Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

Next week is another round of NFP Awareness Week!

I'm totally on theme this year,  Yeah!

So often it can feel like you are the only couple in your parish/town/state/world trying to get NFP to work for you. It's tough - but it really doesn't have to be.

I've got some new NFP couples for you to meet. Real people walking this walk.

Check back next week to read their full stories!

1

Amanda & Josh

photographer: Maria Kanevskaya Garcia

Josh: I am a newlywed, mechatronic engineer, and looking forward to starting a family. I am not Catholic, and don't consider myself religious, but I am supportive of wife's faith. We recently transplanted from Berkeley, CA to Portland, OR, and are exploring all that our new city has to offer.

Amanda: I am a new wife, visual artist, and recently "reverted" Catholic, returning to the Church in 2015. I'm able to be a homemaker and focus full-time in the studio making drawings that merge the fascination I discover from drawing dead insects and the beauty I encounter within the Mass. I'm inspired by the "way of beauty" and I want to bring Christ to the culture and to our home.

2

Rebecca & David

We met at a teacher training six years ago with each a son from a broken past.  He taught Phenomenology and Biodynamic Agriculture at Rudolf Steiner College where I came to study Waldorf education.  David stayed 20 years prior at a Zen Buddhist monastery, then studied sustainable agriculture and beekeeping, and had high dreams of becoming a monk.  I grew up in Louisiana and was a very happy Montessori preschool teacher who went on a quest to expand her early childhood knowledge and turn it into mission work for impoverished families.  We both grew up in Christian homes, David Catholic and I protestant.  We both were still searching for more.  Catholicism felt like coming home for both of us- it literally swept us off our feet.  David is now a religion teacher at a Salesian High School and I am home with our two new little ones :)

3

Kaye

I am a 26 year old Catholic wife and mother (little girl, 15 months). My husband and I got married the summer after we graduated college and then moved across the country to start our lives together. Since then we have experienced many adventures such as living in Germany and having our first child. Like any other couple we have also experienced sadness. During our first year of marriage We experienced the loss of a child (my first pregnancy).

4

If you're just dying to read an NFP story RIGHT NOW, go over and get to know Erin and Alex who were awesome enough to let me tell their story when I had only been blogging about a week.
Like 8 days. Thanks y'all!

5

Here's what is happening with Erin and Alex now:

Our lives have changed quite a bit in the last year! Erin finished her Ph.D. and we moved to Southeastern Idaho for Erin to start her post-doc. This shift in employment for her meant that we could officially change our status from "trying to avoid" to "trying to whatever" (although Erin continues to chart because she loves data)!  We hope to finally start a family soon but are patiently waiting on God's timing. 

In the meantime,we're also listening for any word on how to use our spiritual gifts (or develop new ones!) during our time here in Idaho. There are not many Catholics in this part of Idaho and there's just one parish in our town. There also seems to be a shortage of NFP instructors according to our cursory research, which has definitely caused us to reflect on whether we can help with that. Whatever the next year holds for us, we plan to keep telling others about the many benefits of NFP!

6

Erin and I were reminiscing this week about how we came to realize we both did NFP. 

Even in our safe, supportive, Catholic circles the subject did not come up. We only figured it out when one of us brought up an article from the Family Foundations magazine the Couple to Couple League publishes.

Here's some thoughts on why we need to get more comfortable about getting personal.

7

All of these couples are people I met through either the young adult group at our parish or through Endow.

We will be starting up our newest study in September on the Dignity and Vocation of Women (Mulieris Dignitatum). It focuses on the Anthropological and Theological foundations for women in the Church in a very approachable way. 

AKA. right up my alley!

These groups have been some of the best faith sharing opportunities I've had in my adult life. If there is an Endow group in your area, I really recommend you check them out!

The Other Things Are Still Happening!

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for another round of 7 Quick Takes!

Some of you know it's been quite the week, but there have been other stuff going on in our lives. Promise.

1

We celebrated a belated Feast of Pope St. John Paul II last Friday with dirt and worms! 

I learned that the only candy my kids agree on are gummy worms. I can roll with that.

I also made some for my Endow group. I make the grown ups have liturgical fun too.

