CHRIST IS BORN!

Glorify Him!

Today, The Nativity of Christ, we went to 10AM Divine Liturgy of St. Basil.
For the FIRST time in my Orthodox life I was at Liturgy with my entire family but had only ONE of my four children sitting on the floor in front of me. It was very odd, surreal. I didn't know what to do with myself. "Oh, I can pray, join in the singing." But no, I was too busy being proud of the 3 that were not sitting on the floor in front of me.
First, Nicholas. He just turned 6 on the 22nd and served his first Divine Liturgy today as an alcolyte. He couldn't wait!!! All morning it was..."let's go mom, I'm going to be late... We gotta go now! ... I'm gonna be late... Dad would you take me so I'm not late." He did very well! And was thrilled! Someone asked him after service if he was going to do it again, "Of Course."




Second, Kelsey and Charissa. Began singing in the choir regularly about 2 weeks ago. Charissa still comes over to us from time to time, but some days she is REALLY into it and does very well. Yesterday, the choir director and her husband gave them rave reviews and said they really heard their voices come out nicely. Charissa even has a little foot stool to stand on. This picture is really blurry but the little head hiding with the white scarf is Charissa and the other with the pink/purple one is Kelsey.

Waking Up

I feel like I've just woken up from a very foggy dream. My eyes have opened to a brightness I'm not familiar with. I can see the dirt qute a bit easier, I can see the dog hair far too easily, and the mountains I thought my house had grown are really just piles of laundry that for reasons completely out of my control had grown to enormous proportions. Yes, we finally were blessed by the presence of the electric company work truck to remove the large tree from the power lines, replacing three poles and restringing gads of wire to restore power to our little community. It has silenced the neighborhood...no more gas powered generators roaring from the neighbors 24 hours a day. Oh the silence of the country once again. I hardly know I have neighbors...UNLESS the power goes out!
There is a sort of mourning though as I wake to the brightness. I shall miss the simplicity that I learned to live with. No distractions from the TV or computer. The house was quiet, except for the children actually using their wild imaginations to entertain themselves in the dusk of the evening. It was amazing to watch them play, all together, for hours on end; sword fighting, princess rescueing and dragon flying! The glow of the candlelight was really quite lovely and welcoming.
Lessons I learned:
The email kept coming even though I couldn't check it everyday. The world kept spinning even though I couldn't watch the news to see that it was still there. And someone earned a million dollars, even though I wasn't there to watch it. (DON'T TELL ME!!!!!!) I can cook and heat water on the woodstove quite easily. I can bathe efficiently with a 24 qt. stockpot filled with hot water (heated on the woodstove) set in the shower. I can "sweep" dirt and crumbs off carpet with fantastic results. And a chest freezer that is stored outside on the back porch will stay frozen for 5+ days without trouble (in the winter). A chest freezer not plugged in will keep refrigerator items at the right temperature without freezing them nor warming them, if left on the back porch in the cold air. Candlelight is far superior to battery powered lanterns. Children can be sufficiently entertained without any kind of electric powered media or toys!!!

I'm tempted to flip the main breaker once a month!!

I just received a status report on my hit counter and see that I consistantly have 10 hits a day.
Thank you to all who are continually coming back to my humble little space on the web.
I wish it was more exciting.

That being said, I must share with you a book I'm reading. It's no secret I've done a lot of reading on sugar and it's ill effects on health. The more I educate myself on this white "drug" the more I become aware of WHY my body is falling apart. I'm not getting old!!! I'm slowly poisoning myself and my body doesn't know what to do with it.
The latest book I'm reading is called "Lick the Sugar Habit". I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you believe you need to "lick the sugar habit" or not. It is profoundly informative on nutrition and allergies! I am amazed at what I am learning. She goes into detail about what an allergy is and how it affects your body. She quotes endless research studies and lists them in the back of the book if you doubt her. And my favorite so far is the section on what sugar does to your immune system. Here is a quote on some research done:
Two different research projects that evaluate the effets of sugar on the phagocytic index have been done at Loma Linda University. The phagoctes are those white blood cells of the immune system that eat up foreign invaders and debris; they are the Pac-men of the body. The more bacteria eaten by each phagocyte, the stronger the immune system becomes and the less chance the body has of becoming diseased. The phagocytic index indicates the average number of invaders engulfed by a phagocyte.
One of the Loma Linda studies, conducted in 1973, examined the effects of sugar(sucrose), glucose, fructose, honey, orange juice, and starch on the phagocytic index. Except for starch, all the substances were simple sugars. The starch was the only substance to cause a rise in the phagocytic index--the phaocytes actually ate up more bacteria after starch was ingested. The index was highest approximately thirty minutes after the volunteers ate starch. The sugars, on the other hand, caused the phagocytic index to decrease greatly. The index was lowest 2 hours after ingestion. In other words, the sugar had a negative effect on the amount of bacteria removed by the immune system.

