the question.







Even before we were married, my DH and I were never really "tv people".  We do have a television and basic cable.  He watches football, baseball, etc - whatever is in season...and occassionally we watch a "This Old House" episode or something of that nature.  So naturally, when my daughter was born, I made it my strict mantra "NO TV" for my child.  She will read, play, sing, run...but not watch that "junk".  My thought process on this was simple.  I didn't want  her being exposed to all the negative things that were shown on television - shows, commercials, inappropriate behavior, dress, language...you name it.  I certainly did not want to allow anything bad into her little mind.  And so it went...my tv-less child.  We would occassionally get a video from the library and we even have a few of our own which she really loves.   Every so often I allow her to watch a special show in the morning if I am really in a rush to get ready - Sid the Science Kid is her favorite.  She is quite proficient with the computer and we do allow her limited time to play on that.  She enjoys playing Sesame Street and the PBS website .  She can watch slideshows of our family photos.   That was the extent of her electronic entertainment.

Well, last week my little girl was sick (wasn't everyone?).  We put her on the couch so she could rest during the day, of course.  Coloring, puzzles and dollhouse only lasted so long.  So....enter PBS Kids.  Channel 3.  Sesame Street.  Curious George.  Word World.  I had to start watching some of these shows with her to get her through the day.  The shows were cute. The content was good.  There were learning segments, letters, numbers, life lessons...not too bad.  It was even nostalgic for me!   We got through those few days,  thank God. PBS shows in the morning and some videos that she had gotten for her birthday if necessary later on in the day.  It was a television frenzy!  She couldn't wait to watch the "next" show or movie.  Harmless?  Maybe.

It's been a week since she recovered.  The first few days were a shock to me. She would wake up in the morning and take her chocolate milk, head to the couch and say "what can I watch now?"  When I would tell her "nothing" and try to explain that we only watched a lot of shows because she was so sick, she told me her tummy hurt!  GASP!  That little picture box thing was so powerful (dare I say evil?) that my innocent little girl was going to pretend to be sick now ?!?

For the next few days I had to wake up and immediately DO something, get out of the house, have a plan....because if I didn't , she was asking me to watch something.  Amazing - she wanted to watch something more than she wanted to play with all of her birthday presents!   It was really quite a struggle for me the first few days.  I was actually feeling like a horrible mother for even letting her sit and watch it for so long to begin with.

So, why I am I thinking about all of this and why am I writing about it?   I know that some of my friends and family think I'm a little odd for not having her watch tv or not letting her get caught up in all the mainstream, character toys, etc.  I ALWAYS get comments like "What's wrong with Sesame Street"?  "Is it a sin to watch Clifford?"  Well, no...I actually LIKE Sesame Street and I think that there are a LOT of good things for kids to learn there.  I was brought up watching Sesame Street.  It's not ALWAYS the content of the shows that we have to be careful about...but it is the DEPENDENCY of watching them in general.  Isn't the same true for adults?  How many of us used to watch "the Soaps"?  Would you miss a day?  I know many who would video record them so as not to miss out on a single hour of these make-believe lives.  I can even see my little girls temparment change when she watches more than a short segment. She gets whiny, cranky, lazy, doesn't want to play with anything else...I call it "brain-mush".  It can become a habit so fast...and THAT (in my humble opinion) is something that we need to be mindful of for our children, just the same as WHAT they watch.  As an Orthodox Christian mother, I want to be sure that she isn't exposed to anything that is inappropriate and not pleasing to God....for the eyes are the window to the soul.    Even if we were to put aside the fact that we shouldn't allow them to fill their mind with garbage and noise...we  must remember that we could be letting them set up habits that could last a lifetime.   There are so many children today that don't know what to DO if they aren't in front of a television, listening to their iPods, playing a video game.  We, as parents, are responsible for paving the way for them.  If it was this APPARENT after just a week with my little girl, just think of how much of an impact it has on children after a year, two years, etc!

Every year there are more and more gadgets.  Every year it seems like younger and younger children are "needing" these gadgets.  I know 8 year olds who have cell phones, 5 year olds who can't go anywhere without a portable gameboy, 6 year olds who watch a movie every single time they get into mom's minivan!  It's crazy!

"We will put the devil in our houses inside a box and his horns will be on the roof."  St. Kosmas

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Divine Justice

"There is no greater joy than the joy you feel when you accept being wronged.   I wish everyone would wrong me!  Honestly, the sweetest spiritual joy that I ever felt was inside the attacks of injustice.  Have you any idea how much joy it gives me, to be called, "deluded"?  "Thank God", I say to myself; "I will receive wages from this insult, whereas if they called me a saint, I would be indebted".  Nothing is sweeter than being wronged!            


-- Elder Paisios 




I have spent the better part of the last two weeks really battling how I am ACTUALLY feeling and  how I WANT to be feeling!   Ahhh, the "spiritual struggle" (my "askesis" in Greek).  

I am a victim. Yikes, I don't even like how that sounds.  My car was burglarized, my diaper bag/purse was stolen. My window was crushed. My wallet is gone.  My personal affects.  My children's things.  My bank accounts frozen, closed, reopened, frauded!   I feel violated....and mad.  I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone what an aggravation this whole thing has been.   As if the above wouldn't be enough, I find out yesterday that these criminals DID actually use my identity to take money from our account...all of it - and THEN some.  Well, I had been handling the whole thing quite well until this new curve in the road.  NOW I was really mad, disgusted, depleted.  I was starting to unravel.


