Monarchs

It's that time of year - the great monarch migration! The monarch butterflies are flooding through our area right now as they head south to Mexico on their fall migration routes. I never even knew about this migration until I moved to the Great Plains several years ago. But now we look forward to it and check out various places around town where they hold monarch watches this time of year. This year my oldest is taking a great homeschool science class at our local nature center. Yesterday they went out on the prairie, caught a monarch and tagged it. He is so excited that someone in Mexico will probably find and read that tag and researchers will be able to do more work on tracking the migration patterns. They also made some cool folding paper monarch "airplanes" like these on this site. My youngest also gets excited about the monarchs because he learned all about the migration on this awesome Little Einstein DVD (which is also the reason that he shoots out "It's Beethoven!! whenever he hears Ode to Joy).

I love it hands-on science. I often wish I had learned science more like this as a child. Maybe then I wouldn't have disliked it so much!

Music in nature

I love this! It's going to make for a great music lesson tomorrow.

Grace, Humility and Hope for September 11

It has been 8 years since the that tragic day in America. I imagine I will always remember how many years it has been since the day planes destroyed the World Trade Center and the parts of the Pentagon. I'll remember because it will always be the same number of years as the age of my oldest son. I'll probably always remember nursing my infant as I watched the tragedy unfold on TV that morning. It was a scary way to begin motherhood.

But today, eight years have passed, that infant is a third grader and a big brother. And, for good or for bad, there was no mention of the World Trade Center over our family breakfast this morning. But there was mention of September 11. Why? Because it's the feast of St. Euphrosynos the Cook! We spent our breakfast reading this wonderful book, which my boys (especially my oldest) have grown to love over the years. I think they love the stories about St. Euphrosynos as a boy and his difficult but rewarding relationships with the other monks in his monastery. And I'm sure they love the gorgeous illustrations. But this morning as I read it, I thought about St. Euphrosynos' humility and his forgiveness. Euphrosynos was treated poorly by the others as a child, and by other monks as an adult. But he was patient, humble and forgiving. And that spirit of forgiveness seems a perfect model for today, the anniversary of a day when many people were wronged and violated. And I know it's a good model for me today, this week and this month as I continue to struggle with how to relate to those who wrong me, my children, my friends. Forgiveness is hard, hard, hard, but it's worth it, not only in eternity, but even in that very moment.

And then, several friends posted this lovely story today from the NPR archives. It's from the "This I Believe" series and is about forgiveness after a tragedy in Vietnam just a few years before I was born. It is certainly a perfect image for us today.

May we all learn to embrace forgiveness in our daily lives through the prayers of the humble young monk Euphrosynos!

Miss Mary

Tonight I listened a little more closely to the prayer that my 3yo has been regularly praying for well over a year. Yes, my husband was right. This little guy is dutifully praying:

"Miss Holy Theotokos, save us!"

I wonder if that's what he's been saying all along. If so, I'm sure Miss Mary (the Most Holy) is listening with love!

General Washington

On our recent trip to the DC area, one of our many busy days was spent at Mount Vernon. I could write a whole post about how great that long day was. I would mostly talk about the beautiful gardens and orchards which have been recreated after archeological digs to discover exactly where Washington had planted his plants and trees in his experimental gardens. Or I might write about the master blacksmith who actually works there on the property, in the original blacksmith shop, creating hinges and tools for the historical restoration that is in progress. But, maybe I'll save that post for another day. What I really loved was how much my boys were taken in with the history at Mount Vernon. They both have been completely captivated by the story of George Washington: the boy, the soldier, the general, the president, the farmer and the hero. They both had some spending money to use at various gift shops during the week. It had been given them by their great grandma when we arrived at her house. My oldest was spending his in little chunks everywhere. My youngest is more deliberate and had been carefully waiting for the perfect purchase. At Mount Vernon, that little guy decided it was definitely time to spend his. He departed from the Lady Washington Shop with a hat and a gun just like General Washington. The photo above is of him in the gardens at the estate. He's been speaking of himself in the third person, "General Washington needs to do this, General Washington doesn't like that . . . " ever since.

And today, I'm afraid that perhaps some other part of Washington has rubbed off on my little imp. Around 4 PM he emerged from the playroom to find me working on the laptop in the living room. He looked at me very seriously.

"Mommy, I will not tell a lie," he said.

"OK." I responded.

"I will not tell a lie. I broke the DVD player. I really did. Come see what I did."

