Quick Takes (Vol. 15) Twer.king, Glutened, Retreats and More!

Happy Valentine's Day and Visit Jen for More Quick Takes! 

1. Recently I got home from an evening follow up and I asked my husband what he did while I was gone. With a look of childish excitement on his face that actually made me think he ate a whole bunch of chocolate he says, "I looked up twerking!" Then he proceeds to instruct me on the proper way to twerk "hands on hips, squat a little, push your pelvis forward with your thumbs and push it back with the rest of your hand sticking your butt out just a little bit." At this point I am laughing so hard, I finally calm down and ask him why he looked up twerking. His answer was "don't you remember we were wondering where the term came from? Then I thought why not try it and see what all the fuss is about." Oh the power of goo.gle and free time is a dangerous combo for my husband. Now I have him twerking all the time; when he gets home from work, twerking the car door shut, when he washes dishes and the best part is he has me doing it too! People have got to be kidding if they think this dance move is attractive, it really just makes you look ridiculous.  It's really reminded me you really shouldn't take yourself too seriously; sometimes you just need to be ridiculous and do a little twerk in the privacy of your own home.

2. Last weekend we hung out with our good friend we haven't hung out with in awhile. We have known him for quite some time, JJ has known him since they were in grade school. It was so good to catch up and build one another up in our states in life. While we were out we went out for a scoop of ice cream at a place that has delicious old fashioned ice cream. I got the salted caramel and didn't bother to ask if it was gluten free. Well it wasn't and about 2hrs. after going to bed I woke up and was so sick! My stomach was a mess the following two days and this week its still felt a little off. I was wondering if it may have been the dairy, although since I added it back in I haven't had any issues. I called the place and they said they do have gluten free ice creams but their flavors that have any kind of candy, cookie or cake flavors are not gluten free. I specifically asked about the caramel and they said it is not gluten free. For anyone who thinks people can't really get sick from only having a little gluten they are SO wrong. I am not faking this I wish I wasn't gluten intolerant, but I so am. Lesson learned always ask or you will be glutened! 

3. I am planning a retreat for couples dealing with IF and or miscarriage/stillbirth. It will take place May 24, 2014 for couples and individuals in the Southern California area. I think it is a great way to reach more couples and cover more topics than what we cover at the support group. There is a priest I asked to speak and I am hoping he is available. There is so much planning and organizing that goes into a retreat and I am not new to retreat planning but I am new to this type of retreat. I love coming up with the flyer and design, that is the fun part. Its nothing fancy believe me, I like doing graphic design stuff but I know I am no professional because it takes me hours just to place things where I want them.

I have talked to our NFP/Marriage Prep. person for the archdiocese who our support group is technically under and she thinks the retreat is a great idea. She is even interested in me speaking with our NFP teachers at the next enrichment day about IF and miscarriage and being sensitive to those who are taking NFP to achieve a pregnancy! The name of the retreat is My Portion is The Lord, once things are more settled with the retreat I will post the flyer and info. Please keep me, the speakers, the retreat and the couples that will be attending in your prayers!

4. Speaking of planning I volunteered to host an engagement tea party in March for my friend M who will be getting married in June. It will be about 10 of us gals and I have come up with a menu. I am not good at decorations so a couple of other friends will be taking care of that. I am so glad we each have gifts and I am happy to admit creativity with decorating is not mine. Give me food, I can do that and I can organize people. I am excited as this is my first tea party I will be hosting! I was going to make invites but I think I am just gonna do evite because I know I don't have the time to make cute invites. I have been looking at pin.terest and I think I am totally addicted to all the cute ideas on there!

Speaking of pin.terest, it is a recent discovery and I love it! I am not the craftiest person but I like that I can get ideas from it. That is definitely an app that has been a great discovery lately, two other great apps are songza and ibreviary. Oh my goodness there is an ibreviary for the ipad, my heart swoons! I can go on there at anytime and get the mass reading or the liturgy of hours. Since my daily prayer depends on my schedule for the day I love that I can click on the day prayers and get them for ANY time of the day. Songza has been great for working out and other things. It picks a station based on the activity that you are doing. I have learned that when I am doing work on the computer the "happy pop" station keeps me going and when I am in the kitchen "cocktail jazz" or Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong duets are my thing. Someone suggested it in the IF face.book group, so thank you!  

