Holy Week Reprise

Holy Week was a lot for the children. We made it to 17 services of the 19 (including those of the previous Saturday and Sunday). Teddy always gets excited about the service of the Twelve Gospels on Holy Thursday evening, but is usually too tired to participate by holding a candle.

This afternoon, Timmo found the Holy Week books that we haven't put away, and brought me one, happily saying, "Book!?" Then Lucia got the other one, and they were paging through, asking me to join them on "Amen" and singing to each other, "Holy God, Holy Mighty!"

After Timmo went up for a nap, Teddy investigated the books and found "The Service of the Twelve Gospels!!" Then he asked me to sing the Alleluias, and he chanted the verses. Then he started in on the first gospel pericope. He read aloud for quite a while, with Lucia copying some of his words like a defective microphone (just a few, quietly, here and there). Then he chanted as if to end, and blessed Daddy with the book. Daddy, however, teased him, saying, "Hey, you're cheating. That's not the end!" Teddy looked a little tired, so I told him he could stop now or keep going as he liked. So he kept going.

I had to leave at this line, though, coming from my chatterbox five-year-old: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

(Before I left, he only had "five more pages" to go of that first gospel reading...)

Runaway Prayer Train

So last night was frustrating, and I kept trying to think of what to say to someone who told me that my children were "distracting to the old timers."  In my fuming, I thought about the translation, "Suffer the little children to come to Me" (and telling the person: "Suffer") and what that word was in Greek.

So my husband says that the word in Matthew 19:14 was the same as used in the Lord's prayer.  When I brought up the bilingual Lord's prayer, Teddy comes up and says, "That's mostly the Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..." I whispered to my husband, "Mostly!"

Teddy nodded and continued, "It's mostly like: Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of truth..." and didn't stop until he'd paced us through the entire trisagion prayers.

I think this is the best come-back I can offer, and I'm glad I keep my children in church, even if other people have to look at them and hear them. (Gasp.)  Just wish I could keep my mouth shut and my mind focused on the service.

(For the record, my children were actually pretty well-behaved through the entire service, and I didn't say that to the person.)

Sunday Snippets

Driving to church:
"Look, Teddy, there are cows."
"They are eating. They are hungry. They're supposed to sit!" (Well, he is.)

***
Teddy, after being censed at the Doxology, started strumming his invisible guitar. I leaned in to hear what he was whispering: "When the Spirit says, 'sing,' sing..."

***
Fr. Peter came out of the Royal Gates bearing the consecrated Gifts: "With the fear of God, with faith and love, draw near!"
"Communion!" Teddy waved both hands in the air. "Communion! Yay! Communion!"

Hristos a înviat!

 

 

My dear little son,
     Last year at the Resurrection service I felt you kick for the first time, like a heartbeat. This year I cannot imagine a greater joy than holding you in my arms at the Resurrection service and sharing you and the joy you bring with the entire parish. You are still my heartbeat.
  Love,
     Mommy

Forty-Day Blessing

On the fortieth day of Theodore Gregory's birth, we all went to church for the forty-day blessing or "churching." Prayers were said in the narthex for me, for him, and for his future godfather. (There may have been other prayers, but then he started to fuss a bit and I lost concentration.) Then Fr. Peter took Teddy in his arms and walked up the main aisle of the church. Teddy was intently looking at the Pantokrator in the dome. They went into the altar and around the altar table. I followed up the aisle and waited for them on the solea. More prayers were said, and that was about it.

We had invited the priests and presvyteres of our parish to come celebrate this with us, as something of a preview, since we predicted everything would be hectic on the first Sunday. So they came as they were able. Fr. Constantine took pictures and Fr. James helped me figure out what I needed to be doing, and Fr. Petros just beamed. Afterwards we had a little snack with muffins and koulourakia and coffee in the hall lobby.

Dreaming of Baby

As you may have surmised, not much to write about has been happening with Bunny. There are no new pictures, new tricks learned, no toes to goggle over (although they do pack quite a punch, it's really only for me).

However, I had an interesting experience doing a guided relaxation exercise with our Bradley Method teacher. She turned on some soothing music and had us close our eyes. She told us to imagine that we were floating on the ocean, drifting to a far shore. I don't remember more precisely what she said to direct our relaxation, but I vividly remember what I was visualizing.

I was trying to figure out whether or not I was pregnant, and ended up seeing the baby as a boy at different ages. We were floating with Peterbird on a blue cloak which the Theotokos was holding open for us. The far shore we came to was Mt. Athos, where we were greeted by Fr. Seraphim and Fr. Christodoulos, whose faces were shining with joy. Fr. Christodoulos greeted Bunny, and Bunny was going to stay there. I was a little sad to leave him, but very happy that Bunny could stay with Fr. Christodoulos in such a happy place.

Considering that the Bradley teacher is not Orthodox, and I hadn't been reading anything especially spiritual at the time, I thought it was especially interesting to have thought instinctively of all these things. I don't think I will rely on it as a True Vision or anything, but I know that I have a cloud of witnesses who love and care for me and my family even though I cannot see most of them.

First Pascha

After the church was darkened at midnight, the candle of Pascha raised by my husband, singing, "Come receive the unwaning Light!" and we all went in a joyous procession outside, each candle burning brightly in exultation, we went into church to hold the festal Divine Liturgy. After the singing of the first set of the Paschal hymn: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing Life," a chanter began another hymn: "This is the day of Resurrection..." which ends in the Paschal hymn. After that hymn's pronouncement of "Christ is risen!" I felt the baby move for the first time.

Greek Festival

We're in the middle of the Greek Festival here at Holy Trinity. I haven't been able to keep my mouth shut to certain people, so I have been receiving congratulations at various decibel levels, from the hand-on-the-shoulder whispered one, to the shrieking, jumping-up-and-down, and hugging one.

Several of the clergy couples have pointed out to me and Fr. Peter that, with the assistant priest usually staying only a few years here (it's currently something of a "training parish"), the birth of a "priest's kid" or PK is relatively rare. I hadn't thought about that, considering that I was in a building at seminary where people started asking what was in the water.

I've switched doctor's offices since last time, since (1) I made an appointment for everything, which turned out to be a $35 OTC pregnancy test, and (2) they waited until I asked them to tell me that what I had been told was a molar pregnancy last year was actually an "abnormal pregnancy," i.e., a miscarriage. So I got a recommendation from another parishioner, and after looking online, I realize that the new doctor's office has the highest ratinigs and best reviews of OB/GYNs in the area. When I mention the name to other women parishioners, they recognize the doctor's name and agree that that's a good office. I sure could use all the prayers I can get, though.