I followed him back to inspect the scene of the crime.

He's right. He broke it. So, we may now be living more and more like General Washington. The digital switch already left this non-cable family with no channels at all (we're not so conveniently geographically located for the digital converter box to work well). So, we were already mourning the loss of PBS. And now, I guess, our beloved movies can't be watched on the TV either. Maybe we really will just move to Mount Vernon. I think I could deal with it.

On World Literature: Thoughts on Alexander Solzhenitsyn

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the death of a literary giant of the 20th century: Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, who reposed in Russia last August. Those who read one of my private blogs may remember that last August I posted briefly on the death of this writer and his relationship with another of my favorite writers: Fr. Alexander Schmemann. In the picture here, they are both pictured with yet another of my favorite writers (though most don't think of her primarily as a writer), Fr. Alexander's wife, Matushka Julianna Schmemann. She recently published this book, which I just love.

Many of my readers know that I am a student of Slavic languages, literature and linguistics and that I teach Russian language, culture and literature at a university. From time to time, family and friends will ask me about certain Russian writers and my thoughts on their works. Though most questions center on the 19th century prose giants (Tolstoy and Dostoevsky), Solzhenitsyn's name comes up quite often. I'm no true scholar of Solzhenitsyn, but I've read a fair amount of his works, some in Russian and some in English translation. So, when asked, I tell people the truth. I have mixed thoughts about Solzhenitsyn. I love some of his works, and I think others are just OK. I agree with some of his worldview, and I think some of it is also a bit too extreme. But I also always tell them this: if you want to read his best work, go find the short story "Matrenin dvor" ("Matryona's House"). It is my absolute favorite of all of his works. In fact, it is tied with three other short stories for my favorite works of all world literature.* So, when last night I listened to a great podcast by Fr. Thomas Hopko about Solzhenitsyn, I was delighted to find that Fr. Thomas and I share many opinions, especially a love for "Matryona's House," which can be found in English translation in this volume.

For those who are interested, take 40 minutes of your time, and listen to Fr. Thomas' podcast here. It's a great overview of Solzhenitsyn's life, works, worldview and his role in world literature and Orthodox Christian faith in the 20th century.

*And, since I know someone will probably ask, I'll go ahead and fill you in on my three other favorite short stories, listed here in no particular order.
"Megalos Masteras and His Work," Borislav Pekić, as found in this collection
"Live and Remember," Valentin Rasputin
"The Gift of the Magi," O. Henry

When it all goes wrong (And why I still love to share ideas)

Sometimes no matter how hard you work to make things perfect, no matter how pretty you dress them up, no matter what you do to paint the perfect facade, it just all goes wrong. You know, it's like last summer when I got my kids all dressed up for adorable beach photos. After taking about 120 shots, I got about 10 perfectly precious keepers which are hanging on our wall today. But there are always a few like this one. Eventually, it all falls apart. (And sometimes from the beginning it falls apart. After all this shot was at the beginning of the photo shoot!) And maybe the trick is to see the humor in the fall. Even more it's to see the redemptive nature of our falls. But sometimes the humor is the best place to start. After all, this picture has become one of my favorites of that summer . . . along with this one.

Good memories. Two-year-olds sometimes lose it. And everyone gets sick of posing after a while. And we all know, moms sometimes lose it, too!

One evening recently as I prepared dinner, my kids were listening to a CD of Judith Viorst stories. You remember, the author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? They got to the story My Mama Says There Aren't Any Zombies, Ghosts, Vampires, Creatures, Demons, Monsters, Fiends, Goblins, or Things in which the refrain is, "Sometimes even mamas make mistakes." I stopped and asked my boys, "Do you think that's right? Sometimes even mamas make mistakes?"

My then 7yo promptly said, "Oh yeah, it's definitely right. Especially our mama! She makes a lot of mistakes!"

I was a little surprised and sheepishly said, "You think so?"

"Well yeah," he replied. "You say it yourself all the time. Anyway, I think it runs in your family."

There you have it. Perhaps I've been a little too candid with my kids about my insufficiencies. But probably not. Honestly is probably best, right?

The danger of blogging is that we can make our lives seem to good, too clean, too idyllic. After all, who wants to write about the bad? It's more fun to write about the curriculum that you love, the recipe that is easy and delicious, the project that worked perfectly, the wonderful family that you love.

