House Blessing

 

When you enter our home, this is the very first thing that you see. 

Way back in the very beginning of our marriage, actually, even a little before we were married, my husband and I were blessed to be part of a Young Marrieds Sunday school class.  (We started early because all of our friends were already in the class...it doesn't hurt to get a head start on learning about marriage!)  Both of the couples that taught the class were such a good example for us, not just for marriage, but life, parenting, godliness, etc.  There are so many foundations to life that I gained right from the very start.  One of them being giving your house up to the Lord. 

This is where it all happens.

This is where life takes place.

This is where learning begins.

This is where memories are formed.

This is where tears are shed and hugs are given.

This is the place of discipline and correction.

This is the place of forgiveness and love.

This is the center of it all.

This is Home.

Something of this magnitude cannot just happen by simply occupying a house.  It must be intentional.  We don't just live in our houses to live there, but also to edify and grow with each other. 

I can still remember being invited to our Sunday School teacher's home for lunch. 

I remember that Josh and I were late. (I have a thing for timeliness) 

I don't remember what we ate. 

I remember there being a big quilt on the wall that the hostess had made herself. 

I remember the hostess showing us her calendar and explaining to us that whomever

(husband or wife) gets their event on the calendar first gets first rights.  The other spouse is responsible for the home while the spouse is occupied. 

But what made the biggest impression on me was the scripture painted throughout her house.  On most of her door frames she had taken the time to paint scripture according to where the door led. 

Scriptures for her children, the living area, even the garage.  She took literally the passage in Deuteronomy 6 verse 9 referring Word of God "..and you shall write them on the doorposts of your houses and your gates."

I knew while we were still married newborns that this was something that I wanted to copy for my home when we could finally afford one of our own.

So when we finally owned a permanent home, I did a little bartering and was able to get our first verse put on our wall.  Saint Joshua says it perfectly "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord."  That is the statement that I want clear to all of those who enter our home.  Our household serves the Lord. 

As we were studying to become Orthodox, specifically reading Facing East by Frederica Matthews-Green, I learned of something called a House Blessing.  She, being the Priest's wife, was in a little different of a situation than a typical layman, but the idea was intriguing. 

Basically, at the beginning of the new year, following Theophany, and the Blessing of the Waters,  the Priest pays a visit to everyone and blesses their home. 

It is absolutely beautiful! 

Our priest was so kind to let me photograph our first House Blessing. 

 

 

Father Nicholas began by putting everything he needed on our table.  The icon is of a Guardian Angel that we had set out specifically so that he could bless it.  This is an icon given to us by our Godparents that we have hung up in our oldest girls' room.  His Epitrachelion is on the table, followed by the stick (aspergillum) he uses to sprinkle the holy water, our icon, a bowl of holy water, behind the bowl is the censer for the incense. 

 



And of course there is always a handy booklet containing the order of worship for the House Blessing. 

 

 

Since it was just Father Nicholas at the house, Josh was left to do the censing :)  We were just glad the fire alarms didn't go off!  

 

 

He began by blessing the entrance to our home.

 

Because this was our very first House Blessing, Father blessed each of the four corners of our home. 

 

Once in the house, he started in the kitchen.  He says a prayer of blessing and sprinkles holy water throughout the room, while Josh follows behind and censes away.

He blesses Sydney and Julianna's room

 



 

He blesses Makayla and Caroline's room

He blesses each of the icons in our icon corner

 

He blesses our nice and very clean bedroom

I was able to get him to bless our homeschool materials too, truly a Christian school now!

 

Once he had finished blessing the rooms, and pretty much anything else we wanted blessed, he blessed each of us (yes, we were sprinkled with holy water too, kinda one of the fun perks of Orthodoxy) and of course Joe the dog. 

 

Nothing has physically changed about our home, unless you count the lingering aroma of the incense, but there has definitely been a spiritual change.  There is something powerful about purposely asking the spirit on God into your home. 

It's more than just a verse on the wall. 

It's a submission.

It's a plea.

It's a promise from God that He will be with us.

 

We are blessed.

Whey to go!

