...need your help for this to be a success

Here's a message from another orthodox mom:

Marie L. Eliades M.A.

1805 Wagner Lane

Petaluma, CA 94954

707-766-6980

marie@eliades.net


Evlogeite!


I’ve been blessed to begin a project that my husband thought of and was further developed through conversations with others. What are we thinking? We were wondering how to raise strong Orthodox Christians in the anti-Christian world today. The answer obviously is through the prayers of the parents, the prayers of others and by the grace of God. We know that no good comes except through God. We want to be clear that we are not saying that anything can be done without Him and His grace but as parents we must do our part. We are very aware that God sometimes works not through the parents, their methods and lives but more often more in spite of them.

So, how do you fit in? We were thinking of putting together a book of practical parenting tips for the Orthodox Christian family today. We need your help for this to be a success. We’re proposing two parts of a book at the moment.

The first part will include: “Things I/we did that worked: what helped our family and our children grow in their relationship with Christ AND live in the world but not be OF the world.”

And part two: “Looking back: What I/we wish we had done differently in raising our children.” Or mistakes we made, something like that. Maybe some day we’ll produce something from some of our grown children with their opinions (YIKES!).

This is all subject to change. But there seems to be a real need here. A lot of us are or feel alone in this child rearing process. We think others are better at it than us or have a gift, when frankly I think most of us are surviving by grace & prayer alone. So, while none of us are perfect parents we ALL must have ONE thing we found that “worked” in our family and at least ONE thing we would like to change (given our druthers). If this one thing was shared (in a simplified format) we may be able to help a lot of parents raise their children in the faith.

The Church Fathers have a written not a few books on child rearing, though many are still in Greek. Of course there is St. Theophan, and currently Sr. Magdalene from Essex… Yet, what speaks to us who have to deal with: computers, sports, schools, television, internet…ouch the list goes on! AND none of us have ANY time to read! Let’s all make a simple suggestion book for the Orthodox parents of today and perhaps even tomorrow.

My question for you is; would you like to contribute? What would you like to offer to other Orthodox Christian parents? …Help?


Love in Christ,

Marie