The average American eats 10 pounds of sugar each month! That's 30-33 teaspoonfuls everyday! No wonder we are so laden with disease and so many new degenerative diseases on the rise!!!!

James would say, "Well, if sugar is so bad for you why doesn't the medical world tell us that? Why isn't it made illegal?" The authors answer to this is basically job security. If we aren't sick than the pharmaceutical companies are out of business. If we all go on a whole foods health kick, which is what we need to be healthy, then what would happen to companies like Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft!, Betty Crocker, Nabisco, not to mention the huge soda pop companies. Our entire economic system would drop out of the bottom of the bucket.

Sorry so long.

This is a book I'm definitely going to buy.

Updates and More

Hello there! Life has been so busy! We had a great Thanksgiving weekend visiting with many friends and family who ventured over the water to see our new home and US! It was so wonderful to see so many warm and friendly faces we hadn't seen in so long. We miss you all so much!!!! James wrote about it a little more here.

The chicks really do not look like chicks any longer. They are 5+ weeks old now!!! If there is a rooster or two we should soon be hearing some attempts at crowing.

And the wonders and beauty of snow!!!! Oh, I do miss it often. This time though it came with some deep cold that I did not like. Mostly because my little chicks just don't need that kind of temperature while they are still accumulating feathers for warmth. We had 18 for a low one night!!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Here are two fun pictures.
Killick is looking down at the chick and the chick is looking back. Killick LOVES to go watch them. They fly about and peep and he just watches. If you don't take him with he gets upset.
Mom took this picture of me holding the baby chick.
They are 3 weeks today!

...and grow!!

I am completely amazed each day when I go out to feed and water the chicks! It seems as if I notice new feathers each visit. I think that if I could sit there all day I'd see their feathers move.
We are having so much fun with these little ladies.
Here they are at 2 1/2 weeks. If you go here you can pop back to them at 1 week and you'll be amazed!!!!

Cousins, Cam and Kayla, came for a visit and they really enjoyed the chickens. Kelsey, Cam and Kayla all have a chick perched on their arms! That was fun!

I grow to love our new home each day as I walk around the property and work in the house. There is so much to see and do. So much to appreciate and love.
This weekend we were busy putting in new windows, stacking wood, hauling wood and a cutting wood. I spent a bit of time stacking wood that was delivered, trying to get it out of the pouring rain, but I had help. On Friday, right before the wood was delivered, Jenny (a dear friend from St. Paul's Church) came by ferry to spend the day with us! It was so wonderful to spend the day with her. She helped the guys put in the new windows and helped me throw and stack wood. It made me feel so good to hear her say "I'm going to quit school and come live here, this is so fun!"
On Saturday the cousins came as I mentioned above. We had a break from the rain and even saw sun much of the day. Early on my mom and James' mom went for a walk and mom took this picture! It is SO beautiful! It is the neighbors driveway but it's our property!!
This little piece of heaven is ours!

They grow so fast!

Here is a picture of the chicks at one week old! It is incredible how different they look. They are getting real feathers on their wings and hind ends. They are really fun to watch too! They are quite the characters. They chase each other and making little attempts at flying. I've lowered their heat some and added some scrumptious chicken scratch ( bits of dried corn) and they love to eat. We have 4+ weeks left to get the fencing in so that they can attempt to go outside to eat bugs if the weather isn't too bad. They'll love that!
It sure is fun to watch them!
The Fallin clan has joined us for the weekend and I loved Brendan's response to seeing the chicks..."No fair! You get chickens!" It was so cute!

They are finally here…

We were waiting yesterday morning for the phone to ring to tell us to come pick up the chicks from the Poulsbo Post Office. The call never came. By 8:00 a.m. I decided to call and see if they were there. I was greeted with “Sorry, they didn’t arrive. There is another truck at noon.” They were not on the noon truck and so we waited and knew they’d be on the 6:00 a.m. truck this morning.

About 2:00 a.m. we woke to complete darkness and silence. It was so bizarre to lay there and here absolutely nothing. No cars, no appliances humming, nothing! If you’ve never heard “nothing”, it is almost unbearable…the ringing in my ears was deafening.

(Sorry for the tangent)…Anyway, I was feeling pretty lucky at this point that the chicks had NOT arrived as they would have been in the dark cold coop for a few hours and I wouldn’t have known it. They may not have made it.

At 6:30 a.m. today I decided to call the Post Office and I was told they did not arrive. I was sad. I knew if they didn’t come now to food and water they probably wouldn’t make it and I was sure someone had forgotten them in a corner somewhere. For some reason Kelsey woke at this time and we were sitting on the sofa feeling sad for the chicks, talking about their demise when not 10 minutes later the phone rings and it’s the Post Office saying they indeed had our chicks!!!! We were thrilled!!!! Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions!!!

We hopped in the car and were greeted at the post office with a SMALL box of very loudly peeping chicks! It was exciting!

We drove home quickly and one at a time took them out of the box and dipped their beaks in water so they could drink! They all made it but one!

So begins our adventure on the farm!

In a comment below Sara asked if I had any advice on making love the natural response to my children. After writing and finding my comment back quite lengthy I decided to make it a blog post. Not because I think I’m some expert but rather because I have struggled so deeply with this and have found comfort and mercy from God I thought maybe others might benefit from my experience.

Sara,

I'm so not worthy to give advice on this topic. I try very hard to make love the natural response but fail daily. My efforts include much prayer!!! Years ago I bought "Akathist to the Mother of God: The Nurturer of Children" and made attempts to read it once in a great while when I thought of it. I really wanted to pray this because it sought the Theotokoes in help to raise my children. Who better to ask? It wasn't until recently that my prayer life was less than desirable. But now I know that the one and only way to make "love the natural response" is through prayer. I've gotten very strict on myself with my rule of prayer, it's humble but consistent now and I can definitely see the fruits of my labor a tiny bit at a time. I decided to endeavor to read just two stanzas a day and not think about any more until I have consistently done this so that it was habit. Than I could slowly add one at a time. In the back of the book there are other prayers and I read one of those beautiful prayers to God each day. My favorite is A Prayerful Sighing of Parents for Their Children. You can find this online to print off if you do not own it, here.

But they are rather inexpensive to buy and are published by the Serbian Monastery in AZ...here.

One more prayer that I found online (can’t remember where) that I try and pray often is:

Christ my God, set my heart on fire with love in You, that in its flame I may love You with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my soul and with all my strength, and my neighbor as myself, so that by keeping Your commandments I may glorify You the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Amen

Having a prayer rule used to be VERY overwhelming to me but once I became consistent and witnessed the fruits of it I find it hard to miss for if I do I REALLY miss it.

So my only advice is PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER for I cannot do it alone!

CHICKS!

I ordered 25 Rhode Island Red chicks today!!! We will have fuzzy day(or 2) old chicks on Friday morning!!!! We are excited! And busy making a brooder to keep them warm in for the first month and a half! MAYBE I can get pictures on here when we get them...if the dial-up allows!

I am giddy!!

What's happenin' at the Ferrenberg Farm....

While I'm still unpacking boxes I've found the time to get our and explore my little corner of the world a bit more. This past weekend we had my niece and nephew with us for 2 days and on Saturday I pulled on my boots and we headed to see what we could find out there in the beautiful forest surrounding our home. It was really quite fun and inspiring. I finally know where the property ends as I came across a wire strung up across the far east end of the property. Right next to the wire I found a peculiar sign posted....
"No vehicles allowed." We all laughed as we trampled through the trees and high brush that surrounded the sign. A road? One would have never guessed there was a path at one time that could support a vehicle.
On Sunday afternoon I changed into work clothes and once again pulled on my boots, but this time I went out and began to work on our soon-to-be chicken coop. There are 4 big windows in the coop, two have actual windows that will let in lots of light and the other two were just window openings. After some thought I decided to just board those openings up so as not to let in too much draft and critters. So hammer, nails and boards in hand I went a-poundin'. I then staked out the fence line where I'll have my chicken run. A nice big area that includes some brush and a small group of raspberries that need became out of control ( don't worry I have two rows of tame raspberries in another area, so i'm not wasting these-they'll be a nice treat for the chickens next summer). I look forward to finishing up the coop to welcome our new chickens in the next week or two. We'll get day old chicks that will live in a small brooder in our mud room for the first 4 -6 weeks. Once they lose their fuzz and grow feathers they'll head out to the coop.
OOOHHHH I can't wait to start getting eggs!!!!

