NFP'ing
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Shoutout to all the Catholic Women, Living the Lives they Were Meant to Live
I just love irony, how about you? I love it so much, that once upon a time, we gathered a bunch of young adults in the French Quarter of New Orleans to film a Chasity video. Talk about irony! Speaking of irony, I like to call this my “ironic homeschool mom outfit” — ironic because one of the cliches for an NFP-practicing, homeschooling-mom of 6 kids is that we all wear denim jumpers. Honestly, after wearing this around town for one day, I gotta say that I actually love it. Super comfy. Maybe they are on to something — whomever they are. I decided to take the stereotype even further…
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Talking to Your Kids About Sex
A number of years ago, I was asked to testify before Congress on the issue of abstinence education. I guess you could say it was because I had “survived” the sexual experiment that so many kids my age had been subjected to — in our schools and in the media we consumed. I guess you could say I had “survived” all the obvious (and not-so-obvious) messages pushing kids my age into the world of “safe sex” — whatever that was — to the detriment of our hearts, minds, souls and bodies, too. I was one of the 90210, Dawsons Creek, Friends generation of kids that didn’t actually buy what they…
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Is Abortion Good for Women?
Let me say this up front: If you consider yourself “pro-abortion” I still love you — and I’m guessing you think that it’s helping women — but I would ask you to examine if that’s actually true. It also should be said that if you consider yourself “pro-choice”, it’s time to ask yourself if supporting abortion is really the best thing for women. Don’t forget, though, that lives are literally in the balance of that choice — so choose well. But before you choose, consider this: Women who have abortions often experience what has been termed PAS, similar to PTSD in its symptoms and effects upon the woman. Depression, suicide,…
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Does Happily Ever After Really Exist?
Who doesn’t want to be married happily ever after? I know that I did. Nobody goes into marriage wanting it to fail — unless the person was only after money or fame or notoriety — but that wasn’t actually a marriage in the first place. That was just a legal contract with some benefits attached to it. I am talking about the majority of people who get married. Most people enter into a marriage because they love someone and want to spend the rest of their life with that someone — to begin a new life with them. They are in it for the right reasons. So why do 50%…
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The Hardest Part of NFP
Hey everybody, it is Natural Family Planning awareness week! I figured an honest look at the challenges of living out NFP is in order, but first a little background on my own NFP journey. Before I was married, I studied Christian Marriage and Family and the basics of NFP. I fell in love with the concept of it all — diving deep into the philosophy and theology — it made complete sense to me. If I’m being absolutely honest, though, I was probably a bit too idealistic about how NFP was going to look in my own life. And that was before Instagram, people, so imagine how bad I would…
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Staying Peaceful in the Midst of Chaos
Let’s be honest. Having kids can push us to the very edge of our physical, spiritual and emotional limits. I guess what I’m trying to say is that parenting ain’t for sissies — let’s take a moment to let that sink in. If we don’t take the time to face that reality, we just might not make it out alive. This is serious stuff, people, and we need to have each other’s backs when the days get long. We need to share the things we’ve learned along the way. So this is my attempt at sharing a few good coping mechanisms for keeping our stuff together when we’d rather just…
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It All Comes Back to a Theology of the Body
Once upon a time, I traveled around the country giving chastity talks. For some reason, as I sat down to write a conclusion to the two previous posts on NFP, one of the more unique chastity talks I ever gave came to mind. Let me set the stage for you. We were invited to give a talk at a Catholic college in Louisiana. It was a mandatory talk for all the fraternities and sororities on campus. That in itself made for an interesting setting. We were pleasantly surprised by the incredibly enthusiastic frat boys, who came running up to fill the front rows of the room. They were just so…
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The Elephant in the Room…An Honest look at NFP (Part 2)
This post won’t fully make sense without reading part 1. So click here for Part 1, and then come back here. I realize that a post like this might make somebody feel guilty about their choices in life. That is not the goal of this post — not at all. There is absolutely zero value in beating yourself up over choices you have made in the past! We all need to make peace with our past, go to Confession when necessary, and move on. That being said, we have to address the elephant standing in the room right now. It’s a big elephant, worth billions of dollars, around the world…
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Why, Yes, We Do Know What Causes That. An Honest Look at NFP (Part 1)
I’ll never forget the moment that I first was asked that question, “Don’t you know what causes that!?” It was at the Chelsea Flower Show in London — and it stands out in my mind because it was one of those rare trips without our kids in tow. We had even managed to secure tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show on the opening day. Believe me, this was not an easy feat. This was no ordinary flower show. It was extra fancy. I mean, look at the fancy people walking through these gardens. The Queen of England even showed up with different members of the royal family — so believe…
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Weaning Babies and Lent
It’s 11:30 at night, and life has been so busy that I’ve had no time to put a proper post together. So forgive me, if I ramble. 🙁 I’ve been pushing hard to get everything in order before I leave for a 20 year reunion with girlfriends from college. At the time of planning this trip, we had no idea it would fall in the middle of Lent, but God knows what we need, and maybe I needed a different kind of retreat this Lent. I also didn’t realize I’d be in the middle of weaning my toddler. I should have guessed that this little guy would be holding out…
