Baby talk

Guess what! We're not pregnant. We're two cycles through the Fertility Awareness Method and not a fetus in sight.

What I can say is that NFP has truly been transformative in the way we think about childbearing. I was reminded of this for a couple reasons; once during my Augustine class. We are reading Confessions and Gus is sharing with the reader the time in his life when he was in a starter marriage to a concubine. He was sexually faithful to her for 18 years, they lived together and had a child. For all intents and purposes, it was a marriage but he goes on to say this in Book IV:

"This experience taught me at first hand what a difference there is between a marriage contracted for the purpose of founding a family, and a relationship of love charged with carnal desire in which children may be born even against a parents' wishes -- though once they are born one cannot help loving them."

These first two months have been a transition from the latter to the former. When I completed my first post-marriage cycle we were both so relieved! We talked about putting "a star on our chart" and how we were proud of being so careful.

This month things have been a little different. It started out with the fact that my mensis would begin a little later than usual because of a plane trip I took to a conference in D.C. Because of the trip, I ovulated about three days later than usual. The rule with NFP is that, if you are still having high temperatures three days after your leutal cycle ends (which is very consistent and not affected by stress, sickness, planes, etc) then you are most likely pregnant.

Jake and I were talking about this the night before I thought I would start mensis. I said, "but if I don't get my period by Thursday, we're probably pregnant." We both paused for a second but the conversation ended. The next day, indeed I found I had not conceived. When we "debriefed" the experience Jacob told me that the night before he'd had a dream about a baby in our lives. He remembers feeling completely at peace.

While there was still a sense of relief, this month I think we also feel a slight sense of sadness. For all the will-be-grandmothers in the house, fear not. We definitely still feel relieved! But I think we are coming to a sense of the awe of the gift, of how precious it is to bear the image of God in your bodies and wonderous it is to be fully in the grasp of that potential. Perhaps, though, the greatest gift of all is that peace Jacob felt, the peace that transcends fear and want and falls helplessly into the arms of our creator. What a gift indeed.

ready for more?

It's always hard to know people's tolerance for wedding photos. But in case you had a hankering to relive that day gone by, here is the link to our photos on snapfish courtesy of the great Phil Jones.

Wedding photos

And if you're really feeling ambitious or bored, check out photos in slide-show format.

saints, bridges and beer

Today was the feast day of Polycarp, a first century dude who was burned at the stake at age 86 for refusing to bend the knee to the king of Turkey. I like Polycarp and I like him even more now that I am taking Augustine. You may not have seen much “book blog” movement from us lately. Fear not. We are still reading, Jake the Narnia Chronicles and me tons of the bishop of Hippo.

One of the things that sticks out most from Peter Brown’s biography of Augustine is his assessment of how the saint got so darned introspective. Brown explains that in the first three centuries Christian histories focused exclusively on the last years of a saint’s life because Christians were getting martyred all over the place. It wasn’t until the fourth century, when Constantine and the Church picked up the sword that Christians plunged headfirst into their interior castle.

In other words, early on Christians’ lives were something the state feared and repressed. The witness of Christ created fear in those in authority. After Constantine the only real devil was inside. I think it’s a remarkable insight, the psychological change that came with embracing the power of this world.

Other news: I gave a natural family planning talk last night along with my (ironically) very pregnant Catholic friend from campus ministry. There are now quite a few UP students who know much more about my reproductive cycle than I ever thought they would. The hilarious note: I was the “medical ethicist” on the panel. Secondary note: get a degree in religion; you can pass as anything at all.

J has also started some temp work which has been good. We’re also trying to ride the bus more often which has led to some very funny transit experiences. Today I managed to go over the Steel Bridge a total of four times in my commute. Not sure how that happened.

After work it was meeting downtown for pints at Kell’s, $3 curry chips and yes, another trip back over the Steel Bridge. Just another week in paradise!

green wedding article

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/fashion/11green.html

I found this is a great article in the Times with some very helpful tips. While our wedding ended up being more "Trader Joes" than "CSA" we did our best to make it sustainable. It's a hard job, especially when you are committed to getting married at a church in the suburbs of Washington DC. But for those of you still on the way, chech this out.

www.portovert.com

Wish that was around when we were planning our wedding....

new life

Me: "So how was your day?"

J: "great! We got this beautiful kind of pearly plate in the mail."

M: "that sounds nice."

J: "and something else amazing happened."

M: "really? What!"

J: "Yes. You know that enamel coated cast iron pan. Get this. I let it soak overnight and this morning when I emptied it, the egg came off without me scrubbing at all!"

M: "wow. That's really great."

J: "I just got way too excited about that didn't I..."

That's life in the home, I guess. Excited about our new pans. I'm glad someone is here to be. It is very nice to have Jacob at home cleaning up odds and ends. We know the party can't last forever and we are hard on the job search. Keep us in your prayers.

Besides that, we're back in the day to day. The wedding seems like several years ago with all the normalcy that has kicked in. We're enjoying being together!