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Sunday, February 01, 2026

Menu Plan: Feast of the Purification and Presentation

Tomorrow is the last feast of the Infancy Narrative of the Incarnation. It is the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. It is the close of the Christmas season. From now on, all of our feasts and fasts will have to do with His adult life or glorified life in the heavens. It is the day that the Blessed Mother would have come back to be ritually cleansed from childbirth and brought back into the life of corporate worship, and the day that Jesus would be presented and "bought back" as the first born son who opened the womb. This practice is preserved in the Church today, through the service of the Churching of Women (which is still found in all Anglican traditions, as well). In the East, both Orthodox and Catholic, it is the teaching for women to rest at home with their babies for the first 40 days, to heal, to care for their babies, and to be served. On the 40th day, they are brought back into the church for prayers and blessings, and it is common to perform the baptism for the baby that day.

It is the day of the prophecies of both Saints Anna and Simeon, and so is also called the Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple. It is a fitting conclusion to the Nativity season. We do not have the words of Saint Anna, only that she spoke of Him to all were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Clearly, she knew who Jesus was. I love how they both recognized the Lord immediately on seeing Him.

The Church teaches us that Saint Simeon was a scribe, and that in his work as a scribe he attempted to "correct" the Isaiah passage which prophecies of the virgin birth, since no person could be born that way. In the moment that he tried to scrape out the word virgin and change it to wife, he noticed that his hand was being held back by an angel. That angel whispered to him that he, himself, would see its fulfillment before he died. Saint Simeon spent the rest of his life waiting to see this fulfillment. Because of this, we have not only Saint Simeon's words of prophecy, but we pray his prayer every night at evening prayer:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word! For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.

This week is Septuagesima and next week is Sexegesima, so we don't really have a lot of time between the Christmas season and Lent this year. The preparation time before Lent actually overlaps with the Christmas season.

Our schedule right now is brutal - especially in the morning. I am trying to automate our breakfasts more, even if that means they are a little more boring and repetitive. On the menu this week is cassoulet, and we are using the meat from our own ducks. I'm pretty pleased with that. Last week, I made a kind of Arabic hamburger helper. Instead of the more American flavorings, I used seven spice, yogurt, and Aleppo pepper. It was super good, and we will likely make it again.

Things are still very challenging here, and more people are sick. Please pray for our family. Depending on how we are feeling, we may not be making it to church. Pray for them, too.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:54 AM 0 comments

Sunday, February 02, 2025

Menu Plan: Feast of the Purification and the Presentation

Today is the last feast of the Infancy Narrative of the Incarnation. It is the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. It is the close of the Christmas season. From now on, all of our feasts and fasts will have to do with His adult life or glorified life in the heavens. It is the day that the Blessed Mother would have come back to be ritually cleansed from childbirth and brought back into the life of corporate worship, and the day that Jesus would be presented and "bought back" as the first born son who opened the womb. This practice is preserved in the Church today, through the service of the Churching of Women (which is still found in all Anglican traditions, as well). In the East, both Orthodox and Catholic, it is the teaching for women to rest at home with their babies for the first 40 days, to heal, to care for their babies, and to be served. On the 40th day, they are brought back into the church for prayers and blessings, and it is common to perform the baptism for the baby that day.

It is the day of the prophecies of both Saints Anna and Simeon, and so is also called the Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple. It is a fitting conclusion to the Nativity season. We do not have the words of Saint Anna, only that she spoke of Him to all were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Clearly, she knew who Jesus was. I love how they both recognized the Lord immediately on seeing Him.

The Church teaches us that Saint Simeon was a scribe, and that in his work as a scribe he attempted to "correct" the Isaiah passage which prophecies of the virgin birth, since no person could be born that way. In the moment that he tried to scrape out the word virgin and change it to wife, he noticed that his hand was being held back by an angel. That angel whispered to him that he, himself, would see its fulfillment before he died. Saint Simeon spent the rest of his life waiting to see this fulfillment. Because of this, we have not only Saint Simeon's words of prophecy, but we pray his prayer every night at evening prayer:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word! For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.

This year, we have a bit of time between the end of Christmas and the beginning of the countdown to Lent. There are two weeks before Septuagesima! This gives us a bit of time to have normal time before the fast begins. I must admit that I am looking forward to that time of fasting, though. It is always a time of growth, though sometimes not in the direction I thought it would be.

Again, I thank you for your prayers and ask for yours. We have had a lot of friends lose their fathers in the past two weeks. It is that time of our life. Having lost Rich's father over 12 years ago, we know the sorrow they are enduring, and we do not look forward to losing the rest of our parents. It's been a sobering time because of that. Please pray for us, but also pray for our extended family.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 6:37 AM 0 comments

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Menu Plan: Septuagesima and the Feast of the Purification and Presentation

This is the last week of Christmas. We begin with Septuagesima (the 70th day before the final day of the Paschal Octave) and we end with the last feast of the Infancy of Christ. It is the feast of both the Purification and the Presentation on Friday. It is the day that the Blessed Mother would have come back to be ritually cleansed from childbirth and brought back into the life of corporate worship, and the day that Jesus would be presented and "bought back" as the first born son who opened the womb. This practice is preserved in the Church today, through the service of the Churching of Women (which is still found in all Anglican traditions, as well). In the East, both Orthodox and Catholic, it is the teaching for women to rest at home with their babies for the first 40 days, to heal, to care for their babies, and to be served. On the 40th day, they are brought back into the church for prayers and blessings, and it is common to perform the baptism for the baby that day.

It is the day of the prophecies of both Saints Anna and Simeon, and so is also called the Meeting of Our Lord in the Temple. It is a fitting conclusion to the Nativity season. We do not have the words of Saint Anna, only that she spoke of Him to all were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Clearly, she knew who Jesus was. I love how they both recognized the Lord immediately on seeing Him.

The Church teaches us that Saint Simeon was a scribe, and that in his work as a scribe he attempted to "correct" the Isaiah passage which prophecies of the virgin birth, since no person could be born that way. In the moment that he tried to scrape out the word virgin and change it to wife, he noticed that his hand was being held back by an angel. That angel whispered to him that he, himself, would see its fulfillment before he died. Saint Simeon spent the rest of his life waiting to see this fulfillment. Because of this, we have not only Saint Simeon's words of prophecy, but we pray his prayer every night at evening prayer:

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word! For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.

The end of the Christmas season means the beginning of looking forward to Lent. Like last year, they coincide and it is the week of Septuagesima. We slowly start to pare things down in our lives, and get ready for the work of fasting, praying, and almsgiving. I encourage you to prayerfully join the Church in this. We walk with all the Church in the life of Christ every year, with our days and weeks and months shaped to His time. These two weeks before Lent officially begins are a time to slow down, pare down, and prepare for the fast.

Even though the fasting is challenging, every one of our family is used to and looks forward to the spiritual training. Jerome actually said that since they grew up doing it, for him it just feels normal. It forces him to think about his food and God. This is why it always takes me by surprise that there are Christians who don't even keep the Friday fast, let alone the Wednesday one, or do any fasting for Lent or Advent, not because we don't understand that they don't, but because it makes you look at each bite you eat, every meal you plan as part of your worship of God, and by neglecting the fast, they miss out on that. It is not something we offer to God because He needs it, but something He offers to us because we do.

We commemorate the betrayal of Judas and our Lord's crucifixion, in fasting each week. We prepare for His birth and coming again, and His resurrection, in fasting and prayer and almsgiving. People are missing out on this when they don't participate. Our every bite is shaped by our faith, our days and weeks and seasons are shaped by the life of Christ. We are so glad to have grown into this practice - even when it is hard, maybe especially when it is hard. When it is hard, we are reminded that we need God for everything. Even to ward off the desire for a cheeseburger. We fast because it is so easy to forget how much we need God. We fast because Christ indentified with the poor, and so should we. We fast, because it allows us to learn to conquer our appetites, and all sin is disordered appetite. We fast because our ancestral sin was the breaking of the fast. We fast so we remember to pray. We fast because Christ Himself told us how to do it when we do it, not if we do it. We fast because we want to be more like Him, who fasted for 40 days and nights. For all these reasons and more, I encourage you to take a step toward this practice, if you can. Do it for these reasons. Pray and ask God to help and strengthen you. He will show you your weakness, and give you His strength. May God bless us all. Please pray for me.

Most of the time, East and West share the same dates and general times for our feasts and fasts, but this week we have the Western feast for Saint Ignatius of Antioch, separately from the East. Since he was such a pivotal and important figure in the Church, we commemorate him both times. Please join us in our prayers for unity in the Church.

So much has been going on this past week! I keep waiting for life to slow down, and I just don't know when or how that will happen. There is some stuff going on in the background with a family member we are very concerned for and don't really have a way to help. Please pray for the upcoming wedding and for our families. This week, we also begin our homeschool co-op again, which adds another layer of busy-ness, even though it comes with fun, too.

We are still cooking out of the freezers and I'm hoping this will help us adjust our inventory to be more accurate, as well. Since this is the first week in the run up to Lent for those of us in the West, it will also make room for more produce and other Lenten fare. The count down is on! However, since Dominic and Shawn are Orthodox, their Lent doesn't begin until much later, so we will get a break right at the beginning of Lent, to celebrate with the bride and bridegroom. Because of the date of the wedding, we will be missing our doughnut Mardi Gras celebration this year, though we will still hold a pancake dinner. This will shorten our Lenten observance, because it is not right to fast when there is a wedding feast. On the other hand, with our worship with the Orthodox mission here, every other Saturday from March 23 through May 5 will involve fasting with them. We will one day pray and fast and feast together. Glory to God!

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:32 AM 0 comments

Sunday, February 06, 2022

Menu Plan: February 6 - 12

We had a big winner meal last week and a big loser. The Persian stew was full of things we eat all the time and like, every ingredient in it was something we enjoy, but somehow all together, even though it sounded and smelled good together, it was not good. I'm going to take the blame on that, but I am also not going to make it again, until I have eaten it with pleasure at someone else's hands and learn how she makes it. The Spanish fish and shrimp stew, though, was fantastic, and I will make it again. Normally, I try to keep daily dinners at or below $2.00 a person, and this one was around $4.33 per person, but considering what a single bowl of it would have cost at a restaurant, and how wonderfully it tasted, it will come out more frequently, when we can get fish and shrimp for decent (or as close to that as we get now) prices.

Now that Jerome is starting his third week of testing cheese, our assessment is not just neutral, but positive. His skin has improved quite a bit, which, to be fair, probably has at least as much to do with the weather and relative humidity, but it was during a time that my own ezcema blew up a lot. He is so excited to be able to eat fermented dairy products freely again in two weeks! This gives me a little more hope for our second trial with the milk.

Again, I encourage you to stock your pantries and freezers with foods that are lower priced in your price range and be ready. Be urgent and diligent about it, but be at peace, there is no need for fear.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:13 AM 0 comments

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Menu Plan: January 30 - February 5

This last week was rather busy, but not with anything that seems to have accomplished much. In any case, I am behind on my blogging and behind in a lot of other things here. Our Christmas party was a little smaller, as two of my knit night friends and their families were sick with colds. However, it was still a success, and it was fun just to hang out and eat and talk and have fun.

Jerome doesn't seem to be doing any better or worse with cheese, so I do suspect that the weather has influenced his skin. We will give it a try after we finish the round with cheese. It is the end of the Christmas season this week and we are three weeks before the first week of Lent and are getting ready for that. This week holds a few feasts, and the end of the infant narratives in our gospel readings. After this it is preparing for Christ's earthly and prophetic ministry. We are also getting ready for the type of supply chain challenges and price increases that seem to be exponentially growing more frequent. I encourage you to stock your pantries and freezers with foods that are lower priced in your price range and be ready. I think the world is going to get much harder for everyone, even than it has been over the past two years, and the foolish policies and decisions of our governors and legislatures are making the situation worse. Pray for all of us, and prepare so you can take care of your families and your neighbors, too. There is an urgent sense in me, but I am at peace, I hope you are also.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:50 AM 0 comments

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Menu Plan: Purification and the End of the Christmas Season (Septuagesima)

First, I would like to thank you for your prayers. I have had several nights of more than five hours of sleep, which I know sounds like a pittance, but was a huge improvement over the past four weeks. My father did get to go home last Monday, and is recovering there. We are so grateful to God.

This week is full of saints' days and feasts. It is also the last feast of the Nativity. The Purification of the Virgin Mary and Presentation of Christ in the Temple are the last celebrations of the infant narrative and come as we start to prepare for Lent and Christ's prophetic ministry on Earth. It is hard to believe it, but today is the first Sunday in the countdown to the Lenten season. It feels like this entire past year has been a long Lent. I try to remember that Lent is given to us to be strengthened for the work Christ has us to do.

We keep our Christmas tree up through the entirety of the Christmas season, plus the Feast of the Purification. So, we have to take it down this week. That makes me a little sad, but it is good to have a visual break in the seasons of the year. I will take the crèche down and put our normal mantel decorations back up, and we will have a couple weeks before we participate in the bright sadness that is Lent. For this week, though, we feast and celebrate.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday. Linking to Menu Plan Monday

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:42 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 30, 2017

Menu Plan: January 29 - February 4


We come again to the end of Christmas. The Christmas season officially ends on Thursday, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, also known as Candlemas. We will light all our Advent and Christmas candles and the kids will all light candles at the table and we will pray that the Light Who entered the world would enlighten us all.

Our weeks are just getting busier. I have my first community choir rehearsal this week, and our co-op started last week. Not surprisingly, I'm having to shuffle meals and menus. I'm also having to plan meals that are quicker or can be slow cooked or that can be made by the kids more easily. Really, though, I'd like them to plan a little of that, too. There are a few repeats this week, too.

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 4:48 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 01, 2016

Menu Plan: January 31 - February 6

We have a week and a half before Lent begins, and we're gearing up for a pretty rough one, in terms of meal planning. Because of the health issues I've had over the past year, and with the results from a food allergy test, we are going to be eating on a pretty strict diet for our shared meals, to save me the trouble of making numerous meals. We'll do our normal Lenten observance as a family, which is mitigated by our having young children and so on, but while the kids will have dairy and egg available to them for breakfasts and lunches, we won't when it comes to dinners. We will still be eating fish and shellfish occasionally, and have oil and wine available to us, so it is still not the strictest rule, but we are going from doing this twice a week during Lent to the whole time. Please pray for us as we go through this. We truly believe that God will use this as a good time of growth and strengthening for us, but planning for it is pretty daunting for me.

Back to the present, though. There is one repeat that I can think of this week. We ended up with a breakfast for dinner one night last week when our schedules were shifted because of some things at Rich's work. Tuesday is the Feast of the Purification and Presentation, it is the final day in the Christmas season. It is also known as Candlemas, as it is the day that the candles for the year are blessed, because of the procession of light that happens to mark the Light of the World being brought to the Temple and being made known to God's people. We are in the middle of taking down all of our Christmas decorations and we plan to have a candlelit dinner with our Advent wreath, our Christ candle, and all the kids' candles lit at the table, and a Christmas cake for dessert.

This week has our last set of readings for going through the Bible in a year. Next week will have the last reading of the year. If you wish to do them again this year, the dates remain the same for the readings (that means you either have a free day or a catch up day on February 29). We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras, though this is complicated by it sometimes being I Esdras being Ezra in modern language and II Esdras being Nehemiah, and in that case, there is a III Esdras, it really depends on which translation you read - Jeremiah in the Septuagint translation of the OT is numbered significantly differently, as well, so you may want to look up a comparison of the Hebrew and Septuagint numbering).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 5:56 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 02, 2015

Menu Plan: February 1 - 7

Well, if you were looking for the nutball soup recipe, you noticed that it wasn't posted Saturday. I was going to do a try to get that posted first, but I will just have to add it to this week's recipe post.

We used to go to Superbowl parties at other people's homes and hang out by the snacks while everyone else watched the game. Now, we just stay home, make snacks ourselves, and have a little anti-Superbowl party. I cannot say how much I appreciate that Rich is not a sports fiend. We watched Labyrinth, ate snacky foods, and Rich and I fell asleep. We are still in serious sleep deprivation due to Nejat's not sleeping much at night. She slept through the night exactly once this week. We could still use your prayers. As could she.

Today is the last day of the Christmas season. It is the Feast of the Purification, when Saint Mary came with the infant Jesus to the temple for her purification and His presentation. It is a feast of light, and it is traditional for churches to have candle light processions and for candles for the year to be blessed on this day. The Light of the World was made known on this day. I love that this is a feast celebrated together by both East and West. I love the idea of rest that is given by God and the Church for women after childbirth, and the welcoming back into communal worship with the rituals of the purification and, now, the churching of women.

This means that we are inching closer to Lent again. Our diet will be nearly all vegetarian during that time, so we are enjoying our meat and treats for now. Our Bible reading plan begins in February, so I will begin posting the references with each day. These are not the lectionary readings, but a plan to get through the entire Bible in a year.
What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:54 AM 0 comments

Monday, February 03, 2014

Menu Plan Monday: February 2 - 8

Rich invited me on an impromptu date Saturday night, to try a semi-local pizza place, and they had a deal so we brought home a couple for the kids and moved Saturday's dinner to Sunday. This week is pretty full of activities for us, so a lot of our meals are either quick to put together, or can be made slowly in the oven or crock pot.
What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a recipe round up on Saturday.


