3 years.

3 years...this past year has been one of much growth for us as we continue to learn, pray, communicate and forgive in this vocation of marriage, while also enjoying so much fun and laughter. We celebrated last night with dinner out, and then shared dessert and coffee under the moon and stars at the beach. We realized that this would be our last anniversary as merely a couple, as we approach the date when we will be a family. We talked about the changes that will take place to ourselves as individuals and as a couple, resolving to make time to nourish and listen to each other amidst the expected distractions of a little one. Although I am a million x a million times excited for, and ready for this baby, this anniversary was slightly bittersweet for me. We have had so many wonderful, uninhibited, carefree, wrapped-up-in-each other times these past 3 years with just the two of us, times that we will not have in quite the same way in the future. More than anything, I am so grateful for the time we did have alone; God in His wisdom knew it was needed to provide a strong, trusting, loving foundation for us both to lean on during the upcoming years. Now, bring on the baby(ies)!

Love you, hubby.

Friendship, baby bellies, and smiles.

This past week, I stopped by to visit my dear friend Christine who is also pregnant (with a girl!) due in about a week. We were determined to capture both of our pregnant bellies together and were happy to get these photos. We've spent many an hour conversing about mothering and babies, and have been blessed to share in this experience at the same time. Enjoy the happiness and fun! Got a few shots with hubby too.

A friend should be one in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and its sincerity. ~ Robert Hall

When did all this happen?!?

It's been a wild ride up to this point!

"When we consider the blessings of God—the gifts that add beauty and joy to our lives, that enable us to keep going through stretches of boredom and even suffering - friendship is very near the top." Donald W. McCullough

Almost 22 weeks...

...and falling in love with our little boy.

You're really there!

Look who we saw today! Our little peanut with such a strong heartbeat - first time out of 3 pregnancies that we were able to see this - it was a special moment. Amazing to see the very definition of love in that tiny form.

(Think I have to go visit the bathroom now....oh the joys!)

2 years.

Marking another milestone.  Thanks be to God for an even better year, full of much joy and laughter and changes for our good.  Praise Him, He truly is merciful - we offer Him ourselves and our lives.

"I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine."  Song of Songs 2:16

"With this ring I thee wed...in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

"It takes three to make love in hearts~the Lover, the Beloved, and Love. What binds lover and beloved together on earth is an ideal outside both. As it is impossible to have rain without clouds, so it is impossible to understand love without God."
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Music and love.

(I just realized I never posted this entry...)

Just stopping in to say hello - we've been very very busy with our respective jobs but have been squeezing in some fun as well!

We have been attending some good concerts and performances lately, as a Naples lady graciously donates tickets to Ave Maria University faculty and staff for Naples Philharmonic events.  We're thankful for these opportunities - an evening to go out, enjoy dinner and each other and bask in some great (free!) music.  This past Sunday we saw Rossini's opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella) performed by the Sarasota Opera who brought it to Naples to pair with the Philharmonic. 

Here we are beforehand....

We thank Him for this kind of love...

In perfect conformity

This week I had the great joy of reading St. Alphonsus Liguori for my Mystical Theology class. At this point in our life, Andrew and myself are making some bigger decisions and I often worry about whether or not we are following God's will in the true sense of the phrase; not what we think or want God's will to be for us, but that we truly yearn to be in the very center of the Divine Will in every decision we make. St. Alphonsus offers some simple and beautiful encouragement on this point:

"Our whole perfection consists in loving God who is so deserving of our love. And so the more closely the will of an individual is united to the divine will, the greater will be that person's love. Those who love God are always content because all their pleasure lies in fulfilling God's will even in difficult circumstances, with the result that their very troubles are turned into delight at the thought that they give pleasure to their beloved Lord by accepting them. This is the wonderful peace which surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7), all the pleasures of the senses and all other worldly gratifications, which, because they are without depth and are transitory, allure our senses for a passing moment but do not satisfy the spirit in which alone real happiness can dwell. Some people want to serve God, but they set conditions about the employment, the place, the companions. If their expectations are not met, they work with an ill-will of give up altogether. People like that lack inner freedom, and, since they are slaves of self-love, they gain little from what they do. The devout, those who follow the will of God are like the sun, always radiant with serenity no matter what happens because their happiness is in thief conformity to the will of God. And so they possess unalterable peace."

Are we to be joyful in our circumstances no matter how unpleasant? Of course.

"When you feel troubled by some negative experience, remember that it comes from God. Say to yourself immediately, "This is God's will" and then be at peace. It is true, as I have said, that when someone unjustly offends you, God does not will that person's sin nor share in the malice; but it is also true that God is at work through the act by which you are persecuted or robbed or injured. In this particular sense your suffering is in accordance with the will of God and comes to you from his hands. Chastisements, do not come from God for our ruin but rather so that we might change our ways and be saved. Confident of this, we should abandon ourselves to God's will, which is always for our good. Let us then place ourselves in his hands, for he will surely take care of us. My Beloved thinks of my good and I will think of nothing but of pleasing Him and of uniting myself to His will in all things."

I'm thankful for the saints who provide us with endless wisdom for all facets of life. Lord, we desire to always do Your will, for we trust that you know our needs and desires even before we know them.

Perfect Love

Can we ever give enough of ourselves in the manner of Christ, whose most perfect example of love we are privileged to know and emulate? Usually not, for He went to the length of laying down His life for mankind in obedience to the Father, while many of us are called to die in a far less drastic manner; in a service of love to the other, be it spouse, relative, friend, or sometimes stranger. Even so, we find it a struggle to relinquish our selfish desires, ideals, injured feelings, petty emotions, ect. when it would cause the happiness or comfort of another. Or if we muster the will to accomplish this much, we still struggle with acting in total unselfishness, with a joyful heart and countenance; thus, we are not giving our true and best effort, and the act still lacks perfect love. Today's Scripture readings affirm this - if we do not have perfect love, we gain nothing. Perfect love "is not jealous...it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury...It bears all things...and never fails" (Corinthians 13:4-8). Seemingly a small order, but the weakness and selfishness of human nature often prevails, and we act as though burdened with a chore. It is essential to always keep our gaze on Christ on the cross - an image that I like to refer to as the perfect "textbook" for marriage, by the way, (...active hormones or not! Isn't the merit greater when the struggle is greater? :) Christ did not bemoan His calling, but embraced every instant of joy, sacrifice, and suffering with the entirety of His faculties and being - out of perfect love. Can we not serve God and those we love with at least a fraction of this perfect love?

1 year ago today...

...I met my love at the altar. What a wonderful year it has been as each other's companions. We are so humbled at God's plan and goodness. Happy 1st Anniversary, hubby, I love you so much and am thankful to have you forever. (We actually spent the day/evening at our good friends' wedding, then came home for our own champagne toast and bite of wedding cake, which tasted just as good as it did last year.)