I like to read blogs for that kind of encouragement. I like to get great ideas from others. I view blogs as a treasure chest of ideas from which I can choose. And that's my goal with my blogs. I love to throw out ideas for others and from others. I love for people to send me their ideas to share here. Most of what I know and do I learned from my mom, from my dad, from other great adults and aunts and uncles who helped to raise me, from my siblings, from my husband, from wonderful friends, and from things I've read from others in books, on email lists (back in the dark ages of the 1990s and early 2000s) and blogs.

So, I write this blog just to share ideas. Some are good, some are fair and some might just not work. I hope those who read will enjoy them for what they are: ideas. And I hope those who don't like them, will just exercise the will to not read. I do that with plenty of blogs myself.

Thanks for reading along and for sharing your ideas with me!

Those lectures

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been listening to quite a bit of Fr. Thomas Hopko lately while running (OK, really just jogging) in the summer evenings. Some of my favorite lectures come from a three part series on Teaching Doctrine In the World We Live in Today. They are from a lecture given last June at the Met. Andrey Sheptysky Institute in Ottawa. I've been really convicted to rethink my daily life by these podcasts. Fr. Thomas talks in detail about how we can't teach (or learn) our theology and doctrine without first committing to really live Orthodox lives. This, I think, must be the way we should be educating our children about their Christianity.

I'm on an email list on which lately the conversation has centered a lot on the question of how to teach in an Orthodox home. There has been a lot of discussion about what might be the proper model. The Classical model? Or is that too Western? Some other model? To some degree, it's worth discussing these things. Of course, the concern is that we give our children an appropriate worldview: one that is centered on Christ and teaches them to love the Church and it's teachings.

But really, according to Fr. Thomas, there is only one way to do this. We have to live it. As I apply his lectures to my family's life, this is what I find. On some level, it doesn't matter what textbook we use, what educational model we use, what foreign language we learn, how much art or music we include. Those things are good to consider, but in the end, using something that helps them learn academics is fine. If we want to teach our children an Orthodox Christian worldview, we have to do it by living an Orthodox Christian life. It doesn't really matter which book we read about the Crusades or how many Roman Emperors' names we memorize (or don't memorize). What matters is how we live our life each day. This means reading our Bible daily, praying daily, living a chaste life, caring for others, loving others, confronting our addictions, fasting, and many other things.

In some ways this is so freeing. I feel both liberated and overwhelmed to embrace this approach. I don't have to panic about whether I've chosen the correct spelling textbook, or ever the right children's bible. I'll just choose one and go with it. But I do have to worry about whether my children ever see me pray. I do have to worry about whether I'm reading the scriptures. I do have to worry about whether I was kind to my husband this morning when I woke up too early.

But anyway, Fr. Thomas says it best. Here are the links to the podcasts. He's talking specifically about Teaching Doctrine in seminaries and for catechism, but it really applies to any kind of teaching, and more than that to LIVING.

Teaching Doctrine, Part 1

Teaching Doctrine, Part 2

Teaching Doctrine, Part 3

Enjoy!

"Theology isn't taught. Theology is suffered."

The quote above is from a series of magnificent lectures by Fr. Thomas Hopko on teaching doctrine. Thanks to very gracious grandparents, my kids have been out of town a lot this summer. And I've been at home alone quite a bit. I miss those crazy boys so much, and I'm about ready for the separation to end, but the new and shocking experience of silence has been quite good for me. I've made lots of progress on some pretty exciting projects including translation work, my dissertation and another really awesome organization that is almost ready to really go public. I've significantly increased my exercise regimen, and that feels great. We've got vegetables rolling in from the garden and flowers blooming everywhere. My husband and I have had quite a few quiet nights together to take walks, work in the garden, or just watch a movie.

But the best thing about this summer has been some down time to read a bit, reflect a bit, relax my tense shoulders and process some things about the direction of my life, and especially the direction of the life of our family as a spiritual unit.

My new running routine has given me some time to listen to podcasts from Fr. Thomas Hopko, thanks to my husband's MP3 player and his instructions and help with the buttons. (Yes, I'm behind the times. Not only do I not own an Ipod, I also don't even know how to use one.) I hope to share a few gems from Fr. Thomas' thoughts on teaching and living theology soon.

