Daybook - Intentions

Outside my window... dark and cool. Looks like one last cool down before the summer heat is upon us.


I am thinking... I had all these intentions of how I want to spend this Lenten season. We have had a bout of viruses and visitors. I am going to try and dedicate this last weeks of lent to attend all church services and focus on prayer and spiritual reading.
I am thankful for ... a visiting family and an understanding husband.

From the learning room ... we are working on transitioning Pic Pic to kindergarten. She is doing well at preschool and seems to get bored with it. So far she is doing well. We are still doing some preschool activities for fun.
From the kitchen ... I am trying to keep an easy menu for the rest of this fasting period. I want to start thinking about what we will be making on Pascha.

I am wearing ... yoga pants and a t-shirt.

I am creating ...I am not a very creative person but I have been working on lesson plans and workbooks for Pic Pic. I also am still working on a home management binder that's going to work. I think the simpler the better.

I am going ... to bed early (hopefully). I have been having a sore throat the last couple of days and am praying that sleep and vitamins will cure it.
I am reading ... The Royal Way of the Cross.
I am hoping ...to be able to attend all the rest of our church services for this Lenten season.

I am hearing ...a baby boy trying to talk. Lots of baby chatter and trying to sing. Its so cute to really see them finding their vocal cords.
Around the house ... a mess. With all the viruses and visitors the house is in desperate need of good cleaning.

One of my favorite things ... hot tea to soothe a sore throat.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... church services everyday this week. I want to keep our plans simple until after Pascha.
Picture thoughts to share ...

Ice Man on his 1st
Birthday!

Lenten Reading

With Great Lent just around the corner, I have started to gather reading material for this fasting season. For the past couple years I have read Ascending the Heights A Layman's Guide to The Ladder of the Divine Ascent by Father John Mack. I look forwarding to reading this each Lenten season as a constant reminder of the "rungs" I need to work on. I will also be reading The Royal Way of the Cross of Our Lord Leading to Eternal Life. This will be my first time reading it. I look forward to the gems it will hold.

I would like to get back in the habit of reading more and being less distracted and concerned with worldly matters. I have a night stand full of books to read and have either started them and not finished or haven't even started them. Many of them are books that I have read in the past that I would like to read again and others are new. I will try and post any other books I have time to read during this season.

What books are you reading this Lenten season?

Our Orthdox Journey

I often find myself at a loss for words when it comes to blogging. I am not sure what to post about. With three young ones my day changes from hour to hour. The one thing that remains and does not change is our Orthodox Faith. It is the one thing constant throughout our day.

To help with finding words to post about, this blog is going to have a purpose. My purpose with this blog is to share our Orthodox journey so that one day I will be able to reflect back on all our special moments and to utilize it for plan making for the following years liturgical cycle. 

I pray that I will be able to find the time to post more frequently and share our Orthodox life with others. One thing I would like to disclose is that we follow the old calendar, our dates on the secular calendar may differ from others.

Thoughts

I have quite a build up of posts to read in my reader and just read this post from Mat. Anna. It would be sad to see her stop blogging but I could definitely understand why she would need a break (fortunate for us, she is not stopping). I find such comfort in reading her posts and relating to being an Orthodox mom and having a husband who is going through pastoral school. I have been feeling a bit lonely as of lately, with living in a new city and being a stay at home mom. I've forgotten that there are so many wonderful women out their blogging that I can relate to.  I have been reluctant to blogging because I tend to be an introvert. But once you get to know me, as my husband likes to call me, I turn into a "jabber jaw". I am updating the side bar to show some of my favorite Orthodox Mom blogs to read. To all you mothers thank you for all the comfort you provide and wisdom you give this mom of little ones. I will try to share more about my family and comment on all your wonderful blogs.

Anticipation & 10 months

I have found myself thinking about the approaching lent and getting quite excited about the beginning of this fast period. It's sad to admit but I have been much to consumed in worldly pleasures and find that I must stop this consumption as it has been affecting my spiritual well being. In preparing for this great fast I am going to begin some small changes that I think will make a big difference.

Ice Man is now 10 months. I still can't get over how fast babies grow. He is still my small one which I am very happy about. The girls were always in the 75th to 90th percentile and sometimes 95th for their growth process. They just didn't stay little small babies very long. Ice Man on the other hand is small. He hasn't crossed the 25th percentile yet, for me it makes it seem as though he is more baby. He has four teeth and is starting to use them. His favorite is to bite your shoulder as you are holding him upright. He is still doing his army crawl but is starting to get on all fours. He hasn't quite figured out what to do form there other than rock back and forth. I am so very grateful to be able to stay home and see all his developments as I wasn't able to with the girls.

As for the rest of the family, they are all doing well. The girls are enjoying the weather and being outside and playing. They are outside for hours and just love it. The summer months make it rather difficult to be out as it is so hot. Hubby has a few exciting opportunities that  may be coming his way. I am praying for him and that we will be guided on the right path.

Why of course....

I am fortunate to have my Mom living with us to help out with the kids. So when its time to run errands it goes so much quicker being able to leave the younger kids with her while their napping and Pic Pic and I go out. Yesterday we had to run a few errands including a stop to Office Max about a mile away from our home. We ran in and got our supplies and then settled into the van, I went to start it and what do you know it would not start. Nothing happened no lights nothing. I called hubby at work and he ran me through a couple of things to try and nothing. After some discussion I we agreed that I would walk home and he could come look at it when he got a chance. It's about a 40 minute commute from his work, I would probably make it home before he got to us. I checked in with my Mom and Ice Man was awake and starting to get hunger. We decided she would feed him some baby food and I would nurse him when I got home.  Luckily, I had a stroller in the car. Pic Pic informed me she was tired and I thought it would go much quicker to push her. I realized that the jogging I had been doing really paid off. It was actually a pleasant walk.

Hubby came home early to pick me up and we ventured back to the Office Max parking lot. He popped the hood and took a look at the battery connection then asked me to try and start it. And what do you know, it started right up with no hesitation. I felt rather silly and profusely told hubby that it really would not start. Needless to say he had a rather fun time teasing me that if I wanted him to come home early I could of done a better job than that. Thanks be to God that nothing was wrong with it.

Kiddie Update

I thought I would share the latest and greatest news on our home front. The kids are growing and thriving faster than I can keep up. Pic Pic has learned how to ride her bike. I can't believe how fast time goes. It seems like just yesterday she was the age of Ice Man. Dan Dan is talking up a storm. It is so cute to see some of the phrases she puts together. One of my favorites is "Mom I am talking too you!" Just image that in two year old sassy talk. Ice Man has figured out how to pull himself forward with his arms when he is laying on the floor. He still prefers rolling as his mode of transportation, he hasn't quite figured out how to crawl yet. He has such a goofy grin right now with his four teeth.  I am still trying to figure this stay at home mom thing, routines and such. Just when I think I have things figured out something gets through in the loop, usually fevers are the culprit. On the home schooling front I have decided not try and stress on it as much, I know that if I am this concerned about it, what ever choices we make will be fine.  Right know I have been using the Let Us Attend for our orthodox studies and just adapt it to meet our calendar as well as any coloring pages and stories I find regarding the feast days. I am hoping to share what we will be doing for Theophany which we will be celebrating this week. As far as preschool we have been using Letter of the Week and some of the books from Sonlight. Hubby is busy with his pastoral classes. He will be finishing up his first semester this week. I am very happy to support him on this adventure and try and do what I can to help out.