7 Quick Takes Friday (Take 21)

1.  I had a great evening at the home of a friend last night.  We went to college together and she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the same college that my husband is now finishing at.  So maybe I was a little melodramatic when I was saying we didn't know anyone here.  My friend and her husband had the two of us and other couple over for dinner and we stayed there talking until late last night.  She has been such a good friend to me, although we don't have a lot of things in common outwardly.  She's closer to my parents age and her oldest is less than 5 years younger than me.  In fact, her husband is (one year) older than my parents.  But they are such good people and we never run out of things to talk about, age doesn't seem to be an issue.  I feel so blessed that I'll have to opportunity to see her and her family regularly over the next year.

2.  This article really made me smile: A Career Sustained by Unwavering Faith.  I love hearing about faithful Catholic in the "real" world, who are able to blend their faith and work (seemingly) effortlessly.  And I especially love it when the stories are reported by the secular media.  Plus, faith and sports seem to go so well together, don't you think?

3.  While we're on the subject of blending faith and work, I enjoyed this article: Don't Be a 2/3rds Catholic.  Although I am not currently in the workplace, from my past experience I remember how difficult it was to decide what what appropriate regarding faith in the workplace. 

4.  Last week was Natural Family Planning Awareness Week.  I had wanted to write a post about it, but never really got around to it.  A while back, I wrote about how my husband and I decided to stop using NFP to postpone pregnancy and how we aren't planning to use it after the baby's born (not unless or until we have a serious reason to postpone pregnancy in the future), but it seems that some people misinterpreted my post as meaning that I am anti-NFP.  Preposterous!  I think NFP is a wonderful gift when used for the right reasons.  Anyway, I was really hoping to write a post to clarify my position and to extoll the truly wonderful things about NFP, but alas, it wasn't to happen.  Maybe next year.

5.  For all you crafty folk out there (or wanna-be craftsters like me), here's a link for you:

6.  I suddenly love Craig's List!  I've only ever used it to sell or buy big ticket items before (couches, washer/dryer, etc), but I randomly started looking through the baby/kids section the other day and I found someone selling brand new organic prefold diapers still in the packaging...and the exact same brand that I had planned to use.  My husband drove me to her house after work (you still have to be super cautious... someone claiming to sell organic cloth diapers could really be a murderer) and I ended up saving over $30 on three dozen.  I'm sure finds like that don't happen all the time, but it made me a true Craig's List believer.

7.  Cloth diapering mamas, don't forget to enter this week's Thirsties Thursday Giveaway:

And, as always, don't forget to visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes.