Nothing Gold Can Stay

This is from the book (well, ONE of the books) that I am currently reading. I keep going back to this paragraph. I couldn't have written it better.

“It is through my Orthodox faith that I am learning to be still, and that is no small statement considering my propensity to wander. In this apostolic Church, sacraments and liturgy can-- through real, not symbolic, miracles-- tame a girl’s obsession with herself, unraveling completely the surprisingly ineffectual theory that being catered to, entertained, released from trials, bring satisfaction. It turns out that the receiving of holy chrism at one’s baptism or chrismation, the regular partaking of the actual Body and Blood of Christ, absolution through confession, and joining with martyrs and saints in the worship of the Holy Trinity can transform an individual from within. Such established Traditions take into account that I am human and weak and foolish. These enduring and consecrated gifts have overridden my faulty preferences and after ten years’ time are finally penetrating my thick soul with the only truth that matters; I am more than this-- in that I, we, were created to serve, praise, be filled with Christ Jesus.” ~Molly Sabourin from Close to Home.

1.  I am sooooooo looking forward to our visit to York next week.  We leave Monday and return the following Monday so we will be there ALL of HOLY WEEK.  We can attend all the services.  Once again I am reminded how wonderful it is to homechool so we can show our kids the importance of putting GOD FIRST in our lives.  There's not one service we will miss because of school or anything else that interferes in the lives of youngsters who attend public school.  I am happy about that.

2.  CHAP is just one month away.  I love that conference...I love the speakers and I love seeing all the curriculum in person and being able to compare strengths and weaknesses AND PRICES so closely!

3.  My writing is almost nonexistant as far as real quality work these days.  I still have the YA very close to my heart and ever present in my mind....every so often I get a blurb of creativity and I rush to pen and paper to write it down so when I have time I can fit it into the manuscript......hopefully after HOLY WEEK Festivities and CHAP, I'll get more time again.  By then the kids will have completed MATH (THEY are both on their last chapters!  YIPEE!) and their science fair projects which are both things that have taken up a lot of time.  Then we can focus more on other academics, including completion of our creation vs. evolution study before visiting the creation museum later in MAY.

4.  I had a wonderful blend of  Apple, Carrot and Orange Juice today made fresh in the new juicer.  It was sooooo wonderful. I call it Sunshine in a glass.  I think I'll make more later too.  I like my juicer!  :)

5.  Garden time is coming up quite soon and I'm feeling overwhelmed.  I just have a bad feeling all the work is going to fall on the kids and I and I'm not going to get much out of my husband.  I really need him to put up the deer fence as I know my back and shoulders will not appreciate the slugging of the mallet to put the posts into the rocky ground.  A friend of mine said she would help, but I can't expect a lot from someonw who is so busy herself.  And there is planting time, etc. and the kids and I have STILL not studied this bug book I got.....we need to identify what these critters are if we are going to know which ones to pluck out of the garden and which ones to leave alone!!!!

I can't drag the kids away from them this year....ART CLASS all day long!  :)

             



           

We are having fun!  And we are not done yet!

My hands are red, orange, blue, yellow, green.........and many more various shades of color.  It's that time of year again, my friends!

PYSANKY!!!!   (For those of you that might not know, that's a word for ukranian easter eggs)

I mixed up fresh batches of dye early this morning and the kids and I will work on those eggs starting this afternoon.  I'm anxious to see if our skills improve this year,  Mostly it's learning patience.  Two years ago when we started my son's eggs (he was then 8) were just squiggly lines..., but last year he added more details to those squiggly lines and more color as did my daughter.  So I'm anxious to see what details and skill are added this year.

I don't have any of our personal pictures uploaded...but here are some lovely ones I found on the net:



                                      

This year we will work on learning more about the colors and symbols and what they all stand for as well....well, not ALL of them.... but at least add to our knowledge base!

1.  My patience is being tested today, so my number one thankful thought today is that I am thankful for the conference this past weekend which helped me clear my mind and set my priorities straight.  So now rather than yelling, and muttering, I am instead repeating the beloved Jesus Prayer over and over to calm myself.
2.  I am thankful for the feel of the warm sunshine on my hands as I type this.  I will need to go outside and enjoy this before it disapears behind gray clouds again.
3.  I am thankful for the wonderful session I attended on Latin at the conference which made up my mind to forget about Spanish and French next year....WE ARE DOING LATIN TOGETHER....now to decide on a curriculum.... sigh
4.  I am thankful we have found a place in York to stay for Holy Week so we can be reunited with our church family at St. John Chrysostom's, even if only for a week...at least it is the most glorious week of the year!
5.  I am thankful for the Word of God.

 

 

I am so delighted to have been a part of this first Orthodox Home schooling Conference at Antiochean Village. The Speakers were wonderful and the vendors were quite good too. I am so excited about using Journaling throughout the Liturgical Year! Thank you Barbara Shukin for putting together such a unique publication for our Orthodox children!

There are so many thoughts running through my head! But mostly what I got out of this conference was the reestablishing of my priorities in my goals of home schooling. I put way too much anxiety and emphasis into the ‘academics’ of school and not enough focus on my most important goal for my children; that being the end result--- WHO I want my children to become. If I place the emphasis primarily on academics than I am losing site of the goal to make them holy people. What’s most important is the establishment of their faith.

