Chronia Polla!!!!

Oh foremost of the apostles and teachers of the world
Interced ye to the Master of all
that He may grant peace to the world
and great mercy to our souls


Ok, big feast day in my family. Happy Name Day to my dad (Petros), my husband (Paul), my sons (Pavlos and Petros), my nephew (Pavel) and my father in law (Fr. Paul... May his Memory be Eternal). Normally, my parents would probably have had one of their famous lamb roasts this Saturday (their own version of a Panayiri) but we just had Petros' baptism a few weeks ago... just can't do two lamb roasts in one month:) So, maybe next year... It is also my brother in laws birthday today.
One interesting thing to note is that after my sister and I named our sons after St. Paul, dad told us that his great great grandfather was named Pavlos. The name didn't get passed down because the family did not want to name a son after the other grandfather. So we have re-introduced the name back into our family without even knowing it! (my mom's grandfather and uncle were also named "Paul" but they were not very nice men and so we just try to forget about them:)

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash"

Pavlos' new favorite album is a Johnny Cash greatest hits... although we may have to cut back on him listening to Folsom Prison Blues as it sounds a little funny hearing him run around the house singing, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die." Pavlos' real favorite song is Ring of Fire... he even made up hand motions to go along with the song:)

We were at the monastery this last weekend... very nice. Although I am selfish and would rather be there when no one else is there... too many people. Papa Herman has pictures on his blog (he didn't take them as he wasn't there). Pavlos is not pictured in the picture of the kids ringing the smaller bells, but he "helped" ring the bigger bell:) It was very hot and we spent a lot of time with the goats (hopefully, not the goats that Christ separates from the sheep).

In other news... my uncle Pete is getting married. This is big news as he is a confirmed bachelor of 48 or 49 years of age. We can't believe it. He is in Greece right now. I think my new aunt is a couple of years younger than me. We are very excited and happy for him. Seriously, we never thought this day would come. And, in fact, he has 3 nieces and a nephew that are married before him:) This is an answer to my yiayia's prayers (she passed away last October... May her memory be eternal). I know that while she was alive she prayed constantly that Pete would get married... her prayers in heaven are more powerful because he's getting married!!! I might just have first cousins that are 34 years younger than me (and younger than my own children). Only in crazy Greek families:)

Another Something I have Learned Since Becoming a Mommy...

The organizational status of a kitchen towel drawer does not mark the end of the world. Sometimes it is better if I just let things slide (which is hard to do for an organizational type person such as myself... I value and crave CONTROL which, when having children, means you lose a lot of).

Paul and Pavlos have dropped me off at my parents' home. They are driving to the monastery today. Petros and I will be going tomorrow morning with my parents. Yesterday I ran into two of the nuns from the monastery at Costco. This is the second time I have run into them there. It's kind of funny, for lack of a better word, to see them at Costco. And surprising. Especially because yesterday it was two of the nuns from Greece and I know there is nothing like Costco in Greece. I saw them as they were walking out and I was walking in. So, through the rest of my trip in Costco I thought what it would be like for them to walk through that gigantic store full of bulk items and $2000 TVs. And it's always interesting to run into them in the public... they always look the same while I have my specific clothes for church/monastery and my everday clothes (not that I was wearing anything outrageous... just some capri pants and a t-shirt oh, and a baby in a bjorn). I wasn't embarassed, but it made me think (which can be a trying thing to do for my baby brain).

So, I'm at my parents' home, baby is asleep, and I actually have time to write a blog. I have just finished reading Touching Heaven by John Oliver. He writes about his experience with the Theotokos. I have always been curious... as a cradle Orthodox I have never doubted or questioned the role of the Mother of God... it just seems so natural the role she plays in the Church (and I'm not implying that just by being a cradle Orthodox, one does not question... I'm sure there are plenty of cradles that struggle with this issue... I just never did and neither has Paul...). And I don't think that Roman Catholic converts have the difficulties in honoring the Theotokos as the Theotokos (birthgiver of God). So, if you are a convert or a cradle who has struggled with this idea... how did you get through it? Maybe you are still struggling with it, I don't know. Maybe I haven't struggled with it because my yiayia (grandma) was always praying to the Panagia to protect her grandchildren. It just seems to me such a natural thing... to honor the woman who gave birth to Christ. I mean, God would only choose someone worthy of that calling. And I know that a lot of Protestantism is really an attempt to put off anything that might at all resemble Catholicism. But to completely disregard the Theotokos?!? And, even snub her (as I have heard/read some people do) seems so, uhm, I don't know what word to use, uhm, incomprehensible to me (whew... that's a ten dollar word, especially from my little brain). Anyway, if you have thoughts on this, please, post away!!!

