For this child I prayed

Christmas Card

2010-12-12T17:46:00.001-05:00

Holly Frame Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

An Old Tradition with a New Twist

2010-12-06T12:33:00.005-05:00

I love all the traditions of the Christmas season. It is very important to me to have just the right tree that we cut ourselves with all the lights and ornaments in the perfect spots. Of course, now that I have children my traditions have started to change. Like, placing all the breakable ornaments at the top of the tree.

I also love to send out Christmas cards. I have always gone to the store and read through several cards until I have picked out just the right card to send from my husband and me. Again, now that I have children my Christmas card will change. I have been looking forward to sending a photo card with a picture of my children on the front to all my family and friends.

I have always loved receiving photo cards from my family and friends to see how big their children have grown throughout the year. This will be my first year sending a photo card out as a Christmas card. I dressed my children up in their Christmas outfits and my husband and I had a photo shoot in the living room with them.

I was even more excited about sending a photo card when I looked through the cards that Shutterfly has to offer. There cards are on nice card stock paper and you can add up to 6 photos on the front and more photos inside. You can also make room for a Christmas letter on the inside. Here are some cards I am considering sending:

Check out all the other Christmas cards they have: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

If you are planning on having a holiday party this year, you can use Shutterfly to make your invitations: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-invitations. I really like this one:

Need some gift ideas, check out these coffee mugs: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs.

*I am even more excited because for doing this special blog post about my favorite Christmas cards, Shutterfly is giving me 50 free photo cards. Yay!

2010-08-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

Monday we went with our friends from church to the Cincinnati Zoo. It has been fun to take Dima to the zoo this year because he actually pays attention to the animals now. He started making his oh-so-cute-it-is-a-kitty-or-stuffed-animal-that-I-want-to-pet noise when he saw the bears. He probably would have tried to get to them if I was not holding him up so he could see.

They have a really nice children's area that has recently been redone. A great playground where the kids could run while we stopped to rest and eat. Next to the playground are farm animals including a petting area where the kids can go inside the fence and pet small goats and sheep. Dima loved this!!! He kept running from one animal to the next petting them and hugging them and trying to kiss them. (Mommy of course stopped him from kissing!) They even had sinks for the kids to wash their hands that looked like water troughs. So cute!

Last night, we joined our friends for the last concert in the park in Blue Ash. It was all Big Band music. It was great music and fun to watch the older people dancing. I kept trying to imagine what they looked like when they were young and dating or newly married. Dima and Anna liked the music too! Dima was mesmerized by the instruments.

Today I made homemade blue playdoh. I want to try to introduce Dima to different crafts and art stuff. He of course spent the first part of this experience trying to eat it until he finally figured out that it was fun to squish and poke. He hasn't quite got the molding part down but I had fun making different things with it.

Blue is the only color that Dima will say. Sometimes if you ask him to bring his blue car he will bring the right one. I am not sure if he really knows what blue is or if he just has the right car memorized.

Anna had a little milestone yesterday. She has learned how to get herself into a sitting position from a laying position all on her own. She does it all the time now. Sometimes of course even when she is supposed to be going to sleep. It is fun though to watch her roll around and then push herself up all on her own.

Update about the munchkins

2010-08-22T21:46:00.000-04:00

Thought it was time for a change and to update this thing. LOL I guess life is pretty busy with two little ones in the house. I was thinking recently about how much my life has changed in the last few years. Three years ago I was working full-time, going to college part-time and after 6 years of marriage thought I was never going to have children. Now I am a stay-at-home mom of TWO children! I still can't believe it!

My munchkins are getting so big! Dima is fast becoming a two year old. He is so sweet and loving so much of the time. Giving his sister kisses and hugs as well as friends at church and his Papa and me. But then his "terrible twos" part of him comes out and he can't help biting and pushing. He is also becoming so independent, he recently learned how to climb up in his booster seat by himself and tries so hard to put his shoes on without help. He is full of energy and at times will just run around the living room in circles. He has also increased his vocabulary to include cars, cup, ball, cracker, diaper, baba (baby), Papa, Mama, more, and repeats so many more words after us. It is such a joy to watch him become a little boy!

Anya does not stop moving either! You can see she cannot wait to follow her brother around everywhere he goes. She is so close to crawling that I can see her taking off any day. She can be very tiring to hold (especially in church) because she does not stop wiggling in your arms. She is also a voracious eater. She can clear out two to three jars of baby food like any food eating contest pro. The only thing she turns up her nose at are peas!

This picture is of us at the pond by my Mom's apartment. We visited my family this past July.

Safely Landed

2009-09-09T07:33:00.000-04:00

We arrived safely in London yesterday. All of our flights left on time and were uneventful. Dimitri was able to sleep for several hours on the plane but Father and I did not get any sleep. We felt so out of it yesterday.
I feel like I am in another country but have not decided whether I am in England or Russia. Everybody has been speaking in Russian around me since all of our time has been spent around the church so far.
We took a small walk around the neighborhood yesterday afternoon. Everything is so narrow and quaint! The people drive very fast on the tight roads.
Last night started with Dima falling asleep on his own. Unfortunately, he kept waking up, so for the first several hours of the night I only got two hours of sleep, one hour at a time. When I had finally rocked him to sleep, I was too afraid to move so I just propped myself up. Then Father and I could not sleep because of jet lag. We finally fell asleep at 3:45AM giving us about five and a half hours of sleep.
Today we are feeling much more ourselves. We are hoping to do some sightseeing this afternoon. I miss everybody from home though!

London

2009-09-07T09:21:00.000-04:00

We are leaving today for an adventure to London. I am not sure if I will be able to blog while I am there but if I can't I will be sure to fill you all in on our trip when we get back. Keep us in your prayers!

Basil, Birthdays, and a Baptism

2009-08-01T14:08:00.000-04:00

Somebody from church gave me this wonderful pot that has a gauge to tell me when it needs water. I figured I might not kill things with this pot so I decided to try some flowers and basil. I bought a big basil plant at Trader Joe's that has just grown and grown. There are some leaves on this plant that are now like four inches long.

On Wednesday, I decided to make my first ever batch of homemade tomato sauce. I was just getting sick of the flavor of the store bought tomato sauce that comes in a jar. I also decided that since I had this wonderful basil plant I would be able to use lots of nice fresh basil to make the flavor of the tomato sauce really good. After consulting my mom and the internet I came up with a combination I thought would be good.

This is my basil and garlic waiting to go in the pot. And here is the tomato sauce all done. It was really yummy! Even Dimitri enjoyed it! I had to blend it up for him though so it wasn't chunky. We had it for his 10 month birthday dinner.

Dimitri also got another suprise on his 10 month birthday. A new cousin! My sister had her third child, a baby girl named Selah Joy Belland on July 29. She was 5 weeks early so she weighed only 4 lbs 13 oz and was 17 inches long.

I have become a bit lethal with hot things lately. Last Sunday I had the hot iron fall down onto the top of my hand. Then while I was making the tomato sauce some of the sauce leapt out while I was stirring and left a blister/burn on the lower part of hand. I am lucky I did not burn my whole hand when I grilled out a few nights later.

Today, we had the baptism of Isaac Paul at church. I was honored to be his godmother. He did such a wonderful job during the baptism. He did not even cry when he was dunked in the water. His parents, Wally and Andrea, are very blessed with a wonderful baby boy!

Back to blogging...

2009-07-28T12:31:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a while but I am going to try to blog a little more often.

Dimitri is getting so big! He has eight teeth now and is a good eater as long as I don't give him baby food. He wants big people food. This can be a challenge to find food that is soft enough and that I can cut to small pieces so he won't choke. The good thing is that he will eat anything although he did make a funny face at broccoli yesterday. He even liked a dill pickle piece I let him try!

He has also learned to pull himself to a sitting position and to crawl! This makes him get into anything and everything! He tries to pull himself up too, although he usually can only pull himself to his knees but sometimes he pulls himself all the way to his feet. He is not very steady though so you have to watch him. I think because he stands up in his jumper he thinks he does not need to hold on so some times he just lets go.

