A little of this, that, and prayer requests: 7QT (97)

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Next week is NFP Awareness Week.  I have a post scheduled to go up on Wednesday entitled "12 Reasons We Don't Use Contraception".  I often hear many reasons why hormonal birth control is physically unhealthy, but arguments against condoms are more rare.  My husband is reading a book called Catholic Bioethics and the Gift of Human Life. He shared with me this quote and I loved it so I wanted to share it with you: 

A person does not put on gloves to touch a beloved one tenderly, unless one thinks that some disease may be communicated. But is pregnancy a disease? And is not the use of condoms, diaphragms, spermicidal jellies, and the like similar to putting on gloves? Do husband and wife really become "one flesh" if they must arm themselves with protective gear before "giving" themselves to each other genitally?

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Wednesday was our anniversary.  If you didn't catch it, I wrote a little reflection on our three years (it has some wedding pictures and very little words, if that entices to read it). 

with the fruit of our love

We went to a movie ("This Is The End" - wildly, wildly inappropriate but funny if you like the "Knocked Up", Seth Rogan/Jonah Hill kind of humor.  You've been warned, it is not a nice Catholic-friendly film.  I know, I know, we didn't exactly go the romantic route.)  Then we went to all-you-can-eat sushi.  We planned to go to that restaurant and when I checked their website I noticed that on Wednesday nights ONLY they have all-you-can eat sushi from 9:30pm-1am.  I take it as a blessing from God of our marriage that our anniversary fell on all-you-can-eat sushi night.  However, the irony of it is that we only saved $7 getting all-you-can-eat sushi instead of buying the rolls a la carte because we filled up on popcorn and jalapenos (my snack of choice) at the movie theater.  Oops.  And now you know all the boring details you never cared to know regarding our super fancy, super romantic anniversary date.

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We have a super busy weekend ahead, but one of those really fun, exciting busy weekends.  I've been spending a lot of time preparing to give my sister-in-law a baby shower on Sunday!  We are spending the day tomorrow getting all the food ready and decorating.  Then tomorrow night David is hosting a "man's baby shower" for his brother at the Rockies (baseball) game.  (See how I threw in the sport for some of you ladies - and potentially men - who have no idea who the Rockies are?)  We also are going to a baptism on Sunday morning before the shower in the after noon, and I'm so happy that we'll still be here to attend.

And did I mention that we are moving next week?  And we still have a TON of packing to do but none of it is happening until after the shower.  Oh well, it will all get packed even if those last few days are stressful.  We've known about this move for a while, but there are just so many things that you can't pack ahead of time because you need them, you know?

Um, so anyway, you got the memo that I'm not going to be blogging much right?  Don't worry, I totally have you hooked up with some amazing guest bloggers.  You're going to be well taken care of in my absence.  Seriously, you're probably going to be begging me to NOT come back and keep the guest posts rolling instead.  Totally understand.

 

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So speaking of baby showers, do you have a go-to baby shower gift?  (Or a go-to wedding gift or bridal shower gift, or birthday gift, etc, etc, etc?  I'd love to hear the ideas!)  My mom's go-to for baby showers is a nursing pillow.  She used to always buy the Boppy but now there seems to be so many on the market.  I recently reviewed the Mombo nursing pillow and liked it, but I'm curious if you've found one that you just love.  I like this list of the top rated nursing pillows: http://www.mommyedition.com/top-rated-nursing-pillows, but how do you choose from it?  They all sound awesome!
 

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I am no photographer, but I do desperately want to get a nice camera.  I hate that the only really nice, display-quality pictures I have of Lucia/our family are from professional photographers, because we only get those pictures done every once in a while.  I don't have a DSLR yet, but I am learning quite a bit about what I would do with one once I get one.  I just keep storing tips and knowledge for THE DAY.  (The day I finally get one!)  For example, just learned about RAW photos.  And if I end up not being able to handle the large, professional RAW photos, I also learned about Total Image Converter which will turn my RAW photos to JPEGs or TIFFs.
 

--- 6 ---

Oh, that was a nice segue there, since this evening David and I will be getting the professional anniversary pictures tonight.  (Add that to our busy weekend/few weeks.) I was wavering for weeks about doing it, but finally just decided to go for it.  I'm going to be wearing my wedding dress!  We're going to include Lucia in a few pictures as well as some little things from our wedding.  I know I'm going to treasure these pictures forever (if you have some prayers to spare, could you pray it doesn't rain today or at least dries out by the evening.  Since we're moving next week, if we have to cancel today, there will most likely be no chance to reschedule.)

--- 7 ---

Actually, instead of my petty prayer request, will you send up some prayers for Dwija, her family, and other families who have lost their children in utero.  Dwija has been facing some serious pregnancy complications for a while now and has done so with hope and joy and grace.  Her sweet son, Nicholas, passed from this life earlier this week at 21 weeks gestation.  I can't attempt to understand what she and her family are feeling right now, so all I can do is ask for prayers.  Thank you.

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