Now *That’s* Lazy!

Yesterday the kids were playing tag on the playground.  Andrea was it.  I overheard this bit:

Philip – Andrea, come get me!

Andrea – No, you come here.

Sigh…I really need to get some dupas in motion in our family.

London Bridge is Burning Down!

We had a great time today simulating the Great Fire of London in 1666.  Each of the kids recreated a building which we put together to make a city (complete with rats running rampant) and then burned it down.  There were some great little details the kids included.  The fire supposedly started in the bakery (created by guess who?  Food Many John of course!).  We dropped a match stick head in there to simulate the coal that escaped from the bakery oven and then dropped a lit match. It wasn’t long before the whole city was in flames since the buildings were all so close together.  We even had JT play the part of the Lord Mayor and exclaim, “Pish!  That fire could be put out by a woman!”  David’s cooper’s shop had a couple of barrels, the shipyard had caps to simulate the tar in the warehouse which supposedly exploded as it burned. That was fun to hear the little popping sounds as the caps were set off by the fire.  It only took maybe 2 minutes to burn completely to ashes.   

Happy Birthday JT!

Thirteen Candles!

Decree of Adoption

Whereupon, it is this 7th day of January, 2010, by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Maryland,

Adjudged, Ordered and Decreed that the adoptee is hereby declared to be the child of Joel Thaddeus Klopcic and Mary Kalbach-Klopcic for all intents and purposes; and is entitled to all of the rights and priveleges of and is subject to all of the obligations of a child born to the adoptive parent.

Adjudged, Ordered and Decreed, that the name of said adoptee be declared Andrea Kathryn Klopcic.

Tali Potato Head

Happy New Year!

January 2010

To all our dear friends and family,

Last year we didn’t manage to get the annual epistle together, a symptom of the painfulness of 2008 which we were all more than happy to put behind us.  2009 has been a kinder, gentler year, although a typically busy one.  Our family is larger, wiser, and more compassionate for all we’ve experienced over the past two years.

For those who have been completely out of the Klopcic loop, Tad eventually had to lay down his priesthood and we exited the Charismatic Episcopal Church forever.  It was an extremely painful and frustrating leave-taking.  While he misses some aspects of being in that ministry, he is thrilled to be back to full-time ministry as a husband and dad to his crew.  At last report, that crew was about to add child number 10, Talitha Hope, who tally-ho’d her way into the world in July of 2008.  Now at 19 months of age, Tali continues to delight and frighten all in her path with her determined personality and zest for trouble.

2009 has also brought a couple of new family members into our midst.  Andrea came to us in July from India via a disrupted adoption to parents in Texas.   She clocks in at 12 years old (making her our fourth child with a birth year of 1997), has some special needs including a hearing impairment which is corrected with the use of a bone assisted hearing aid (BAHA) and has fit right into our household.  She and Miriam have become fast friends and good companions.  She will become a permanent member of our family in Annapolis Court on January 7th.  That adoption was complicated a bit by another pregnancy and Mairs once again balanced adoption paperwork off a growing belly.  Natalie Faith entered the world on August 31st and rounded out our numbers to an even 6 girls and 6 boys.   For the first time ever, we were able to keep her sex a surprise until her delivery, which caused no small amount of consternation amongst her siblings over which way the gender scales would tip.   And now, for the 3rd time in our child-rearing years, we find ourselves with 5 children ages 6 and under.  And for the first time we find ourselves the parents of teenagers and our therapist has found himself hard at work.

After wandering a bit through churchlessness we found a home in the Ancient Christian faith.  Tad’s seminary studies came in handy as we sought out the Orthodox faith he had studied as a seminarian.  We stumbled across a Ukrainian Orthodox church and immediately fell in love with the ages-old practices of their liturgy.  In 2008 our entire family was chrismated as Eastern Orthodox Christians and now both Tali and Faith have the joy of being our first “cradle” Orthodox family members.  Besides falling in love with Eastern Orthodoxy in general (Benjamin is now a self-professed “Orthodork”), we have also been warmly welcomed into our small mission parish family.  They have taken our large numbers quite in stride and showered us with love and blessings beyond our wildest imaginations.  For the first time in a very long time we have found joy and freedom in our faith life and our church family.

Our homeschooling continues, now encompassing students in preschool through middle school.  This year we recruited Muffy and Granddad to help with the teaching load which has given us opportunity to connect with all of Mairs’ family on a weekly basis.  Sports-wise we have ventured into rugby and track over the past year and JT has been able to play with a travel soccer team and get some fantastic coaching.  Philip, Miriam and Andrea are playing basketball in the Discovery League where Philip has earned a reputation as a real hotshot. Philip, Ruth and Betsy have joined Tad and Mairs in the Four Evangelists choir and we are all getting quite an education in ancient chanting methods, tones and themes, while Ben and John Michael have been serving on the front lines on the altar.  The older girls have found a wonderful dance instructor who has been inspired by them to go back to school to become a special educator while Betsy, John Michael and David have enjoyed taking gymnastics together.  Ben and Betsy are also taking acting classes and  continue to be involved in performances on both our own basement stage and out in the great wide world.  Their acting class is putting up a production of Oz in which both have various ensemble parts.  As a final project last year, Ben was instructed to write a parody of a fairy tale as a stage script and then stage a full production.  His basement production of Knight Black and the Three and a Half Giants was outstanding.  He and Betsy and Tad have also been rehearsing with the Radio Buffs and will be part of an old-style radio recording of It’s a Wonderful Life in March at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

We ended 2009 with a surprise opportunity to watch God at work.  Mairs got a call two weeks before Christmas from a  friend she’d only met through an internet support group.  Beverly, her husband and 8 boys had found themselves without a home and as a last resort called us to see if we had room in the inn.  Of course we said yes.  So with Beverly and her family added to  Adora and Nehemiah and the rest of us, our household has swelled to 26 – 5 adults and 21 children aged 17 and under.  We can honestly say that this has been the most meaningful Christmas we’ve ever experienced.  If you want an opportunity to experience the wonder of God coming to us as a baby – ancient, great and wonderful, yet small and new – then open your home to those who need Him most and love them for all you’re worth.  No words can express what that act will teach your heart.

May you all have a joyous and faith-filled 2010!  Glory to Jesus Christ!

Tad, Mairs, 

Miriam, JT, Andrea, Philip, Ben, Ruth, Betsy, John Michael, David, Nathan, Tali, Faith,

Adora, and Nehemiah

New Year’s Day Landscape

Some Christmas Moments

Baptismal Liturgy Out-takes

As with most major events, we did have a few things go awry during the Baptismal Liturgy for Faith and Andrea.  I thought I would share our out-takes as well as the solemnity of the Liturgy.  This picture I used in the puppies post was actually taken shortly after the baptisms.  David got a bit close to the camera trying to see what was going on on the other side of the lens and I snapped this shot.  This totally says David to me.

Faith’s baptism actually took two tries.  Father Greg began to baptize her and then realized he had neglected to pull up the sleeves of his vestments so he stopped and handed the baby back in order to get himself better prepared.  I have a video of his first attempt cut short.

And these photos are priceless.  The ladies had gotten Faith all dressed in her sweet little gown after the baptism and neglected to remember that her feet would need to remain bare for the chrismation.  So we had to remove the little socks and shoes during the service and then when Alex and Lia sat down with her again they tried to redress her feet.  It seems Alex had forgotten how to use shoes and socks and when I glanced in their direction all I could see was Alex’s big hands lost in the folds of gown, his brow furrowed in perplexity, and Lia in hysterics.  I think Pani Chris finally came to his rescue.

In this photo Peggy, Tali’s godmother, came to our rescue while we were trying to take a gazillion pictures into which Tali was not invited.  She insisted on crashing the photo party until I finally dumped her into Peggy’s lap and begged her to keep Tali occupied.  The last I heard they were looking at an icon of the Hospitality and Tali was gleefully shouting out her favorite phrase, “Eat! Eat!”

I adore our church family.  I love that we have these pictures and memories alongside the more traditional memories of the occasion.  I love that we’re all human and in this together and that there are so many hands and hearts willing to love our children.  I love that.

Taking the Puppies to Church

While I was pregnant with Faith, I occasionally missed going to Divine Liturgy.  On those occasions, I would stay home with my feet up and we would leave JM, David and Nathan home with me.  On one such Sunday Tad had the following exchange with one of our parishioners:

Where is Mary?

She’s home with the boys.

Oh, I miss the boys.

Really?  They’re, um, not exactly all that well-behaved.

No, but I like all their activity. 

Really?  Hmm…

Yes, it’s sort of like going to church with puppies.

I like this.  I like it a lot.  It has totally changed my perspective of the business my 6 and under crowd performs throughout Divine Liturgy.  I know they can’t sit still for 2 hours but the shenanigans they go through during those two hours would give a circus acrobat a run for his money.  More often than not, they are rolling on the floor, wrestling with one another, picking their noses, unpacking someone’s purse, rifling through the choir director’s music, banging on the metal chairs or just banging their bodies together in various forms of Smash the Brother.  I try.  I really do.  I try to keep them quiet and contained and paying attention but sometimes I just need to accept that puppies will be puppies no matter where they are.