The world literally stopped, at His birth . . .

During our class on Iconology/Iconography this evening, Fr. Peter briefly mentioned James' (the brother of our Lord) firsthand account of Jesus' birth.

Of course, I knew there were writings from the early church out there - that had not made it into the church canon, but my interest was pique enough that I took the time to look it up online when I got home. I love how the other writings of the saints complement what I've always known from Scripture. And, I can't believe how much I've been missing all these years:

Infancy Gospel of James

~ Mrs. Arcfide

On Contentment

"You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You."

~ St. Augustine

She's Climbing!

So this morning, Saraqael climbed this flight of stairs on her own! She surprised both Aaron and I as we were getting ready for the day... I suppose she didn't want to remain downstairs with Mikaela.

I got this video later in the day, to see if she could repeat the same feat. And she did.
Now, to just teach her how to come safely back down... preferably without tumbling!


  

~ Mrs. Arcfide

Happy Birthday, Little Princess

I can hardly believe she's 4!

The cold, coupled with her fear 

that her balloons would fly away 

made for a more challenging 

photo-shoot.

But she survived. :)

~ Mrs. Arcfide

Mikaela writes cursive

As parents, we experience many moments in life with our children that pleasantly surprise, or impress us.

This was one of those. Our almost-4 year old picked up a marker, and copied her daddy's handwriting.

  See? Of course, it's a little shaky, but I thought it was a good start. :-)

~ Mrs. Arcfide

Child 2

Something about her little determination to keep up her older sister, impresses me.

I see it in her eyes, her body language, and all over her face when she thinks no one is watching.

Perhaps I was too busy doing school, when Mikaela was at that age, to notice. (Yes - those 90 credits I earned between 2009-2011 has a tendency to make *her* newborn days a blur). But, I still can remember enough to realize that Porky is a tad more advanced than Mikaela was, at her age.

Maybe it's because I have time to take her out to see the world a lot more . . . you know, external stimuli, etc. or maybe it's because she just wants to do whatever Mikaela can do. Who knows.

This is Saraqael. Isn't she adorable?!

We call her Porky. Because, well . . . she has Porky thighs.

I mean, lookit. There's no way around it. Those thighs are just . . . porky.

 This is Porky sitting up, soon after she turned 5 months.

And here, she's standing - at 6 months.

We love you, baby. We're so blessed to have you in our lives.

I'm confident you'll be walking before Mikaela did - you have 5 more months to practice beating her. No pressure!

~ Mrs. Arcfide

On Discipline

I grew up in a strict Christian home, where my father often reminded us that he would not hesitate to discipline (ie, spank, cane, smack, etc.) all of his children when the occasion called for it, regardless of our age. . . just because he sincerely believed it was his prerogative to do so, as a parent.

I remember feeling incredibly sad and humiliated about it (I was 20 years old), and even if I had not been "spanked" since I was an early teen, his threats of discipline always caused me to shrivel up, a little, inside. At that time, I was not able to articulate my feelings very well . . . I just knew that I was always the brunt of his displeasure, and that perhaps, there might be a better way to handle discipline.

Fast forward eight years, and I'm now a parent myself, of two precious little girls. I must confess that I have disciplined Mikaela many times, for all the wrong reasons. My frame of reference was the way *my* parents raised me, even though I was keenly aware that I was perpetuating a cycle I did not want to follow.

This is the best resource I have read, to date, on discipline:
Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me

Lord, have mercy on us all!

~ Mrs. Arcfide

Baby Bumble Bee

Mikaela recently had a dance recital with OSA, and I'm so glad I attempted to get a few pictures of her right after her dress rehearsal, because it was pouring rain the day of her recital!

She is going through a phase now where she will not look directly at the camera, and when she does, she dramatically distorts her features :-P, so . . .  I'm just glad these pictures came out the way they did.

 

And here's a glimpse of her dance! Guess who got distracted by stage lights and props? The girl on the far right, of course!