AHG Summer Camp

Last week I had an unexpected "vacation" as a last-minute substitute at an American Heritage Girls summer camp. It was a vacation from my ordinary household duties and the never ending home renovations, but I traded that pretty comfortable routine for an intense week of heat, humidity, bugs, long days, and lots of girls!

I have a variety of feelings about summer camp since I didn't go as a child and this is only my second time as an adult. It's sort of a love/hate thing.

LOVE: being in the great outdoors most of the day
HATE: unrelenting humidity

LOVE: lots of other women to talk to all day long
HATE: listening to 8 of them snore at night! You thought your husband was bad---try 8 roommates!

LOVE: cabins with electricity
HATE: the permanent structures that are also permanent homes for spiders of all types and ticks galore (and some super-creepy crawly thing that we have never seen before and have not been able to identify! )

LOVE: pavilions that provide sturdy shelter from afternoon thunderstorms
HATE: tin roofs that make it much hotter underneath

LOVE: young girls
HATE: the frustrations of dealing with little girls who hate camp, bugs, bathrooms, cooperating, and really shouldn't be there

LOVE: badge sessions like Shooting Sports and learning to shoot along with the girls
HATE: badge sessions after lunch and in the late afternoon which are soporific no matter what the subject!

LOVE: cell phones and the opportunity to talk to my husband sometimes, when I'm not too busy with those unhappy little girls
HATE: dropping my phone in the toilet on the last day!!!! (stupid shallow pocket in my shorts)

LOVE: my new iphone6
HATE: losing all my photos from the past 2 months :-(

LOVE: going home!
HATE: saying goodbye to new friends

(These girls got stuck in traffic on the way home and had a chance to honor the fallen Marines from Chattanooga)

I am STILL tired from the week! It seems like there is frequently work to be done after the girls FiNALLY go to bed, and if there isn't, the Leaders stay up too late talking. What's the best part? Sharing the week with my daughter and sharing stories with other women all week. What are your memories of camp?

Are YOU Aware it's NFP Awareness Week?

It's NFP (Natural Family Planning) Awareness Week! I was somewhat surprised by that fact at Mass on Sunday when our new priest mentioned NFP. Now, this was his first Sunday with us, which just happened to coincide with NFP Awareness Week, but I think if he hadn't been celebrating Mass, I would have been kept in the dark about it. Unfortunately.

It's unfortunate that more priests don't talk about NFP, either this week or at all, because it's one of the most beautiful teachings of the Catholic Church. The Church teaching on sexuality is one of the things that sets it apart from all the protestant churches....and pretty much the whole world!

There was a time when we knew this week was coming and did something to prepare for it at our parish, but we've let that fall by the wayside since we reached a tipping point in our childbearing years that made teaching too difficult. And now we're past all that, anyway. Don't snort because we stopped teaching because we had "too many children" thanks to NFP! We had those children because we wanted them, not because NFP didn't work.

For us, NFP was (and is) a huge gift to our marriage. We've been very blessed to have little trouble conceiving, but even with my irregular cycles, we were able to avoid pregnancy when we needed to and able to conceive fairly quickly when we were ready for another child. It wasn't always easy to abstain and it made for some difficult, stressful times in our marriage, but, on the whole, it strengthened our marriage enormously AND brought me into full communion with the Catholic Church.

I didn't start out using NFP because I believed the Church teachings, but because we needed some way to space our children (Yes, I had a "contraceptive mentality"!) and, with my tendencies toward more natural living and fewer pharmaceuticals, I was happy to learn NFP. Win for both spouses! Nevertheless, my eyes were opened by the changes in our already-happy marriage, and if the Church was right about the reasons for married couples should not use contraception, maybe She was right about other things, too.

Feel free to share your experiences or thoughts! NFP is a huge hurdle for many couples in this age of sex anytime, anywhere, with anyone. The widespread belief that we shouldn't have more than 2 children these days is also a challenge for couples. Rest assured that you don't have to have a dozen (as I thought) or a half-dozen, but you do have to invite God into your sexual relationship (because He created it, and He's there whether you like it, or admit it, or not!). And there are no guarantees that you will be given all the babies you want, either, but you will find grace and joy in abundance even through the struggles and the sorrows.

Change is Hard

I don't like change, as a rule. I mean, I like it, but it can be challenging at the same time. I also get an idea in my head about something, whether it's bathroom fixtures or how an event should be run, and it can be hard to let it go.

That's pretty much how I've felt about these home renovations. I get an idea in my head and when the reality differs I have difficulty adjusting. Sometimes it's a long process and sometimes it's a longer process. LOL. Pity the poor husband who has to deal with me!

The Orange Bathroom was a pretty quick adjustment. I was initially shocked by the color, but you know how it darkens as it dries, and going away for a week gave me a good opportunity to mentally adjust. I love, love, love this bathroom. It still lacks a mirror, art, and a couple of drawer pulls, but it's fabulous!

More pics to come, soooon! However, I will admit that the Orange makes it a little hard to get accurate colors in photos. <grin>

The hardest adjustment, which almost brought me to tears was the granite in the powder room. Oh, how silly and shameful that I should fret over not having the perfect counter in my bathroom! There are far worse things happening in the world. So, I decided not to make an issue of it and make it work, or, at least, live with it gracefully. As it turns out, I think it works beautifully with the color and the same black frames that I had before!