Martyrs Florus and Laurus

      The Martyrs Florus and Laurus were brothers by birth not only in flesh but in spirit. They lived in the II Century at Byzantium, and afterwards they settled in Illyria (now Yugoslavia). By occupation they were stone-masons (their teachers in this craft were the christians Proclus and Maximus, from whom also the brothers learned about life pleasing to God). The governor of Illyria Likaion dispatched the brothers to a nearby district for work on the construction of a pagan temple. The saints toiled at the structure, distributing to the poor the money they earned, while themselves keeping strict fast and praying unceasingly. One time the son of the local pagan-priest Mamertin carelessly approached the structure, and a chip of stone hit him in the eye, severely injuring him. Saints Florus and Laurus assured the upset father, that his son would be healed. They brought the youth to consciousness and told him to have faith in Christ. After this, as the youth confessed Jesus Christ as the True God, the brothers prayed for him, and the eye was healed. In view of such a miracle even the father of the youth believed in Christ. When the construction of the temple was completed, the brothers gathered together the Christians, and having gone through the temple, they smashed the idols and in the eastern part of the temple they set up the holy cross. They spent all night in prayer, illumined with heavenly light. Having learned of this, the head of the district condemned to burning the former pagan-priest Mamertin and his son and 300 Christians. The martyrs Florus and Laurus, having been sent back to the governor Likaion, were thrown down an empty well and covered over with ground. After many years the relics of the holy martyrs were uncovered undecayed, and transferred to Constantinople. In the year 1200 the Novgorod pilgrim Antonii saw them; in about the year 1350, Stefan of Novgorod saw the heads of the martyrs in the Almighty monastery.

Buttons is in the Garden...

Having a snack.

My "New" Childrens Table

I have always wanted one of those beautiful Childrens Tables from The Pottery Barn but they are just out of my price range especially for something the children are going to be making arts and crafts on. I don't want to stress over every crayon mark and scratch. So recently a friend gave us their old dining room table- which is lovely- so I took our old one down and it has been sitting in our basement. Well, I got the idea to have my dad cut the legs short so now Manny has a table just his height to stand and play at- and yes stand and play on- and he loves it!

Product Review- Snowville Cream

This is so wonderful I can just drink it by the glass full! It's a must for iced coffee. Trouble is I can only find it at Whole Foods which is an hours drive :(
It's a fair price too. $5.00 for a half gallon.

Product Review- Trader Joes Freeze Dries Fruit

Manny loves Strawberries, Blueberries, and the Mango. That's all we have tried so far. They are around $3.50 a bag and are worth it for a healthy snack with a crunch. They add nothing too them which is really nice. And they aren't sulfurated too.

Product Review- Organic Target Tortilla Chips

My children give these a big thumbs up and so do I. Great flavor, not too salt and crisp. I think they were only $2.50 a bag! They went great with Whole Foods Queso dip.

Finally Got Cushions!

They are just lovely! My husbands grandmother gave us this old iron frame a few years ago and it's very nice but the darn cushions are just so expensive. Well, I was at Kmart the other day and spotted these beauties on clearance. They were still more than I wanted to pay but since we only have a patio now and no yard and we spend so much time out here I decided to bring them home to try and I can't bring myself to take them back. Since the dog never comes out here and I will bring them in at night I feel good about buying them.

What I'm Doing Today.....

Sitting outside on this beautiful day- 70's and breezy

Watching my baby play

Reading Love Life for Every Married Couple-thank you Duggars it's enlightening

Drinking scrumptious Iced Coffee-recipe can be found over at the Pioneer Woman-becareful it's addicting

Listening to the sounds of my beautiful 13 year old daughter Make my nearly 6 year old son the happiest child on earth because she agreed to play Bionicles with him

Praying for my dearest friend that her placenta will move in time for a safe delivery of her beautiful 8th child- she is so blessed

We're big into trains again here

Magic Bars

Trying to please everyone with these.

