About Learning

All children want to learn. They do learn. They learn at their own paces. This is my teaching/learning philosophy. I am a perfect example.

1. I wanted to play the piano when I was a child...I couldn't back then. Now I am able to play simple music. (I just need to practice continuously.) 

2. As a third grader, I had a terrible experience with mobiles...They always got tangled up. For my master's course, I took a class, Art in Education, where I made a solar system stand up mobile. 

3. In high school I was petrified of Math- Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry. Three years ago, I conquered my fear of Math. I read books on Algebra and learned it. I also went into inclusion Math classrooms where I learned more "tricks of the trade" on Pre-Algebra, Algebra, and Geometry. I learned that Math is a skill, an algorithm. Math is a pattern. Math is fun!  Now, I am confidently teaching a Pull Out Pre-Algebra class.

4. We had home economics class in high school where we had cooking, electronics, and sewing instructions. Cooking was easy since the kitchen has been my haven since I was eight years old. However, my sewing skills were pitiful. As much as I was good in cooking, my sewing abilities were limited to mending socks and sewing buttons. I did not produce a single crocheted project. My crocheted doilies always looked funny.  The  loop and the first layer, looked decent but  somehow,halfway through, they always ended up looking  like a baby bonnet. 

Now I am happy to share my  accomplishment- a pillow doily. 
I just started with it.  I am quite amazed with what I have come up with. (so far)

 

start of the project


 

After about 2 hours of work: I have the choice to stop or to continue using a different color. Hmm... choices

This is the first segment of the project; still no bonnet

I decided to use  the burnt red yarn for the second part of the project.

This is the ninth layer

I am very pleased with the pillow doily.

and now the finished project!

Conclusion:  

"Never" should not be a part of our vocabulary. Never is a harsh word. In life, we are always given opportunities to rise above obstacles, those that seem to be unattainable goals. In anything we do, so long as we have the Faith in God and in the talents that He has given us, how could we go wrong.

Cooking Traditions

Lamb Shank with Red Sauce and Orzo (Yevetsi)
Our traditional New Year's Eve Dinner

can be baked, cooked on the stove top, or slow cooker

Ingredients:

lamb shanks  (one per adult)

diced yellow onions, half of an onion

celery, cut in one inch sizes

chopped or minced garlic

a big can of diced tomatoes

a medium  size of tomato sauce

carrots, or green bean

tomato paste

bay leaves (2)

oregano

salt

pepper, course ground

cinnamon

EV olive oil

water

orzo

(As you know, ethnic cooking is not a precise art. It is what is pleasing to the one cooking the dish. “A little bit of this, a pinch of that, and a lot of taste testing is the trick to excellent cooking!)

1. Put a small amount of olive oil in a pan.

2. Brown the lamb shanks on all sides.

Baked or Slow Cooker:

1. Put all ingredients at the bottom of slow cooker pot or baking pan (with high edge), except lamb.

2. Lay the lamb on top.

3. Add water to the height of lamb.

4. Stir to blend the seasonings.

Slow Cooker:

5. on high for 6-8 hours
Check at half way point for flavor and doneness. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Baked in the Oven:

5. Bake for 3-4 hour in the oven at 350 degrees.

 Check at halfway point for doneness and taste. Adjust seasoning to taste.

6. Boil orzo until done. Drain the water.

7. Right before serving, pour some sauce onto the orzo and mix well.

8. 15-20 minutes before serving, add the carrots /or green beans

Stove top:
1. Saute the onions.

2. Add the garlic, tomatoes, sauces, and paste.

3. Put the browned lamb shanks.

4. Add the rest of the seasonings.
5. Let boil and then simmer with cover for 3-4 hours.

Check half way for seasoning and doneness. Adjust seasoning to taste.

30 minutes prior to being done, it may be put in the oven

to brown and to make the sauce thicker

Especially if you are Greek or married to one, serve with a lot of French or Italian bread.
(Is there an equivalent Greek bread?)

I wonder how it would taste with black or kalamata olives.

the finished product

Random Thoughts

The New Year was met with family hugs and kisses (Barbara, though, was spending some time with Joe)

This morning was a simple, yet beautiful Liturgy. Someone was given a compliment for the chanting and responses to the Liturgy.

Fr. Costa and I just opened our Christmas gifts. (remember, I was in California for Christmas)

We had lamb and spanakopita for dinner. I am very pleased! I always sneeze right after dinner (5-10 times) 

 

 If I may say so, it is delicious!

 Still to be baked

 

Vasilopita Cake

They are predicting a Nor'easter starting at 3 AM and all through Friday.

For now, I will attend to my personal tasks: reading, writing, and crocheting. (I'm on the last level/layer) I really want to crochet a blanket.

I hope everyone had a beautiful start to the year. I can't believe it's 2014. I have to practice writing the new year.

My love and warm wishes to all. Oh, by the way, Christmas, for us and for the Orthodox community, is not over yet.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

C       Christmas is the day when we honor the King

H       He is here, He is here
R       Righteous and revered
I        Invite Him into our homes, into our lives
S       Son of God, Emmanuel
T       Truly, let us Glorify Him!

I        Indeed, He is the one

S       Savior, Son of God

B       Babe in a manager, during the stillness of the night
O      Over the eastern sky, they saw a radiant star
R       Royal and regal

N      Noel, Noel, the angels sing...

CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!!!

He Exults Them of Low Degree

From Knot 28
Palmer, Constantina (2012-10-05). The Scent of Holiness: Lessons from a Women's Monastery, Conciliar Press. Kindle Edition.


I’LL SHARE WITH YOU YET another experience I had with the blind Elder Isidoros of the Holy Mountain. This servant of God was so humble that although he worked many miracles— such as curing people of cancer, healing others of multiple sclerosis, curing a blind woman— he believed none of it came as a result of his own holiness. He felt the miracles happened solely through the prayers of his spiritual father, Elder Ephraim of St. Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona.

 By the time I met him, Elder Isidoros had been a spiritual child of Elder Ephraim for over thirty years. He had a thirty-three-knot prayer rope (the kind worn on the wrist) given to him by Elder Ephraim, which he kept in a small clear plastic bag with an icon of the Mother of God the Sweet-kisser (housed in Philotheou Monastery) taped onto it. With this simple, small prayer rope he prayed over people, and they were healed from all sorts of ailments. He attributed it all to the prayers of his spiritual father.

“Through the prayers of my Geronda,” he would say. And just like that, miracles happened! By his profound humility, strong faith, and pure heart he attracted the grace of God, and God worked miracles through him. Because he thought himself unworthy to do such miracles, God enabled him to work them. Christ tells us, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard . . .” (Luke 17: 6). 
This faith he obviously had. 

A presvytera who lived quite close to the monastery had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She and her husband had four children. From his grief and worry that their children would lose their mother, the priest became paler each day. The weight of his wife’s impending death hung around his neck like a millstone. A friend of theirs told them Elder Isidoros was at the monastery. She suggested they go and take his blessing, and perhaps he could pray over the presvytera. They wisely heeded her advice and came to the monastery while I was also there. 

When they went in to see the elder, he greeted them. They spoke a little, and he took out the relics he always carried around with him and offered them for veneration. Then he took out his little plastic bag with the small prayer rope inside and laid it on her.

"Through the prayers of Geronda Ephraim,” he said. And then in his characteristically strange, but funny way he said, “It’s leaving, it’s leaving! The cat will eat it!” 

And that was it; his faith had healed her. 

His spiritual daughter, a friend of mine, told me afterward that whenever someone he prayed over came to him to tell him the doctors could no longer locate the cancer, he always responded, “Yeah, because the cat ate it!” 

During this same visit, my eczema was very bad, especially on my hands. The sisters told me to ask the elder to pray over them, so I took the opportunity while he was sitting with me when I was measuring and packaging some pasta. 

“Papouli, I have really bad eczema on my hands right now, and they hurt a lot. Do you think you can pray over them?” 
He took out the small prayer rope from his pocket and placed it in between my hands so that the eczema rashes were touching the plastic bag that held the rope. With my hands like this, he held them in his own. 

“Papou, Geronda, do something!” he said, in the same way a child speaks to his father. He began to pray fervently, “Kyrie Isou Hriste eleison me . . . Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” 

He said “Papou” signifying Elder Joseph the Hesychast, his spiritual “grandfather ,” the spiritual father of Elder Ephraim, and “Geronda,” obviously, addressing Elder Ephraim. 

“How do you feel?” he asked me. “Do you feel warmth?” “Mostly in my face, Geronda, but I think it’s because I’m a little embarrassed,” I said. He continued to pray fervently. “And now? Now, how do you feel?” he asked. I began to have a strong feeling of spiritual joy in my heart. “I feel joy,” I said. “Joy? Anything else?” he asked. “And peace.”

He continued to pray, and I continued to feel spiritually energized. It was as though he were an outlet and my hands were the plug. I plugged into the spiritual outlet, and spiritual joy and peace were traveling through his hands into mine and through my whole body, right down into my feet, like an electrical current.

“Joy and peace, is that it?” “A lot of peace,” I said quietly. “And your hands, how do they feel?” he asked, letting them go. I looked at them. The rashes were still there, but the sensation I was feeling overwhelmed any hint of irritation I had felt just a few moments ago.

“Better,” I said. I felt so peaceful, so full of spiritual joy, that I had no other answer to give. Through his humble prayer, he allowed those spiritual sensations to pass from him into me. I felt spiritually rejuvenated for at least three days following this encounter. When I returned home, I put some ointment on my hands, and the rashes disappeared. I have not had any eczema rashes return since that time, even though I’ve had eczema since I was a teenager.

Through his prayers and his humble example, I hope to someday re-establish those spiritual sentiments and have them remain in my heart for the rest of my life.

From this experience I learned that when God gives us these small spiritual boosts, we should struggle with all our might to safeguard them with prayer and watchfulness. For they may well go away, with or without negligence, but it’s always better if we do all we can to keep them. Even recalling the story fills me with courage to struggle harder.

Ultimately this is what miracles should do for us. This is what my encounter with the elder taught me. Miracles are opportunities for our faith to increase and our resolve to struggle harder to be strengthened. God is glorified by His saints, and He glorifies them!


Reflection: I can tell you this happens. You can't really understand what's going on? You just know and experience peace. Tears of joy,  tears of awe, just flow. This is God's way of saying, "Yes, I am here."