How many women does it take to do a root canal?

Apparently 4, at least when it comes to my son Sasha: myself and 2 nurses (or dental equivalents) to hold his legs, hands and head, and 1 dentist to work on the actual tooth.

After 1.5 hours of struggle (with screams like: "I lied, I lied, my tooth wasn't hurting...It stopped hurting at 11:15." resounding through the dental office) to complete one procedure that should have taken 30 minutes, the dentist kindly asked us not to come back. And this was already the second dentist who threw us out. So the next time he will have dental work done under general anesthesia in a hospital. You'd better start brushing your teeth more carefully, buddy!

I can't really blame him, though. He has his parents' genes when it comes to his dental material. And the water running into your throat during drilling does feel yucky and scary.

He will grow out of it.  Right?

Flourishing Where Planted

I am a single (and proud) mom of a six-year-old son, Sasha. We live in Brooklyn, NY, with my mom. Central to my life also is that I was baptized in the Orthodox Church in 2001. 

Being a single mom is not what I envisioned for my life. This blog will be a chronicle of my efforts to flourish where I have been planted. Hopefully I will find things to write about that are of interest or amusement to others beyond just my immediate family as I balance motherhood, working full-time and serving the church to the best of my ability. The content will depend on what life sends my way, but I am pretty sure the following topics will come up:

• Redeeming "churchladyship"
• Surviving mommyhood
• Beware: Restricted Cooking Area (keeping the fasts, gluten-free baking, weight-management)
• Growing in Faith

I'm sure I will end up reporting a whole slew of disasters as I overreach, overcommit, and underestimate. Regardless, this blog will give me the opportunity delve into the world of blogging and food photography, both areas where I am a complete novice.

It might take me a while before I can get anything interesting posted-excess time is not something I have much of-but perhaps occasionally there will be something here you find amusing. In the mean time, may God bless you and have mercy on us!

Christ is Risen! Indeed he is Risen!