Sr. Magdalen

I too was at the Portland Fall Women’s Retreat. I’m sure you saw our picture at either Dawn’s blog or Mimi’s. I feel compelled to explain the “roller derby” joke…but Juliana’s blog post from awhile back explains it best.

I just wanted to share a couple highlights for me. These are from my attempt at notes. Do not take these as complete and perfect quotes.

-St. Silhoun said, “The best catechesis for our children is LOVE.” We put the cart before the horse when we try to TEACH our children asceticism. The one who is loved and learns to love will desire asceticism.

-The sorrow we feel for our perceived failures can burden our children with guilt. A young boy said, “I don’t ever want a Christian wife because she’ll just be miserable all the time like my mother.”

- We can respond to our children with our face rather than our mouth.

- The best discipline is LOVE!

- Someone asked about equality/feminism and she said…

We in our society have developed the mistake of thinking equality means doing the same thing. If we can’t do the same thing as the man/woman we are not equal. Wrong! We all know God because He created us persons. We are all person. We all receive communion from the same chalice. We are all baptized the same baptism. What are we after? A cassock? A label?

While at the retreat I bought her book “Conversations with Children: Communicating our Faith”. I have only read the Preface and a couple things really made me pause and are needed in my brain….

-Teaching, like praying, is spoiled when we stop to consider how well we are doing—when we are continually second-guessing. We teach best when we simply enjoy the company of our beloved children.

-A lot of things in everyday family life go on as a matter of course. When conscious decisions or spontaneous choices need to be made, being a Christian will make a difference, but often a variety of decisions can fit in with Christian principles. Orthodoxy does affect one’s lifestyle, but Orthodoxy can live in many different lifestyles. A combination of healthy principles seasoned with common sense means that life goes on organically. If spiritual principles are put first, many decisions make themselves.

-This book is offered to parents even if they read it piece-meal or in random order; concentrated reading is for many a rare luxury. AHHHH someone who knows my reading life well!!!! And accommodates it! J

Going to Retreat

Well, after 2 solid weeks of unpacking, organizing, homeschooling and becoming familiar with our new surroundings I am packing my bags and headed to Portland with Dawn, Mimi and Vicki for the Women's Retreat at St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Portland. I'm so excited about meeting some bloggers face to face, about having some mommy time with full-size people and about hearing what Sister Magdalen of St. John the Baptist Monastery in England has to say.

I'M BACK!!!

After purchasing and installing a 56k Modem, stringing (and stretching to it's limit)50 feet of phone cord across the entire house (no working outlet upstairs) I am FINALLY reconnected to the internet. The connection is slower than molasses in January but I DON'T CARE. After being disconnected for over a week this slow modem connection is a welcome sight. I miss my daily connection to my family and friends across the USA!

We are still working on settling in. Emptying boxes and finding new homes for everything is a huge task for 6 people and their belongings. There are always little gliches to pass, like the non-working oven that welcomed us the night we moved in as we carried in 2 Take-n-Bake pizzas. But now I have a range that resembles the one I left behind...glass top stove and fresh clean oven.

Thank you for all your prayers and warm thoughts!

We finally did it and are excited for what the futre holds as we establish our new life her in the country.

Hospitality

The newest edition of The Handmaiden is dedicating to "The Ministry of True Hospitality".

Ever since we moved to Bothell and closer to the Church community surrounding St. Paul Antiochian Church James and I have loved to open our home to our friends and hosted quite a number of BBQ's throughout the last 3 years. It started with the notion that it was just easier since we had the most children that needed early bed times and tending to and also the fact we had a trampoline that was VERY entertaining for all the numerous children from the toddlers to the teens. But over time it just became tradition that many looked forward to including us. As we get ready to leave the St. Paul community I know that this is one aspect that I will miss above almost anything else. But as I join another community and Glory to God, within a short distance from the Church and many of it's families I hope and pray that we will be able to continue this tradition there.
As I read the new Handmaiden I realized that I have a lot to learn about hospitality despite the fact that I felt I was a very hospitable person. Mary Vaughn Armstrong wrote an article called "The Christ in the Stranger's Guise" which was VERY eye opening and oh so inspiring! Mary happens to attend St. Paul's where I currently go to Church. She is an amazing person and it shows in this article she wrote. My prayer is to take much of what I read and absorb it into my mind and heart so that I may become more hospitable not only to family and friends but to the strangers we meet. Mary says, "Hospitality has to do with the heart, and absolute trust that God Himself has sent each person who arrives on our doorstep. Every time we open our front door and invite someone to share our lives for a while, convenient or not, we offer ourselves."