5. "You don't have time for invites" you say, "well why ever not?" Well because I am starting the paperwork for my FertilityCare Centers of America affiliation and my AAFCP certification. Which means lots of paper work and organizing my files making sure they are in tip top shape. I am usually organized with my client files but I just want to make sure that everything is filled out. Oh.the.paperwork. Paperwork is my least favorite part of my job and I am terrible at being motivated to do it. While I am doing paperwork I really do feel like I am being tortured by a medieval stretcher device. Ok it may not be that bad but it is still tedious.

I will be affiliating as a satellite center of this already existing center! I am so excited and I think it is only appropriate as the lead practitioner here was my practitioner. She is my wiser practitioner sister and I am so blessed to have her prayers and support. More prayers would be appreciated as I go through this process.  

6. I had my spiritual direction appointment today and I am excited to be moving forward in my discernment. It was a shorter appt. than the 1st time but so beneficial. I don't think I am someone who is suppose to have long term spiritual direction, I am pretty self aware and I think to guide me in my spiritual life would be too much of an undertaking for one priest. That's why I like going to certain priests about certain questions. There are some things that have come up in my prayer and journaling that I wanted to hammer out with Padre and get some feed back but it just wasn't the right time for the appt. Those things are for a whole other blog post. It really does help to have a priest that I trust to walk with me and guide me through this discernment where as a melancholic I can often get lost in the details and ideal that I never actually move forward with something. I analyze and over analyze, then I process what I analyzed which this all done internally. It is no wonder that I was able to pursue my vocation, I know it was God's grace!

Speaking of spiritual direction, I am reading this bible study book with a group of women. It has been so good to give me some focus! The 2nd chapter is called Sacrifice: The Way to Joy and they use the story of Hannah and I could not get through that chapter yet so I know it hit a soft spot. I have some reflections about sacrifice and feeling self righteous when you feel you have already suffered/sacrificed so much. Purification, sometimes it hurts but it is so good.

7. Lastly, thank y'all so much for the support and kind comments on my last two posts about the miscarriage. I do read them although I don't always respond to them. Sometimes I want to respond with a whole new blog post about your comments and all I really want to say is thank you! You can read Part one here  and Part two here if you haven't yet. It is difficult to share our struggles so openly sometimes but I hope someone somewhere gets comfort and knows that they are not alone. I am working on part 3 but I have been so busy it has been difficult to string together a good reflective piece right now.   

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Quick Takes (13) Vacation Bible School, Charting and Fasting

Before I start my Quick Takes I want to say I had the priviledge of meeting this lovely blogger for coffee/tea Thursday afternoon. She happened to be in town and it worked out that we could meet for an hour. It was short but it was worth it. Also thank you to all those who prayed for me during the month of July! Oh an remember to head to Jen's for more Quick Takes :) 

                                                                1. 

I have been helping out with Vacation Bible School for our parish. I have been running the crafts or better known as the "imagination station" along with a visiting Discalced Carmelite Brother. It has been fun and cheesy but I was surprised at how tiring it has been. I haven't worked with children in over a year and it was fun to do it again but man am I tuckered out after being on my feet for 5hrs. Br. D and I have had fun talking about the awesomeness of the Latin Mass and being sarcastic about the cheesy songs the kids sing. This was my first time helping with VBS and I think I would do it again! The theme this year was standing strong for God and to my surprise seeing the kids grow in their faith has helped me to see some things in my faith journey more clearly. 

A couple of funny hick ups that have happened have been when Br. D said the word "stupid" in front of the kids twice and said something to the effect that the kids were "killing us slowly" because they kept pushing our tables and us against the wall giving us less room to walk around. Then as I was sharing the story of Mary and how young she was when she was pregnant with Jesus one of the kids brought up teen pregnancy and said "some people have babies at 16 still" I think I said "oh ok Z thank you for sharing but we are not talking about that right now and that is not quite the same thing" oh kids, gotta love them they are so honest! 

                                                                 2. 

This week during VBS I realized how much I missed working with teens and working on a collective ministry team. Doing NFP and CrMS stuff it is usually just me and JJ or me and the other practitioner at our parish. I kind of miss a bigger team to bounce ideas off of. The DRE and Confirmation coordinator asked JJ and I if we would teach confirmation this year, we originally declined because of NFP stuff but we are kind of reconsidering. We did let them know we would love to be involved with the teens somehow we are just not sure about committing to a weekly thing. 

                                                                 3.

Speaking of commitment, my friend T asked if I would be willing to babysit/nanny my goddaughter and her sister two days a week. Naturally I said yes! We just need to work out which days I would do it. This would work out pretty well with my schedule with my clients because I usually see most of them in the afternoon/evening plus I would get to use my child development skills that are just sitting in my brain and not being used. I miss working with young kids but I don't know if I would want to go back to a teaching setting in a center or school so this would be perfect to get my feet wet again. 

