Category: Blog
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Lent and Easter Kids’ Book and Gift Recommendations
Do you guys make Easter baskets for your kids or godchildren? We do! I think it’s a super fun reward for all of the hard work the kids have been doing to make sacrifices for Jesus during Lent. Our Easter baskets usually have a book for each kid, some favorite candy and snacks, and a…
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Prepping for Lent and Easter
As we enter our pre-Lenten season in the Western Rite, I’ve put together some of my favorite tips, materials, and go-tos for Lent. Like with everything on my blog, this is what one Western Rite Orthodox family does, but please, use whatever is most helpful for you and your family. In my next post I…
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On Becoming an Orthodox Godparent
Becoming a Godparent by Chrismation My husband, Mark, and I were blessed to become godparents for the first time on Christmas 2015 when our friends the Mathwin family converted to Orthodoxy from Anglicanism. Like us, the Mathwins followed the lead of the father of their family, a man who had wanted to become Orthodox for…
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On Choosing Godparents: New Convert Probs
As a former evangelical Protestant, I didn’t grow up with godparents, but I had seen them in the movies, so I figured I pretty much understood what it was all about. To me, godparents seemed to be close family friends or extended family members who would be willing to adopt your child in the event…
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Celebrating a Name Day
Finding a Patron Saint As a convert to Orthodoxy, celebrating “Name Days,” or the feast days of patron saints, was a new concept for me. I had heard that Orthodox converts often adopted a patron saint at their Chrismation and were even called by that name thereafter, in some churches. I wasn’t given a “Christian”…
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Orthodox Christmas Gift and Stocking-Stuffer Ideas
Hi friends, it’s that time of year again! I’ve been a mom for almost ten years now, and with 5 children, I have a lot of experience with managing the holidays with little ones! We have all witnessed the difficulty of keeping Christmas about Christ and not about all the presents. I personally come from…
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Children’s Book Recommendations for Advent and Christmas
Hi readers! In a previous post, I have discussed how my family practices Advent, so I wanted to follow up with a guide of what you could be reading with your kids during this season to prepare for Christmas. It’s tempting to jump on board the Christmas train as soon as Thanksgiving is over (or…
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How One Western Rite Orthodox Family Observes Advent
In my eight years since becoming Orthodox, my husband and I have worked to establish liturgical traditions in our home that will give our children and ourselves spiritual stability. Walking through the life of Christ every year with the seasons of the Church helps to create defaults of habit and discipline that were lacking in…
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The Stripping of the Divine Office
By Mark Meador The eve of the Sacred Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) brings us to one of my favorite times in the liturgical year. Certainly the Masses for these three days are extremely moving and powerful in their own rights, but I am particularly captured by the changes in the Divine…
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“The Power of Prayer” By Serge Bolshakoff
In Paris, in a narrow and rather noisy street near the Vaugirard Metro station, there is a humble-looking house, 26 rue d’Alleray. This simple house, however, receives many visitors. People come to it from all over Paris and elsewhere for healing by prayer. They are sent by the clergy as well as by specialists when…