Today we went for a walk to the park. Dima got to go in one of the baby swings. He loved it! This was only the second time he had been in the swing but he was not afraid at all. He even started giggling when I swung him higher. Here are some pictures of Dima in the swing. You can also go to our website for more pictures of him and also some videos: theakmolinfamily.shutterfly.com.

Almost to the end.....

2009-04-10T12:41:00.000-04:00

Today is the last day of Lent. Does that mean I don't have to fast anymore? No, we still fast for one more week but I hardly notice the fast during this final week because it is Holy Week. During Holy Week we follow Christ through every step from Bethany to His Passion on the Cross and finally His Resurrection, Pascha (Easter.) The best is to be able to attend every service or at least any you can make it to because the more services you attend the more excited you are at the end, at Pascha.

Tomorrow is the first day of Holy Week, it is Lazarus Saturday. So, tonight and tomorrow morning we will have services where we recall Christ coming to the town of Bethany where His friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha lived. We remember how he came to late for the death of His friend, Lazarus and the how tears of Lazarus' family are turned to joy when Christ raises him from the dead.

Next on Sunday it is on to Jerusalem, where we experience Christ making His triumphal entry into the city riding on a donkey. Can it be that just a week later that some of these same people who are worshiping Christ will be cheering His Crucifixion? When I say that we experience this service, I mean it fully. In most Orthodox Churches, everybody in the Church will be holding palms just as the people did when Christ entered Jerusalem. In the Russian Church people will usually be holding pussy willows either instead of the palms or with the palms. Pussy Willows?!? Yes, because in old Russia they were unable to have access to palms which are grown in a warmer climate so they held pussy willows instead. We carry on this tradition.

We will continue following Christ through the week as we attend services for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday night and Thursday morning we come to church again. This time we have a Liturgy on Thursday morning where everybody should try to take communion. Why on Holy Thursday? This is the day we remember the very first communion, the Lord's Supper. We will recall how Christ taught us to partake of His Body and Blood in remembrance of Him.

Holy Thursday night is another wonderful service. This service is called the 12 Passion Gospels because throughout the service the priest reads 12 segments of the Gospels that are about Christ's Passion. During this service there is a large wooden Cross with an Icon of Christ on it standing in the middle of the Church. It is hard to forget the meaning of this week when we are hearing about and looking at Christ hanging on the Cross.

We now come to Holy Friday. This day is highly honored. People are encouraged to strictly fast by not eating at all or at least only one small lenten meal in the late afternoon. There really should be no goofy off and no laughing on this day for we should remember what Christ did for us on this day. Christ hung on the Cross for us so we should be willing to give up anything for Him but yet our human passion makes this so difficult.

On Holy Friday, we have several services where we actually have a funeral service in a way. We remember Christ's death on the Cross, His taking down from the Cross by St. Joseph of Arimathea and His burial. This is what we remember from what was happening here on earth but there was more. We recall that the Church teaches of Christ's descent into hell where then He raises the dead by taking the righteous to Heaven. This is why this day is important to us, Christ made it possible for us to not die but to live eternally through His death on the Cross if we follow after Him and try to emulate His life.

During one of the Holy Friday services the Cross is removed from the center of the Church and a tomb is put in it's place. This looks different in each Church but is is basically an Icon of Christ as He would have looked in the tomb that is on a cloth. This is surrounded by flowers. We also make a procession around the church with this Icon held up like at funeral procession.

We have made it to Holy Saturday and we are almost there. During the service in the morning we continue to recall Christ's raising the righteous into Heaven. It is during this service that all the vestments in the Church are changed from the dark colors they were during Lent (either black, dark purple, or dark red) to white. It is very moving to watch this change.

We have finally reached Pascha but I will have to save that for another post because it is too grand to put in this one.

I would like to note the importance of the Cross is shown through our entire day. We make the sign of the Cross over ourselves, over our food, over our car before we drive and over our room and bed before we go to sleep at night. We remember what the Cross means to us every time we make the sign of the Cross.

The smallest child even understands this importance. Every night when I put Dimitri to bed I make the sign of the Cross with my Cross around my neck over the four sides of his room and then over him lying in his bed. When I do this he smiles up at me and it reminds me that even he feels the presence of the what the Cross means.