                                                                   4.

Our house is crazy right now! They are painting and fixing some stuff which is great I just wish it was done before we moved here. They have been working on it for a week now, thank God for VBS that is getting me out of the house. I just feel bad for JJ because he has been here at home while the guys are working on the house. I was here with him for 2days last week and I almost went crazy. It's like you are home but you can't really relax, you know!? It is all suppose to be done today and I hope it is!

                                                                    5.

After much consideration and some tears JJ and I decided that we would stop charting for this cycle. There have been a lot of things that have been frustrating me about charting and medical treatment that we felt it best to take a break at least for this cycle. One of the major things was our Dr. not getting back to us for about a week when we needed a prescription for a time sensitive medication to help ovulation this cycle. Well we missed the window and took it as a sign that we just needed to stop. So as of yesterday we are no longer charting and I am no longer doing my observations. I don't know how long this will be for, if it's just this one cycle or if we are stopping treatment before the end of the year timeline. We trust that God will let us know!

                                                                 6. 

Speaking of stopping stuff, I have felt a pull from God to fast from blogging. So I will not be blogging for the rest of August, maybe longer. I really feel like God wants to spend more time with me and He wants me to continue to write but not in such a public setting. JJ and I talked about it an he agreed that it was a good idea. I will probably still read some of your blogs and comment when I can but overall I need to take a step back. There are a lot of things that JJ and I need to discern and decide about which will be easier to do if I am not blogging. I am overall trying to have less screen time. It is hard because I love this community but I know that this time away will be fruitful! I will be praying for you all and if you need to contact me you can email me :) 

                                                                    7. 

Speaking of prayer JJ and I will be going to Alabama next Saturday! We will be visiting EWTN and the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery for a pilgrimage/vacation. We are so excited to go and we would be honored to pray for your intentions! You can leave a comment with your intentions, send me an email or if we are face.bo.ok friends you can send us a message with your intentions. We will be having two awesome priests as our chaplains for the pilgrimage and we are getting to travel with friends! If you live anywhere near the Birmingham area, it would be awesome to have a blogger meet up :) 

                  God bless you all and God reward you! 

Quick Takes 12

Yes, I know that I have been doing mostly Quick Takes lately but I promise I will write something more substantial soon. It has been pretty adventurous around here so I have not been able to sit and write for a long period of time.

1.

 

So...... we got the house that I was talking about last week! We picked up the lease yesterday and will drop it off signed with the deposit today and we will get the keys on the 22nd and hopefully move in by July 1st. I am so excited! I can't wait to paint the kitchen. I will post before and after pics as well as show you my favorite part of the house, the fireplace. I was telling JJ I am so excited to spend Christmas there in front of the fireplace. I have always wanted a fireplace and to live in a house, I grew up in apartments and duplexes all my life so I am ready to take on the challenge of a house. We get to have a dog here so we will be looking into getting a dog probably after we come back from Alabama. I would not want to leave a dog alone for a whole week! We will need to find a washer and dryer for the house which will be costly but we are also going to look into a hand me down from people we know or craigs.list. We are thinking of getting just a washer first and trying a clothes line for a little bit or just going to the launder mat for the first couple months. 

 

2.

I have been on a smoothie kick for the last couple months, I have one pretty much daily. Our freezer has been stocked with frozen fruit. I am hoping to go tot the farmer's market soon to pick up an abundance of blueberries to freeze them. My favorite combination has been blueberries, cherries, mango, spinach, a splash of pomegranate juice/water and a splash of coconut milk. I have tried to put a protein powder in there but I can't get past the graininess. I also tried putting sunflower seed butter and that wasn't too bad.


3.
JJ is still not back to work. He went in for a couple days last week and then they had him sitting at home again. So he went in yesterday to ask for his lay off papers so that he could go back to the union hiring hall and get work through another company. We are hoping his number is called soon and that he starts working steady again! It feels kind of crazy to be moving into a house w/ JJ not working but we are surprisingly at peace about it all. Prayers would be appreciated for work to happen soon.

4.

The IF support group has been going great! At our meeting last night we talked about Saints that are related to IF. Everyone brought some great info. and put  a lot of effort into it. It is so nice to have a group that we can go to on a regular basis, share with one another and pray for one another. The couples that we have met through this group are such wonderful people.


5.

