Icons from Sinai- the DVD

Free DVD on the icons from the monastery of St. Catherine's on Sinai!

The Good Samaritan...

The gospel reading for today was the Good Samaritan. Fr. pointed out at some point during theology 101 that Christ calls us to love our brothers. And who is/are our brothers? EVERYONE! I find that Christians (all Christians... Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant) can be very judgmental (including myself). And if we are truly loving our brothers, we would not be judging our brothers. I'm not a very good writer, so I'm not sure if I am conveying the AHA! moment I had today, but there it is...

I should love everyone because everyone is my brother. And I know that I have probably heard this a million times, but today I heard it not with my ears, but with my heart:)

So, in the end, it takes a million and one times for me to hear something before it actually sinks in...

The true test is to see if it stays in my heart...

For the Love of the Game...

In the car I either listent to NPR or listen to music tapes. This morning, on the way to school, there was a short piece honoring Johnny Unitas. Now, I am not a big sports person. And, in fact, I pretty much despise most professional sports because it seems like the athletes have too much money and do not care/understand that young people idolize them. I know that I am speaking in generalizations but it really irks me when you see a talented athlete become very wealthy and then start switching teams in order to make more money. And to also not realize that their lives have become a fishbowl and to watch their behavior.

Anyway, the point of all this is the piece honoring Johnny Unitas which you can listen to here. And what struck me about him (and the other football players of that era) was that they had to hold down other jobs in addition to playing football. Even working during the season. Johnny U was a paint salesman. The piece talks about how a teammate bought a row house and how the entire team pitched in to repair and clean it (with Johhny laying down the new kitchen floor). Talk about playing a sport because you really love the game! How many of our professional athletes would work an additional outside job and play football at the same time? Thank you, Johnny U, for being an example of loving the game (and it doesn't hurt that he was Greek, too:)

Happy November 1st!

Anyone else think that time is just going by way too quickly?!?!

Last night was our annual All Saints Eve party at church. At first (two weeks ago) Pavlos didn't want to dress up at all. Then I showed him pictures of the different Saints from years past that he had dressed up as (see last years post). And he decided to go as St. Nektarios, again. That was fine with me because I didn't need to make a new costume:) Paul was unable to come to the party so it fell on me to videotape each child saying who they were dressed as and what that saint did. So while I was busy videotaping, yiayia and pappous took care of Pavlos. Needless to say, I never took a picture of Pavlos in his costume! So here is another picture from last year as St. Nektarios. Well, nevermind that, blogger is being a stinker and not letting me upload a photo.

In other news... Petros is almost crawling. AAAGGGHHH! That's all I have to say about that.

I have a ton of blogs that I read through bloglines, but then I end up not commenting on your blogs... know that I am reading, and I enjoy reading what is happening in your lives:)

Memory Eternal!

Today is the one year memorial for my yiayia. Here is a picture of her and my pappous with Pavlos when we went to Greece 3 1/2 years ago. Even though I did not spend a lot of time with her, I miss her so much. We will be having a memorial service for her after Liturgy (but before the potluck) next Wednesday evening (I will be making kollyva).

WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR LIFE BE?
(A friend on Myspace did this and I thought that some of my blogging buddies would enjoy it)

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't LieThis is my suggestion, unless you really really hate the song (in which case why is it in your library eh), listen to each one all the way thru as it plays. You might just hear something interesting about yourself you weren't expecting.

Opening Credits: and so it goes- billy joel

Waking Up:love is blindness – u2

First Day At School: heartland- u2

Falling In Love: fields of gold - sting

Fight Song:a boy named sue – Johnny cash

Breaking Up: king of pain – the police

Prom: perfect girl – sarah mclachlan

Life:acrobat – u2 (line from song: don't let the bastards grind you down -LOL)

Career: folsom prison blues – Johnny cash (uhm, I hope not)

Mental Breakdown: romeo and Juliet – dire straits

Driving: lullaby good night my angel – billy joel

Flashback:goodnight Saigon – billy joel

Getting back together: unknown legend – neil young

Wedding:san jacinto – peter gabriel

Birth of Child:man in black – Johnny cash

Midlife Crisis: elevation – u2

Final Battle: half acre (acoustic) - Hem

Death Scene: one step closer – u2

Funeral Song: Yahweh – u2

End Credits:the river of dreams – billy joel

News Article and Fall Picture...

So far this week we have had absolutely beautiful fall weather. Yesterday I planted bulbs (my seemingly neverending project at the moment) and raked up the leaves in our back yard. Pavlos has his own kid-sized rake and he was "helping" mommy. uhm, yeah. He wanted to rake right where I was raking and then, when I finally had a really good pile going and went to get our yard debris garbage can, Pavlos proceeded to jump into the pile of leaves and spread them all over the yard, again. Here's a picture of Pavlos in the leaves. I guess my mom taught the kids about jumping in the leaf piles:) Needless to say, I didn't get as many leaves into the yard debris can as I wanted to!