Since I have started making my own baby formula I have had to learn a few things about raw milk.  I did not grow up with dairy cows, so even trying to figure out how to separate milk and cream is a new one for me (which is the easiest part of working with milk, in my opinion)! 
Another task I must perform with my raw milk is separating it into curds and whey.  The curds can be used for making various cheeses and sour cream, the whey is used for formula.  I could also use it for fermenting, but I am NOT there yet!
After trying a few different cheating options to get my whey, I finally submitted to Sally Fallon in her cookbook Nourishing Traditions and decided to do it her whey..I mean way...
Just so you know what NOT to do, I tried just scooping out the cream and then straining the whey, that didn't work because there are still little pieces that get through.  I also tried doing things quicker by putting the milk in the cloth and then squeezing it out.  Still doesn't work because there is some cream that escapes and it gets rather messy...
So, the picture above is what I concocted to separate my whey from the curds.  Before taking this picture I have left the milk sitting in a bowl on the counter for a few days, 1-4 Sally says.  I then laid my cloth in a bowl, actually, the measuring cup you see pictured.  I poured all of the contents of the bowl into the cloth and tied it up with a rubber band.  Then I slipped the rubber band onto a wooden spoon and hung it on my cabinets over my bowl.  My bowl was a little short, so I flipped a mixing bowl upside down to bring it closer to the dropping whey. 
That's it.  You just wait for gravity to do it's thing.  It took a couple of hours for all of the dripping to stop.  I poured my whey into a glass jar and stored it in the fridge.
Whey cool!
Whey to go!
Which way did the whey go?
Get out of my whey!
No Whey!
Ok...so maybe I like the word wheeeeeyyy too much :)

Abigail's Baptism

A few weeks ago we were blessed to be able to Baptize our youngest daughter, Abigail.  She is our first official "cradle" Orthodox.  She was the only one that did not join the church with the rest of our family in August, simply because she was still in my belly (technically she joined the church twice).

 

It was actually quite humorous, one of the Deacon's sons (of whom I might add is one of 6 kids), asked his mother why we were baptizing Abby right now.  He said, "Obviously there are going to be more of them, shouldn't we just wait and do them all at the same time??" 

 

Oh my, I sure hope he doesn't know something I don't!!

 

I know many of my Protestant friends will not understand why we chose to Baptize our daughter, this is simply not the place where I am going to go into the "why's" of our faith.  But if you are interested in learning more about the Orthodox position on Baptism and Salvation, feel free to check that out here.

 

This was also my first experience with just an infant Baptism.  It was a beautiful service that I would like to share with you all, and hopefully equip other newly Orthodox so that they know what's going on when they get to experience this for themselves!

 

So...step by step through pictures, here goes Abigail's Baptism

 

To begin the service, the Godparents and Abby start at the back of the church.  Although she has been attending with us, she is still considered and outsider and must pronounce faith before things can get underway.  During this time we all say prayers together and the Priest performs an Exorcism against any evil spirits that my be trying to tempt her.  Then the participants turn and face the West (*all Orthodox services are done facing East, the West symbolizes the place of darkness, the abode of Satan and all demons, the East symbolizes the place of light, the kingdom of God, the place where Christ and all the saints and angels dwell)  and they renounce Satan and spit on him.

 This is also the time where they confess their faith and submission to Christ, also saying the Nicene Creed and then bowing before Him. 

Everyone then makes their way to the Altar where the Baptism takes place. 

 

The priest begins with prayers for the Baptism. (* The candles remind us of the spiritual sight which is received in Baptism and of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ Himself. The incense symbolizes the prayers of the Saints.)

These are all the supplies the priest will need for the Baptismal service: mryhh, oil of gladness, an applicator for the oil, a sponge to remove the oil, and scissors for her first sacrifice of hair.

 

 

The priest says more prayers asking that God will make the water holy for the Baptism.  The oil seen in the picture is used for the water, and also for anointing Abby with the oil of Gladness. (He also adds some water from the Jordan River, where Jesus was baptized, how cool!)  

 

 

 



 

He also takes a moment to bless the cross that she will where as a gift from her Godparents for the reminder of her commitment to Christ.

She is then baptized by the Priest.  She is immersed three times, for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Doesn't our Priest look just like Santa!  Good thing he chose St. Nicholas as his Saint!