I have been a bad book club member. I have only read the 1st chapter of the book we are reading this month and I was the one that suggested it! We are reading Jane Austen's Persuasion which I have not read before but I have seen the movie. I really like the story line but I have not been able to get my head in that academic space, I may have bit off more than I can chew this month especially with all the other stuff going on.

6.
Tomorrow a good friend and fellow blogger will be getting ordained to the priesthood! Woohoo! We are so excited for him. He and JJ have been friends for a very long time and had a hip hop group together back in the day. My heart is over joyed for him and the Church for gaining such a wonderful holy man to be a priest. I have to go find water proof mascara for tomorrow because I know I will cry.

7.
I forgot to mention last week that I had the privilege of meeting this lovely blogger! JJ and I got to go to lunch with her after our NaPro Dr. appt. She was in town for work and it all worked out. It was so nice to meet her in person! This was my first ever blogger meet up and I can't wait for more. If any of you want to come to SoCal you are more than welcome!   

Weekend Round-Up aka Quick Takes (11)

Well I am too late to do a Quick Takes this week this post will be in the same fashion. This weekend was full of fun stuff and many decisions made.

1. 

Friday

Making play dough and cupcakes for my goddaughter's 2nd birthday! Here are the chocolate strawberry cupcakes with hidden zucchini in them, yup I like to sneak my vegetables in.
 

 




                           

                                   Mmmmm...

                                       

 

                           

                           Yup, they tasted as good as they looked!

                                       

I am going to use this same recipe and this frosting recipe for a mini-cake for my friend L's wedding at the end of the month. The groom's sister is gluten free as well as one of the priests plus us so they asked me where they could get a gluten free cake, naturally I volunteered to make it. I am so excited! 

 

2.

Saturday

The day of the party I put the finishing touches on the cupcakes and then JJ and I went early to help set up.

 

JJ took a picture of me in my fav. hat before we left for the party. I am thinking "Hurry up we are already late!" I am so glad he slows me down to enjoy life!

 

 

My goddaughter K's older sister M was a big help in getting the decorations and centerpieces up and she is only 4. Then I got to help the girls get ready for the party which was surprisingly a breeze. I thought getting a 2yr. and 4yr. old dressed and ready would be more of a struggle but they were so cooperative, I thought "Wow I must have the touch! I am the child whisperer!" As I was patting myself on the back for a great job done my friend T informed me they usually cooperate when getting dressed because they like to get all dolled up. Whomp whomp there goes my career as the next "Super Nanny". Then JJ entertained the girls in the bounce house while I watched because I would not be caught in a bounce house ever. Constant unstable motion + me = not pretty. I realize that I should have taken pictures of the party instead of just the cupcakes and me but I left the camera and iPad at home plus I am pretty sure my friend T is not OK with pictures of her daughters on the internet. By the end of the day JJ and I were tired and we slept so well that night. I guess the recipe for a good night's sleep is exhaustion. 

3.

 

Sunday

We started Sunday off by going to the LA Arboretum, one of our favorite places. The peacocks were out in full bloom and we had fun taking pictures. Then we went to Latin Mass which was beautiful as usual. We had a coupon for a free meal at our local diner so we went out on a dinner date. We took a good amount of pictures at the Arboretum, we usually forget the camera but we remembered it this time.

Isn't he gorgeous? This is why no one ever takes a picture of the girl peacocks.




 

Peacock feather JJ found.

 

Serious modeling picture.

 

Me @ the top of the waterfall after climbing all those stairs.

 

Us @ the base of the waterfall. The sun was in our eyes.

I took a picture of the girl peacock, I felt bad for her with all the attention on the males. She is good looking, right?


4.

We have been making some major decisions lately. It was hard to finalize the decision and give ourselves a more concrete time frame. It feels so freeing though to know that I will not be on the TTC train forever. I am so glad that NaPro exists and if we want to pick it back up again we can. It looks like my body is still healing and/or not cooperating with me because this cycle is so out of whack. I am not sure if I am still pre-peak or post-peak which is tough because I have no idea what to do about progesterone. I am a practitioner and I can't figure it out. Bah.   

 

5.