2

This little monkey has zero interest in walking, but an insatiable thirst for climbing.

Finding her under the cart is becoming a regular occurrence. 

3

As is this.

Obviously, it is easier to climb over every single pot and pan than it is to go around the corner.

Babies!

4

We have been in full swing Halloween prep time for a while, but things are coming together now!

I almost always carve my jack o' lanterns with a moon and stars.

Because I'm not trying to win any contests. 

But it's pretty, no?

5

I thought about getting a better picture, but I kind of like photo bombing wand in the front there. He's got spunk.

One of the successful Potter DIY's...WANDS! 

These are made out of paper, hot glue, and lots of metallic spray paint.

They also had glow in the dark spray paint at the store, but I resisted.

But how awesome would that be though?!

6

You might have noticed there have not been homeschool preschool updates for a bit. 

(Or not, that's fine too.)

We are on our halfway point vacation!

This is one of my curriculum policies. We steam ahead trying out different approaches on a curriculum until we find our groove. Once we reach about halfway, we have normally found the groove and a break will not be too detrimental to getting back on track.

Halfway is about how long I would give a little kid program to work. If it was not going well, this is the time I would use to find something else. 

But it's going fine, so this is Halloween fun time instead!

7

Reminder, time change this Sunday! Don't let this be you!

Credit: Catholic Memes

It is really sad to be ready to sing awesome songs on Sunday....

....and then look out at a very sparse church.

Because they couldn't be trusted to notice things like Daylight Savings Time ending.

Don't make your church ladies sad!

7 Quick Takes: The Endow Post!

Linking with with This Ain't the Lyceum to bring you another round of 7 Quick Takes!

One of the ways I manage to get in some of the learning and studying of the Catholic faith (that we're supposed to keep doing as Catholic adults) is to find a way to do it with some accountability and incentive. For me, Endow (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) has been that way.

Here is why I like them so much:

1. They bend over backwards to make sure this is something solidly Catholic

All of the studies have received the Imprimatur. Before I could start a group, Endow had to be approved by my bishop to be present in the diocese, I had to have personal recommendations from a priest and a lay Catholic, and my pastor had to approve of Endow coming into the parish.

It seems like a lot, but I really appreciate a group that makes sure to cover the bases. It beats getting problems later from being too hasty.

2. There is no homework!

Like seriously, no homework. We take turns reading the chapter in our weekly meeting.

3. It covers topics that I know I should learn about, but am still unlikely to do on my own.

      

So far we have covered Pope John Paul II's Letter to Women and St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae. Thursday begins our third run with Pope Benedict XVI's Deus Caritas (God is Love).

If I were to cover these on my own, it is very unlikely I would have gotten as deep of an understanding as I did from discussing them in the Endow group.

4. It makes the complicated approachable.

A lot of these texts are not easy! They have lots of philosophical terms, important historical contexts, and Latin. Lots of Latin.

To make it easy, Endow defines new words and fills in historical context in the side bar. No feeling weird about needing to ask what they mean by "Vatican II"!

5. Groups are kept small

This isn't just about getting material into your head. It's also about getting to know the other women in the group, and being comfortable enough to share personal stories.

Endow groups are capped at twelve members, and it is laid out in the first meeting that personal stories are understood to stay within the group. Any bigger than twelve, it becomes more difficult to participate in one discussion, and not everyone can be heard.

6. It lends itself well to a wide range of women.

We have a great mix of women who have been in our Endow group! Grad students, young mothers, retirees, grandmothers, single women, working women, introverts and extroverts.

When I started this group, I was in search of something to offer that didn't require that you know someone who knows someone. I wanted a woman new to the parish to look in the bulletin and see something she could join, and get to, easily.

7. We really do become good friends!

We're not discussing the weather in Endow! The deep material, real stories, and shared struggles mean that the women quickly become real life friends. We've been there for births, marriage struggles, engagements, and faith questionings. We're welcoming new women with every new session (they typically run eight weeks) and welcoming back regulars.


If you like how this sounds, and are thinking Endow might be a good thing for your parish, you can become a facilitator!

           

There are also three middle school studies and one high school study. Consider leading a group for those middle school girls!