Abby then receives her Baptismal garment.  (* The white garment symbolizes the robe of righteousness of Jesus Christ with which Abigail in now covered because she is a child of God)  She could have also received a Saint's name at this point of the service.  Josh and I have opted out of doing this for various reasons, but have instead adopted Saint Sophia for all of our girls; the story of her life and her daughters' is truly amazing. 

And look!  Here I actually get to participate in the service!  This is a picture of me putting her cross on.  She is now a soldier of Christ.

She is now Chrismated (* The Sacrament of Chrismation was ordained and initiated by the early Apostles.  The new Christian has now been made pure and holy to follow Christ.  But to keep pure, to be a good soldier of Christ, she will need to be consecrated to the service of God and to receive a special gift of grace-the Holy Spirit.  This is given in the mystery (Sacrament) of Chrismation.)  She is anointed on the brow, eyes, nostrils, lips, both ears, breast, both hands, both feet and between the shoulders.

 

 

(*Holy Chrism or myrhh, which is used here for anointing, contains olive oil and various perfumes.  The perfumes symbolize the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Olive oil is used because the priests of the Old Testament were consecrated with olive oil and its use in Chrismation signifies that the newly-baptized person becomes an anointed one in a royal priesthood of people belonging to God. 

In the early Church, the newly baptized (usually an adult) wore the baptismal robes for seven days.  On the eighth day the robe was taken off in the Church and marks of the Chrism washed off.  Today this is done immediately after Chrismation.)

 

 



And then she drinks from the flame of fire.

Ok, not really, but doesn't it look like that?  I thought this was a cute picture :) 

Moving on...

The priest then cuts her hair in 4 places. (* After washing off the Holy Chrism from the newly-baptized Abigail, she is then tonsured.  The priest, by cutting the hair of Abigail in four places, makes the sign of the cross on her head.  This hair is the first offering of Abigail to God, an offering of herself.)

 

We then do a procession around the baptismal font.  I just LOVE how our priest includes everyone, even the children.  Children are ALWAYS included in everything in the church, which is another reason I just LOVE Orthodoxy.  All the kids are given a candle and we march around the altar 3 times, following the priest and singing.  (* The circling of the font signifies that Abigail, newly enlightened through Baptism, has entered into an unbroken and eternal union with Christ.)

She is then taken to the front of the church and given her first Communion.  Yes, even babies are given communion, as they are now fully part of the Orthodox church.

The priest then reads to us from the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 28 where Jesus tells the disciples to go into all nations and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

She is then taken by Father Nicholas and welcomed into the church.  This is called "Churching."  I also received a "churching" when I rejoined the church after having spent time at home with Abigail after she was born (in the Orthodox church is is customary for a new mother to take 40 days off from church to rest, heal and bond with the baby, isn't that just lovely!)

 

Here is the entire crew!  Father Nicholas is in the middle, John (in all black, called a cassock and Rondi (in the blue shirt) are our Godparents, the man in gold behind them is our Deacon.  The girl with the pink headband is Karis, our godparent's daughter.

 

 

Our wonderful Godparents!

 

 

The beautiful cake served at the reception.

 

This was such a wonderful service and we are so thankful to now officially have Abby as part of the church.  Children are such a blessing and are very much seen as such in the Orthodox church.  We are now one big, complete Orthodox family!





* Taken from the service books provided at Baptism

You've Got Mail

There is just something about mail that gets me giddy.  I wait patiently everyday to hear the sound of the mail truck coming down the street. 

It has always been this way for me.  As a little girl we had a wonderful mailman.  His name was Clarence.  We lived in a cul-de-sac and ours was the last house in the circle, so once I saw him across the street, I knew it was time to run down the drive way and hand collect our daily mail.  Sometimes Clarence and I would chat briefly about the day, sometimes we would just exchange mail.  As a young girl, this would be the highlight of my day (other than chatting with my neighbor of course!) Clarence also liked chocolate, so many times I would bring him a treat (my mom has a thing for baking chocolate chip cookies, they are ALWAYS in supply at her house!)

I don't know if it's just the anticipation of something everyday or the mystery of what could be delivered or just the cheer it brings to know that someone was thinking about you enough to send a kind note, but I just love it when the mail comes!

