"Keepin' It Real"

I was gifted with a blog award this afternoon by Matushka Anna over at Praying With My Feet.  I am totally honored and excited!!  Drumroll please:

Matushka Anna created this award for " bloggers who share glimpses of their real life even when it's not magazine-perfect. Not that you have to be that way all the time, just on occasion."  I'm squeeing with delight!  I've never won a blog award before.

And now I get to pass on the award to another blogger who is "Keepin' It Real!"  This blogger is a woman I deeply admire.  She has shared her personal struggles online, homeschooling her challenging children nd dealing with some serious health issues of her own.  She is always brutally honest about her journey and I appreciate that a lot.  She inspires me to be present where I am at and to "do the next thing." 

The next winner of the "Keepin' It Real" award is...

ALANA from Morning Coffee!!

One Boring Blog

I wish I was more interesting.  I have lots of stuff I think about writing, but in the end, it all gets shoved to the wayside in favor of pithy status updates on Facebook.


I added a new feature to the sidebar- that scrolling Amazon thing is a list of books I am reading.  I've got one other to add to the list.  I'm reading it honor of "Lady" Lydia Sherman:

Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War

A brief description from Amazon:

Faust (The Creation of Confederate Nationalism) makes a major contribution to both Civil War historiography and women's studies in this outstanding analysis of the impact of secession, invasion and conquest on Southern white women. Antebellum images based on helplessness and dependence were challenged as women assumed an increasing range of social and economic responsibilities. Their successes were, however, at best mixed, involving high levels of improvisation. The failure of Southern men to sustain their patriarchal pretensions on the battlefield also broke the prewar gender contract of dependence in return for protection. Women of the South after 1865 confronted both their doubt about what they could accomplish by themselves and their desire to avoid reliance on men. The women's rights movement in the South thus grew from necessity and disappointment-a sharp contrast to the ebullient optimism of its Northern counterpart. Faust's provocative analysis of a complex subject merits a place in all collections of U.S. history.

Hopefully, anyone who is familiar with Mrs. Sherman's writings will understand the irony of why I'm reading this in her honor.  I don't have time to go into it right now...


I'm way behind today- and its all my fault.  So, I'm off to make another few practice loaves of altar bread (the Orthodox make the bread at home that we use in the Eucharist) and Garlic Cheddar Biscuits to accompany the Buttermilk Chicken of tonight's dinner.  


Also on today's agenda:


1. Staying OFF the computer!!
2. Getting all the day's lessons done in the shortest possible amount of time
3. Laundry laundry laundry
4. Pack six boxes of books (Have I mentioned here that we are moving in three weeks??  Aaaaaaah!)


Better get too it.  Procrastination is my middle name!

Spanking: Not a Solution for Disobedience

A quote from the FABULOUS book Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives:

If the parents say, 'Stay here,' then the child must stay where they told him.  But a child is a child; he cannot sit still in one place.  What usually happens is that the parents spank the child for being disobedient.  But that is not a good manner of teaching a child obedience.  Maybe sometimes a spanking is called for, but then it should be out of love, and the child must feel love.  Parents should never spank their children when provoked by anger.  For if you are going to correct someone when you are angry, you will achieve nothing.  You will only hurt both the person and yourself.

If you want to bring someone onto the right path, to teach and advise him, then you must humble yourself first and talk to the person with a lot of love.  He will accept your advice, for he will feel that it is given with love.  But when you want to have your own way at all costs, then you will achieve nothing.  That is how resistance builds up in the child.  When a child is disobedient, spanking is not a solution.

~Elder Thaddeus

First off, let me just say that I STILL fail to see how spanking a child, even "in love," can possibly make a child feel loved.  So obviously, I would disagree with Elder Thaddeus here.  But I love the rest of this quote and I think he's spot on for the most part.

 

 

Throwing Out What I Thought I Knew

Elizabeth Esther has again hit the nail on the head with her post "Wait. What?  Catholics are Christians too?" .  Ohhhh, I can so relate to what she has written here.  Two years ago, I didn't know anything about Orthodoxy... but I thought I did.

For example:

• Orthodox Christians believe in a false gospel.  
• Orthodox Christians are just Catholics without a Pope
• They worship Mary 
• Icons are idols and violate the second commandment
• Mystery is baaaaaaaaad
• They believe in transubstantiation (they don't) so they believe they are eating the actual Body and drinking the actual Blood of Christ

I'm ashamed of myself and thank GOD I've been forgiven and absolved of that sinful and presumptuous attitude.  I made judgments based on what I thought I knew or what I had been told about it.  I definitely believed that anything distinctively Roman Catholic was heretical and that while there were some Roman Catholics who were "saved", Rome as a whole taught a false gospel and was therefore leading millions astray.  And since Orthodoxy sort of looks like Roman Catholicism, I just lumped them in with the Catholics.

And then, my friend and (now former) wife to my pastor told me she was looking into Orthodoxy for real.  I was FORCED to read primary sources.  I had to learn for myself what they believed so I could argue her out of converting.  Just like a good Calvinist... arguing about *everything.*  Eventually, I had confront what I thought I knew about Orthodox Christianity and ask myself if I was guilty of mis-characterization and judgmentalism (I was).  When I realized that I actually knew next to nothing about it, I decided to throw out everything- my misconceptions and my Calvinism- so that I could learn with objectivity.  I maintained my Christian world view, but I didn't start with the assumption that Orthodox Christianity was false.  I mean, there has to be something to a Christian Tradition which has been around since Pentecost and maintained remarkable continuity of doctrine and worship in all times everywhere.  Protestantism and even Roman Catholicism can't make those claims.  I think that attitude - looking at Orthodoxy as objectively as possible and NOT starting with the assumption that it was a false system or that I needed to find out how to disprove it- made all the difference.

