~June 30th~

Today is my birthday and a very special feast day too! I have always loved my birthday date and the Feast of the twelve Apostles.Happy Birthday to my Birthday buddy Gabriel!! May God grant you Many Years! Thank you Thea Voula for your wonderful card, Lena for all the darling gifts from Russia and mom for my beautiful tote!  We are going to Canada today to Niagara on the lake. The boys are so excited!!

The Synaxis [Assemblage] of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy 12 Apostles of Christ appears an ancient feast. Holy Church, honouring each of the 12 Apostles at a separate time of the year, from ancient times established a general commemoration of them on the day following after the commemoration of the Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul (+c.67). An account about each of the Apostles is on the day of his individual commemoration: the Apostle Peter (+c.67; commemorated 29 June); the Apostle Andrew the First-Called (+62, commemorated 30 November); the Apostle James son of Zebedee (+44, commemorated 30 April); the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (+ early II Century, commemorated 26 September); Apostle Philip (commemorated 14 November); Apostle Bartholomew (commemorated 11 June); Apostle Thomas (commemorated 6 October); Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (+60, commemorated 16 November); Apostle James Alphaeus (commemorated 9 October); Apostle Jude, brother of the Lord (+c.80, commemorated 19 June); Apostle Simon Zelotes (commemorated 10 May); Apostle Matthias (+c.63, commemorated 9 August). The holy nobleborn emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) built at Tsar’grada temple in the name of the holy Twelve Apostles. Directions for the cdelebrating of this feast are encountered from the IV Century. [Translators note: Vide for varying-name Apostle lists: Mt 10:2, Mk 3:14, Lk 6:12, Acts 1:13, 26].

  ~Vacation Church School~

The children have made such a smooth and easy transition; they have made friends so quickly and are truly at home in our new church. VCS was a lot of fun for everyone and very nicely done. I really enjoyed getting to know all the parents and their children- such sweet and friendly people! Fr. designed the shirt and he was very happy with the way it turned out. Here are a few photos from the week. The theme was We are the Church - ”As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” - Galatians 3:27

Starting the day with morning prayers and Fr. talking to the children.

The t-shirt

Maria~Angelica enjoying a snack with the lovely ladies of our community. You’ll never go hungry with Greek Moms around!

Basil’s class

Nicholas’ class

Jonah’s class

Jonah and his new best friend Jacob. 

The boy’s bouncing castle.

Meanwhile in the girl’s bouncy castle; it was so docile they could have had a tea party!

Playing basketball with Fr. C.

Maria~Angelica and our good friend Alex.

Baba’ and Maria~Angelica

Maybe you have noticed through the pictures that I have posted over the months, that Maria~Angelica likes ears. She is in her comfort zone when she is hanging on to an ear lobe and sucking her thumb. And incidently she doesn’t suck her thumb unless she has an ear lobe to accompany her thumb sucking. Strange but that’s the way it is! LOL!

  Making Ginger bread “Churches” – Such a cute idea!

Maria~Angelica coloring with her new friend Anastasia

  VCS – 2007

~Our Day at the Lake~

Here are a few pictures from our day at the lake house of Deacon John and Maria. They are a delightful couple who spend the summer here to escape the heat of Arizona.  (Tracy, Dn. John is a Deacon. at the Catherdral in Phoneix. Maria’s father was the Priest at the Cathedral for many years.) The boys enjoyed themselves immensly and are  looking forward to more outings to the lake. The Dn. and his wife have 5 grown daughters and 2 grandchildren. They were so sweet with the boys. I love that the Dn. is a retired Marine  and is just so outgoing and fun loving with the boys. Dn. John said the next time we visit (which he hopes is every 2-3 weeks) he will take the boys fishing. What a blessing! The boys are having the best summer ever and it is only June! Thank you Maria and Dn. John for your wonderful hospitality!

How old is the Orthodox faith?

If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517. If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to re-marry. If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582. If you are Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Senbury in the American colonies in the 17th century. If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1606. If you are of the Dutch Reformed Church, you recognize Michelis Jones as founder because he originated your religion in New York in 1628. If you are a Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1774. If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, New York, in 1829. If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865. If you are Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.

If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as “Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal Gospel,” “Holiness Church,” or “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past hundred years.

If you are Roman Catholic, your church shared the same rich apostolic and doctrinal heritage as the Orthodox Church for the first thousand years of its history, since during the first millennium they were one and the same Church. Lamentably, in 1054, the Pope of Rome broke away from the other four Apostolic Patriarchates (which include Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem), by tampering with the Original Creed of the Church, and considering himself to be infallible. Thus your church is 1,000 years old.

If you are Orthodox Christian, your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It has not changed since that time. Our church is  2,000 years old. And it is for this reason, that Orthodoxy, the Church of the Apostles and the Fathers is considered the true “one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” This is the greatest legacy that we can pass on to the young people of the new millennium.