And here's a link to an article I read yeaterday about making sure to give children just old fashioned play time. Like leaf-jumping:)

It's been way too long...

Yeah, I realize that I probably have no one that reads my blog, now:) And the excuse for not writing is oh so lame... we are so busy! Isn't everyone busy? I have a minute here, now because Pavlos is enjoying the beautiful weather and playing outside and Petros is actually taking a nap in his crib. He has two new little teeth coming in so he's been a bit grumpy, lately.

We had one of those weekends...

• Friday night, Greek festival at Holy Trinity (Rob/Paul did not come with us, he has been working late just about every night)
• Saturday morning go to my parent's home and we leave for Newport, OR for a family wedding (my mom, dad, sister, niece, nephew, me, Pavlos, and Petros)
• Wedding was the shortest service I have ever been to (seriously).
• Reception was the best I have ever been to, seriously. It was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Great place for the kids. And it was beautiful. And it was fun. And we saw a ton of relatives.
• Sunday morning, go to the beach, go to historic downtown Newport to buy Salt Water Taffy for Rob/Paul, then hit the road.
• Home at 3:00pm-ish, Rob/Paul comes home at 5:30 (from work) and we meet my parents and two of my cousins and my brother and sister in law at the festival at 6:30pm. All the food is gone. Seriously. We had tickets for the chicken dinner. They ran out. So they served pastitsio (not a bad substitute). But almost all the food at the festival was gone. That's good for Holy Trinity!
• We were home by 8:15, Petros fell asleep in the car and we carried him up to his crib. He woke up after midnight, ate, slept until 10am! Pavlos was in bed by 8:45pm and woke up at 8:30am! I went to sleep at 9:30pm, woke up to feed Petros, and slept until 8:00am! I think we were all a little tired:)

Hope to see some of you at the women's retreat this weekend!!!

spinah withdrawals

I have been following the Sonoma Diet sinc May (the reason I have returned to my pre-pregnancy weight so quickly). On this diet (which is more of a life style than a diet), I eat lots of baby spinach. Last week I threw out my big bin of organic baby spinach from Costco because of the e.coli outbreak (didn't want to take any chances). Now my body is going through spinach withdrawals:)

protest...

Uhm... so I am rarely ever political on this site... you know, mostly updates on family and health. But, it is kind of driving me nuts... this militant muslim attitude toward Christians. They are allowed to say anything that they want about us but we can't say what we want about them?!?!? Do I hear double standard? And it's not just the militant muslims that do this... look around you... many public schools allow the students to learn about many different faiths around the world but so much as bring up Christianity and a teacher can be suspended.

ok, I'm off the soap box... for now:)

woo hoo!

and more woo hoo!

I have to say that it is bad sportsmanship when only a few American players congrarulate the Greek team...

Response to Katie's blog...

So Katie's blog entry made me think (very dangerous as you read my ramblings below). I wrote a long comment on her blog and then decided to just post it here:

Nowadays, just having a college education will not guarantee that you will have an income to even survive in the US... we have friends that the husband was a teacher and the wife stayed at home and they qualified for WIC and DSHS health care for the children! Both college educated! And what does this say about how we regard teachers... they can't afford to take care of their own families? What does it say about how important our children are when we don't pay teachers a decent salary? I always try to look at things as needs v. wants. We need baby formula. That's a given. We need Paul's insulin and my meds. We didn't WANT to be in the hospital (and meet petros' and my out of pocket deductible for the year), but we need to pay the bill that comes in the mail every month. And sometimes we do need new clothes. or new shoes. The part I struggle with is that I would love to be able to buy the things we need with a minimal effect on the environment (Like what Fr. Paul was talking about in his sermon the other night). Like trying to by things that are not made by slave labor overseas. Or free range meat. Or organic vegetables. BUT when Pavlos needs new shoes and I only have a minimal amount of money to pay for them, what do I do? Most of the time we are fortunate enough to have hand me downs from my nephew and only need to buy a few new items. And right now, I am lamenting that I have two weddings coming up in the next two weeks and I would really like to buy a new dress because I haven't bought a new dress in two years (I did buy two skirts in June, though). I sometimes tear myself apart with should I, shouldn't I?!?! And I read articles about being frugal but I do all of those things they suggest!

I really don't want to complain because we are richer than most people in the world. And we do own our own home. And we choose to send Pavlos to Agia Sophia. And I remember the poor years growing up... but my parents made a decision to send us to private schools, even though we didn't have a lot of money. And they did own their own home and instead of buying a new one, they added two more bedrooms (and my dad didn't take out a loan to build the new rooms... every week, he bought with cash what he could afford to buy... whether it was two nails or another 2x4). And I had a wonderful childhood in a wonderful family... my parents stayed together (and are obviously still together) after 35 years of marriage. And we spent our vacations camping rather than going on exotic trips (OK, we did take a couple of trips to Greece, but my dad went for 14 years without seeing his own parents. Fourteen years! But we went to Greece to see family, not just a whim of a trip). And my granma would make my sister and I really nice dresses that we loved.

