There was never a question that D and I wanted to have a
Catholic wedding in a church. We quickly
decided that we wanted that to be in Denver since we want to build our lives
here so the choice of the church wasn’t even a choice, really, we just knew
that we would get married in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church- where D’s family
has been going for decades.
Now, for any of you who don’t know, Catholic churches
require a certain amount of prep prior to your wedding day. I’ve learned this can vary from church to
church but our requirements included completed a Focus with our priest {175 question survey/test}, taking
marriage prep courses, and taking Natural Family Planning (NFP) courses. I’ve been excited for all of these things
because of the conversations I hoped these courses would spark between D and
me. D and I have always had great
communication skills and we make it a point to talk to each other about pretty
much everything, but I knew that there were topics that would be discussed
through these classes that hadn’t come up in our relationship yet…but would come up in our marriage. So, why not start these conversations now!?
Last week we had our first NFP class and met with our
priest. I really enjoyed the NFP class
once we got past the High School Sex Ed portion of it. I think we all know the anatomy of the
reproductive organs by this point, and if you don’t, read a book. Anyway, the couple that runs the class was
fantastic- they were incredibly open and honest and seemed 100% comfortable
together. They could take about these semi-awkward-TMI topics together without
batting an eye, and they made everything feel very relatable instead of
overwhelming. D and I have not
completely decided when we’d like to have our first baby {although I will say I don’t want to wait too long!!} but I am
really excited to learn about NFP methods and how we might want to incorporate
them into our lives. I hate being on
birth control and I haven’t for some time, so I think it will be really great
to see how we can “postpone pregnancy” as they say, naturally.
The night after our NFP class, we met with our priest to go
over the results of our Focus. He was
very pleased with the results {we
answered 87% of the questions the same} and we had a lot of great
discussion about the questions that we answered differently. D and I were completely on the same page and
understood where each other was coming from on the questions we answered
differently and I think we were both very pleased with the results. Our percentage would actually be a little
higher because we each had one question we read differently so our answers
really would have been the same. I have
never had any doubt that D was meant to be and would be my husband one day, but
starting these classes has solidified that for us even more, and I feel very
content about everything.
On Tuesday night, we started our marriage prep courses online and I
definitely think we will enjoy those as well.
They are way more focused on the Bible {which I am super rusty on} and different questions/discussion
topics from various passages that they assign us to read. I think these will be a fun thing to work on
together and I look forward to the quality time it will give us together as
well.
Last night, we went to Dave and Busters to meet up with
some friends of ours. I haven’t been out
with friends in months so I was really excited to start catching up with people
again. Our financial situation put us in
a bit of bind for a while {frankly the
timing of it happening during Winter could not have been better, because I love
hibernating in the cold months anyway} but we’ve decided to set aside some
money to get out of the house and enjoy ourselves every once in a while…it is
sooo important for us and our relationships with our friends…and I’d bet money that the occasional beer is
good for the soul as well :) We had an absolute blast and I really hope we can make this a monthly occurrence!
-T-
Labels: fun with friends, marriage prep, NFP, wedding mania
