Tag Archives: life

A little education is a dangerous thing….

I know it’s not for everyone (though it really IS)……however, knowledge is power, peeps!! For us, NFP frees me up from remembering to take a pill, get a shot or have something foreign in my body. NFP is openly communicating with my hubby and growing in faith whether we decide to abstain from (SUPER challenging, BTW…and in my opinion, probably one of the main reasons people don’t want to practice NFP) or embrace the marital bed. There is ALWAYS the possibility of a new life, plain and simple. The fact is, life is FULL of unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises. Life is fluid. Always changing. Never the same. The more we try to control it, the more restless we become in this futile act of “control”. Life IS. The better we become at “rolling with it”, the easier it becomes with ALL unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises. For us, that is the bedrock of our faith, trusting that GOD has plans for us that we may not understand now (or ever), but His plans are ALWAYS far better than we could imagine and NFP fits right in that belief.

NFP. Natural Family Planning. For some, these words strike fear deep in the hearts, for others its a lifestyle. That lifestyle can be one deeply entrenched in faith and trusting in God’s plan for family size and being open to the children He provides us with (complete with sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, tantrums and potty training…..as well as that sweet baby smell, soft coos, chubby cheeks, and reliving life through all the “firsts”) OR perhaps it’s a lifestyle of eco-consciousness and organic living. Whatever the reasons, it’s worth learning about if you are stuck in the mentality of the “rhythm method” or would rather just trust in this amazing body we have and learn to understand it in regards to our health and reproductivity. One of the places you can learn more about “NFP” is on the long-awaited site, iusenfp, there is a wealth of information about the various methods of NFP, HOW to implement NFP as well as a blog (of course!) and a “real life” section on folks like you and me and how NFP works in their life and in their marriages. There’s even a great article by Simcha Fisher–in her usual sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek manner on NFP and marriage. (**all cute little buttons are from their site)

There’s also 1Flesh.org a site filled with (more) blogging, stories and conversational topics anti-pill, pro-life, etc, etc, etc. Geared toward a younger generation but a truly In-Your-Face, Let’s-Dialogue on the benefits of an NFP lifestyle. It’s all kinds of confrontational….in a good and positive way.

There’s the Faith and Family website, where not only are there a myriad of articles each day on, yes, faith and family, as well as each day a forum geared toward a specific topic and today is….NFP. And trust me, the questions are raw, honest and eye-opening. You can learn a lot. I sure do!!

And Catholicmom.com for a variety of topics and columns filled with testimonials, advice and information on NFP, in addition to news, homeschooling, prayers, crafts, parenting and faith topics galore!

These are but just a few areas to look around, feel free to leave your own link in the comment section if you’d like to share.

Blessings!

Speaking our mind

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I find it amusing that we all complain and tout our right to freedom of speech and yet, when someone speaks against a belief of ours we are deeply offended, self-righteous and indignant calling them hate-mongers and so on. I suppose we are supposed to all have the same beliefs? Really? Last I looked we are all different, brought up with different life experiences, background, parenting, religious beliefs or non-beliefs with society making its own impact on our thought processes as we age. So, it is with MY own right to freedom of speech that I share with you the July 25 “National Eat at Chik-fil-A Day”. A day to applaud the Cathy family in their support of marriage and yes, even speaking out IN DEFENSE of THEIR beliefs of a traditional marriage. Agree or don’t agree, that’s your right. However, why should Dan Cathy be ostracized for espousing a view that is in line with his Christian beliefs? I’ll go ahead and break the news if you aren’t already aware, Chik-fil-A is a Christian-based company. Run by Baptists. They are closed on Sundays. They say, “It’s my pleasure to serve you.” when you pick up your meal. If you are anti-Christian, don’t agree with their beliefs or a statement their COO made, then eat somewhere else. No big deal. Move on. If everyone truly believes in freedom of speech, that comes with respecting the opposing view and understanding we won’t all change each other, however, we can agree to disagree.

So. On that note, I’ll share this:

July 25 and August 1….if you’re interested and/or are close to a Chik-fil-A, if not you can go to any other fast food restaurant. It’s all good.

**and since there was no boot camp today, I was up early with time to blog. woo hoo!

When do YOU have time to blog???

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Be not of those who think perfection consists in undertaking many things, but of those who place it in doing well what little they do. For it is much better to do little and to do it well, than to undertake much and do it ill.” St. Francis de Sales

My blog posts are becoming fewer and further between. WTH? When do you people have time to write? Do you pound it all out at one sitting or draft and edit and edit? I’m a sit down, get it done, publish kind of girl. I like to wrap it up. No loose ends.