I think this is a long enough blog entry. I'm going to try to download a picture from the baptism for you all to see... might take me a few minutes:)

UPDATE: Ok, a picture of Petros with his godparents and Fr. Theodore. I look like I just ate something that tasted bad... oh well:)

A Good Movie..

I think for every good movie we watch, we must see a couple of not so great ones. I won't write about the not so great movies:) but we recently rented The Syrian Bride which was very good... both funny and sad at the same time. I enjoyed it. And I re-watched My Left Foot yesterday while writing thank you notes for Pavlos' birthday and Petros' baptism. I had not seen it since it first came out, 16 years ago or something like that:) Thanks, Dawn, for writing movie recommendations which prompted me to just link these two movies I recently watched:)

What I've learned since becoming a mommy... and other updates

If you have a four year old boy, just leave the toilet seat up at all times. It makes life easier (and you won't ever sit in a "puddle").

Other Updates:

• Last Saturday was Petros' baptism. He literally cried for a second and then just looked around at what was going on. It was beautiful. I didn't cry, but I warned Paul the night before that I might cry. You see, Petros' baptism was one of those future events that kept me going in the hospital... as in I would say to my self when I was really feeling down or yucky, "by the time this baby is baptized, everything will be ok." And it really is ok. We had a lovely party at my parents home complete with lamb on a spit (and my dad hung the Greek flag on the garage a la My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It was a beatiful day.
• Pavlos' last day of school is Friday. I don't know what I am going to do with him this summer. Mom is suggesting some community center classes. I will look into that. I know that we can spend one day a week at the zoo, at least. He will be going back to pre-K in the fall. We are very pleased with the school and with his teacher.
• We are going to the monastery for their feast day (anyone else going to go... we'll meet you there:).
• My sister and brother in law are moving in the next few weeks and celebrating their 11 year wedding anniversary. Congrats to them. In this day and age 11 years is almost a miracle (and, boy, does that make me feel old... they were married a few weeks after I graduated from college).
• I just finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Very interesting book. One of those magical realism type books with a strong emphasis on the realism part. And through out the book I actually felt like magic existed in England. I love it when authors put in fake footnotes and cite non-existent books, very realistic. It was a very interesting read...
• uhm, that might be all for now... I have to stop and think for a moment...

AAWWW, yes, I have something to say... I have been reading people's blogs, but haven't been putting in too many comments. I just don't feel like I have the time right now. So, please know, my faithful few readers, that I am reading your blogs:) And keep writing...

I thought of something else to add... we are on the family cell phone plan with my parents (they have two phones), my sister (she has one phone), and Paul and I (we have two phones). Dad upgraded the phones recently. Now, none of us are big cell phone users. I pretty much just keep mine in the car. And I know for sure that my sister can't even remember her pin number to access her messages (it's been that long since anyone has left her a message). So, anyway, Dad upgraded the phones. Dad's great at finding deals and we are all proud owners of the Motorola SLVRL7. This phone does everything. It has a camera. It connects to the web (for a fee so we won't be doing that), it can hold 110 songs (I believe that's how many... it could be more). And, according to my brother who knows such things, this is a "flippin' cool phone". Uhm, ok. I don't think I have ever been this cool in my life...

On Yesterday, Six Years Ago...

Rob/Paul and I were married. Happy Anniversary!!! We went out to dinner and saw the movie Water. It was very good. Mom and dad watched the kids. Today is Katie and Steve's one year anniversary. Happy Anniversary!!!

What a big year for us... baby, bought a new home, moved into the hospital for a while, lost a spleen... always something going on. I don't have time to post more thoughts because the baby is starting to cry. Maybe I will try to write more later (not today, probably, we are going to a dinner tonight).

On This Day, Three Years Ago...

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
O Christ our God, You ascended in Glory and gladdened Your disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Your blessing assured them that You are the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Second Tone
O Christ our God, upon fulfilling Your dispensation for our sake, You ascended in Glory, uniting the earthly with the heavenly. You were never separate but remained inseparable, and cried out to those who love You, "I am with you and no one is against you."

