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I did not plan on having a  large family ; I had never even held a baby before our firstborn. I had moved east with Michael after our first baby was born, which cut me off from daily contact with friends and family. Although I enjoyed living in the country, raising our own vegetables and later even all our own meat, it was an  isolated existence . I felt like  Ruth  in a foreign land but without family support because Michael’s mother was busy with a huge extended family. In addition, my husband struggled with depression. Worldly opinion screamed we should not have any more children. The question we had struggled with for years was,“How could we remain faithful to Church teaching when Natural Family Planning did not seem to work for us?” continue reading

In Honor of the anniversary of Humanae Vitae I thought I'd share our journey. The real, and somewhat ugly, but redeeming journey. Read about it here .

This month's Natural Family Planning poster couple (so-to-speak) are Ben & Tina Butera from Bloomingdale, Illinois. They've used NFP for all of their 14-year marriage, and they have three children -- Antonio, age 12, Francesca, age 10, and Marianna, age 7. Although their main reason for using NFP is "doing what God wants," Tina and Ben also received an immense medical benefit when NFP helped them recognize warning signs early in Tina's last pregnancy, leading them to take steps to avoid possible miscarriage. To learn more about Ben and his faith, you can visit his Faith & Reason blog called   Two Catholic Men & a Blog . 1. Why do you use NFP? Aside from the obvious of wanting to live as God wants, we’ve always been uncomfortable with hypocrisy with ourselves or in others. We’re either in or out when doing something important, hot or cold. We live by either all Church teaching or none, and NFP certainly offers better family planning than no ...

Last year's guest post for NFP Awareness Week by James of  RealCatholicLoveandSex.com  continues to be  one of the most popular posts on the blog . This year, we'll give you a roundup of the best NFP Awareness Week posts from all over the web, including James', of course. Thanks to readers Tara, Scott, Ellen, Susan, Cat, and Mary Lou for their suggestions. If you know of other great posts that should be added to the list, please share the link in the comments! 1.  What is Natural Family Planning , by James of RealCatholicLoveandSex. James emphasizes that Natural Family Planning is actually a misnomer. Charting the signs of a woman's fertility is more of an education in her own body. We endanger our own happiness by making idols of our plans, as many couples learn when they use artificial birth control to prevent pregnancy for many years only to face infertility problems when they finally "plan" to conceive. 2.  The WINNER'S Guide to NFP , by Simc...

I have always known my vocation to be a mother. I've never felt a pull towards celibacy, my heart has always belonged to babies. For as long as I can remember, I was going to be a mommy when I grew up. I imagined getting married at a fairly young age and starting a family right away. Life obviously doesn't turn out the way we plan it. Read the rest here .

I am conundrum. A rather outmoded sort of woman, ridiculed by modern career women, vilified by the earth’s prophets of doom and sanctified by the religious right. I was the least likely candidate to have a lot of children.I mean, I had never even held a baby before my first born.You would think having nine children would have turned me into a frazzled wreck with a figure like the Pillsbury Dough Boy and a brain gone to mush, but I remain quite articulate, with a quirky sense of humour, standing at 5’1” and weighing in at 106 lbs. Not quite a rosy-cheeked, robust, matronly looking mother of a large brood. When the words  The Joy of Mothering  popped into my head as a sub-title for my short stories, it was like an epiphany for me because those few words verbalize my experience living with little people. The very existence of a joyful mother of nine children seems to confound people. Embracing an outdated lifestyle on a traditional, small, family farm has ...

“ Natural family planning ? What’s that? And does it really work?” These are probably some of the most common reactions or statements we get when people ask us how we spaced our two kids (Tim is turning 5 in October and Rysse just turned 2 last July). Those who are already in the know though can testify that NFP is the best way to go when it comes to family planning. Our kids are products of NFP, just like Umbert. ;-) What is natural family planning (NFP)? Wikipedia defines  NFP  in the following way: Natural family planning   (NFP) is a term referring to the  family planning  methods approved by the  Roman Catholic Church . In accordance with the Church's requirements for  sexual behavior  in keeping with its philosophy of the dignity of the human person, NFP excludes the use of other methods of  birth control . *To read the full article, please go to Philstar.com's unBLOGGED section by clicking  here .