Thank you for all your prayers and pms!! We announced our good news to our friends and family . Everyone was pleasently surprised and are really, really thrilled! Here are the boys in their t-shirts.
Thank you for all your prayers and for sharing in our joy! 
Month: March 2005
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I found out I was pregnant, Feburary 19th, after we arrived home from Cleveland! I was in absolute SHOCK!! In a GOOD way!
Thank you everyone who has prayed for me! My youngest just turned 4 and he keeps asking us for baby. I tell him we just have to keep praying and if God wants us to have another baby he will bless us one, in HIS perfect timing!
After baptizing and chrismating 5 people we arrived home and I just felt God telling me to take a test. It was chilling! God in HIS providence provides ABUNDANTLY!!!
For over two years docs have been telling me I will not have anymore children. (I never really 100% believed them, because God is in control.) The docs are surprised I had 3 in 3 years due to my cancer treatment. I know my children were all miracles and that I had been very blessed. So to expect more I felt I was being a little greedy. I was content and I had happily accepted God’s will for my family. I am just in shock!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have been telling me that there is no chance to have more children due to diminished ovarian reserve.I was told that I would never have any more children because of my cancer treatment. It was truly a miracle that I even had the 3 children in 3 years!
I learned about Progesterone cream, vitex DHEA from my online friends is what I have been using these natural thearpies and Amber~Joy’s tea, along with a lot of heartfelt prayer.
The Lord has blessed us abundently!!
Keep us in your prayers during the pregnancy. The boys are all very excited and are busy making lots of plans!
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On Saturday February 19th we had the most glorious day! After months of preparation we drove to the other end of the state to meet Alana and her family!! Alana is just as beautiful, godly , sweet funny and smart in person as she is online. He dh is a lovely man and her children are delightful and VERY well behaved. Our children played beautifully together all day long! My boys were so excited to meet their new Godbrothers and Godsister. I have had a wonderful time preparing and buying all their crosses and new white clothing and presents. It was such a touching day, full of blessings and I am honored and privileged to be the family’s Godmother and to help Alana and Tim raise their children to love, worship and glorify Christ!
Here we all are just after the children’s baptisms and Alana and her dh’s chrismations.
My Goddaughter! Do you like her gown and bonnet?
My Godson! He was just beaming the whole day! That child is full of the love of Christ! He knew something special was happening and just kept looking up and smiling at me like that all during the service! He is a joy and a real little man of God! We bonded instantly! Amazing!
Here he is is about to be immersed in the water 3 times.
Anointing with Holy Oil for the the receiving of the Holy Spirit (Chrismation).
My dh, Fr. C, baptizing Addison (Adam)
Addison (Adam) being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Look at that face!
Gwenovere (Genevieve) being baptized.
Alana’s dh, Tim being chrismated with Holy Oil for the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
Receiving Holy Communion
My little guys taking it all in prayerfully.
My little Godson Elijah (Elias) receiving
the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time.
Gwen and her lovely mommy Alana (Eleni)
Tim and Alana’s family “The Newly Illumined”
Beautiful baby Gwenovere (Genevieve)
my darling and beloved Goddaughter
Alana and Gwen. Isn’t Alana BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!
A happy and joyful little Eli.
A sleeping little angel!
Alana and me with all our children at the end of a beautiful day!
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The Value of Patience
The Value of Patience
by Amy Stephan (Sep. ’01)
“My brethren, count it all, joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
Trials, the world’s oppression, take place with God’s permission. The issue is not trials per se, but our response to them. Properly received, trials reveal where our hearts are. They help to increase faith, which cannot remain static, but must grow or die. The Godly reaction to trials is joy and perseverance. Though difficult circumstances are from the Evil One, to be angry at circumstances is to be angry with God, who permits them. Sometimes, the only solution to our trials is patience — so let’s explore this!
What is patience? Merriam Webster says that it is the capacity to bear pain or trials calmly without complaint. It is to not be hasty or impetuous. I asked my fellow staff members the same question. Some related patience to dealing with the everyday issues of their campers. Others thought of love and of relationships — and more reflected on their faith. No matter what comes to mind, it’s a fact — patience affects every part of our lives.