On this day, three years ago, we were in Greece for the Ascension, at the church of the Ascension on the island of Ios (where my dad is from). The church is one of our family churches (our other church is to St. Petros). It is a very small church. When I asked my Aunt Ourania how old is the church... she replied, "very old." I said, "no, really how old? One hundred, two hundred years?" She, again, replied, "very old." So I am going to assume that this church is probably 500 or more years old because the "new" addition on my grandparents home is 2oo years old! Hope you like the pictures!!! And remember I'm really bad at posting pictures so if they are in a weird order, please forgive me:)

Happy Birthday, Dad/Pappous!

Love,
Paul, Christina, Pavlos, and Petros:)

PS: photo is of yiayia and pappous with all four grandchildren

It's been a while...

Sorry, everyone, it's been a while since I posted. I'm even having trouble getting around to reading other people's blogs!!! We are quite busy, of course, with baby Petros and Pavlos and just lots of stuff going on. On Saturday we had a memorial service for Paul's father (Fr. Paul). It's been five years since he reposed. May his memory be eternal. So I spent Friday and Saturday putting together kollyva. I have a shelf in my cupboard that is dedicated to kollyva stuff.

Sunday was our church general assembly meeting. I don't particularly like general assembly meetings. And, since becoming co-chair of our sunday school program, we have to watch the children while the parents attend the meeting. AAAGGGHHH! Not my idea of a fun Sunday afternoon:) We were able to play outside and I brought Pavlos' newest game, Hullabaloo, and the kids loved playing it (it was a birthday present from yiayia and pappous).

Petros is now three months old. I cannot believe it. Pavlos went to his 4 year check up and we also weighed Petros... he's now up to 9lbs 7 ozs. Way to go!!! He is smiling a lot and making lots of cute baby cooing noises. Pavlos is a hefty (lol) 28.5 lbs.

I have started reading again. Finally have a little time to do that. I read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Oh Susanna by Kate Wilhelm (thanks, Kiera). Shadow of the Wind is kind of like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book (are my sister and I the only people who like Love in the Time of Cholera better than One Hundred Years of Solitude? Just curious). The Wilhelm book was funny and entertaining and easy:) I have finally gone on line to the library to request some books to read.

Last night, I recorded the season finale of 24 so I could watch the DVD of Pride and Prejudice which we rented. After having seen the mini-series P&P numerous times and also reading the book many times, the movie went so quickly! It has beautiful scenery, wonderful editing, it flows nicely, beautiful score, but it just gets through the story so fast. If I had never seen the mini-series, I probably would have like it better... although I do like the movie, too... maybe it would be good to own for those times when I would like to watch P& P but just don't have the time to sit through the whole mini-series?!?! So tonight we will watch the season finale of 24... will Jack make it (of course, he does, Kiefer Sutherland has signed a new, three season contract). Will the president be exposed for the lying slimeball he is?

Ok, that's enough rambling from me... have to go work on baptism invitations (if you are a member of St. John's you will not be receiving an invite to the baptism as we are inviting the whole parish... but please, let me know if you can make it so we can plan on how much food to make:)

Save the Date... and if you aren't tired of the davinci code already, here are some links:)

Sr. Magdalen (the link on her name is to the monastery where she lives in England), author of "Children in the Church Today" and "Conversations with Children" (both excellent books if you haven't read them) will be the speaker at the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church Annual Fall Women's Retreat. The retreat will be the weekend of October 13-15 here in Portland, OR. Just giving you all a heads up (since most of my five readers of this blog live in the Pacific NW). I am very excited to meet her!

On a completely different note... a priest friend of mine sent me the following links regarding the DaVinci code movie (and book, for that matter) and the gospel of Judas. These are websites that have been developed through the Greek Archdiocese. Mind you, I haven't checked out these sites, yet, just passing the info. on from a reliable/trustworthy source. And, on a side note, who has read the DaVinci Code? I did, and thought that it wasn't that well written of a story, aside from all the historical inaccuracies:)

Oops... happy birthday pavlos, update:)

Me and my sleep deprived brain forgot to add two things to my little happy birthday pavlos blog entry... First, Pavlos was and always will be my greatest mother's day gift... he was born Saturday evening, the day before Mother's Day!!! And second, I need to change the description of my blog... Pavlos is not 3 and he really doesn't say, "uhm" anymore like he used to... i will keep the title of the blog, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the description... thanks:)

Happy Birthday, Pavlos!!!