And I've also been doing some other reading about Orthodox parenting. Some of those jewels have been slowly seeping into my heart as I experience a quiet home and pray to rejuvenate for the coming year. I'll share some of those priceless thoughts here soon, too. So keep an eye out for some beautiful thoughts from the deep well from which I've been drinking this summer. I'll slowly share them here soon. But in the meantime, I'm praying to live these things, and not just to type them!

"You can't be in it to discuss it. You've gotta be in it to do it." - Fr. Thomas Hopko

Quick and Dirty Early American History

In less than a month we're going to take a week-long trip to the DC area. Our trip is primarily to visit various family and celebrate an important 90-something birthday. But, of course, we will have to incorporate at least one day to visit monuments and museums. My youngest has never been to DC, and my oldest hasn't been there since he was really old enough to appreciate the city. I have my favorite DC destinations (not even going to take the time to list them all right now) and my husband has his favorites too. I'm sure we won't even make it to half of the places we'd like to visit. But, I hope we'll hit some highlights at the Smithsonian and spend some more time on the Mall visiting some of our favorite monuments and memorials.

To date, all of our history study with my rising third grader has been in the Ancient and Medieval periods. So, he hasn't really done much American history at all, with the exception of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books and reading a few fun books about the Revolutionary War and Westward Expansion. So, this summer we're doing some quick and dirty reading to learn a bit about the founding of our nation and the historical figures associated with Washington, DC. Primarily, I'd just like him to know a bit about the people to whom major monuments in the city are dedicated. We're really just focusing on fun biographies to peak his interest in the history.

Here's our reading list we've been working through in the last few weeks. Anyone want to add any other suggestions? Some of these 8yo has read on his own, and others we are reading together along with little brother.

George Washington: Soldier, Hero, President from the DK Readers series

The Revolutionary War, from the True Book series

Tom Jefferson: Third President of the United States from the Childhood of Famous Americans Series (At some point, I'm going to offer a big enthusiastic post on this series, the discovery of the summer in our house!)

The Declaration of Independence, from the True Book series

Abraham Lincoln, The Sixteenth President, by Mike Venezia

D'Aulaire's Abraham Lincoln (At some point I owe this blog an Ode to the D'Aulaires based on a love born in childhood and fueled by my grandmother.)

Neil Armstrong: Young Flyer, also from the Childhood of Famous Americans series (This one he read primarily because of his own interest, but also in preparation for visiting the Air and Space Museum, AND in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Moon Landing coming up next week. Reading the book was followed by watching one of our favorite films of all time: The Dish.)

The classics

There are so many things I love about being a mother. I used to think my favorites things were getting to give birth to a baby, nurse and care for a baby, watch a child learn to walk, learn to talk, learn to feed himself. Those things seem like such huge highlights. But lately, I've decided that really my favorite part of mothering is introducing my children to great literature. In the last year, I've just loved watching my oldest delve into Greek and Roman myths, Narnia, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Encyclopedia Brown, Little House on the Prairie and this week, one of my favorites, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

But at least as fun is introducing the boys to some of my favorite children's picture books. I just love to see how much they adore Babar, Winnie the Pooh, Max and the Wild Things, Pierre, Paddington Bear, Thomas the Train (yes, from the wonderful series of original books) and many others. One of my goals for this year was to help them learn to also love Beatrix Potter. I have fond memories of my Momma reading me these stories, and so this year I endeavored to help my kids discover the humor and wonderful vocabulary of these little books. I'm delighted to know that I've truly succeeded. Mostly I know this because they frequently ask me to read from our collection of Beatrix Potter, but last week, I knew for a fact that my goal had been met.

A few days ago at breakfast, we were quietly eating and the boys were looking out the kitchen window. Suddenly, my 3yo just got up from the table and walked out the back door. I looked up completely surprised, and he looked back and said, with a confident and reassuring voice,

"It's OK. I'll be right back."

He was outside for a few minutes and then came back in.

"Don't worry, Mommy," he said. "Peter Rabbit was in the backyard and he was going to try to get our garden, but I scared him away. It's OK now."

Break

This is double-posted at my two public blogs: When We Fast and St. Herman School.

Christ is Risen!!

I'm going to be taking a break from this blog for a while. I've been contemplating my own smallness, failures and brokenness lately, fueled partly by the experience of the Paschal season, but more just by facing life's realities. And in the midst I've this experience, I've also been complaining about the terrible narcissism of the university students I teach. This has led me to consider the ways in which my own narcissism is fed by blogging, and the ways that my own loneliness is magnified in the same process.