Three main articles in this issue have to do with hospitality and I learned from every one of them. I can't wait to take my new found ideas and eagerness and welcome into my home many new friends and old alike.

To all , near and far, my home is open to share, to laugh, to listen, to love in peace and solitude. I can't promise complete silence because my 4 children will most assuredly welcome you as well, but with loud singing and laughing and eager voices to show you all that they do and love.
To my friends where distance will seperate us soon, I LOVE YOU ALL and will truly miss our times together, but know OUR HOME IS ALWAYS YOUR HOME!

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." Hebrews 13:2

Do you ever feel like....

...you have no one to talk to? Like your mind is racing with so many thoughts you will explode if you can't share them someone? If you can't get advice from someone? But you just don't know that there is anyone out there who would understand or even want to understand?
Do you ever feel like you can't talk about it because than everyone will know your deepest darkest sins? Because then they'll think bad of you and they'll think bad of your husband and children?
How can you possibly share all of your fears and frustrations and still have someone who will care? Who will still love you despite all of your failings?

So you just sit back and let it simmer within all the while praying, begging God to have mercy. Praying and begging God to show you how to TALK TO HIM!!!!

Sometimes I think I have these feelings because I am all alone all day long with no other adults to converse with. No one else to share joy and sorrow with. I'm left to figure it out all by myself.(This is a whole other post.)

Glory to God!!!

Our appraisal on our sale came back with flying colors!!!

Reading Charlotte Masons....

"Original Home School Series" which is SIX volumes long and first originally written in 1907. It will take me years to really read it all but will sift through it. If you home school or want to I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with her. There are several great books out there that summarize her philosophy and some great websites, like Charlotte Mason Resource and Supply Company
and Simply Charlotte Mason.


I wanted to share something I read that was pretty profound to me. She's talking about authority, specifically with regards to parents and children.
Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love, because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice; children recognize it as love, because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart. Perhaps the best aid to the maintenence of authority in the home is for those in authority to ask themselves daily that question which was presumptuously put to our Lord - 'Who gave thee this authority?' "

I'm reading from another section right now that I want to share later.

This looks SO COOL.....

Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai
Daily, November 14, 2006 - March 4, 2007

Exhibitions Pavilion, Getty Center


The Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai, Egypt, is the oldest continuously operating Christian monastery in existence. The basilica and fortified walls were commissioned by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century. This exhibition features a selection of artistic treasures from Saint Catherine's, which possesses one of the world's finest collections of Byzantine icons and manuscripts. Forty-three icons, six manuscripts, and several precious objects used in the celebration of the liturgy are on view. Icons from Sinai reveals the central role of icons in Byzantine spiritual practices and conveys their vital function in religious celebrations. It also shows how the monastery's geographic and historical position as a major pilgrimage destination engendered its astonishing collection of icons and books. The exhibition, accompanied by a major scholarly catalogue, features a film about the monastery and the site, including footage of Greek Orthodox Easter services.

UPDATE...in bright purple(as of 9-7-06)

We have another offer already!!!
Prayers appreciated as we now begin a new search for our new home on acreage and that the process for this inspection and appraisal goes well.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!


The offer has gone great...they just signed off on the inspection and now we wait (at the edge of our seats) for the appraisal.

We made an offer on a house Poulsbo, WA yesterday...seems promising. MUCH closer to Church and ferry for a shorter commute than the original house we offered on.

Thanky ou for your prayers!

We will have the appraisal done on our sale here in Bothell tomorrow, 9-8-06, on the beautiful day The Nativity of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.
Please pray unto God and the Most Blessed Theotokos for us and for the appraiser. This is our last hurdle, I think.

BTW...here is a picture of our soon-to-be home in Poulsbo, God-willing.