Week in Recap, Many Blessings!

We had our beloved munchkin 

4 days this week.

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It was really fun!

Sometimes, since he is only a newly 6 year old,

he got a bit homesick but overall he was very

happy and had tons of fun!

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On St. John's day 

the Munchkin and I made a cake

for this special day!

Munchkin poured in all the

dry ingredients :)

Aunt Elizabeth poured the

chocolate chips on top;

these made the Munchkin very

excited indeed :)

We had a really lovely dinner

with Munchkin and gave him

a little book on St. John as well...

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Our days ended up being like this:

7 AM up for breakfast ~ first thing we had

was a little Holy Water and Prosphora! 

Munchkin had two crepes

with strawberry jam (that my Mom made and

brought with her when they were here).

We would pray and light a candle before eating.

He always got to choose who we would ask prayers for;

sometimes St. Nicholas or the Mother of God or 

our Lord Jesus Christ who all the prayers are

ultimately going to of course

and later in the week, St. George and then St. John :)

Then we would kiss the icon of the Lord or of the Saint 

and eat.

Then play time.

NAP for Aunt Elizabeth and then 

prayers together and getting ready for swimming.

10-12 SWIM!

He did so well! He ended up going in the 'big pool' as well

as the fun kiddie pool and is more

confident in his life jacket in water where he can't touch.

I am so proud of him!

He says that swimming is one of his new sports now :)

HOME again at Noon and then a snack.

Fun bath time while I made lunch.

Then quiet time from 1-2 or so.

Then play, math games, listening to stories,

doing crafts, playing with legos, and on

St. John's day we read this book on St. John 

while sitting on my bed.

I had some sweet tasting vigil bread that we had

special on St. John's day together

before we read about him.

(btw, these books, the St. John book being one of them,

are absolutely wonderful for kids and great

read alouds! I am so impressed with the content in

words and drawings!)

More playing.

When Uncle Mr. Husband was at work

he would call when he was near home

and we would race out to 

blow bubbles at Uncle Mr. Husband

as he came up the stoop stairs!

Then dinner.

Talking with Mom on gmail-skype...

Play, clean up, read Bible stories

and Uncle Mr. Husband would read the 

Gospel reading of the day and I the Epistle. 

Then some more stories or theological talks

and then prayers before bed and bed.

We would start again about 7 AM the next day!

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Before bed I would read a few more pages of 

Conversations with Children

and was really encouraged and gently instructed by

this book.

I really can't recommend it enough!

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God-willing the Munchkin comes again this coming week 

and we will have a lot more fun!

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I do not have as much time for blogging or

blog reading as I want to make this Munchkin's time

with us as special as possible;

I am really happy to see that at this age

children are so incredibly open to God, the Saints, to miracles.

I am trying to do one new Saint a day

(I have been collecting Orthodox children's books 

since I got married with the hope of one day kids

visiting us like we have now)

and we do prayers throughout the day when we 

also light a new candle. 

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I love being a 'Church and Family Auntie' 

and having kids over, where they can

have fun with games, the pool and also have

times where we do small prayers or read about a new Saint.

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I am slowly doing more orders for our church bookstore also

and this book, a simple one on the Holy Liturgy,

has proved very popular. 

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The pool down the street has been wonderful!

I am at the pool every morning during the week now,

with the kids or if no kids at home, by myself or Mr. Husband

or neighbours who are dear friends! 

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I thank God for this special time.