As my husband and I are handling all of the details back and forth via emails, he takes a moment to tell me this:  


"my love!  It is not for us to be troubled within these trials and tribulations in life.  By troubled I mean despondent, angered, fearful, stressed, etc. We move on through patience, calmness, trust, peace, humility; excepting "all that comes to us throughout the day." Our growth in life-our Faith comes
through times like this. These are perfect examples, or as the church shows us "temptations" to ascend or descend."




He reminds me to re-read Elder Paisios' talks on Divine Justice for encouragement and guidance.  I LOVE that we are there for each other in these times of struggle!  What a Blessing he is to me. 


I can't lie - I didn't flip a switch and become thankful that I was robbed.  I wish it were that easy. But I am fighting the temptation to react to this in a way that is not pleasing to God.  







Sunday, September 13, 2009

Our sick little Monkey!

As I said in a previous post, our little girl turned 3 this past weekend!  Unfortunately, she also woke up sick the day of her party.  She was still quite a trooper and put on her best for most of the day.  It also rained for majority of the day, so many of our party plans were "squashed".  Despite being crammed in our little house, I think everyone had a pretty decent time.
I did indeed attempt to make the "monkey" cake that my DD requested.  I am not much of a baker, per se...but I said some intecessory prayers to St. Euphrosynos and gave it my best shot.
At first peek, it appears I used WAY too much cake to fill the pan! I decide to press on and cut the top off to continue baking.  I'm thrilled that this works.  When I take the cake out and flip it (a new endeavor for me in and of itself), it is revealed to me that this cake does not actually LOOK like a monkey when it comes out of the pan....and that I have a lot of work to do.  

It is my first time using one of these cake decorator things and it takes me a while to get the hang of it.  But eventually, at the midnight hour, our little monkey birthday cake is done!   

As for our own little monkey....she was looking a bit worn out by the time it came time for cake! 






Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Turning 3 !!!

Our little girl turns 3 in a few days!  I can hardly believe it.  She also celebrates her Nameday a few days after that.  This is really the first year that she is actually anticipating her special day and understands the fact that people will be coming over for a party "just for her"!  She is super-excited about it all. We have a few family birthdays over the summer. so she has had some recent reminders of what this whole thing is all about.
Her birthday package (well, one of them) arrived a few days ago from her Noni and Granddad....she couldn't wait to open it!  (she gets that from me)!  Can you guess what her favorite thing was??? She has been snapping pictures ever  since she opened it!


For the first time, I actually ordered some invitations for her (vs. the usual Walmart special). We didn't need too many and we got a great deal.  As you can see, we co-celebrate her Birthday and her Nameday.  The four of us will probably have a special night for her on the actual days of each, but as far as our common celebration for friends and family - this is how we'll do it.  This is the first time she is actually understanding it too.  It has worked out for us because the dates are so close together.  I think in our society, we often fall victim to the current culture and bring our kids up with BIG celebrations for their birthdays and a brief phone call and "Xronia Polla" on their Nameday.  I can speak for myself because that's how it was in our family growing up too.  I want it to be different for my children and I hope and pray that we are able to provide them with that - and that one day they can carry on the tradition in their own families.


I took her to the party store today - again, this is a first for her.  I decided I would let her decide what kind of theme she wanted to have and then we could get a few things.  I had already made my "mental" list of which ideas I would try to reinforce and which I would try to dissuade!  (Sooooo, I guess I wasn't REALLY letting her pick it out 100%)!!  Thankfully, at the store there were a lot of character ideas that she didn't even know...but then she saw some MONKEYS !  Well, I could go with that. As a matter of fact, it was one of the "ideas" I'd been tossing around with her earlier this week.  Then she saw Curious George, who she likes too. She loves the book about Curious George and the Birthday Party!   So we decided to go with the Monkey idea and add in a thing or two of the actual Curious George character...she is thrilled!


I'm also printing some of these coloring pages for the children who will be attending.

We'll be working on a few other ideas during the week and if we actually get to some of them, I can post them afterwards!  I don't want to get ahead of myself...I tend to actually THINK I'm going to do a lot more than I am actually capable of doing!  

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Stop and smell the......Roses???

Do you see that STICK on the right of the picture?  You can look at the rest of the flower bed too if you like, but pay attention to that STICK.  I will tell you that my husband took this DEAD, FROSTBITTEN, NO-SIGN-OF-LIFE, stick and brought it to my FRONT yard in hopes of bringing it back to life.
  I kept asking WHY we couldn’t try this experiment in the BACK yard?  Why in the front where everyone could see it?  We had just planted some new and promising little flowers in the bed, a trellis...there was so much hope for such beauty in a few short months.  .......  but my husbands delusional idea that the naked STICK was going to actually survive was really putting a big dose of "ugly" in that flowerbed. 
One day when I went out too look around, I noticed there were some green leaves coming on the branches.  Few days later, I thought “is that a BUD”????  Then more buds.  We went away for the weekend and when we came home THIS is what we saw.
I grabbed the camera right away!  I wish I had taken a better picture, but you get the idea. There were about 25 roses !  They were beautiful and looked like silk!  He has yet to say “I told you so”....but I”m sure he is holding himself back! My husbands steadfastness paid off!  Glory be to God for all things! I am very happy to have a beautiful healthy rose bush on the side of my house!!!