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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:59 PM 0 comments

Sunday, February 02, 2014

The End of Christmas


Today is the last day of the Nativity season. Today, our Nativity scenes will come down. We play Christmas carols and hymns for the last time. It is the 40th day of Christmas, the day the Virgin Mary went to the temple in Jerusalem to be purified and that both she and St. Joseph brought the infant Jesus to be presented in the temple and to redeem Him as the first born son - the male who opened the womb. Jesus was the "Author of the Law accomplishing what was laid down by the law."

Our priest at the church we attend here gave a most excellent sermon drawing from the gospel reading for the Purification:

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the

"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."


And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

"Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. - Luke 2:22-38

Father preached about how even though Jesus was God, and St. Mary and St. Joseph knew that, they still fulfilled God's law. That it wasn't simply an option to them. Yet, how easily we make excuses, and dispensations for our own disobedience. He went on to explain the obligation to attend the liturgy, and how easy it is to stop after that first lapse. He contrasted the ease of using contraception with the challenge of using NFP and charting. We really appreciated how he contrasted the actual opposites, rather than contrasting contraception with lots of children as our society does. He focused on how both Mary and Joseph went to present Jesus, not just one of them. The faith is transmitted when both parents share in it themselves and share in teaching it to their children. He closed by discussing how Jesus was not consulted as to whether or not He wished to do this. They did not wait until He was old enough to make a decision Himself. Their role as parent and guardian was to provide His most essential needs, such as food and shelter, clothing, education, but spiritual grace, belonging to the faith, was the primary need of any child. They, in modern terms, "forced" Him into the faith. The faith of the parents is what provides for their children's faith, and it was their job to provide it, just as they provide the other necessities to their children. Rich and I were thrilled to hear such a direct and true teaching.

This is the end of the infancy narrative of Jesus' life in scripture and in the liturgical year. We are moving now toward preparing for Lent and the Resurrection. We will live out His life and the lives of the saints throughout the year so as to experience them ourselves and grow more deeply in love and knowledge.

In our life this past year, we experienced a little of this on a more comprehensive level with Nejat. The Orthodox Church imposes (as did the western Church until the middle of the last century) a time of rest and recuperation on mothers. For 40 days she is to stay home with her baby, not even going to church, caring for herself and her child. She is brought back to church on that 40th day, to be purified and churched again, welcomed back into the assembly. Again, God shows His wisdom in guiding His Church. This is an excellent way to allow the woman to recover from childbirth in health, and a way to protect a tiny infant's immunity. An Orthodox friend of mine shared that her pediatrician, on learning this practice, said that she wished all churches taught this.

Since Nejat had a weakened immunity, we decided it would be wise to look to Mother Church for guidance. We had already come to the place that we wished to start this practice, but now, it was essential for her health. It was just to risky to introduce any other germs, bacteria, or viruses to her. So, I took 40 days of rest with her at home. I did miss much. I couldn't go to the girls' ballet recital (but we bought the video, and Rich took pictures for me), Jerome's t-ball games, Alexander and Dominic's fencing picnic. We couldn't allow even our own children to hold her until this time was over (and they scrubbed up as though entering the NICU/ICU before even going in the room with her). We were told not to allow anyone outside our immediate family to hold her until after she was six months old, and even then, only if they had not been exposed to serious illness.

It was a time of fear. It was a time of rest. It was a time of expectation. It was a time of weakness. It was a time of quiet. It was a time of learning. It was a time of creativity. Eventually, it was a time of strength. We had to lean on God each day. We had a brutal schedule of feeding her every two hours, which required waking a sleepy preemie newborn, sometimes stripping her naked to get her cold enough to wake up to eat, and since Rich had used all of his sick leave and vacation time with me in the hospital, he had to return immediately to work when we got home. Our other children had to do almost all of the cooking and cleaning and managing of our home, and Nejat had no margin of error. We were weighing her daily. She had been nursing so well, but was burning too many calories nursing, so we had to go to pumping and bottle feeding for the first three weeks or so. She was born at 4 pounds, 13 ounces, and by the time we brought her home from the NICU, only four days later, she was 4 pounds 4 ounces, well below the comfortable 10% weight drop. The day we were able to let her sleep through one feeding was a miracle. I learned hard lessons of literally crying over wasted milk, milliliters of it. A lack meant our daughter didn't eat. Even when I was permitted to nurse her directly (for two feedings a day), my supply was lower from the inefficiency of even a hospital grade, high end pump, and it was hard for all of us. Poor Rich woke one morning to his crying wife and tiny daughter who were on the couch having trouble nursing and me terrified of what it meant if our daughter couldn't gain enough weight to regulate her own temperatures and to develop. He told me to get him the next time, but more than that, he asked me to let go of my fear. He held my hands and prayed with me and pushed me to pray and give my fear to Him who casts out all fear. It was a time of refining.