1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
Mix and press down in cake pan lined with parchment for crust
Top with-
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips
Heres where mine got interesting
1/2 got peanutbutter chips
And the other 1/2 got
Walnuts and coconut
I just had an idea.... Wouldn't it be great with crushed pretzel on the chocolate and peanutbutter 1/2?

Brewin up some Pioneer Woman Iced Coffee

Decaf ofcourse.

Love Life for Every Married Couple

How to fall in love, stay in love, rekindle your love
By Ed Wheat, MD

Well, I finished the Duggars book and this was one of the suggestions so I'm gonna read it. I'm sure my husband will be thrilled....and I'm not being sarcastic! My mother on the other hand won't if I end up pregnant again.
All I can say is I'm not trying but what ever is Gods will I can't control, NFP isn't 100%. Nothing but abstinence is and you can't totally abstain when your married. Not if you want to stay married anyway!

Angel Biscuts Continued

Isn't this amazing? I love reading about Martyrs

9 Kherkheulidze Brothers with their Mother and Sister and Nine Thousand Martyrs of Marabda

Commemorated on August 3

      On the Feast of the Annunciation in the year 1625, the Georgians annihilated the army of the Persian shah Abbas I in the Battle of Martqopi. The victory unified Georgia's eastern provinces of Kartli and Kakheti. It also instilled hope in other enslaved peoples of the Transcaucasus, and rebellions began to break out everywhere.
      Soon the enraged Shah Abbas marched his finest and largest army toward Georgia under the leadership of Isa-Khan Qurchibash. A Georgian army of some twenty thousand men encamped near Kojori-Tabakhmela in preparation for the attack, while the enemy's army, which numbered in excess of fifty thousand men, encamped at Marabda. According to tradition, the Georgian soldiers received Holy Communion at dawn before the battle.
      Bishop Domenti (Avalishvili) of Ruisi prepared to serve the Holy Gifts to the soldiers but they cried out with a single voice: "If you will join us and take up your sword and fight, then do so. We can receive Holy Communion from another!"

      Inspired by these words, the bishop joined in, proclaiming, "Today we will fight a battle for faith and for Christ; therefore my blood must be spilled before yours!" With his vestments as armor, the bishop blessed the soldiers and took his place in the front line.
      The banner of the Georgian army was entrusted to the nine Kherkheulidze brothers.
      The Persians panicked upon coming face-to-face with the courage and fortitude of the Georgian soldiers, but the experienced commander Isa-Khan Qurchibash would not yield in battle. Help arrived from Beglerbeg Shaybani-Khan, and with the extra forces the Persians soon gained the advantage over the Georgian army. The Georgian colonel Teimuraz Mukhranbatoni was fatally wounded, and rumors of his death threw the soldiers into a frenzy, since they erroneously believed that the dead man was King Teimuraz I of Kakheti, the commander of their army.
      Believing that their leader had fallen, the Georgian soldiers became anxious and their army was enfeebled. Before long they recognized their mistake, but it was too late—the fate of the battle had already been decided.
      The military leaders Davit Jandieri, Aghatang Kherkheulidze and Baadur Tsitsishvili and the bishops of Rustavi and Kharchasho all fell in the battle at Marabda. The nine banner-bearing Kherkheulidze brothers were also killed. When the banner that had led their army through the battles at Didgori and Basiani fell from the hands of the youngest brother, their sister grabbed hold of it immediately, and when she also fell, the banner and symbol of Georgian invincibility was raised up again by their mother.
      King Teimuraz fought until sunset, when every sword he had held in his hands had been broken. Even his rings were broken in the combat. The uniform of the brilliant military leader Giorgi Saakadze was stained with blood from top to bottom. Atabeg Manuchar of Samtskhe and his sons also fought bravely in this battle.
      Utterly exhausted and debilitated by the heat, the Georgians fought heroically to the last moment. But the battle that had begun at dawn finally ended late that night with the defeat of the Georgian army. Nine thousand Georgians gave their lives for Christ and their motherland on the battlefield at Marabda.

