A Mother's Day Study

What a Mom is worth in today's fast-paced world. Just thought this article was worth sharing for all you Mothers out there. Thanks for all you do. :)

Our First Year

Today we have officially been married for one year! Looking back on our time together, it seems like it's flown by, and so much has happened - Mara will already be 3 months old on Thursday!

We are so blessed to have each other, and want to thank all of our family and friends for the kindness and generosity shown. It makes it easier when others before us have set such a good example.

We also had someone who was kind enough to send us footage they shot at our wedding! So here's a short and sweet version of our wedding in commemoration of our one-year anniversary.



P.S. Christ is Risen!

Pascha!

"This is the day of Resurrection; let us be illumined by the Feast, let us embrace each other! Let us call "brother" even those who hate us, and forgive all by the Resurrection. And so let us cry:"



Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!



Death is overthrown and Life reigns! All things are new again in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What an awesome and loving God we have.

Great & Holy Saturday

These were just a few verses that we sang in church last night and this morning that really kind of blew my mind (bold emphasis my own):

From the Canon of Great & Holy Saturday:
"The Life of All accepts burial in the tomb,
And the tomb becomes the source of resurrection
Unto the salvation of us who sing:
Blessed are you, O God, our redeemer!"

This verse hit me because, not only did Christ defeat death by His death (paradoxical enough), He made it His slave (essentially) by wielding it to be a new source of life. That even though we all die, we're no longer held captive by death. Whoa!


From the Liturgy on Great & Holy Saturday:
"Today hell cries out groaning:
I should not have accepted the Man born of Mary.
He came and destroyed my power.
He shattered the gates of brass.
As God, He raised the souls that I had held captive.
Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord.

"Today, hell cries out groaning:
My dominion has been shattered.
I received a dead man as one of the dead,
but against Him I could not prevail.
From eternity I had ruled the dead,
but behold, He raises all.
Because of Him do I perish.
Glory to Thy cross and resurrection, O Lord."

Fr. Alexander Schmemman of blessed memory describes Christ's time in hell as an "active repose." Interesting contrast.


Have a wonderful Pascha!

St. George Choir on Good Friday

Tonight is Orthodox Good Friday, so we got a little video snippet of the choir during one of the songs at church. What a beautiful service it is! This is the night when Christ's death is recounted and brought to the forefront of our minds. An icon of Christ in the form of a shroud is brought out and placed in the "tomb". At the end of the service it is processed around the Church with all of us following and singing with candles lit. We then reenter the Church underneath the shroud as it is held above us. The songs, scriptures, readings that are done . . . they all make you feel like you are in the moment when Christ was actually crucified and buried. You can see a brief moment of Joel, Mara and I as we sing in the choir too. Mara will be a great choir member some day! :)