There is no escaping it – we are forced to live and work with those around us. It is as Christians that we decide how we will interact with those people. When we are baptized, we put on Christ. We are also called to see Him in each other’s eyes. This is the focal point for the way we should treat each other. How you would act towards the Creator is how we should act towards each other. This attitude has a chain reaction. If you treat each other like Christ, then they will see Christ in you. The most influential saying I have ever heard is, “You may be the only Jesus some ever see.” Whenever I begin to lose my patience with others, I use this phrase as a reminder of how I am called to act. It is important that we are not only patient with each other, but with ourselves as well.
If we take a look at our lives, we see how much of our day is spent thinking about the future. I recently took a group of campers from two cabins on a 14-mile hike up Laurel Mountain. A majority of the weekend was spent asking questions like, “How much longer?” and “What’s going to happen next?” Though I tried to assure them that there was nothing to worry about, and to encourage them to enjoy what was around them, they had much trouble. I thought this was a perfect example: they missed so much of what they could have experienced because they were worrying about what would happen next, and if something better would come. We need to be patient with ourselves.
If you were to walk down the “self-help” aisle of a Barnes & Noble Bookstore, you’d likely find many authors trying to sell you patience. What we do not know is that patience cannot be bought — it can only be learned through our faith. Other people try to sell you the future — imagine that! Many, out of a lack of patience, turn to hotlines, horoscopes, and tarot cards to reveal the future. You may ask why people are so obsessed with knowing what is going to happen. Today, we are used to having control over many situations. If we are hungry, we can easily get something to eat; if we are hot, we turn on the air conditioner. All of these are “quick-fixes” for everyday situations. This is why we have the mentality that we can control our lives. The truth is, we are not supposed to know what is going to happen. So we must realize that it is useless to worry about those things that we cannot control.
“Good things come to those who wait.” If we think back to Scripture, we know that it was written that Christ would rise on the Third Day. During those three days, people wept and mourned — to receive a most miraculous event. We learn through this, that we must endure some pain in order to obtain joy.
We can easily associate patience with relationships in our lives. Just like any other situation that we think we need control over, we have the same attitude towards love. For whatever reason, whether it is pressure, loneliness, fear, or even boredom — we are not patient in relationships. I recently began to read the book by Joshua Harris, entitled I Kissed Dating Goodbye. One of the chapters is titled “The Right Thing at the Wrong Time is the Wrong Thing.” If we rush into relationships too quickly, we are likely to destroy something that may be good — if it was given patience and time to develop. In doing this, we are drawn away from the ways we are supposed to be serving Christ. Only God knows when we are ready to devote our lives to one another through marriage. If we have enough faith, we can trust that God will provide.
If we stop and think about it, it is much easier to not know what is going to happen. Every day, we create unnecessary stress in our lives because of planning for and worrying about the future. We all too often forget that we are not meant to know what will happen, but we are meant to be patient through our faith. If we trust that God will provide for us and take care of us, then we remove that much unease from our minds. A friend described a scenario that I think you might appreciate. We are like tiny ants on a giant checkerboard. We can only see what is directly around us. Sometimes things happen in our lives that we don’t understand. We often question why God would allow certain things to happen in our lives, but we cannot see the entire board. God does and He knows that although it may not always seem like it at the time, these things that happen or don’t happen are meant to help us. We may pray for things that we believe will help us in our lives and bring us closer to God (from that small area we see around us). But God may say no because this may actually take us away from the path we should be on. It doesn’t mean He is not listening; it’s just His way of taking care of us. Everything happens for a reason.
Taken from: http://www.antiochian.org/1271
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~My Favorite Prayer~
Prayer for the Acceptance of God’s Will
By Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow
O Lord, I do not know what to ask of You. You alone know what are my true needs.
You love me more than I myself know how to love.
Help me to see my real needs which are concealed from me.
I do not dare to ask either for a cross or for consolation.
I can only wait on You. My heart is open to You.
Visit and help me, for the sake of Your great mercy.
Strike me and heal me; cast me down and raise me up.
I worship in silence Your holy will and Your unsearchable ways.
I offer myself as a sacrifice to You.
I have no other desire than to fulfill Your will.
Teach me to pray. Pray You Yourself in me.
Amen.
