How about a fresh perspective?

Natural Family Planning. It's a practice, a lifestyle, so to speak, that is very unknown in our culture and society today. And for us, Catholics, it's even rare to have heard much about it that's positive. Mr. ADM and I are working with an NFP (natural family planning) instructor to give our second talk on this subject matter to engaged couples who will be getting married in the Catholic Church. As I've been thinking about how to make our talk so much better the second time around, I happened to see this blog post, Simcha Fisher's Why Doesn't the Church Just Make a List?, on a few of my friends' Facebook pages. And it is a really superb article on certain aspects of NFP. It opened my eyes and really made me see a whole different side.

As I was reading this last night, my head was filling up with all sorts of great things to say that we missed the last time around. Then, today, she wrote this for the NCRegister which talks about God's will. Wow. Please, take some time to check out both! It'll be worth the extra 10 minutes!

Happy Feast of St. Francis of Assisi!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Apple Pickin'

I thought summer flowing into fall would bring a nice peace and tranquility to our lives. Summer was full of weddings, travelling, helping my parents move and juggling interviews and finding jobs. Now that fall has hit full swing (although technically not fall quite yet), our time has not gotten any less hectic. That's okay though. We say when we move next week, a routine will be set and we'll finally get that free time we have been talking about for 6 months or so.


In the midst of the chaos, we have been attempting to make Sunday the day it was meant to be, the Lord's Day. For us, this means no shopping if possible, going to Mass and then coming home to do as we please. That usually entails long naps, some computer/reading time, and a nice family dinner. However, even that can get hectic or seem to slip by without us noticing and then Monday comes back before we know it. This past Sunday, however, seemed to flow quite nicely and I felt like I could cherish the moment.


Being that we just started our new jobs, finances have been extra tight as we save up to actually live in a place on our own again. It's worth the sacrifice and we know what it is to scrimp n save, as we've been doing since the beginning of our marriage. So, when the two apple trees in my parents' yard seemed to be full of ripe fruit, ready to be picked, we seized the moment to go "apple pickin'." Matthew went apple picking for the first time last year and had a blast, so I knew Mark would love it too! We spent the afternoon picking apples and made a delicious apple crisp that night with our freshly picked apples. It was free and got a job done that my mom needed while having a wonderful family-bonding experience all in one :)! My boys love fruit (they get that from their daddy) and we're hoping (*hint hint*) that my mom will have time to make some apple sauce or teach us how to do it.

What's your favorite apple dish?

And Thus Begins Our Journey

Today begins the first day of this Lenten season and I feel like I have not been blindsided by this day for the first time in many years. It seems to creep up on me and then pass by with me barely realizing it. Each year I always say that I want to grow and I want to really focus on Lent and each year it seems like I fail. This year may be no different, but I hope that is not the case and I feel like I'm already on this journey.

Starting out this month already working on becoming a better me has helped me embark on this journey that much more easily. I have begun the hike up the mountain of betterment and I have already started wearing-in my boots. I have done okay working on not complaining. And I think I have done pretty well keeping my actual complaining words to a minimum. Now, I need to work on my attitude. Something else that has made me more alive and aware of the work involved in this journey is that I have a partner with whom I will go down this road - my husband. We have tried to keep prayer in our lives and we have succeeded many times and failed many times as well, but we have always gone through Lent separately. Last night, we sat down and talked about what we wanted to give up and where we wanted to head - individually, as a couple, and as a family - in this great journey. We didn't just talk about Lent, but the time we have left on this earth, be it minutes or many, many years. We know that if we want to raise our children to love God as much as we desire to then we have to live our faith and live it together. So, this Lent, I will have the man I married at my side, encouraging me to grow, and I will do the same for him. After all, that's what marriage is for :)...

Also, head on down to Relevant Radio's 40 Links for 40 Days for some great meditations and such to help you on your Lenten journey.

Lenten Sacrifices

Sacrifice. That is rarely a word that this world looks upon with any positivity today. And yet, in our Catholic faith, it's a word that is central to life. It is so easy to reject the notion of sacrificing, but the rewards are far greater if we embrace it.

With NaNoCompMo, sacrifice has been in my mind a lot more often than normal. My eyes are being open more and more to the little ways I can hold my tongue and become self-less in one way or another. I'm seeing that even when, and maybe especially when, I'm having particularly stressful, exhausting days, that I have not really done much sacrificing. Many times the stress is there because all I can think is, "What about ME? Why ME? What's in it for ME?"

This Lent, I am still not sure what I plan to sacrifice. There have been many ideas floating through my head. Whatever it is, I want it to be a challenge. I want to grow from it, not just be a little inconvenienced. What are you doing for Lent?