On Marrying Young: Someone to Battle Life With

There has been a huge revival in these series recently as I've received many new contributions!  I'm loving it!  The most recent email I received is from Susie, a sweet young wife who recently celebrated her first anniversary.  One of the things I most appreciate about this series is that the women who write from it range from newlyweds to "old pros" and their experiences and circumstances are even more varied. 

__________ 

"Are you pregnant," the boy asked.

Angry, offended, and more than slightly annoyed I informed him I was not. 

That day, one week after I got engaged and two day after  turned 21, I discovered that those outside my "marriage mill" Christian university assumed that a ring on a girl's figure meant an unplanned pregnancy.

But for me, for me it meant that I finally had someone to battle life with.

I lost my father unexpectedly five day before my 16th birthday. That day, I stopped being a child and had to grow into an adult. I was the oldest of eight kids, so I had to figure out life on my own. Just me and God. I found a way to pay for college debt free, buy a car debt free, and be a responsible adult. But it was a struggle to do it all alone, without another human to stand alongside me.

 I started "liking" a boy I'd known my senior year of high school. Nine months later (after high school graduation) we started officially dating. From the beginning, people thought we would work out. There was something about the introverted geeky boy and the extrovert writer girl that promised a bright future for us. 

dating

We talked about marriage from the beginning, planning on getting married once he was done with his first Air Force enlistment. But years of a long distance relationship is exhausting, and we ended up planning on getting married the summer we turned twenty one. 

And get married we did. 

We've been married for thirteen months  and I'm eighteen weeks pregnant with our first child. It's been a phenomenal year. For the first time in my life I have a human partner (God's always been with me) and life seems that much easier with Stephen by my side. 

Getting married "young" can be the best experience, but a person must prepare. Someone who knows how to work hard, how to sacrifice, how to give, and strives to love unconditionally is ready for marriage. Just being in "love" doesn't count. There's so much more to marriage. Stephen and I had made sacrifices in our relationship. We had to work extra hard to communicate and love well because of time zone differences and miles. I knew that, because of my dedication to going to college debt free, I wouldn't be bringing in debt to our marriage. Stephen knew that because he had loved me through years of distance and struggles, he was prepared to love me as a husband loves a wife. 

engaged

Did we know what this year would bring?  No. But we knew we were prepared to share our lives, our passions, and even our bank accounts. 

Both of us had experienced life on our own, and we knew it would be better with each other. With a partner. I love my husband so much more than I did on my wedding day, and I pray a year from now that love with have multiplied again. Neither Stephen nor I believe divorce is an option, so we have a great incentive to work through our trials and better our marriage. We're one another's first loves, so there's no awkward history to deal with. Just the history we created. 

I got married at twenty one and I'm blessed because of it.

married!

Susie is a 22 year old almost college grad, who spends her free time working as a barista, writing, and finding adventure with her high school sweetheart of a husband. She blogs at http://osusannawhathaveyoudone.blogspot.com/ where she writes about paying for college debt free, life in the Air Force, and confessing the idiosyncrasies of a pregnant barista. 

Check out the other posts in the On Marrying Young series here.

Why Yoga and Christianity Are Compatible

 This post is based upon my upon and my experiences.  The Catholic Church has no official teaching about yoga and you can find Church authorities (priests, bishops, lay theologians, etc.) who fall on both sides of the issue.  

There is only one God.  
The main reason I hear stated as to why Christians should not engage in yoga is that it originated as worship to Hindu gods.  True as that may be, those gods do not exist.  There is only one god, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  How can I worship Gods that I do not believe exist?

Intention matters.
No yoga class I have attended mentioned religion or worship.  There were some very vague mentions of spirituality, but nothing that couldn't be used to refer to the Christian God or that was inconsistent with Christian worship.  I am sure that there are yoga classes and teachers that refer to Hinduism, Buddhism, or make questionable religious comments.  By all means, Christians should avoid those classes.  But if you remove Eastern religion from yoga, all you have left is an exercise.  I imagine that some forms of modern dance, ballet for example, may have particular moves that are similar to ones done in ancient pagan rituals.  And certain foods might have been eaten as part of various religious practices.  Stripped of their intent, these are bnot inherent evil. 

Your body is a temple.
God expects us to care of the bodies he gave us.  If we are in pain and there are specific movements or stretches that can help relieve that pain, I can't imagine He would be opposed as long as our intentions are pure.  After all, He created our bodies and the many ways in which they can move.  Some studies have found yoga more effective than painkillers in treating back pain.  I see movement, including the movements involved in yoga, as a natural way God gave us to take care of our bodies.

What's in a name?

Many yoga "postures" are not unique to yoga.  Throughout my life, in various P.E. and exercise classes, I've started and ended class doing stretches - stretching my hands to the sky, touching my toes, the "butterfly stretch", a sitting back twist, "hurdler's stretch".  These are some of the exact same movements done in yoga, developed separate from yoga and with a different name.  Why, when we use the Hindi names and put them within a "yoga" class, do these stretches suddenly become questionable?  If the names bother you, rename downward facing dog "tunnel" or tree" pose can become "one-legged balance" (although I hardly think there is anything harmful about the names as they are).