 

We decided to try and rent a house near our church. We saw it for rent and really wanted to go for it so we are. We are waiting to hear back from the guy. It is 2bdrm 1ba with a back yard and they are OK with us having a small/medium sized dog. Most of the places we have been looking at this past 6 months are not OK with pets which takes them off our list. The house is in a nice area so I am sure they are considering other applicants. Did I mention that it is within walking distance of our church? If you could send up a prayer on our behalf on this intention I would really appreciate it! We are trying to have detachment but we also have seen so many places and we really like this one the best. If we don't get it then God must have something really spectacular planned. When our landlord heard that we were thinking of moving she offered to lower our rent, not by much, if we would sign a 2yr. lease. I don't know that I would want to stay here another 2yrs. especially with our upstairs neighbors. They are great people but their kids run around a lot which we understand but it can be annoying at times. We also just want a back yard so we can have a garden and I want to paint a room so badly I am tired of white walls. Hopefully we will hear back from the guy soon so we can move on!

 

 

6.

 

Thanks for your prayers! JJ went back to work on Friday! He worked on a small project Friday and today and will be starting on a huge project on Wednesday. Thank you Jesus and the intercession of St. Joseph.

 

 

7.

 

I am trying to decide on a profile picture for my sidebar. I was thinking the one close-up that is above or the one with me near the waterfall.  JJ likes the head shot one but I don't know, is it too close to my face? I didn't erase it from the camera which means I like it but I like the one with the waterfall too because of the background. Hmmm, what do you think?

Quick Takes (10)

I realize that I am super late with these but, oh well! I also realized that my ones for last week were entitled "10" but they were really only 9. So here is the real Quick Takes 10! Remember to head to Jen's for more!

 

1.

I figured out the whole cutting my hair business, well God did actually. My friend who proctored my exam last week used to be a hair dresser. She said she would cut my hair for free since I was so generous with the proctor fee I paid her. So hopefully some time this week, she will have time to do it, woohoo!

 

2.

 

Speaking of my exam, I think it went well. I don't get the results until early July though, bah! I am not a very patient person and I really want to know how I did. I feel pretty confident about passing all four parts but who knows. June is going to be such a busy month with weddings, ordinations,  birthdays and graduations that I won't really have time to think about it too much.  

3.

 

Saturday I went to a spiritual bridal shower for a dear friend. I think the tradition of the spiritual shower started in our churchie group when my friend T and I were getting married 5 weeks apart. It is where we get together and talk about marriage, the good and the bad, then we offer some nugget of wisdom that we have learned. They also share recipes and bring books that have helped their marriage. Only married women, widows or those who have been married attend. It sounds exclusive but it really is kind of cool to get all the women together like that. It is a little uncomfortable because I think every marriage is different and people will figure it out on their own. I was dreading comments about our childlessness or remarks from the other women saying "That's easy for you to say, you don't have children." This all was totally in my head as I was imagining the worst case scenario so I could be prepared for it. I am happy to report it was NOT like that at all! It was a wonderful event and the ladies that went are lovely and would probably never make such remarks. I am so glad I went and I am so happy for my friend L who is getting married! L was in my wedding and now I get to see her get married to a wonderful godly man. L has been such a great spiritual big sister for me since I was a teenager and she has been there for me through so much, it is such a blessing to see her so joyful and in love. She has waited a long time for her spouse but she always held to the promise that God would bring him in due time. Her story makes me hopeful about our IF and that God will bring us children in due time.    

 

4.

So last week I talked about the great divide between the "haves" and "have nots." Well yesterday at the bridal shower I was speaking with a dear friend who is also going through subfertility and she has had miscarriages and she was wanting to start up a married couples fellowship again. About four years ago a bunch of us married couples tried to get together to have fellowship, prayer and a teaching/reflection. We only had two meetings and then it kind of fizzled out w/ every one's busy schedule. So a few of us were talking about doing it again. This would be a mix of couples who have and do not have children. The other IF friend and I were talking about how important it is to stay connected, even to our friends w/ children. We set a date for July and will come up with topics to reflect on for our marriages. We will see where this goes, only God knows!

5.

JJ and I will be going to Alabama in August! We are going to EWTN and the Shrine on a pilgrimage, we are so excited. This will be our annual family vacation and we have to make some sacrifices to go but we can do it. So if you are in the Alabama area it would be great to meet up!

6.

I got two pieces of not good information this week. One was that some friends of ours are most likely moving by the end of the summer. They are moving for work and it is a wonderful opportunity but we are sad they will be leaving. They will most likely be back in 1-2yrs. which is better than them leaving for good.

7.

The other bad news is that a family member has been diagnosed with cancer. We are shocked as this family member is not elderly and seemed to be in good health but cancer does not discriminate. I am praying for a miracle and a healing for this family member. Please pray for them and my family that this situation would lead us ALL closer to God! St. Peregrine, pray for us!

Happy Memorial Day! Please remember those who have died serving our country in the armed forces as well as their family members who miss them very much!