Pavlos is four today. Our first miracle baby. He's my little boy blue eyes:) He's loud, silly, and loves to sing and dance and play (especially with his little people). I cannot believe it's been four years... how much he has changed and grown up (especially in the last few months). We are celebrating his birthday party on Sunday afternoon (his cousins are coming down from the Seattle area and his god-parents will be over), but tonight, yiayia and pappous are coming over for some pizza and hot fudge sundaes (Pavlos' favorite foods). Happy Birthday, Pavlos, and May God grant you many, many years!!!

Pain-free visit to the dentist...

I went to the dentist today to have some long overdue dental work done. The dentist had to numb both sides of my mouth. When he inserted the needle, he said, "you will feel a pinch." I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. My body was poked and prodded so many times while in the hospital, I have developed a new level of pain tolerance! Whenever I have bloodwork done, it feels like nothing. No pinch, no poke, no feeling at all.

Baptism...

Petros' baptism will be on Saturday, June 10, time to be determined (most likely around 11am). If you would like to come or are in the area, please email me and I will keep you posted and send directions. The reception will be at my parents home in Vancouver, WA. We are very excited!!!

My email address is cdblankenstein[at]hotmail[dot]com.

UPDATE: I forgot to add that the baptism will be at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Portland, OR:)

Holy Week, Pascha, and after...

I know that I have not posted in quite a while... I've been busy:) Petros had his two month appt. last week, you can read about that here. Maintaining two blogs at the same time can be difficult and tricky... I have to figure out where I am going with these two blogs, if I'm going anywhere!

Holy Week was beautiful and busy. I did not attend all of the services, but Paul and I rotated on a few services so that each of us could at least go to one service without children. We all went to Sunday evening bridegroom service. My mother in law and I went to the Monday bridegroom service. Then we all went to the Tuesday evening service because our Metropolitan Gerasimos made his first pastoral visit to our community. He seemed very genuine. Pavlos had a little "encounter" with him... Metropiltan Gerasimos tried to give him a flower but Pavlos became a little afraid so Paul picked him up to take him to the Metropolitan, but Metropolitan Gerasimos told Paul that it was ok and to not "force" Pavlos to go to him.

We all went on Holy Wednesday evening for Holy Unction. Let's just say that I spent the entire service outside of the service because Petros was really, really fussy! He cried almost through the entire service, poor guy. Thursday morning, Petros and I went to Liturgy and Paul was going to go to the Thursday evening service, but ended up taking his mother to urgency care because she thought she was getting bronchitis. Turns out she might have asthma!

Holy Friday was our Youth Retreat which Carrie and I ended up being "in charge of" because we are the Sunday School co-directors (I majorly stressed about the retreat but it turned out really well). And Friday evening was Pavlos' turn to have a meltdown in church so we ended up leaving the service early (after the procession). Saturday morning, Paul went to church and I took the kids to my parents home for an Easter egg hunt with their cousins (although Petros didn't really participate). And I didn't go to the evening service as I thought that I would really not get any sleep at all, even after the service, because the baby would still wake up for feedings, etc. So Paul took his mom and Pavlos to church. But we all went to Agape vespers on Sunday morning (minus Paul's mom because she wasn't feeling well) and then, the Pascha picnic at church where they roasted two lambs! Yummy! Very exciting Holy Week and Pascha! Christos Anesti!

This past Sunday, we were privileged to become god-parents to baby Athanasios. May God grant him many years! And we have god-parents for baby Petros so now we have to plan his baptism!

We are so busy... and then this weekend two friends of mine from high school will be in town and they are coming over for lunch on Saturday. Then we have a fundraising dinner at church on Sunday evening (complete with Greek dancing... woohoo!). We spent last Saturday planting flowers in our yard. And Paul bought a swingset kit to build Pavlos (and Petros) a swingset with slide in our backyard (a birthday gift to Pavlos from grandma). OH, so that means that Pavlos will have his birthday in 9 days... he will be 4 years old:)

Please keep Katina (Ekaterini) in your prayers. She reposed yesterday. I lived with her for a year in San Diego, CA when I was volunteering with Project Mexico. May her memory be eternal!

Sorry for the randomness of this entry... I will attempt something with more depth later on:)