I learned to lean on God in ways I never had to do before. We were watching for weight gains in half ounce increments. She grew, and she was able to nurse completely again, my supply came up, she passed her birth weight. She is doing well, though she is still much smaller than even our skinny babies are at this age. We've heard that she won't really catch up to her potential size and development until around two years old. Although she was born only a month early, since the trauma happened at two months prior to her due date, and we watched her growth and development in the hospital, we suspect that her body went from growth to development so she'd be ready to be born at any moment. She was so little, but she was able to do almost everything she needed to at birth. In some ways, though, it is like she was born two months earlier, so her development seems to match that. At first, she had excellent neck control from birth, she could nurse like a full term baby, she smiled right on time, rolled to her back on time, laughed close to on time, so I had hopes she'd just develop at a normal rate, but at nearly nine months, she still can't roll from he back to her stomach, though she's close and she can get on hands and knees and rock and scoots like nobody's business, she cannot sit up on her own, though she's getting there. At around 11 pounds, she just doesn't have the body mass to do this. We've only started her on tastes of some solid food because of this.

So, this year, as we walked through the Nativity season, we had a more intimate understanding of that time of separation and the time of purification. The first words Nejat heard from us were "I love you," and "Christ is risen!" They were the two most important things she needed to know. The first food she ate was the Eucharist, which was the most important food she could receive. A medicine for the soul and the body. Having lived through this experience has drawn us closer to God, to our faith, to each other, and as a family. It has distilled what is truly important and necessary about life and our faith to us. We are so much more dependent on the sacraments now, as those are truly the things that matter. We realize the reality of them in a way that we didn't before, even though we believed it before. So, coming to the Purification this year has been a deeper and richer experience, a more meaningful understanding of the faith that we hold.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 3:38 PM 2 comments

Monday, January 30, 2012

Menu Plan: January 29 - February 4

We're getting ourselves ready for the summer garden. It's our coping mechanism for the freakishly cold weather here. We can get our onion seeds started and I think celery seeds, so that's what we're doing. We're also getting ready to order replacement and new seeds for this year and trying to get moving toward working on the soil.

This week's meals are fairly simple. Our school week is light, but the rest of our schedule is pretty full. Aside from our normal activities, Rich's brother is in the area for work, so we're trying to see him as much as we can. The true end of the Christmas season is approaching, too. The Feast of the Presentation is Thursday, which marks the end of Christmas.What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:43 AM 1 comments

Monday, February 02, 2009

Menu Plan Monday: February 2

This is a short meal week for us. I only have to plan for five and a half days, as we have things planned for the weekend. This past weekend, the only thing I did relating to Super Bowl was to do some grocery shopping in the middle of it, when there was nobody at the stores. That was nice.

Today is the feast day of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called the feast of the Presentation, both titles refer to the same event. It is the commemoration of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple after the days of Mosaic purification were over for the Blessed Mother. Both East and West celebrate together today. There is actually still a service for the Churching of Women after childbirth. It is expected by Mother Church that a woman would take time away from church to rest and recuperate before returning again to be welcomed back and prayed over. This service is also called Thanksgiving of Women after Childbirth, though it is more commonly known as the Churching. It happens for a different reason than the Purification, but still commemorates the welcoming back of a woman to communal worship. Anyway, because it is a feast day, our daily office readings are different from the normal readings.

There are actually two feasts today, though they are related. It is also Candlemas, because the Presentation of the Lord is a feast of the incarnation and a type of epiphany, so in church the service would begin with a processional of candles. Because of that, the church began blessing all candles to be used for the year on this day. We will light our Christ candle during dinner tonight and serve sweet, filled crepes for dessert (they sort of look like a swaddled baby).
If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can.
What is on your menu this week?

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:35 AM 1 comments

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