Adaptation.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have taken elements of secular society and changed them to be a reflection of their faith.  They were never completely separated from the culture or the world; if they had been, how would they have been able to change it? When I do yoga, I pray.  Often during those difficult postures which I have to hold for what seems like an hour (but in reality is only 30 seconds), I pray the "Hail Mary" (often several times).  At the end of each yoga class as we lie on the floor and relax after our hard work, I always say an entire decade of the Rosary.  I've also had friends who spend their yoga practice repeating scripture passages that are particularly  important in their current spiritual life.  In fact, there are specific Christian yoga classes that incorporate scripture, contemplation, and Christian prayer with physical movement.  I've joked back and forth with a fellow Catholic yoga practicer about translating the postures into Latin, or doing a "Rosary" with a specific posture assigned to each prayer (which would be verbally prayed at the same time).  

What do you think?  Do you practice yoga?  Do you believe that Christianity and yoga are at odds?  Feel free to disagree with me, but please include your reasoning and, as always, be respectful!

Movies, Books, Food, and Faith (Five Favorites)



Captain America.

Saturday night, David and I watched "Captain America".  It's pretty rare that we watch a movie.  Even though Lucia usually goes to sleep fairly early, we spend our nights keeping up with things around the house.  We have Amazon Prime for the free shipping benefits and it wasn't until just recently that I realized I could stream instant videos for free with it.  Lucia's been watching a ton of Peep on it, but this is the first time I've searched for movies to watch and I was really impressed by the selection.   We saw "The Avengers" last year and really enjoyed it and since Captain America was my favorite character in that movie, I knew I would love this one.  And I did.  He is definitely my favorite comic book character.  I've actually never read a comic book before (not because I'm adverse to it, just never got the opportunity) but this makes me want to go find some vintage Captain America comics. 

 

Smooching on St. Francis.

After Mass on Sunday, Lucia would not leave poor St. Francis alone.  She was smooching on him and hugging him and then kissing his birds and then starting it all again.  We actually had to eventually pull her away so we could leave.  I really don't think that it gets more precious than this.  Also, I tweeted this picture and I think it was my most re-tweeted tweet ever.  Guess I'm not the only one who melts at the sight of a sweet Catholic tot. 

   

  This Recipe. 

This morning, I shared the recipe I made last night, adapted from my favorite mac 'n' cheese recipe to become green chili & chicken baked mac 'n' cheese.  It was sooooooooooooo delicious.  Probably our current favorite and a new meal plan staple.

 

 The Hobbit. 

For someone who read Lord of the Rings in high school and absolutely loved it (I even have LOTR Trivial Pursuit if that tell you anything - although it's hard to find people to play it with), it's kind of shocking that I just finished The Hobbit yesterday.  But, I loved it, as I expected to.  Can't wait till the kid(s) is (are) old enough to read this as a family read aloud.  Now, tell me about the movie.  Will I be disappointed or pleased?

 "Unimportant" people who change the world...with love. 

"So in love was he with the Eucharist that after chemo, when he had to be isolated because his immune system was ravaged, the family would sit outside the church in their massive black Suburban. At Communion, Father Drummond would walk down the aisle, leave the church, and go outside. Brendan’s window went down and the priest would give him the Blessed Sacrament."

Thanks so much for hosting, Hallie!

Green Chili Chicken Mac 'n' Cheese

I rarely share recipes on the blog because my food photography is less than stellar (and my food rarely looks like something out of Martha Stewart anyway), but I had to share yesterday's recipe. I took my favorite mac 'n' cheese recipe, added a few items, changed out a few things, and turned it into green chili chicken mac 'n' cheese. It was a huge hit and my usually all-night-grazing toddler ate a whole bowl in one sitting. This is going to be on the regular recipe rotation.

Note: We try to be wheat free in our household, so I subbed rice macaroni for regular noodles and rice flour for wheat flour.  We've been doing it with our mac 'n' cheese for a while and truly can't taste the difference (my parents couldn't either).  But if you do wheat, then just sub them back.  Easy peasy.

Ingredients:

16 ounces (rice) macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons (rice) flour 

2 cups whole milk (or split with cream)
sea salt, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded 

3/4 cup tomatillo/green salsa

1 can (4 oz) fire roasted green chili, drained

2-3 chicken breasts

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.
 

2) Cook and drain macaroni according to package directions; set aside.
 

3) Put chicken in a pan on the stove with a little oil to cook. 

 

4) (While chicken is cooking, start sauce) In a large saucepan melt butter. Once fully cooked, shred and set aside.  (Tip: If you have a stand mixer, 2 minutes with the paddle attachment will result in perfectly shredded chicken.)
 

5) Add flour mixed, using a whisk to stir until well blended.

6) Pour milk/cream in gradually; stirring constantly.

7) Bring to boiling point and boil 2 minutes (stirring constantly).
  

8) Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes.

9) Add shredded cheddar little by little and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.  Stir constantly.
 

10) Stir in salsa, green chili, salt, and pepper. 

 

11)  Stir in chicken until fully coated.

 

12) If your saucepan is large enough, add macaroni as well and toss to coat with chicken cheese sauce.  If not, layer bottom of casserole dish with cooked macaroni and poor chicken cheese mixture over top.

13) Bake 30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Serves 4-6.  Total prep time: ~30 minutes.  Total baking time: 30 minutes.

If you make this, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!  I'm trying to hold off on the leftovers until tomorrow night so we can eat quickly before David's back-to-school night.  But it's so hard to open the fridge and see the casserole dish and not take just a tiny bit. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Catholic Family Gifts giveaway: A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms

Catholic Family Gifts has generously offered to give one reader a copy of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms.  A week-by-week walk with the Saints, this book makes a lovely gift for any mom who wants to grow deeper in her faith.  Read my review of the book here. 

Giveaway is open to US residents only.  

It will end at midnight on September 9th.  

Enter below and good luck!