It's been a while...
Today is the first day of Summer Vacation. And the first day of the Apostle's Fast which is, on a personal note, very important to us:-)
We have lots of "plans" for the summer- hopefully lots of reading, lots of bike riding, and lots of fun around home (we do have one big trip planned and a few smaller camping trips as well).
That's about all. I miss my sister. And keep praying for my friend Maria!

Prayer Request...

Christ is Risen!
My very good friend (who also happens to be my mom's best friend's daughter- translated= our mom's are best friends- they have known each other since before they met two Greeks) Maria was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Through the intercessions of St. Nektarios may the Lord watch over and project Maria. I, like my mom, am very sad. But I am boosted by Maria's optimism and I hope to do everything that I can to help her and her husband get through this trial! Please pray for her husband, family, and friends. I have nothing else to say because I am still trying to wrap my brain and heart around this. Thank you...

Oops, I did it again...

Christos Anesti!!!
‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.' Matthew 6:34
Do you ever get yourself all worked up about something and then the next day, realize that you had literally miscalculated/crunched the numbers and that everything is really going to be ok? Happened to me yesterday and then I figured out how wrong I was about ten minutes ago. And now I am sharing this with you, my blogging friends.

Big P attends the local Orthodox school. Big P has some struggles with school. He is a smart child, has lots of extra energy, is ambidextrous (sp?), eyes do not track normally (but vision therapy has helped this immensely)- this description of Big P is to give you an idea of how important it is for him to stay in the small school setting of ASA. All that and he learns about our Orthodox Faith as well!

So, anyway, the financial aid letters went out yesterday. We are trying to enroll little p there as well, but he does not have the struggles that Big P has so his going to ASA next fall (as a 3 1/2 year old) was more of a bonus. For Big P, I see it as more of a necessity. I looked over the numbers we were given last night and fretted/cried to DH and even chatted with the Principal (we had a meeting last night for school things and I was so distraught/upset that I had to open my mouth and bring it up with her- thank God she is a wonderfully kind and caring person and loves Big P dearly). How are we going to pay for this? The number's do not make sense! Principal's advice- go home and sleep on it and we will talk about it more tomorrow (today). DH's advice- we will do what we have to do.

This morning (and I even called and told my mom about it all, too) I re-crunched the numbers and I somehow did not subtract one number from the other. I was off by a substantial amount. Glory to God! Because of my dorkiness/stupidity/jump to conclusion-ess personality I made a mistake. And it was all for nothing because Big P will stay at ASA. little p is another question. But he is only three- this is preschool (granted it is montessori and it is an amazing preschool but still, it is preschool). Big P is seven (Happy Birthday last Monday, Big P) and in "regular" school. Again, I say, Glory to God for my stupidity! What sweet relief!

Christos Anesti!
I keep meaning to update the old blog but just haven't done it. We are super busy (and I thought Lent and Holy Week were busy:).
Today we are heading out to the monastery (no school today and tomorrow). Saturday is my father in law's 8 year memorial service and my pappous' 2 year memorial service. AND- Pavlos will be serving at Vesper's after the memorial as an altar boy for the first time! He is very excited!
Sunday is liturgy and then we are having Pavlos' 7th birthday party in the afternoon followed by a mother's day bbq at our home. My head is spinning just thinking about it all. Pavlos' birthday is really on Monday. Seven years ago, though, May 11 was on Saturday- the day before Mother's Day and Saturday of Bright Week. Like I say- Pavlos is my first Mother's day gift and the best Mother's day gift:)
I have pictures of our last few days with my sister to post, pictures from Pascha, a little video I took of Pavlos and Petros, and now, after this weekend, pics from the monastery and pics from his birthday party! Crazy? Ok. we have to get ready to leave. Wish us well!!!

Happy Nameday, Mom!!!! (St. Suzanna- Myrrhbearing Women).

Crazy 8's Meme...

Christos Anesti!
I was tagged by Sylvia for this meme. I haven't been blogging for awhile. School is keeping us busy! I do have some things I need to write up and will hopefully get to it soon:)

Here goes...

8 Things I am looking forward to:

1. Our Summer Trip to Wyoming and Yellowstone Park with Paul's family!!!
2. taking three classes to re-instate my Oregon teaching license (not yet, but sometime in the near future)
3. taking a trip to Russia to visit my sister and her family (someday, I hope)
4. Summer vacation!
5. Camping (first trip is Memorial Day weekend)
6. Going to the monastery next week with the boys (and a friend and her boys)
7. Baptism of our soon to be godson (have no idea when this is happening- but am looking forward to it)
8. Hoping to have lots of people over this summer- more bbq's, more hospitality:)

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Made gouvroulakia (yum)
2. Went to school PTP board meeting (yes, I am on the parent teacher board)
3. Was part of in impropmtu procession through the house with the boys dressed up in their vestments and singing Christos Anesti at the top of our lungs (you know your Orthodox when...)
4. Did morning carpool duty
5. Laundry (that's everyday)
6. laid out my squares in my raised beds (we do the square foot gardening because we have a small yard)
7. good phone conversation with mom last night:)- Next time dad is at an AHEPA meeting, we should meet for dinner- just you and I- so you don't have to eat bad Thai food!
8. watched two more episodes of season 3 of Lost with DH

