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The Orthodox West Blogs This Orthodox Life About Contact Scroll down to content Posts Posted on March 5, 2021 March 5, 2021 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 religious item. Last year my family did this Lenten Devotional together, and I really loved it. The book was geared toward older children (not little ones) and follows the Eastern Rite observance of Great Lent. However, we still found it useful as Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and we learned so much. Here are my favorite suggestions for reading books together during Lent and Easter or for filling those Easter baskets! Continue reading Lent and Easter Kids’ Book and Gift Recommendations” Posted on March 4, 2021 March 5, 2021 Prepping for Lent and Easter Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. 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 will cover my favorite Lenten books for kids and ideas for Easter baskets. Continue reading Prepping for Lent and Easter” Posted on February 22, 2021 February 25, 2021 On Becoming an Orthodox Godparent A gift for my god-daughter – an icon of her patron saint 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 twelve years. Although the Mathwins had attended the same large, Anglican church that our family attended prior to our Chrismation, we had not known each other. Yet, here we were. God led us all to the same place: a tiny, Western Rite Orthodox mission in rural Bealeton, Virginia. Continue reading On Becoming an Orthodox Godparent” Posted on February 22, 2021 February 25, 2021 On Choosing Godparents: New Convert Probs Baptism day for our son, together with his loving god-family and our dear priest 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 that you and your spouse were dead. So, in hindsight, I may have been a little off. Continue reading On Choosing Godparents: New Convert Probs” Posted on January 8, 2021 January 11, 2021 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” name at birth. Frankly, I was named after a Russian neighbor because my mom liked the sound of her name. Some people I knew had a baptismal name,” but I was baptized at age 12, and it wasn’t a custom in my denomination to change your name at baptism. Until becoming Orthodox, I had never even heard of the martyr St. Adrian of Nicomedia (306AD) from which the name Adrienne is derived, and I likewise knew nothing of St. Emmelia of Caesarea (375AD), called the Mother of Saints”, who was to become my patron saint. Continue reading Celebrating a Name Day” Posted on December 12, 2020 December 26, 2020 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 a broken and blended extended family, which at the holidays often makes the presents multiply exponentially. This is something we struggle to keep in check. I also get asked a lot by other mommy friends” for Christmas/St. Nicholas Day gift ideas, so I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite go-to items for Orthodox families and my best advice on keeping the number of presents under control and maintaining our focus on Jesus. I have relied on both Orthodox and Catholic sources for my religious gift suggestions, as you will see below: Continue reading Orthodox Christmas Gift and Stocking-Stuffer Ideas” Posted on December 5, 2020 December 26, 2020 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 even right after Halloween!), but as Orthodox Christians, we believe it’s important to observe a season of expectation, waiting, and even penitence before we start celebrating. This may look differently in each family, but one way we, a Western Rite Orthodox family of 7, mark the season of Advent is through books. Continue reading Children’s Book Recommendations for Advent and Christmas” Posted on November 29, 2020 December 26, 2020 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 our faith prior to our conversion. We have 5 children under the age of 10, so what works for our family in this stage of life may be different than what would best serve your own family. However, I have collected below some of our favorite family practices for the season of Advent which I hope may be helpful to you in beginning your own traditions. Continue reading How One Western Rite Orthodox Family Observes Advent” Search Search for: Search Proudly powered by...