© 2006 St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood

See Ya in the Morning....

My Angel Biscuit dough is mixed and ready for morning. Can't wait. I haven't made them for so long and they are awesome!

Isn't this a beautiful image of the Dormition from over at St. Theophany Acedemy?

Too Cute

My husband just told me this conversation that he had with our nearly 6 year old son after my husband washed the dog whom I dont allow on the furniture-
"Daddy, do you think Smokey can come up on the chair and sit with me?"
"No Mason, mommy wouldn't like that."
"Yeah, she would kill me. Well, she wouldn't really kill me dad, that's just an impression."
Isn't that cute. Well that he said impression not that he said I would kill him. I really don't like that.

All Tuckered Out

He getting so big. He looks so long here

Hi I'm Enjoying the Weather

What a way to spend a beautiful day!

Look what we did while baby Manny slept in the car.

Manny at Sandcastle

Isnt he cute? The other 2 wouldn't let me take their pictures. Mason doesn't like picts at all. They all had so much fun. Manny loved the slide and Marlee loved the wave pool. I got very sunburned. After putting sunscreen on them I forgot about myself! Thanks again to Grammy Georgia for coming along. She does love the water so it's not hard to convince her.

A Few Simple Lines in a Song Can Mean So Much!

I LOVE this song.  I listen to it when I need a moment of peace and know that God is always with me.
I wish I knew about the awesome Christian bands when I was young. 
We are all made new in Christ!  And I know I desperatey need Him!
Please push pause on the playlist on the side so you can hear this awesome song.

What I'm Reading

Estate Sale Find

This is yesterday's great find at an estate sale. A huge 8 cup glass Pyrex measuring cup/bowl for $1!

I Love Trucks!

The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God

      The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God is among the most venerable sacred items of the Russian Church. It is reknown throughout all the Slavic world: they venerate it in Russia, in Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and other places. Christians also of other confessions come for veneration of the wonderworking image of the MostHoly Mother of God, alongside the Orthodox. At the Pochaev Lavra, an ancient rampart of Orthodoxy, the wonderworking icon has resided about 400 years. (The account about the transfer of the icon to the Pochaev monastery is located under 8 September). The miracles, which issued forth from the holy icon, are numerous and are testified to in the monastery books with the inscriptions of the faithful, who with prayer have met with deliverance from unclean spirits, liberation from captivity, and sinners brought to their senses. 

      The celebration in honour of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God on 23 July was established in memory of the deliverance Uspenie-Dormition Lavra monastery from a Turkish siege on 20-23 July 1675.