My writing time is in the morning and since I started morning boot camp last week that killed 3 days during the week of “writing” time. We also implemented a new scheduling system at work that has opened up a whole box of cluster for our company as there are MANY people trying to learn (all at different paces) AND utilize the system all at the same time. We’re waiting to see if a head will roll (or two), but in the meantime our company has offered OVERTIME (unheard. of.) to get the backlog of scheduling caught up. Yours truly is all kinds of up on that train. We have back-to-school in 4 weeks (already?!?!?) and the OT will definitely ease the burden of supplies and new shoes, shorts, shirts, etc., which means even less time for blogging!!! I guess until the blogging pays for itself that’s the way it will be and since I’m not really in it to market anything, nor really found (or am looking for) a niche to fill, I don’t foresee that any time soon! So, in the meantime, (or at least the next 3 weeks I have boot camp in the mornings) my blogging will be sporadic. Unless you all give me some good ideas.

This weekend when I wasn’t blogging I was here:

Walking with one of my oldest and dearest friends for ONE WHOLE HOUR on the beach early Saturday morning! Great sweaty girl time!

Then, later in the day when I wasn’t blogging we were here:

Ending the day with friends on the beach

So, really. How and when DO you blog? Does the beach (or other fun) get in your way? I really want to know….

By the way, it is Natural Family Planning Awareness week. For those of you thinking it’s the ol’ Rhythm method here are a few sites to check out and learn a little somethin’ somethin’ about your body (or your wife’s), save a little dough and avoid added carcinogens in your body (because don’t we get enough from everything else we face on a daily basis?). So, I may (or may not) have a few re-blogs here this week on interesting NFP stuff. Excited, aren’t ya? 😉

iusenfp.com

1Flesh.org

Speedbumps

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We all get them. Those pesky little speed bumps along the way. When life is just a plugging along and all is hunky-dorey and BUMP….not so much. Like a car, we adjust our speed, take a little more care navigating and then move on along until the next one. And there WILL be a next one. It’s just life. Therefore, there is the matter of how you react to each little (or big) speed bump. You can let it completely derail your day/week/month/year or you can accept that such is life and do what you can to live your life IN SPITE of the speed bump nuisance. I suppose personality has a lot to do with how we deal with problems, as well as faith, support systems and how we were taught to deal with life’s “unfairness” or inevitable changes.

This week we have been dealing with a “stomach ache” x several days with our youngest. I HATE stomach aches. When there are no other symptoms, I generally view it as a cry for attention. Compassionate, aren’t I? However…….when it continues for days, accompanied by sloth behavior and limited appetite? Now you have my attention. So off to the doctor’s we go and leave with a prescription in hand for Strep throat. Again. Now I just feel guilty. Blah. Stewing in it isn’t productive so I own my guilt for a bit, realize I didn’t overreact (because seriously, if I went to the office for EVERY symptom, #1 I’d be broke (more than usual) and #2 I’d be Facebook friends with the entire office!). Anyway, I went with my gut, it paid off, hugs and drugs administered….moving on.

We also had an issue come up with a dear friend who is really dealing with some challenging life choices and a denial of sorts as well as with poor coping skills. It’s truly turning into a snowball of complications and it’s difficult to watch it happen. Hubby was able to begin a dialogue with him, as his friend, and hopefully it’s the beginning of SOMETHING. Sadly, we can only make our own decisions. Sometimes we have to be the friend who steps in and speaks the hard truth out of love. And that’s a tricky situation, stepping way out of the comfort zone. At the end of the day though, we have to live with the choices WE make and if we’ve done the best we could, sometimes that has to be enough.

Here’s to navigating life’s speed bumps one at a time, fully focused and wisely adjusting our speed for each one!

He who fights even the smallest distractions faithfully when he says even the very smallest prayer, will also be faithful in great things.

— St. Louis de Montfort

Lazy cat

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Having never owned a cat before, the last few months have been interesting. Lots of figuring out on both sides. However, amusement at our little feline’s expense is never-ending. One thing we never tire of is his sloth-ness. Cats TRULY do sleep alot. Apparently chasing and eating chamelons takes quite a bit of effort, as does stalking birds and rooting around in the stickly bushes in order to tramp half the sticks into the house on the fluffy tail.