by Rev. Dr. Miltiades Efthimiou

   ~A whirlwind of activities~

I haven’t been able to blog for awhile. There is so much to be done on the computer. The boys use it, Fr. uses it  and I need it to look up everything to get our lives here organized. I don’t have much computer time for our photos, videos, iPod etc… We only have one computer and it has been running very slowly and it is SO frustrating.  I have a ton of photos I want to upload but the connection here at the condo goes in and out and it is hard to get on line. We have been here three weeks tomorrow and have had a great time. I have said it before but it is worth repeating how very, very nice everyone is! We have received so much love and such a warm welcome. Parishioners have given us gifts of memberships to the Zoo, Art Museum, local warehouse shopping, tickets to the amusement park and marine park. The Philoptochos made up a lovely basket of local culinary favorites and gift certificates. The boys enjoyed the dear old Greek Papou who owns a candy and ice cream shop here in town. They received the royal treatment and a grand tour! When we left Jonah announced, “That man sure is a good treater!!” We also managed to get to the Greek festival for the last few hours and Maria~Angelica enjoyed dancing with her new little friend. We enjoyed our first wedding here too. It was a very special wedding of the dd of the former priest. It was a real treat to witness such a beautiful wedding. Six priests were a part of the service with another priest chanting and several more clergy present in the congregation.  I love the pan Orthodox presence here. I am really excited that there is a deacon and his wife in the local AOC church here that homeschool in the classical method too! We were both so excited to meet one another. It is odd to be a homeschooler, odd to be an Orthodox Christian and odd to be a clergy family and here we are both of us are all three!!!  I have tons of photos to post. Photos from our last days at school, field day, the festival, Greek school picnic and kayaking at the lake house of a deacon friend of ours. We are enjoying ourselves immensely. Thank you to my dear friends, Beth , Tamara and Tracy for being there for me through this transition! I do miss my friends and family but the love we have received here has been so plentiful that it makes it entirely impossible not to be grateful for God’s providence!

~Kindergarten Graduation~

Jonah and my Goddaughter Angelica. Jonah will go to all day kindergarten next year at the local elementary.

I love these shots of Jonah, Maria~Angelica and Chloe. They are so sweet!

The gang – Steph, me , Connie and almost all of our children (we are missing Dean, Nicholas and Basil). The three of us grew up together at Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Cincinnati. Steph and I graduated together from the University of Cincinnati. It was fun to have our children together at the same school. As the saying goes though, “all good things must come to an end….”

Steph with her baby, Philip and Maria~Angelica. They make a cute little couple, don’t you think? It is always so funny to watch them check each other out.

~The last day of school, the Highland Games and saying our goodbyes to friends at MHA~

Basil is in the army green shirt and jean shorts.

  Nicholas and Dean – Best Friends Forever!!

Julianna, Dean, Nicholas and Angelica

Jonah and his best friend Noah

~Hitting the Road~

~Welcome Basket from the Women’s Philoptochos Society~

(Photo taken in our little apartment here)

~Hellenic Heritage Festival~

~The parish house~

The General Assembly voted unanimously to put a substantial amount of money into renovating the parish house. Here are some before photos. I like the view from the kitchen window. I can watch the children playing outside in the circle.

~ Photos from Greek School Picnic/Outing at the local amusement park~

 I loved this little park. It was so sweet and old fashioned just like Kings Island used to be. Kings Island in Cincinnati is so commercial now that Paramount bought it. The kids had fun meeting the other children from Church. Everyone was very welcoming and I enjoyed meeting all the mothers. We are excited for Greek school next year. I plan on using Rosetta Stone for Modern Greek as part of our home schooling curricula next year.

Basil is the 6th one from the left and riding a ride that you would NEVER get me on!

Trying to get a good shot of the children.

~Going Protected~

In the interest of safety and privacy for my family I am going protected. I would like to be able to share more details of our life with all my internet friends but don’t want to have my blog open to the entire free world. If you would like to be added to my protected list just let me know! Thanks everyone!

Whoever lives in the past is as if dead. Whoever lives in the future in his fantasy (or imagination) is naive, because the future belongs only to God.  The Joy of Christ is found only in the present, in the Eternal Present of God.   Mother Gabriella, The Ascetic of Love

~Hi Everyone!~

I am so excited to be back on line; I  missed you all! I don’t even know where to start to tell you what we have been up to. I guess I will start with what I learned today- hockey is a VERY expensive sport!  Basil is thrilled with all his gear though. He starts roller hockey next month.  We have managed to accomplish quite a few things in the past week.   Earlier in the week we all headed over to the recreation department and had our photo IDs taken. Then we signed everyone up for swimming, skating and a few sports clinics and a cool day camp. One of the many good things about the location of the parish house is that there are endless opportunities for the children in this area. The library and playground are with in walking distance and the town has an extensive recreation department. The boys are at the perfect ages to benefit from all there is on offer. I have also been in touch with the very nice people that are beginning the classical study center and we are very excited about that new venture!  The weather has been very pleasant and the children haven been enjoying the pool here at the condo.  The parish house renovations haven’t began yet so we will be in the apartment for awhile. I take the boys over to the house to play with the neighborhood children and they all seem to have a very good time. The kids are sweet and it is really a thrill to see everyone enjoying a good old fashioned childhood! Glory be to God!

~Here at last!~

We arrived safely, but not uneventfully!  Maria~Angelica, Nicholas, Basil and I all had a bout with the stomach flu and are on the mend. We missed the festival yesterday. Continue to pray for our smooth transition. Everyone is so nice and welcoming and we are very grateful!! Glory be to God!

~Roman Day~

I am trying to catch up on my blogging; it has been a busy couple of weeks and I have a lot to share with all my readers.

 The Third graders at Mars Hill Academy end their year long studies of Ancient Rome with Roman Day. They wore togas , feasted on Roman foods, performed a piece from Shakespeare’s Julius Caeser and presented the class with their Roman Day projects.  Basil’s made a timeline of the  Roman Empire during the life of Christ.

Today was field day; the kids had fun and it was great to see everyone one last time. Say a prayer for our travels, that they are safe and uneventful!