Holy Friday

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The Three C's

Today is the half-way mark! We have spent the past three nights singing "Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh at Midnight!" (I, myself, have been mostly singing it from the narthex or comfort room with "Little Miss almost-two") The older two have done quite well during the services, and I think our daily lessons from The Children's Garden of the Theotokos have really helped my Kindergartner connect with the services. She has been working on her "Lent to Pentecost" book for several weeks, and it has been a blessing for all of us.

The next several days, and especially nights, are wonderful and yet so hard!

Today my oldest two are at an all-day enrichment class. I always try to make Holy Wednesday
"Three C's Day". The C's are for cooking, cleaning, and clothes! Have you noticed that your home seems to explode between Holy Thursday night and Agape Vespers? I know that in our house we're barely here, and when we are we're either sleeping, or getting ready for the next service! I really do not enjoy spending Bright Monday sifting through the rubble! So today I tried to do some extra chores that I won't have time for this weekend. I also put away all the laundry and set aside the children's church clothing for the next several days. (Tonight's are already laid out). Now that the little one is napping, I'm going to do my preliminary cooking preparations. My husband is the gourmet cook of the family, and he usually takes care of most of our Pascha basket food (at least, he cooks all of the meat!). This year however, I'm trying to make a few of the traditional items. I'm trying kulich, the Paska cheese, and tsoureki.

I also finally got a lamb mold for the butter. Hopefully, everything except the tsoureki will be done by tomorrow afternoon. (Let's pray!)

Holy Week Burn-Out

I sat down this morning to write a wonderful post about all the things that I am planning on doing with the kids this week, Holy Week. I was going to write about the food we're going to make, the lessons I plan on teaching on the various services, the egg decorating...(you get the idea).

I've decided, however, to not write about any of that! Why? To be perfectly honest, it will probably just make me frustrated at the amount of things we will truthfully NOT do, and it will frustrate you because you will feel like you're not doing enough.

I'm starting to see too much Martha in me, and not enough Mary! I am quickly losing my focus on the one thing needful!

Last night was my first lesson in not making too many plans this week. I spent the ENTIRE Bridegroom Matins service in either our church's baby comfort room or outside (my toddler was actually screaming so loud that I had to leave the building).

So, just to mix things up, here are some things we will NOT do this week:
We will not beat ourselves up if we are exhausted by Tuesday night.
We will not expect our children to make it through every service quietly.
We will not see the end of every service.
We will not stress out over what food doesn't make it into our Pascha basket.
I will not worry too much about what my children or I will wear to the Pascha service.
We will not try to force understanding into our children about what each service means.
Most of all, we will not make this week about eggs, gifts, food, etc.

So my new goal this week, is to just live this week to the best of my ability, to be at the services, and to make it through. The light at the end of the tunnel this week is the brightest of all!

I wish you a blessed Holy Week.

We Are One

Tonight was quite a night. At Vespers this evening, our church had its annual visit from a group of Methodists, who bring their confirmation class to see an Orthodox church. I always enjoy this visit, because after the service our priest (my Dad), allows them to ask questions about the church, our faith, or even about the "weird" pictures we have at the front of our church! I always learn something new by listening in. Someone always asks the question, "What's the difference between your church (Antiochian) and Russian or Greek Orthodox churches?" My father always explains that except for language or minute cultural differences, we are all the same. We are all one. We are all Orthodox. I always feel so proud, and truly do feel like all of "us Orthodox" are one family.

This hit home two-fold tonight. We have had storms the last few days, but during Vespers the weather took a turn, and I noticed several people, including my mother, glance down and then walk briskly into the Narthex with cell phones. I found out that three tornadoes had been sighted a little south of the church (where my house is!) and were headed towards us. The service kept going, but I could see nervous faces, especially the faces of the mothers who were there with young children. During the petitions, we responded "Lord have mercy" more firmly, and with a sense of urgency. Eventually the weather calmed, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately we found out that during Vespers our sister church a little west of us was hit and the roof collapsed right onto the altar! No one was hurt, but I was filled with such a sense of grief for my brothers and sisters in Christ. We truly are a family. Please pray for the parishioners of St. Elizabeth in Murfreesboro, TN. God grant them peace, and a quick recovery from the damage.

God Will Bless Your Efforts!

It was about 5pm, and my family was enjoying an awesome tofu burrito at our local M*e's. We had just finished eating, and were about to head over to the shop next door for my husband and son to get haircuts. My husband's cell phone rang, and it was my Mom on the other end. "Are you planning on being at Liturgy?" GASP!!! I had totally forgotten that we had liturgy tonight for the Annunciation! I looked around at my family in our shorts and at the kids' messy faces, thought about my 2 year-old's recent "anti-church" behavior, and couldn't fathom how we could make it to church in an hour! I will admit that my husband and I had some not-so-nice words about what to do, but within 20 minutes or so, we had decided to just rush home, change as fast as we could, and get there. After all, the main reason I'm homeschooling is so that the life of the Church can come first!

Even though we were frazzled and stressed, we made it to church pretty much on time. I have to say, it was the calmest, easiest liturgy I have attended in months, maybe even a year!! My two older children didn't fight, they participated, and my toddler didn't scream the entire service! It was actually enjoyable!

I truly feel like God blessed our effort tonight, and that is what I have to continue to remember. No matter how tough it is to get everyone out the door, no matter how many times I chase a toddler up and down the aisle, God will bless our efforts. It is easy to find an excuse to not attend the services, or to keep the fast, and the evil one will never attack those that aren't trying. If we can just push through the temptations, it's always worth it!

Confused about Compost!

This is a post directed at all of you composters out there! I just finished chopping up a ton of veggies for our dinner tonight. I was also left with a ton of scraps. As I dumped them into the sink to be put into the garbage disposal, it dawned on me that I've been doing that a lot lately! Since we have been fasting 7 days a week, we've upped our vegetable and fruit intake and have produced a lot of waste!

I have been interested in composting for a while, but don't know where to start. I am going to start a small raised-bed garden this spring, and I know the compost would benefit our Tennessee clay-ridden soil!

So help me out! I don't have a very large yard, so I won't have that much space for the pile. What do I need? How do I maintain it?

Any help is appreciated!

Cheesefare Meals

Last Sunday was our farewell to meat. My family celebrated our annual "Meat Fare Meat Fest" with some friends on Sunday evening. Now that we've said goodbye to meat, I'm gearing up for Cheesefare! I typically try to do a weekly rotating menu during Lent, mostly so that I can have one less thing to think about, and we can concentrate on getting to the weekly services. I'll share our Lenten weekly menu next week, but I thought I'd share one of our favorite Cheesefare week meals. Besides this meal, we also try to do grilled vegetables with goat cheese one night, and this Saturday we're going to eat at the Che*secake Factory for lunch! Now, here's the recipe for our favorite cheesy meal. (I love it because it gets my kids to eat some veggies without complaining!)

Cauliflower-Feta Pasta Bake

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pound ziti pasta
One 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
2 cups pitted kalamata olives, drained and chopped
3/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 425. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the cauliflower with 1/4 cup olive and season with salt and pepper. Roast, stirring halfway through until browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Lower temp. to 350.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook ziti until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Return pasta and cooking water to pot and stir in crushed tomatoes, feta, olives, and remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and half each of the parsley and breadcrumbs.
3. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart baking dish; top with the roasted cauliflower and remaining breadcrumbs. Bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top.