      In the Summer of 1675 during the time of the Zbarazhsk War with the Turks, during the reign of the Polish king Jan Sobesski (1674-1696), regiments composed of Tatars under the command of khan Nurredin via Vishnevets fell upon the Pochaev monastery, surrounding it on three sides. The weak monastery walls, just like some of the stone buildings of the monastery, did not offer much defense against a siege. The hegumen Iosif Dobromirsky urged the brethren and laypeople to turn themselves to Heavenly intercessors: to the MostHoly Mother of God and the Monk Job of Pochaev (Comm. 28 October). The monks and the laypeople prayed fervently, prostrating themselves before the wonderworking image of the Mother of God and the reliquary with the relics of the Monk Job. On the morning of 23 July with the rising of the sun, as the Tatars were holding a final meeting about an assault on the monastery, the hegumen ordered the singing of an akathist to the Mother of God. With the first words, "O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts", suddenly there appeared over the church the MostHoly Mother of God Herself, in "an unfurled gleaming-white omophor", with heavenly angels holding unsheathed swords. The Monk Job was beside the Mother of God, bowing to Her and beseeching the defense of the monastery. The Tatars took the heavenly army for an apparition, and in confusion they began to shoot arrows at the MostHoly Mother of God and the Monk Job, but the arrows fell backwards and wounded those who shot them. Terror seized the enemy. In a flight of panic and without looking, they trampled upon and killed each other. The defenders of the monastery attempted pursuit and took many prisoner. Some of the prisoners afterwards accepted the Christian faith and remained at the monastery thereafter.
      In the year 1721 Pochaev was occupied by Uniates. But even in this difficult time for the Lavra, the monastery chronicle notes 539 miracles from the glorified Orthodox sacred image. During the time of the Uniate rule in the 2nd half of the XVIII Century, for example, the Uniate nobleman count Nicholas Pototski became a benefactor of the Pochaev Lavra through the following miraculous circumstance. Having accused his coachman for overturning the carriage with frenzied horses, the count took out a pistol to shoot him. The coachman, turning towards Pochaev Hill, reached his hands upwards and cried out: "Mother of God, manifest in the Pochaev Icon, save me!" Pototski several times tried to shoot the pistol, which had never let him down, but the weapon misfired. The coachman remained alive. Pototski then immediately set off to the wonderworking icon and decided to devote himself and all his property to the building-up of the monastery. From his wealth was built the Uspenie-Dormition cathedral and buildings for the brethren.
      The return of Pochaev into the bosom of Orthodoxy in 1832 was marked by the miraculous healing of the blind maiden Anna Akimchukova, who had come on pilgrimage to the holy things together with her 70 year old grandmother, from Kremenets-Podol'sk 200 versts away. In memory of this event, the Volynia archbishop and Lavra archimandrite Innokentii (1832-1840) established weekly on Saturdays the reading of the cathedral akathist before the wonderworking icon. During the time of the rule of the Lavra by archimandrite Agathangel, archbishop of Volynia (1866-1876), there was constructed a separate chapel in the galleries of the Holy Trinity church in memory of the victory over the Tatars, which was dedicated on 23 July 1875.

© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

Homemade Peach Handpies

These came out so good.
Yesterday I got a bunch of white flesh peaches from a local farm-Simmons Farm- and they were so good but you can only eat so many fresh peaches before they go bad so I decided to made little peach Handpies rather than a big pie. I'm a big fan of crust I like about equal crust to filling. So anyhow I used my favorite crust recipe, rolled it into 5 circles, added the filling, flipped and crimpted them, brushed them with egg white and sprinkled with raw sugar. Oh they are so wonderful all the children loved them, even those who wouldn't normally touch a peach and complained I didn't make apple filling.
For the filling I boiled water and dropped in 5 peaches for a few mins then dropped them in cold water. The skins pealed off nicely. Next I pitted them and cut up, more like diced them so that you never had to bite through a peach slice in the filling- the kids liked that. Then I added some raw sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and corn starch and gently stirred. When I put it in the dough/ little under a half cup- I added a few pieces of cut butter. Then just folded over, sealed and brushed as mentioned above. I baked at 400 for 10 mins then turned it down to 350 till slightly browned. I baked them on a stoneware cookie sheet with parchment paper. Easy clean up and no sticking.

Berry Muffins

I forgot to post these the other morning. You can make them with any fruit I'm sure. This morning I made them with wild raspberries and they were awesome. I usually make them with blueberries. I also added some unsweetened coconut on a few of them in the front row on top of the crumb mixture. I will try and post the recipe soon.

This is the Thingie- lol

This is the thing I was referring to in the previous post - melt in your mouth chicken. See how it keeps the chicken elevated so that it doesn't lay in the juices and get soggy it just hovers above and stays nice and moist but a little crispy.

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken

No kidding. This chicken is breaded, fried, then baked and is like butter! It's a variation on what my mom makes and we call "party chicken".
What you do is cut up your chicken- she uses tenders but I changed it up and used boneless, skinless thighs because my oldest daughter got spacers put in and her teeth are sore- anyhow you do the usual breadcrumb then milk/egg back to the breadcrumb again breading then I lightly fried them if Safflower oil and put them in my new Le Creuset pot raised on one of those thingies that keep your meat from laying on the bottom so that I can put some water in to keep the chicken moist and also let the excess oil drip down
I baked it for about an hour and 350 covered and they love it.