I often receive much encouragement and good ideas from reading blogs. But I also find myself feeling sad and discouraged. Why doesn't my living room look like that? Why am I not that organized? Why did God give him/her that and me this? Of course, no blogger means to make me feel like that. And, of course, I don't mean to make others feel like that. But I wonder if I might do that very thing sometimes. I know the at least part of the whole truth about the real me (for who can truly plumb the depths of the soul?), but it's more fun to write about the pretty side of the real me. Who wants to write about their failures and their brokenness? At least, who wants to write about it openly on the internet? But where should my focus be: my successes or my shortcomings? I know what the Fathers of the Church would say in answer to that question.

So, for now, I'll take a break to meditate upon my own brokenness which is more painfully evident each new day. I'll keep up my private blogs and may even save away some new posts for this blog. But, I'm going quiet for a while. It will leave a bit more time to read another book to the kids, or to meet the challenges and joys of face-to-face relationships.

At least at this point, I plan to leave my archived posts up here. And I'll keep receiving comments from the blog in my email. So, feel free to contact me via this blog, or other ways that you know how to reach me. I'll likely return to blogging here, but I'm not sure when or how.

May the Joy of the Risen Christ fill you each day!

A Limerick

A little levity for your Holy Week from my 7yo:

There was an old lion named Lou,

Who only had one little shoe,

It was on his head,

When he went to bed,

It fell off his head into dew.

AM, 4/14/09

In preparation for St. Patrick's Day

We usually celebrate March 17th in grand style at our house, but not because of St. Patrick. We celebrate because March 17 is also the Feast of St. Alexis the Man of God, the patron of my oldest son. However, in the last year or so, we've really enjoyed reading and learning more about the life of St. Patrick, so this year we're looking forward to really celebrating both feasts tomorrow! In preparation for the feast, I thought I'd mention some of our favorite books about St. Patrick. Some we own, some we've checked out from the library this month.

The first is The Life of St. Patrick by Zachary Lynch, published by Conciliar Press. I really like this version of the life of St. Patrick, told in nice prose by Zachary Lynch. It's really for older kids (I'd say at least 6 or 7 and up), because the prose is a bit long and has older vocabulary.  The illustrations are interesting and unique. I love the use of traditional Celtic designs, but the faces of the people sometimes seem a bit odd.  They are intended to be primitive and they are indeed interesting, just surprisingly unusual.

A nice alternative for younger kids is St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons.  We recently read this one and my 3-year-0ld and 7-year-old liked it.  It has a simple retelling of the life of St. Patrick and then discusses various traditions associated with the feast.  It also has a list of miracles and other stories associated with the life of St. Patrick in the back.  A plus for younger children is that there are only a couple sentences on each page, so it moves quickly with new bright illustrations with each turn of the page.

This morning we read St. Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting with illustrations with Jan Brett.  This is such a delightful little tale about a little boy who is too little to walk in the St. Patrick's Day parade in his Irish village, but manages to climb the hill alone in the wee hours of the morning on the feast.  My boys really enjoyed this one I and liked the illustrations in only black, white and green.  (Have I ever mentioned that I love Jan Brett?)

I haven't read this next one, but I'd like to find it and try it out.  It's St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie de Paola.  I love de Paola's books and illustrations and I've heard others say that they really like this book.  Maybe next year, we'll find this one and try it out.

And finally, I'll mention one more book that deserves a whole post of it's own.   That post is coming soon, but for now, let me say that we really loved the Life of St. Patrick included in this wonderful book: Our Island Saints by Amy Steedman, published by Yesterday's Classics.

Grab a shamrock, talk about the Trinity as Three-in-One just like the leaves of the shamrock, read about St. Patrick, eat a potato, and get ready to celebrate the feast!  And, in the meantime, don't forget to celebrate the wonderful life of St. Alexis the Man of God!!!

Triumph of Orthodoxy!

Blessed Feast to all!

"This is the Faith of the Apostles!
This is the Faith of the Fathers!
This is the Faith of the Orthodox!
This is the Faith that has established the universe!"

The singing of Memory Eternal at Vespers for those who have given their lives for the faith always gets me and brings me to tears. Tonight was no exception.

How wonderful to end a long week of fasting and prayer with the joyful, unified celebration of many churches gathering together for Vespers. Tonight my boys walked in the icon procession with dozens of children and 10 priests. So many thoughts tonight, so little time to type!

Good second week of Lent to all!