My girls apparently have inherited that gene.  Unless it just comes from seeing a different face than mom's all day... Or the fact that we have a WONDERFUL mailman named Tom. 

Tom has been the the mail delivery business for quite a while and doesn't mind in the least the interruptions he gets almost daily from my daughters.  They just love meeting him at the mailbox and telling him all about our day.  He kindly takes more time than he has to listen to them intently and show enthusiasm for what they are sharing.  He even gave the girls candy canes all Christmas season when they came to greet him at mail time.  And what mom can turn down candy canes from the mail man (even if they contain all types of nasty ingredients, including food dyes.....)

Whenever we makes goodies, I always try to remember to share some with Tom. He has been the recipient of baked breads and jams and always shares his thanks.

This Christmas he got our gift of pumpkin bread and fresh home grown spices that we shared with our friends and neighbors (a little sugar and spice from the Bradley's...get it?...sugar and spice...).

Imagine my absolute ecstasy when I received a letter from my mailman!  I mean, can it get any better than that!  Mail from THE mailman, amazing!  He didn't even have to use a stamp :)  It was so thoughtful that he took the time to send me a thank you for the small token we gave him at Christmas time.  It warmed my heart.



 

 

What a perfect card for the mailman!  Someone was smart to create a line of cards just for mail carriers!

Personalized and with a signature..maybe it will be worth money someday :)

P.S.  If you were wanting to send me some mail....I would gladly give you my address...

Homemade Corn Dogs

 Who doesn't love a good corn dog?  That crunchy outside with the surprise of a salty hot dog in the middle covered with ketchupy goodness!  YUM!  Unfortunately, corn dogs are usually store bought and frozen, hardly healthy and nutritious!  All those yucky preservatives and chemical, blek! 
I was so happy when I found this recipe at one of my new FAVORITE blogs, Heavenly Homemakers.  She just seems to have all the right recipes for our family!  This is not the last time you will be hearing about one of her recipes! 
This is such a simple, novel idea on how to make natural, whole foods corn dogs for your family. It is SOOO easy!  I did find that her recipe was a double batch for our family, so following her suggestion, I just froze the extra.  The entire recipe only uses 8 hot dogs!  So to think that I had half to freeze!  What a money saving meal!

 

I also modified her recipe and used my mini loaf pan for the bigger bellies in our house (ie: Josh and Emily).  I was able to use half a hot dog instead of just a third.  These are perfect for the days I forget to make extra food for Josh to bring to lunch the next day. He can just stick a couple of these in his lunch box and take them to work!  (As long as it's not a Wednesday or Friday, as those are typically fasting days :) 

Unfortunately, my mini loaf pan bit the dust after making these (which is probably good, since it was full of aluminum anyways), so I am going to have to find an alternative....maybe Pampered Chef????

 

Here is our full meal! This is all that one batch made us, only 8 hot dogs.  So easy and satisfying! Served with baked beans, carrots or even some mac n cheese.

Becoming Orthodox

All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church

I have a whole string of Orthodox posts that I would like to do, but before I get ahead of myself, I think I should take the time to explain how our family became Orthodox in the first place. So, sit down with a hot drink in your favorite chair and get nice and comfy so you can enjoy a good story!