What's in a name?

2009-04-06T12:21:00.000-04:00

For twenty-four hours my son's name was Baby Boy according to the hospital. Now, I know you are probably thinking that we had roughly eight months to come up with a boy's name. However, my husband wished to follow a church tradition of naming your child after a saint from the calendar. Each day has several different saints commemorated on the Orthodox calendar. There would be three different days I could choose from. I could choose a saint from the day he was born, the eighth day after he was born (which traditional is the day of the baby's naming), or the fortieth day after he was born (which is the day that the child is usually brought to the church with the mother for the first time, usually when the baby is blessed/baptized.)

Wanting to be prepared, I had gone through the calendar and chosen my favorite name for each day for the whole month surrounding my due date. When we knew that I was going to go in to be induced on September 29th, I looked at the names. There happened to be two for that day that I liked, John (after John the Baptist) and Dimitri (after St. Demetrios.)

It came down to the day and we just could not settle on which name. Once I saw him a really felt that he was Dimitri but Paul was still not sure. I really liked both names but we happen to have a lot of Johns in my family. I also liked the fact that Dimitri would be said the same whether it was somebody speaking to him in English or in Russian. John would be two different ways to say the name, basically translated.

Finally, we chose Dimitri. It worked out perfectly because we were able to have him baptized on his saint's day. St. Demtrios is commemorated on October 26th/November 8th. (Two dates? This is because we follow the Julian calendar in our church, which is thirteen days behind. So, when it is November 8th according to America and the world, it is October 26th according to our church calendar.)

According to the life of Saint Demetrios that we have in our book, it says that his parents prayed for a child and they were given Demetrios. I liked this similarity! St. Demetrios was a martyr that lived in Thessilonica from 270-305(6). He professed Christ after the Emperor had sent him to persecute Christians. You can read more about him here: http://www.serfes.org/lives/stdemetrios.htm.

My Dimitri is getting bigger. He has now learned to sit by himself very well. He likes to watch everything that happens around him. And he is eating more solids everyday. He has tried carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, spinach, apples, bananas, and baby oatmeal and rice cereal. He is not fond of his vegetables but loves bananas and apples. His latest thing is to scrunch up his nose when he smiles at you.

My life is always changing with this little guy. I never know what he is going to learn next.

A prayer answered

2009-04-05T14:11:00.000-04:00

On Mother's Day in 2004 a miracle happened. An Icon of St. Anna located in Philadelphia began to stream myrrh. St. Anna, according to church history was the mother of Mary, the Theotokos (Mother of God) and therefore, was the grandmother to Christ. This Icon was noticed to have droplets on it and then later the fragrant myrrh began to stream as tears. Many miracles have now happened because of this miraculous Icon.

As Orthodox Christians we believe in praying to saints. The word "pray" means "to ask." And therefore, we pray and ask for the saints to intercede before God for us. For us, it is like asking somebody in church to pray for us except that the person we are asking is known to be a righteous saint in heaven with Christ.

Icons are called windows into heaven. We are able to view depictions of Christ, Mary and the saints and it is a reminder to us of those who are heaven. In history, there have been many miracles that have happened because of special Icons.

The first time that I was able to see the Icon of St. Anna was in 2005 when it visited our parish. It was then that I approached Fr. Athanasy, the priest who is the protector of the Icon, and told him of my wish to have a child. He told me to ask St. Anna to intercede for me so that I could bear a child but that if I should have a girl, I should name her Anna.

I have since venerated and prayed many times before this Icon that God would allow me to bear a healthy child. After waiting many years, God found that it was the right time and we were given my precious son, Dimitri (Who would have been Anna had he been a girl.) Everyday I look at my son with a heart filled with love and gratefulness.

Like Hannah of old, I prayed and God granted me a child. I hope too to always show my child how to love God and serve Him. For this reason I have decided to try to start this blog. To share how my son is growing and the miracle he is. And also to see how he changes as we follow the church calendar through it's cycle of services.

For more information about the Icon of St Anna: http://churchofourlady.org/anna_icon.html

For a podcast with Fr. Athanasy:Direct Link (right-click to download)