A special visit

We have been blessed with a series of wonderful babysitters over the past 10 years, as a family of 5 girls all made their way through our home and watched our children at various times.  One of those girls became godmother to the Queen, and now the youngest is graduating high school.  One of the 5, the middle one, was my littlest child's first babysitter -  and my girls were thrilled to get to see her for the first time since she left to become a nun!

At what point do people wake up to the utter irrationality of this statement?

"none of the infants was killed; rather....they were already dead as a result of Gosnell administering the drug Digoxin, which can cause abortion."  DA McMahon

On humility

   One day a young seminary graduate came up to Father John and without even bothering to introduce himself said: "I am a theologian."
   Father John was quite surprised by this and asked:  "Really?  The fourth one?"
   "What do you mean by 'the fourth one?'" asked the confused seminarian.
   Father John explained: "In our Church we know of three theologians.  The first was John the Theologian, the Apostle and beloved disciple of our Savior.  The second was Gregory the Theologian of Nanzianzus.  And the third was Simeon the New Theologian.  In its entire 2,000 year history the Holy Church has only granted these three men the title of theologian.  So are you the fourth?"

p. 199 Everyday Saints  by Archimandrite Tikhon

Seasonal Swap

Today I spent the day doing what I fondly refer to as "the great clothing swap," the task of going through each child's current clothing, removing the items that do not fit, changing out winter clothes for spring/summer clothes, digging out the clothes from last year to determine what fits which child, and packing up the things that will be passed down to a younger sibling next year.  Usually this process takes several days, where my husband has to turn a blind eye to piles of clothing all over the dining room, but this time I managed to get it all done in a single day!  Blame it on pregnancy hormones I suppose, because I also washed and folded baby clothes, filled the entire back of my vehicle with donations for Go*dwill, and sorted 2 piles of outgrown clothing to sell and pass along to friends with younger children.  My normal clothes have been stored, as the closet has slowly been taken over by maternity clothing, and it feels good for the first time in months to really accomplish something at home!  Having 3 girls in a row, many of their dresses are handed straight down to the next sister, so I have worked out a system of moving them from one closet to the next, with next seasons clothing in baskets in the top of their closets.  Do you have a system for storing and swapping out your kids clothes?

Lord have mercy

Pray for Metropolitan Paul and Metropolitan Mor Yohanna Ibrahim, heirarchs of the Orthodox church kidnapped today in Syria, and for the soul of the Deacon driving them who was shot and killed in the attack.

My Latest Project: One More Addition

Here is what I have been busy with in the past few weeks.

This weekend marks the halfway point of Lent, 

as well as the halfway point for the arrival of another little one in our house!

Patterns for giraffe, elephant and bird can be found here.

Our Newest Additions

Our family grew this weekend!

eta: while I was standing there taking these photos, they stood stock still and just stared at me.   All I could think about was the twins in The Shining!