Of course I’m not going to abandon academics. But we need to make religious studies and prayer a part of each and every day and think about our approach to academics. Academics can become an idol if we make it come first. I don’t want to do that.

So now I must go pick up the kids from art class and we will have a family meeting this afternoon or evening to take a look at our goals for the rest of this year and tweak them a bit. And of course, discuss next year as well.

I got some good information from Maria Khoury, Barbara Shukin and Marcia Brim during the panel discussion on writing and publishing educational materials for the Orthodox Homeschool Community and got a WONDERFUL idea on the way home!

I am very excited!

http://www.antiochianvillage.org/

http://www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org/maria_khourys_page/maria_khourys_archive/biography.html
http://www.homeschooljourney.com/
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/reviews.php?rid=937

Did I even spell that right?
Anyway, that's what I'm trying to do.
Have you ever had these moments of panic, where you think of about 20 things you need to get done and you are like, oh my gosh, I haven't even started that and this needs done, and I can't forget to do such and such....But you are in the middle of something very importantand can't rip out the paper and pen to write it down so hours later when you get a chance you sit down, pen in hand, and ..................BLANK!  The mind is erased and empty.  For the life of you, you can't think of what it was that was so important.....untill the next panic episode when you can't write it down......
AUGH!

I can not wait for this school year to be over.

I am really looking forward to this weekend though...we are going to our first ORTHODOX HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE at Antiochean Villiage in Ligonier.  I have only been there twice and only once for overnight.  It is soooooooo wonderful and I can't wait to spend some time with two other families from our church and get to know them better.  At the same time I am very very nervous because I don't know them well and if you haven't figured it out yet I am a BIG TIME INTROVERT and do not do well at starting conversations, etc.  So this will be a challenge for me.  My hubby is going too though so that helps as he is as much an extrovert as I am an introvert.  Sometimes I rely on him a bit too much though.  But the kids will be there too and the kids are already good friends.

I haven't done well with my writing goals at all.  I don't think I have even pulled out my WIP in at least a week and a half.  I feel very awful about that because I am soooooo excited about getting this story going but just can not seem to find the time......

I just don't know if I should even bother posting this...I'm still working on 5 goals from two weeks ago.  I sat down last Friday to post that I was leaving town and with trip planning and other things going on I never accomplished the goals from the previous week....and for whatever reason kept hitting the wrong key and deleting everything I had typed....did it again a few days later....it led to TOTAL frustration.  And while I ended up accomplishing quite a few things this week, none of them were from the goals...with the minor exception that I finally made it to chapter 5 of Timothy.

Well, I don't know if these will matter this week or not....getting ready to go out of town again for next weekend as well to an Orthodox Homeschool Conference so who knows what will happen?

1.  Having finally reached chapter 5, I think I should (note the word should) make it to at least chapter 7 by the end of next week...you would think during LENT, I'd be making a better effort since we don't even get to go to many of the extra services.  I need to make this a priority....I'm making my goal to finish chapter 7!
2.  Well, being that I haven't written ANYTHING in almost two weeks,perhaps my writing goal should be to just write SOMETHING. So that's it...I will write SOMETHING (I'm wishing this post would count, but I'm talking SOMETHING in my WIP here....)

3.  Homeschool Goal?  Well, we are leaving for the conference on Thursday....so I guess my goal is to pack and be ready for the conference and keep the kids on task until then!

4.  Food.... Garden time is fast approaching and other than a list of what we are planting:   Garlic(planted in the fall) Green onions, tomatoes, beets, beans, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, onions, spinach, kale, romaine, chives, parsley and arugula..............and how big the plot is, that's all I know for certain.  I did write some notes on what's good to plant next to what, but I really need to do more planning and start the kids and I on our research on Good Bugs/Bad Bugs so we know what to do while on pest patrol....so that's my food goal. I need to do more garden research and planning!

5.  Daughter time:  THAT"S TONIGHT!  My husband is working and my son is doing a cub scout sleepover thing so she and I finally get some mommy/daughter time....so tonight is a movie and tomorrow is shopping for clothes....just can't decide which Netflix movie to watch.....  PRETTY IN PINK             or              BREAKFAST CLUB?????????????????????

Decisions, Decisions!  And I'm too sleepy to think.....

I am feeling TOTALLY OVERWHELMED ON THIS FINE SUNNY TUESDAY...... BUT!  I WILL ATTEMPT A GRATEFUL LIST......
okay....here goes:

1.  I am thankful for the wonderful mind of a child who still has the innocence of this world to believe in leprechauns and other fun stuff!

2.  I am thankful for the smile and wave of a stranger while driving through this quaint small town.

3.  I am grateful for the sunshine, streaming through the trees.

4.  I am grateful for the taste of perfectly cooked butternut squash. YUM!

5.  I am grateful for libraries who allow me to read books for free...even though I need to make special requests for all the good ones when living in such a small town.....sigh...still grateful.

That's it. That's all. I'm just frustrated and trying not to swear.