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. speak a foreign language fluently
2. visit my sister in Russia
3. knit and/or crochet. I'm not picky, would just like to learn one of these skills
4. exercise consistently
5. manage my time more wisely (ie- don't get sucked into facebook:)
6. I like my little house- but I would love to live closer to school/church (and have my parent's also move closer, too- but I don't think either of these will happen in the near future- just a hope/wish)
7. Trust in God for all things (be able to not stress and just trust that all things happen for a reason)
8. This is a big one- I have always wanted to go to the Holy Land and to St. Catherine's on Mt. Sinai. Don't know if/when this will ever happen, but would love to someday be able to go.
9. Yes, I'm adding a number 9- go back down to Project Mexico for a visit (that's where DH and I met and we haven't been back since we moved to Portland 8 years ago)- maybe someday do mission work again?!?!?! See number 7:)

8 Shows I Watch- OK, like other people, we rent all our TV/movies (through Netflix and the library) and rarely turn on the regular TV (except for things like last night we did watch the Blazer game). I have decided that that doesn't make us any more righteous or pious, it just means that we don't like commercials and we are picky about what we watch (and we like to watch what we want when we want to (and we are not going to get cable or a DVR or tivo)
1. Lost (we are currently in the middle of season 3- don't tell me anything about this show).
2. 24 (we are waiting for season 7 to come out on DVD and then will rent it from the library or something) so we are not currently watching it, but maybe will get to it over the summer
3. Star Trek Enterprise- DH loves Star Trek. We are in the middle of Season 2.
4. Oh, and DH has discovered a new show he likes (we have watched a few episodes on Hulu.com- Legond of the Seeker or something like that.
5. Veggie Tales
6. Masterpiece Theater- or any adaptation of a period novel into a miniseries- I loved Bleak House.

8 Tags. You're it!

1. My sister, Katherine
2. My mom, Susan
3. Maria in Crete
4. My sister in law, Hannah
5. My koumbara
7. My goddaughter, Christy (if she has time)
8. If you are reading this considered yourself tagged:) (I can't remember who all has been tagged for this meme)

You know it's spring when...

Yesterday evening,
sitting on the deck in my parent's backyard,
having a nice chat with my sister,
drinking decaf coffee (because we just like the taste of coffee),
watching the children run around the yard-
getting into all sorts of mischief,
driving home with the boys freshly bathed and I notice...
I have two moquito bites.
It must be Spring:)

great post..

my sister has a great post. check it out.

Now that we are reaching the end of Lent...

I thought I would post my Vegan Brownie recipe. This is the recipe that when DH first tried them, he then banned me from ever making them during a fasting period again because they are just that good. Now that he is Gluten Free, well, he just doesn't get any:) (actually, I made these for a presanctified liturgy dinner and subbed all purpose gluten free flour whenever it calls for flour and they turned out pretty good... they sunk a bit in the middle and were extremely moist, but those aren't bad things).

Vegan Brownies
Ingredients
1/3 c. flour
1 c. water
½ c. margarine
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c. white sugar
1 tsp vanilla

2 c. flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp. salt
12 oz. chocolate chips

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan.

2. In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 c. flour and water. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thick. Pour into mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Melt margarine in saucepan. Add cocoa. Mix until smooth and set aside to cool.

4.Beat sugar and vanilla into cooled flour mixture. Stir in cocoa mixture until well blended.

5.Add remaining ingredients (chocolate chips last) and spread evenly into pan.

6.Bake 20-25 minutes.

Spring weather...

Today is so beautiful! little p and I planted some bulbs and then cleaned out our outside closet (off of our back porch- I use it as a dry goods pantry). Now it's time for some lunch!

First day subbing- the specialist that comes into the class to help the student's with learning difficulties ended up sending one of the students to security (that's what they call it- security). And, I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back because he ended up suspended. I actually was helping other student's when the "incident" happened and didn't see it. Other than that, pretty typical middle school "we have a sub" behavior. Nothing I couldn't handle:) Thanks for your prayers and well wishes. I have a wonderful group of internet friends (some I know in real life and some I hope to meet in the future)!

Say a little prayer for me...

tomorrow. At some point in my life I acquired a master's degree in education and am licensed to teach middle school and high school social studies. I am no longer babysitting so have decided to dust off the old chalk and eraser and will be heading out tomorrow for my first sub job in a few years! Hopefully I want to take the necessary classes to re-instate my teaching license (I have a sub license) and someday teach...

beautiful boy...

Happy Birthday! I am on facebook and uploaded a bunch of birthday photos yesterday. Thought I would share one of them with you!

Positive Peer Pressure...

Conversation with Big P on the drive home from school...

Mommy, Noah makes his own lunch for school. When we get home can I make my own lunch, too?

Uhm, sure. The whole lunch?

Yes, the whole lunch. You just cut the crust off the bread, I will do the rest.

Ok then.

And he did... make his whole lunch. And I cut off the crust of his bread (he has helped me in the past, this time he did it all).

Lenten Recipe Archives

http://cblankens.blogspot.com/2004/11/tried-and-true-lenten-recipes.html
http://cblankens.blogspot.com/2005/03/new-lenten-recipes.html

these are lenten recipes i have posted in the past. please feel free to use them, publish them, whatever. anything to help us not focus so much on food during lent:)

oh, and monica is having a bean soup recipe party here.