More About Pascha, er Easter

Along with my response to a comment I got on the post "Is Easter Pagan??", I thought I'd post a link to this article as I found it to be especially helpful:

It IS Pascha, Not Easter

I offer no judgment toward people who use the term "Easter" rather than "Pascha."  None at all!  I just put this out there as food for thought because I thought Father Michael makes a lot of sense and gives biblical justification for the use of the word "Pascha."

Off my soapbox now! 

To Train Up a Child: A Review

I wrote this review on Amazon a few years ago and thought I'd post it here.  Please keep in mind that this review was written before the deaths of Sean Paddock and Lydia Schatz, both of which implicate the Pearls' teachings as contributing factors to these deaths.  I would have MUCH stronger words today then I did several years ago... but this review is a pretty good summary of what I think about their godless, evil teachings.


One star out of Five

I think a few of the main problems I have with this book lie in a couple of areas:

1. The Pearls view training children the way some people view training animals. Several times in TTUAC, Mr. Pearl states that the biblical way to train children is the same way we train a mule or a dog. He seems to ignore the fact that children are human beings made in God’s image. Biblically speaking, we are to treat human beings with a great deal more dignity and respect than a dog.

2. The Pearls set up an antagonistic relationship between parent and child. The child’s will must be subdued and conquered and the only way to accomplish this, it seems, is through switching. If parents fail to use this method, Mr. Pearl states that parents are creating a “Nazi.” He commands parents to look for opportunities to “thwart” the will of one’s children. I don’t see that in the Bible anywhere.

3. Obviously, parents react to the Pearls’ materials in different ways. I see TTUAC as a manual for child abuse. Pearl supporters claim its saved their homes. It seems to be a matter of interpretation. How can we know how anyone is going to interpret what is in that book? Even some Pearl supporters say that they don’t agree with everything they say which means there are elements that just don’t sit right with many, many people. I would hope that those folks ask why those elements bother them so much.

4. The Pearls represent themselves as biblical authorities on parenting and “child training”. Parents who don’t have a good support system in place tend to get desperate very fast. Mr. Pearl states in his introduction to TTUAC that once you read his book, the techniques will seem obvious and you’ll wonder why you didn’t figure it out on your own. Desperate people often tend toward extreme behavior. There are many MANY pro-spanking parents who feel that the Pearls’ methods are extreme. Switching for each and every single offense. Placing a child’s hands on a hot stove to teach him not to touch it. Shoving an unsuspecting child in a pool to teach them fear of the water. Hosing down a child who’s soiled his pants while learning to potty train as punishment for not using the potty.

Believe me, there are innumberable ways to raise godly children that have nothing whatsoever to do with the abuse advocated in this book.

5. This book is also full of horrible theology which I believe stems from the Pearls errant view on the nature of man.

6. The Pearls are just bad writers. They are totally unclear about several of their ideas and they contradict themselves in a number of places. Never show mercy to your child, show mercy to your child. Pick your child up when he cries, don’t pick him up when he cries. Things like that. I know for a fact that their style alone has left a number of parents totally confused about what to do with their kids. If the Pearls believe that consistency is the key, perhaps they should work on being more consistent in their writing.

Please, please don’t buy it. Amazon should stop selling it.

I’d give it zero stars if I could.

Christos Anesti!

Christ is Risen from the dead

And through death, He did trample upon death

And thus bestowed upon those in the tombs the gift of life.

Alithos Anesti! Truly He is Risen!

I cannot believe that Pascha has come and gone!  This past week was so incredibly moving for my whole family that I'm kind of sad to see it go.  Holy Week is an incredibly intense time of prayer, services, standing, repentance, sorrow, joy, hope... And it all culminates in that glorious and hope-filled proclamation that Christ is risen from the dead!  Truly, He is Risen!

Can I just brag on my kids for a moment?  They did AWESOME this week!  They attended just about every service I went to and they behaved so well and were so patient, I started to wonder who traded in my babies for these adults who sat still and didn't ask to be taken the loo 100 times.  I think, in total, they attended about 15 hours of services from Wednesday through Sunday.

My husband was received into the Church by chrismation just before the Resurrection service began late Saturday night.  I cannot describe the joy that I feel now that we are all united together in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  I am so grateful to God for bringing my husband home to His Church and for giving Mark a genuine conviction about the veracity of the Orthodox Church's contention that it is the Apostolic witness alive in the world.  He could have converted just to please me- and that would've been enough for me at this point- but he seems to have genuinely embraced the Church's teachings and the demands made on your body and soul and mind.  I am very proud and very RELIEVED!

I want to write more.  I so do.  I am full of stories about Great and Holy Friday and how the Lord brought me to a wonderful place of repentance and peace before His cross that afternoon; what we do in the services; the JOY and emotion and hope of Pascha... the look on my priest's face as he sings "Christos Anesti" is priceless; you can tell that THIS proclamation- that Christ is Risen from the dead- is the center of his very soul.  It is what fuels him.  I'll never get a picture of it except in my mind.  We sing Christos Anesti/Christ is Risen at least 20 or 30 times on Pascha night alone!

As I was saying... I want to write more on these things and I plan to... but I'm falling into a post-Pascha coma at the moment.  Somehow, while we were out all week at Church, my house went to pot.  Mount Washmore looks like Mount Everest and while I started from base camp and made it a few camps upward, I still need to tackle the summit.  I put declared today a TV/non-school day and fixed up my house.  Tomorrow, its back to school and back to live as usual.

Except that life can never be the same as long as those words, Christos Anesti, continue to ring in my heart.