OK. I think that's enough. I think that there are more people in our stage of life that struggle financially. They say that we are the first generation that will not be financially better than our parents. I believe it.

Women's Retreat (and other things)...

I have emailed a few of you regarding our women's retreat (asking you to be a contact person for your parish so we can mail you a packet of flyers). Here is information about the retreat on our parish website. You can even register for the retreat online through paypal (and it's five dollars cheaper if you register early). If I did not email you and you would like to be a rep for your parish, please let me know... email me your address (cdblankenstein[at]homtal[dot]com) and I will get a packet in the mail to you. All you need to do is either put the information in your bulletin (monthly, weekly, etc.), post flyers in your church (where permissable), and/or pass flyers to interested women. We are very excited because this year we have Sr. Magdalen (author of Children in the Church Today and Conversations with Children) as our speaker.

Other news...

• Happy Feast Day! It is our parish feast day today.
• Pavlos and Petros are growing, growing, growing:)
• Have seen many movies (V for Vendetta (Petros is currently sporting the bald Natalie Portman look), Everything is Illuminated (saw the movie then read the book, liked the movie and the book but this is one of those rare times that I am glad that I saw the movie before reading the book because there are quite a few differences between book and movie... book is actually stranger than the movie... loved the Ukrainian guy in the movie. He is premium:)... also finished reading the book about the Trapp Family Singers by Maria vonTrapp (you know, the Sound of Music family?!?!?) I enjoyed the book... interesting to read the real story behind the Sound of Music... also been watching snippets of Mary Poppins... this is Pavlos' favorite movie right now and he is constantly doing re-enactments of the movie (especially any of the song and dance numbers).
• we are getting ready for Pavlos to go back to school and for Sunday School to begin. I feel like I am just going, going, going.
• Keep Maria, my niece, in your prayers. She will be having surgery this Friday (she was born with cleft lip and palate... she has already had two surgeries in her four years but this one might be a little bit harder on her because she will know and remember what is happening (does this make sense). She does not remember her other surgeries.

I think that's all for now... hopefully, I will be a better blogger in the future:)

A topic to blog on...

Katie posted SEVEN things that she is grateful for (it's supposed to be at least FIVE) so I'm going to copy her and post what I am grateful for:

• My health and the health of my family: things could have been a lot worse this year and while I will always have health problems, I am currently feeling really well (and I'm so thankful that Pavlos is healthy and Petros was actually born and is healthy, too).
• Our little house with our little FENCED in back yard so Pavlos can go outside and play whenever he wants.
• Family: immediate family, extended family, church family, and friends that are just like family.
• A good haircut (which I don't currently have... but I love the feeling of just getting my haircut)
• And, I have to agree with Katie on a cup of coffee. And, like her, I would probably take a really good cup of coffee over anything sweet (but I wouldn't necessarily say no to something sweet:)

AND I will add a few more...

• A book and/or movie that makes me cry (and, in general, finding a really good movie... very difficult to do these days... everything seems to be remakes of the same ideas or old TV shows that we didn't care that much about in the first place being made into movies)
• can you believe that I haven't written my children as something I'm thankful for?!?!? I know that I wrote about their health... but I guess I was saving the best for last (right). For Pavlos and Petros... I was once told that I would never be able to have children and the children that I do have come at a somewhat high price (I told my mom that pregnancy and I just don't get along AT ALL). So I'm thankful that I have two little boys.
• OH... and I didn't mention anything about my husband (I'm so pathetic). Now I'm really saving the best for last (I should hurry up and put a disclaimer at the top of this that "these are in no particular order of importance" but I will keep it honest...). My husband who has had to go through so much in this last year (with me and Petros) and who's love, generosity and faith keep me centered and grounded.

So, you go out and post what you are grateful for... right now:)

Blogging is...

a fall/winter activity, I have decided. It's a lot more difficult to stay inside on the computer in the summertime than in the winter time.

I have lots of pictures I would like to post, from our camping trip and Pavlos' sunflower that he planted. But I just don't have the time to do it:)

I have lots of things to report... one cute st0ry is that this past weekend we were at my sisters in Seattle for my nephew's birthday. We went to see the Blue Angels do an air show. When we arrived at the freeway, Maria, my niece, exclaimed that she didn't want to see the airplanes, she wanted to see the Blue Angels that fly the airplanes:) Isn't that cute?

That's all for my little update, hope you are all having a wonderful summer (I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't another post on this blog until September;)