Josh and I met at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas.  I grew up attending the Church of Christ my entire life, the same church in fact, every Sunday and every Wednesday night, faithfully.  Josh "came to the Lord" through Young Life. He attended a Presbyterian church throughout High School. Once he learned he could get a degree to work in a church with teens, he was hooked!
Since he was older than I was, he started his career in Youth Ministry while I was still in College.  He worked for a Church of Christ for a little over two years while I finished up getting my education degree.  He then moved back to Arkansas so that we could get married. 
Once I graduated he got a Youth Ministry job in West Monroe, Louisiana.  We were both pumped to work as a team with the teenagers there.  Unfortunately, that position only lasted a few years.  Josh was faced with a cross roads in his career and decided it was time for a change, you can't be a Youth Minister forever and he had no ambitions to become a preacher.  So, with an 10 month old baby girl and being 37 weeks pregnant with the next, we packed up and moved to North Carolina to live with my family while Josh went to nursing school at UNC. 
It was a very stressful time.  We ended up moving out of my parents house after 10 months and in to what we like to call "The Brown Apartments."  Little did we know how that move would change our lives FOREVER! 
Soon after we moved in, a cute looking young couple moved in diagonally from us. After a failed attempt at getting them to cook out, we eventually got to hang out and became instant friends.  Our dogs are still best friends :)  Missy, the wife, is a fellow teacher, and Erik, is a fellow nerd with Josh (I say that with all the love I can muster in my heart, they are good nerds, cool nerds....)  At the time, they attended an Evangelical church meeting in a movie theater. 
After living there for a couple of years, it turns out we both were able to buy a house at the same time as well.  Now we were 30 minutes apart, which hinder our getting together a bit, but we were still able to maintain our friendship.
One day Erik introduced Josh to Orthodoxy.  They were playing their nerdy games together and I'm sure he shared some book for Josh to read.  Josh LOVES history and church, so he gladly obliged.  They began reading and discussing Orthodoxy through e-mails and time together.  We learned eventually that Erik has started going to an Orthodox church. 
"Poor Missy" was all I could think.  Her husband has completely lost it!  I must comfort her, were my thoughts!  When we would get together I would try to make sure she was doing ok and handling this crazy "phase" of her husband.  Little did I know that slowly, but surely, she was beginning to enjoy the Orthodox church.  I noticed one day that when we were debating with Erik at how silly this whole Orthodox business was, she was defending it....what was happening?
I also noticed that my husband was reading more and more. Was he merely just trying to please his friend, or was he getting interested too?  That is just silliness!
After repeated invitations, we finally gave in and visited the church as a family.  I was COMPLETELY blown away by the service.  I was in my first trimester with our 5th daughter.  The incense was overwhelming and heightened my nausea.  There was absolutely no child care whatsoever, so we had to handle all 4 of our young girls during the seemingly endless service, all while standing!  There were candles, chanting, processions, Icons...so many strange things.  None of this made any sense.  Both Josh and I left the service thinking how impossible Orthodoxy was for our quickly growing family, not to mention all the crazy stuff that was done in service.  I was glad to finally shut that door...or so I thought. 
Josh kept reading...
and reading...
and reading...
Then he had me start listening to podcasts.
Then he wanted to visit again.  He was slowly becoming convinced that Orthodoxy went back to the beginning, right back to the Apostles. 
There was a Ladies Retreat to the beach coming up at my church.  It could not have come too soon!  I was so stressed out by my husband.  What was he thinking?  Was he going to tear our family apart?  Were we going to have to start going to two different churches?  Where would the children go?  I discussed all of the questions with women who I considered mentors in the church.  The most ironic part of the whole weekend was Friday night.  We did a beautiful reading, prayer and singing time where we were invited to light a candle as a symbol of our prayers...how...Orthodox!  So, I lit a candle for my husband.
Easter was about to hit in the Orthodox church, which means an all night service.  We decided to wait until after that to start visiting.  I grudgingly came along.  I attempted to fumble through the liturgy, examining every word to find some sort of problem.  We listened to podcasts constantly at home.  I can't remember how, but somehow I stumbled across Facing East by Frederica Matthews-Green. It's a simple read of how a preachers wife made the transition to Orthodoxy. It takes you through a Liturgical year through her eyes. 
It was just what I needed.  She explained things in a way that I could understand.  I connected with Frederica.  I hit a turning point.
From that point on I was studying to understand, not just to disprove.  There were many times I would call my friend Missy (now a full Orthodox convert) in frustration as I was trying to make sense of this new knowledge. 
Sometime in the summer we became Catachumens and began studying to convert.  It was thrilling and scary at the same time.  I remember we witness and Chrismation service shortly after that and had some doubts.  She looked so happy joining the church.  I wasn't ready yet.
The more we studied the more I realized that the Orthodox church was truth.  It came directly from Jesus through the Apostles and the Church Fathers.  There is a preserved church that I can trust the doctrine.  We all believe the same thing.  We all believe the Bible and Jesus Christ. 
With great excitement, August 15th, 2012, our whole family joined the Orthodox Church.  Our daughters were baptized and Josh and I were Chrismated.  It felt so good and so right to finally be a part of the Orthodox church. 
And that is just the very beginning of our journey!