It's a Girl!

Mary Therese! We already gave her permission to become either a Norbertine or Carmelite sister ;-)

GI-Jane??

All over the news today they are talking about the new policy that allows women to serve our country in a combat zone. Many are celebrating this as a victory for "women's rights". That response is a far cry from the one I have. Here again we have the strike and doom of the very misdirected feminist movement. I am all about women being treated well and I consider myself a real feminist. By this I mean that I really do believe that femininity is something amazing that should be honored, respected, and celebrated. Unfortunately those who usually consider themselves feminists do not honor, respect, or celebrate femininity. Instead they seek to do away with it by making women just liken men. Men and women are different (thank God for that) and this world needs both. By demanding that women be treated like they are men, "feminists" are basically saying that femininity is a disease that needs to be cured, that it is something that needs to be done away with. Putting women on the front lines of the battle field does nothing to celebrate the gift that is womanhood. What a sad culture we live in where so many women are told that the very essence of who they are as women is not valuable to our world, that it is not worth protecting. We have already begun to see the dramatic and dark effects of living in a world ruled by false feminism. Mom's are no longer home raising their children because the world tells them that they deserve to work and they have much more to give to society. Women do have much to give to society, they have motherhood to give. Every child has the right to a mom at home. Studies are clearly showing the benefits on both mothers and children of a mom at home. Women are told that suppression of one of the major systems in their body (reproductive) will free them. Instead it has led to more sexual mistreatment of women and an increase in infertility and STDs. And now this new decision to put women in the battle field tells women that we don't deserve to be protected the way society did for hundreds of years. My husband always says that nature has a way of correcting itself and we will live the consequences of our actions. As society continues to see a decline in the honor and respect of femininity I hate to think how correction will come and what further consequences we will face. This is a sad day for women and for our country!

Motherhood on my Heart

It is amazing to me how much becoming a mom has already changed my life. I have never felt such a strong need to protect. In his generosity and goodness God has entrusted Eric and I with one of His precious souls and the responsibility and privilege is both wonderful and scary. It delights and weights heavy on my heart how much I need to protect our little girl and form her for her ultimate life goal of being one day united with God in heaven. My life will never be the same and my life is no longer just about me. I think constantly about my daughter. With every decision I make I think how it will effect her. I even find myself trying to simplify my life because simplicity is a virtue I would like to instill in her. I think "do I really need new shoes? The old ones are still okay and the money I save can be used to buy something for Mary." I think how much I want to love and respect Eric because I want her to grow up seeing her daddy as her hero and the man she turns to and respects above all others knowing that a profound respect for him will prepare her for marriage (if that be her vocation) and ultimately a beautiful relationship with her Father in heaven. I often think about the state of this world and how Eric and I will shield her from the evils and slowly introduce her to society so she can be a light in the darkness. I have become aware of the kinds of people I will be okay with her spending time with and the people whose influence I do not want upon her as well as people who I want in her life influencing her in ways Eric and I desire. I find the need to grow in holiness myself even more pressing because I need to develop the virtues I want to model for her. What a beautiful vocation motherhood is! I know one thing for sure, Eric and I will only be successful at raising our daughter into a Saint if we raise her on our knees placing her at the feet of Christ every single day. She is entrusted to our care but she is not our own. She belongs to God and our job is to help get her to heaven so she can be with Him for all eternity. And this journey begins now, even while she is still growing in my womb. I can see why some of the amazing mom's I have talked to said they found themselves praying several rosaries a day for their children :)

Preach the Gospel...

We live in a crazy upside down world. I believe the greatest evil we face today is relativism and not just relativism but an acceptance of relativism. In our world we are so afraid to offend or push people away that the answer often given is to just remain silent. I often hear people say "preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words." Reflecting on the Gospels, nowhere can I find this in the teachings of Jesus and just a little FYI, Saint Francis never actually said that. Jesus preached the truth even when it was hard and many left him because of it (ironically this is found in John 6:66). The Saints all fought the fallacies of their day and many even gave their lives rather than be silent.  It sadness me that even many well meaning Christians accept this idea that we should keep our faith to ourselves and avoid confrontation. We will accept and defend someone's "right" to preach lies but we shutter when someone corrects error and demands that truth be preached. If we allow a mind set like this to continue we will get a world like...well like our current one in which lies are held up as truth and the truth of Christ is seen as judgmental and unacceptable. We wonder how our world got to where it is today? A world where killing a baby in the womb is legal and marriage is under attack and things that were once unthinkable are now defended as tolerable. We got to this point because we stopped speaking up, we stopped demanding that lies be exposed and truth take center stage. Jesus said that he came to bring the sword (Mt 10:34) and even further he said “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14: 26). Jesus is very clear that HE comes first and we must be willing to sacrifice everything for Him, even our own family. Yes we must use prudence when we preach and Jesus modeled this too. He spoke differently to women then he did to men and chose his words carefully based on who he was speaking to but this idea that we should just let alone and leave them in their error is not something I find our Lord ever doing. Jesus' example shows that we must first be people of great prayer so we are led by the Holy Spirit and then we must be people unafraid to preach his truth. I have never been one to be silent about my faith. I married a man who is the same way and we will teach our daughter to defend her faith as well. The world says to avoid talking about religion and politics but since nothing is more important than the soul my husband and I both embrace the necessity to discuss religion. Nothing is more important in life than living our the faith given by Jesus Christ. The world is dying from a lack of truth. The world is starving for Jesus and it often isn't being fed because the lies of relativism tell us to be quiet. On the judgment day I pray that I am able to look our Lord in his eyes and say I at least tried. I can't promise my efforts will lead others to him but I can rest assured knowing that I was not afraid and not silent. "But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father" Matthew 10:33

A few other verses that pertain to this topic worth quoting... 

