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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Give your loved ones a hug and a kiss from all our little monkeys!

hug and a kiss

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Who was Valentine?St. Valentine

According to Eastern Orthodoxy, Valentine was martyred in Rome in the year 269 under Emperor Claudius Flavius. He had been put under the charge of General Asterius, who was supposed to persuade him to deny Christ. Instead, St. Valentine healed the general’s daughter from the blindness that had afflicted her for two years. He then baptised Asterius and his whole household. The Emperor in his foolish rage had them all tortured and killed. (Here is more).

St. Valentine knew that he might get caught in his Christian activities, but because he loved Christ with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and he loved his neighbor as himself, he was willing to risk his life to free the prisoners and spread the Gospel of Christ to those who needed to hear it.

The Bible Says: “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”(John 15:13)

In the Orthodox Church, we celebrate Saint Valentine on July 6th.

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The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those “… whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. The Saint Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connection with February 14 is described either as:

  • A priest in Rome,
  • A bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), or
  • A martyr in the Roman province of Africa.

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The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in the Nuremberg Chronicle, (1493); alongside the woodcut portrait of Valentine the text states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius II, known as Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome.

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In Roman times, February 15th was the date for the celebration of Lupercalia. This was a festival of eroticism that honored Juno Februata, the goddess of “feverish” love. Men and woman would pull names out of a hat to be paired for the festivities of sexual game playing. At that time, the Church tried to change it into a “ritual of romance.” One angle they took was to adopt St. Valentine as a spiritual role model and to change the date from the 15th to the 14th, which is St. Valentine’s feast day (according to the Roman calendar).

After that, men and women drew names to find their “valentine,” who they would exchange gifts with. The tradition and importance of the holiday took off from there. Valentine’s Day grew in popularity throughout the centuries. Purchasing Valentine’s Day cards became the most popular way to declare your love in the eighteenth century and the tradition of candy and flowers emerged later in the nineteenth.

adapted from here, here, and here.

Living Out Our Faith for Our Children

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

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 relation 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 behaviour 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 the parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.
- Elder Porphyrios

My husband and I were talking about this just this week.  I always find myself yelling at the children, when it is really a problem with myself and not them.  Yes, they can be infuriating at times, but I need to learn to be patient.  “Patience” and “mildness” are not words a person would connect with me.  Although, I do have “love”- lots of it!  I love my kids like crazy, sometimes too much because I spoil them and let them walk all over me.  I have found that when I am not doing my prayers like I should or reading the Scriptures, I tend to be a crankier person.  There is definitely a connection there.

As Lent approaches, I am meditating on all of the things that I want to accomplish during this time of the year.  As I’ve already said, I want to get my life organized, and one of the most important parts of that is getting on a schedule.  I want to wake up in the mornings and pray as a family and read the Bible with the children.  I want to teach them about Lent and Pascha (Easter).  I also want to share stories of those who have gone before us, the saints, important people in the Bible, etc. I have ordered two books that I plan to read; although, one is 500 pages, so I am not sure if I’ll get all the way through it.  I want to say prayers at night, and not just the prayers that we do with the children.  I want to take time to prayer by myself before I go to bed.

I know that paragraph is full of ‘wants”, but I feel like we completely missed Lent last year (with being sick from my pregnancy, moving, packing, etc) and I want to point my eyes toward Christ’s death and resurrection this year.  If I can make these things my desires, I will then be able to shift the focus on Christ.  Then I can be a better example to my children.  Our children do understand, as well as they can, Christ’s death and resurrection.  But it is just as important for them to see our faith lived out in the day to day.

I hope this coming season is a blessed and fruitful one for all.

Thanks, Emily, for the quote!

Our Christmases

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

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We’re Off to Gatlinburg!

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

My hubby, Bunky and I are leaving today for a four-day/three-night trip to Gatlinburg with a couple of friends.  My hubby’s birthday is on New Year’s Eve, and Jason’s birthday is New Year’s Day, so Sarah and I decided to do something very special for their birthdays.  We will be spending New Year’s Eve in Gatlinburg where they have a ball that drops at midnight.  It should be a lot of fun!

The Cabin Living Room

The Cabin and the Living Room

Our Room Pool Table/Air Hockey

Our Room (with a little kid’s nook for Bunky) and the Game Room

My parents are staying with the big kids while we are away.  I am sure they are going to have a blast!

See you when we get back!

Blessed Nativity of Our Lord!

Friday, December 25th, 2009

Your Nativity, O Christ our God,
Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom!
For by it, those who worshipped the stars,
Were taught by a Star to adore You,
The Sun of Righteousness,
And to know You, the Orient from on High.
O Lord, glory to You!

orthodox nativity

Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One,
And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!
Angels with shepherds glorify Him!
The wise men journey with a star!
Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!

One Year Ago…

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

… we discovered this wonderful surprise right before Christmas.

Our Christmas Surprise LAST YEAR

The line is incredibly faint because I took the test when I was only two-three weeks pregnant.
And the tests say you can’t tell this early.  Ha!  I proved them wrong.

And this year we get to celebrate Bunky’s 1st Nativity of Our Lord!

Bunky's 1st Christmas

He’s really looking forward to it- can’t you tell?

Can You Believe Christmas is in TWO days?!

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Spunky can’t!

It is almost Christmas?!

Where is the time go?!

Even though I feel like Christmas came very quickly this year, I am glad that my in-laws are here to celebrate with us and I am looking forward to my parents’ arrival on Monday.

Much To Do Before the Holiday!

Monday, December 21st, 2009

If I don’t have a chance to update my blog in the next couple of days, here are my excuses:

  • Cleaning my house
  • Grocery shopping- I have a lot to buy!
  • Preparing a meal for an elderly couple that lives in our town
  • Laundry
  • The Mom-N-Kids group is coming over to my house on Tuesday morning
  • Preparing ornaments for the children from the Moms-N-Kids group to make
  • My in-laws will be in town on Wednesday
  • Lots of church!
  • Cooking… Baking….
  • CHRISTMAS!
  • Our first annual (hopefully) Dessert and Wine Christmas Party
  • My dear friend, Audrey, who I haven’t seen in months will be staying with us as soon as my in-laws leave on Saturday
  • Packing…
  • My parents will be arriving right after Audrey leaves on Monday
  • CHRISTMAS #2!
  • Celebrating SIX YEARS of marriage to my wonderful husband on Tuesday
  • Leaving on a trip with my hubby (and Bunky) to Gatlinburg for four days
  • Celebrating my hubby’s birthday on the 31st
  • Enjoying New Year’s Eve in Gatlinburg
  • Coming home to finish putting together our Parish Cookbook so that I can submit it by the deadline
  • Unpacking
  • Resting… resting??  What’s that?!

wreath

Take time to enjoy this week as we prepare for our Savior’s birth!

The Manger is Empty!

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

The other day, I looked over at our little manager set
and saw that it was empty.

Empty Manger

Spunky had taken the figurines and set them up somewhere else in the house.

Figurines

I think she did a pretty good job.

Photos for Our Christmas Card

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I finally got around to taking the photo for our Christmas card last night!  It has been just crazy in our house for the past few months, and I had planned on doing this as soon as we got back from our Thanksgiving trip, but the stomach virus ruined that idea.

Here are few snapshots of the kids from the photo shoot:

Punky Christmas Punky Christmas Bunky Christmas

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