Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today we celebrate the finding of the Holy Cross by Saint Helen. Saint Helen was the mother of Saint Constantine. She went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in search of the True Cross of Christ. Three crosses were found on a mound but they were unable to determine which one belonged to Christ. A dying woman was passing by at this time and she touched the cross of Christ and was instantly healed.

I talked about the feast day with all four of my kids. My oldest child, Niki, read about the feast day online. My youngest three colored an icon of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross from a coloring book called "Byzantine Coloring Book: Feast Days" by Father John Matusiak.

Nativity of the Theotokos

Today is the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. Last night, we attended Liturgy as a family at our parish. On the ride home, we talked about what nativity and Theotokos means.

We started by asking them, "What do we celebrate on the Nativity of

Christ?"

They responded with - "Christmas!"

So then we asked them, "What do you think the word nativity means then?"

Our oldest two responded with, "being born".

"Good. Now...who is the Theotokos?"

One of our kids said, "Jesus' mommy". Another said, "Mary".

"Right. The word 'Theotokos' means - Christ-bearer or the one who gave birth to Jesus. So today, we are celebrating the Nativity of the Theotokos. What does that mean?"

"The birth of Jesus' mom."

The conversation was not a long one. Maybe ten minutes at most. The ride home gave us an opportunity to talk about why September 8th is a feast day in the church. September 8th is also a special day to us on a personal level as well. It is my brother, Jacob's, birthday today. It is also the day that our state filed paperwork to petition for us to adopt our three boys 3 years ago.

For a bedtime story, I read one of my favorite Orthodox children's books to my kids - "The Story of Mary the Mother of God" by Dorrie Papademetriou.