1 Peter 3:15- always be ready to give an explantion

Jude 1:3- defend the faith that God has entrusted

Hosea 4:6- people are ruined for lack of knowledge

God Speaks

I love it when I read a meditation or hear a prayer said or words of wisdom in a homily that feel like God is speaking right to me. This morning the chaplain at the school where I teach read a meditation that was exactly what I needed to hear. I am now 14 1/2 weeks pregnant and everyone told me my nausea would ease up at 13 weeks. Well instead of easing up it took a turn for the worse and I began losing my food. I am now taking medicine to calm the nausea but am still unable to eat and am not yet gaining any weight. I suffer willingly for my little daughter (BTW we are having a girl!) but that doesn't mean it is easy. I was so disappointed when I did not start feeling better at the end of the first trimester. Today's mediation was a beautiful reminder to me that God has His own timing and all He asks is that I trust. Perhaps I will be sick until the day I deliver this little miracle or perhaps next week I will be able to eat again; either way all will happen according to God's plan and I need to remind myself to never try to speed His plan along. I love God's plan of blessing Eric and I with new life and I love carrying our child and I will trust in how He sees fit to bring this blessing to completion. I will surrender myself to His ways! Maybe this mediation will speak to your heart as well today!

1 Year

Wow what a difference a year can make! 1 year ago today I went on a date with a man I had never met. We were set up by his sister who I met at a Catholic Bible Study. She tried for about 8 months to get me to go out with her brother but due to being very busy it took a while to make it happen. I went on the date thinking "it's no big deal" and having no expectations. Little did I know that night I would be impressed by this man's kindness and gentlemanly ways (and of course how handsome he is). 1 year later we are now married and expecting our first child. This last year has been the most amazing year of my life. I always trusted God had great blessings in mind for me but my imagination was not big enough to think of this. God's timing is so perfect and if we just trust in Him all will work out as it is supposed to. If you ever feel lost, think how much your life could change in just 1 year! Let God surprise you and you will not regret it!

Thank you Eric for loving me and giving me the best year of my life. I can't wait to spend at least 50 more years with you!!

Our First Date

God's Ways not the Culture's

As more and more people learn of mine and Eric's little miracle inside my tummy one thing has taken me by surprise; there have been people who have questioned if I was pregnant before we got married. A few have even told me that they took out a calendar and added up the weeks to be sure it was correct. There are also some who don't realize that pregnancy weeks are calculated from the woman's last menstrual cycle. Eric and I are 9 weeks today. We got married 7 weeks ago and conceived on our wedding night (we know because we were charting my fertility). Because they calculate from the first date of my last period (October 1st) I am placed at 9 weeks pregnant. Sorry if that was a little TMI! Due to people not knowing this information some have counted the weeks since I was married and assumed that means I was pregnant two weeks before the wedding. Initially I was very hurt. I have spent the last four years of my life teaching Christian morality and the year prior to that teaching abstinence education in public schools in Ohio. Chastity and sexual purity has always been something very important to me and the fact that people doubted me was hurtful. Once I got past my pride and realized that this is a very common stumbling block even for some of the most faithful people I know, I was able to step back and look at the bigger picture of what is going on. We live in a contraceptive culture that can be very selfish. Eric and my situation is a slap in the face to our culture. Often times couples will date for several years, be engaged for at least 1 year and then wait a while before having kids. Now I am not judging the decisions other people make. I have several friends who would love to have children and have not been able to, so we should never assume that someone without kids is acting selfishly, but the reality is that in many cases couples use contraception to avoid pregnancy for the first year or so of their marriage. Eric and I on the other hand met, got engaged, were married, and pregnant in just over 10 months. When we met we both understood the purpose of dating and marriage and as soon as we heard the call of the Lord we followed without delay. During our engagement we decided to learn the Creighton model of NFP in case we experience any infertility. By the way for anyone reading this struggling to get pregnant, it is the most effective way to treat infertility and it is natural and affordable. As we were charting my fertility we realized that there was a good chance that my cycle would line up perfectly for us to potentially conceive on our wedding night or soon after. We talked about this and both expressed how amazing it would be to conceive right away. We both want a large family and we see that children are one of the primary purposes of marriage. Neither of us desired at all to wait to start having kids. I always remember my mom telling me that when she got pregnant she loved my dad a little more because they had made something that was 50% of each of them. So beautiful! I now understand completely. Not only did Eric and I like the idea of getting pregnant right away, we prayed for it. I wrote about this in my last blog so why am I talking about it again? It occurred to me as people were questioning when we conceived that we are totally opposite of our culture. Our desires and situation are not the norm and so I think many people can't even imagine our situation being real. It's hard to believe that two people really did conceive right away because that doesn't happen very often. I bet 100 years ago no one would have even batted an eye at our situation. It was expected that couples were chaste and without the use of contraception people got pregnant quickly and even saw it as a blessing. I am happy to be counter cultural. We are elated to already be a family. When we follow God's call in our lives we should expect some persecution and questioning. Eric and I believe that God is asking us to be an example of Catholic family life the way He designed it. What the future has in store we know not but for now I accept that people will often question us as we strive to follow God's ways and not the ways of the culture.