Thank you everyone! I had a wonderful birthday!  We had the last day of Vacation Church school, which was fabulous! We had a really terrific week. The children learned a lot and they really grew closer to  Christ, His Church and  one another. I think we achieved our goals!

This afternoon/evening I took the children and Lena to the pool. We met my friend Connie there and all the kiddos had a great time! I dined at the pool snack bar for my birthday  dinner, it was divine!  

The best birthday present I could have tonight,  would be getting into bed early, I am pooped! It has been a long , wonderful, fun filled  and exciting week!  Glory be to God!

Today is the Feast of the Twelve  Apostles and my birthday. I have always loved the date of my birthday, June 30. Thank you to everyone, on my message board, www.orthodoxchat.com for your birthday wishes!  Happy Birthday to little Gabriel too!

The Twelve Holy Apostles

“O Holy Apostles, intercede to our merciful God,
that He may grant our souls, forgiveness of sins.”
- Apolytikion of the Twelve Apostles

~Vacation Church School- Day 2 ~

TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURE CLICK HERE.

My Goddaughter Angelika.

~Vacation Church School 2006 ~

To view all the photos click HERE.

~Girl’s night out and meeting Elena.~

I had a really nice evening!  I don’t have any pictures of my evening,  but I can tell you about it. We went to a cool little Arab place for dinner, with my girl’s night out friends and my brother’s very sweet girlfriend. My friends treated me to dinner, brought me a wonderful cake and gave me a lovely new bag from Talbot’s. Thank you friends! My actual birthday is not until next Friday, June 30th, but some of my friends will be away next week, so we got together this week instead. It was a very nice surprise, I had no idea we were getting together for my birthday.

I surprised them with bringing Elena (Lena) along. Michael met Lena in Russia and she is just as sweet and delightful as she is beautiful! I hope she had a good time and enjoyed her dinner. Here are some  pictures of Lena and the children from meeting for the first time, the other night.  Basil, whose Nouno (Godfather) is my brother Michael , was calling Lena, “the girl who might be my Nouna.” LOL!  Kind of like ‘the artist formerly known as prince’. LOL! Basil is waiting for Michael to marry so he can have a Godmother, like his brothers and sister.

~Lena and the boys exchanging gifts. ~

We bought her earrings and a jewelry box and she brought lots of cute little Russian toys for the boys.

Thank you everyone for your comforting and kind words for Maria~Angelica, they really helped. The doctor just called to say the results were all good. Glory be to God!

Maria~Angelica is 8 months old today and is changing so much! She is getting chubby and is standing up in her crib and is just generally a lot of fun and brings laughter and joy to her brothers and everyone around her. Every morning is like Christmas morning with Maria~Angelica! The boys get so excited when she wakes up.

I am working on the shirts for VCS- Vacation Church School . They are going to be cool. 

I need a verse for the back of the shirts. The theme is “The Journeys of St. Paul.” The front has an icon of a ship and the theme of VCS.  Any ideas?

Here are a few I am thinking about.

“ Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18)

“Christ Lives In Me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“In a word,
Never let go on these three things:
Faith, hope and love.
And know that the greatest of these
Will always be love.” (I Corinthians 13:1-13) 

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12.2)

I am still a little traumatized from putting little Maria~Angelica through all that. She seems to have adjusted better than me. All I can think about is Lazaros (aged 5) and Gigi (8 months) whose lives ended at Children’s hospital. Fr. was by their sides when they passed away. They weren’t our children but we still feel the pain and loss of their parents as much as you can when you aren’t the actual parents. 

Pray for all the parents of seriously ill children. LORD HAVE MERCY!

Reports cards came today! Good news all around! Basil made all As and one B. Nicholas had all Os for outstanding. Both boys had great remarks from their teachers too! We are so blessed to have such dedicated  and Christian  teachers of our precious children! We are VERY grateful to  have a Classical and Christian school nearby.

 GLORY BE TO GOD!

Well that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but it’s over now . Maria~Angelica had an endoscopy at Children’s hospital  today (they where checking for Celiac) , everything looks good, she is fine and  is up to  13lbs 12 oz.  Her  throat is a little sore though and she is sleepy, but has been nursing fine and just had a big bowl of baby rice.  Everyone was very nice at Children’s; I am grateful for the good care they took of our little baby.  Thank you all  for your prayers. 

~Photos from Maria~Angelica’s Baptism ~ Click Here to learn more about Baptism in the Orthodox church.

~ The Party ~

To see all the photos click HERE and HERE.

The whole day was very exciting.  Not only was Maria~Angelica baptized but also our dear cousin, Bill was christmated an Orthodox Christian and Nicholas lost a tooth in the middle of the baptism service! Just excitment all around! 

 Bill is the dh of my first cousin Betsy, one of the two Godmothers. Bill has been studying Orthodoxy for several years and it was so beautiful that he became an Orthodox Christian on the same day as his little Goddaughter! They received Holy Communion together. We are so grateful to our cousins, Sandra and Betsy and their husbands Gary and Bill , for being such wonderful , loving Godparents to Maria~Angelica.

 If anyone has any questions about what is happening in any of the baptism pictures and why, please let me know and I will add captions to the pictures. Below is the message I wrote to our guests for the Baptism.

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!

Thank you all so very much for being part of Maria~Angelica’s Christening day. God has blessed us richly with four healthy children and wonderful, loving family and friends. We are so grateful for your loving support, prayers and friendship throughout the years. Thank you to all our friends, aunts, uncles and cousins, who traveled from near and far to be with us today. We are so grateful to all of you and especially to Betsy, Bill , Sandra and Gary for being such wonderful Godparents to our sweet little girl; we look forward to Maria~Angelica having years of joy with her loving Godparents. Thank you to our parents for all their love and support throughout the years. We love you very much! Thank you for all you do for us!

Baptism joins us with Christ. As is chanted in the Orthodox Church during the Baptismal and Chrismation service in the words of St. Paul.

“As many as have been Baptized in Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).


With all our love,

Fr. Christos and Presvytera Lisa