I'm moving!

To a different blog site

First of all, I am no longer 24 and so the title is a bit of a lie (I really didn't think the blog would last until I was 25).

Secondly, my interests have shifts and so have my writing inspirations.

I don't see my identity as "pro-life" anymore. Of course I am still passionately pro-life, but it is so much more than that. My ideas on life and how to live it have changed. I identify even more with my Catholic faith and how to live in it by understanding Theology of the Body and being authentically female (some may call that New Feminism). So I have decided to write about how my days are effortlessly complicated as I try to follow my faith and my heart to live out my calling.

So if that sounds interesting at all, feel free to follow me over at www.effortlesslycomplicated.blogspot.com since this will be my last post here.

Friday Reflection

It's been an interesting week. I dropped my husband off at the airport on Monday and won't see him until Sunday. I have been busy (if not paid) every day this week and I have felt pretty good. All those things individually don't seem amazing but put it together and I'm shocked:

I managed to eat pretty healthy, although I think I forgot how to cook for one because there are tons of leftovers in the fridge and I think I'm going to be forced to throw some out :-(

I truly enjoyed my time helping at the pregnancy center and giving the director a better system for organizing/keeping track of important documents

I made it through the last couple days even though my husband was not around to tell me to take medicine, go for a walk, don't eat chocolate, etc. to keep my mind off the pain. This month it just wasn't there - I mean dull ache but I don't even know if I can count that. It may not be as fun as one day saying I'm pregnant and don't have to think about cramps (lots of other things instead), but it is comforting to know I have a routine filled with workouts, vitamins, and more that makes my life more bearable. And even more excited to know I found a natural way to deal with it that didn't involve lots of artificial hormones - yay!

I'm also excited for summer to come! Have a great weekend everyone

truly pro-life

There is nothing more exciting than being open to life and where it leads you. Today it led me to the priviledge of watching my 10 wk old neighbor all day while her mom had to go back to work. Her mom is a school teacher and has different people watching her each day for the 14 days she was required to work, then she gets to be home for the summer.

Well we had a great morning so I thought we would go out somewhere and boy is it exciting getting all the attention a newborn draws! Everyone comes up and smiles and the world is a nicer and happier place. That is all the argument or experience I need to be pro-life. These babies are our future, and even if we are not their mothers, we have a responsibility to take care of them and the world around them. Maybe it is for this reason that I try to stay out of the political and look more at the social aspects of being pro-life. What are people thinking and why? How can we show what great blessings children are and how much the world misses the ones that were taken?

I guess today I just need to share a smile and time with a precious little girl. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Finally...a decision

It is so good to know I made a decision about something. I didn't realize how much it had been draining me until after I made an action plan and stuck with it. I am re-energized and actually looking forward to the summer when I'll have too much time off. I found something I am excited to do in those slow weeks which fits my passions and the causes I want to help succeed. Are you ready for it?

I'm organizing.

Yes, that is right. I have talked about my organizing hobby before and I watched Oprah last week (something I never do but won't go into why - too long/controversial) because Peter Walsh was on it. What? He doesn't have the name recognition of Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts? Well he does in my book because he is my favorite professional organizer and he used to be on the show called Clean Sweep.

Okay, well I guess I'm not "professional" because I am a volunteer, but I am helping at a pregnancy center. The director asked for my personal help and said she has had difficulty organizing her office since things got rearranged in the beginning of the month, do I have any organization skills? How perfect! It feels a little like God is rewarding me for making a hard decision and sticking with it. Maybe it is more an answer to my prayer and an opportunity to serve, but I'm loving it all the same. It is good to know that my random talents/interests are needed somewhere.

Can't wait to help someone else and get out of the self-focused, decision making mode! I think I made a good decision but, unfortunately that came at the cost of being a little more self-absorbed than usual. Hopefully I find a way to serve others today instead of mope about because my husband will be gone for a week.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day and thanks to all our veterans and service men and women!

Friday Reflection (one day early)

Well I'm a bit early, but I thought I would write today. I am the type of person that wants to see things through. I don't want to leave work with a project half finished and I definitely don't want to leave a group when I feel like accomplishments have not yet been made. It has been a stressful decision for me to make and I feel like no matter what the outcome it will be wrong.

Wrong for me to stay because I'm not being supported and wrong to leave because I don't want to abandon anyone. But abandon who? Who has done the work that I have offered as a way to move forward? I have made a difference in my pro-life group? I'm not sure. And yet, I was basically offered to be president of the group for the second time. Everyone else is too busy...and then there is me without a full time job or kids.

My pride says I should stay and get everyone excited and involved. My pride says I'm the only person for the job and it would be wrong to walk away. My emotions say run! The meetings are making you weak emotionally and spiritually. No personal goals have been achieved through my involvement in this group and I should promote NFP more. Afterall, I am most passionate about that since it provides an educated way to regulate family size without the chance of conceiving and miscarrying because of artificial means. Isn't that what I talk about most?

I can't just wait this out anymore...that is exactly what other officers are doing I realized. We're all waiting it out to see who steps up. So I'm down to this, either I should step up or step out. No more halfway. Either decision is going to be hard and I think I know which one it should be - I just don't like it.

Ok, I know we have all had tough decisions like this. Where did you find comfort and wisdom? I'm running out of places to look.

Happy 50th Anniversary

Many of you know the 50th anniversary of the pill was this month (at least widespread legal use of it). I'm a little late, but at least I'm in the right month. Many people have also written about this topic and what is popular or common belief now. Mainstream culture may have celebrated the anniversary, but at least one WSJ article talked about a lot of the facts. Seeing those facts brings me back to the summer I spent on researching the topic before the pill was widely available - all the way back to the 20s. Basic conclusion is still the same - contraception won't and can't solve all the social problems it promises to do away with (i.e. unexpected pregnancies). And as I linked to earlier in the comparison to smoking - there are also serious health risks.

Some other promises of birth control have also not been realized. "Sexual freedom" is not a reality because the physical bonding ties us to our "partners" and the more partners we have, the less satisfying the "bond" experience. Freedom should not limit bonds and trust. Artificial BC can do both. Not to mention the fact that women still must deal with unplanned pregnancies even if using the pill. It's a hard truth to face, but here is another one:

NFP never seems to get noticed. A scientifically based method of spacing/preventing births is ignored or seen as backward church talk. People don't think about the lack of side effects, free cost and life benefits received by practicing self-control. Even so, some sex-therapists recommend periodic abstinence as a way of rekindling romance. If it's available every day - no big deal. If some random days are picked to abstain the waiting builds anticipation (and maybe romance) and anticipation leads to greater satisfaction. If only that could be combined with a natural way of postponing pregnancy.....oh wait, that is exactly what NFP does? Amazing!

Motivation

Sometimes it is hard to stick with the same cause if you feel like you are going nowhere. I'm sure just about everyone in politics or other social movements have felt that way at some time or another. You can't change people - they have to want it and you definitely can't change society overnight. I may not see all the change that happens, but it is nice to get some positive feedback.

Yesterday I was quite productive, but two of the highlights among many house chores were talking with a fellow NFP teacher who is very excited about the first set of classes she taught which resulted in friendships and finishing my first series of classes by having a couple over for dinner (then class) who missed last week. It was nice to have that social outlet after cleaning all day and got me motivated enough to come to this blog :-)

Another "highlight" from last week's class is that I caught a student making a comic strip about smoking and asked how it was related to class. He tried hard to make it fit, and I remembered that I read something linking the two subjects. So here is that link written by thatmarriedcouple - always finding great resources and making my life a little easier!