Look back and CRINGE with me…

I’ve done a lot of head-slap-worthy things as part of the Catholic on-line world.

Some noteworthy blunders have included sending out broken links, publishing unflattering pictures of myself and printing some simply EPIC typos. Ha! It has been a wild and all too often embarrassing ride.

However, where I can laugh at most of those things now, there is still one move I made that does make me cringe.

The Catholic Wife Academy.

The spring of 2016 I created and published the Catholic Wives’ Academy (any OGs here that were part of that 🙋🏻‍♀️). It was a digital course that covered all aspects of being a wife from communication to sex and back again. The course grew out of a boatload of research and I think the content was actually really good. 

However, I cringe at the idea that I ever felt qualified to “teach” on the topic of marriage. Here’s why.

In 2016 Bill and I had been married for six years. Back then, that felt like a good amount of time to have some perspective on the vocation of wife and mother. But now, six years later, I can see just how naive I was. Now, perhaps I needed that naivety to offer that course, and help some people. God is mysterious.

Look at that pic 👆! We were so young in 2016!

And here 👇 we are now…older by still snuggling babies! God is good.

Honestly, in the last six years, marriage has gotten a lot harder. Our marriage is still good and life-giving, but it’s harder. One reason for this is that we have three more kids and when you have both big kids and little kids parenting is great but also complicated at times. 

We’ve also been through some hard life changes. We moved across the country twice, I’ve been pregnant and miserable a total of nine times, Bill lost his beloved younger sister to cancer, we lost 3 babies, including a stillborn little boy at 20 weeks, I’ve taken on a bigger role in this little on-line business, our extended family has needed more from us and Bill has answered the call to play a bigger role in our parish community. 

Life is good and full and marriage continues to be such a blessing, but these days I 100% feel like a STUDENT of marriage and not a TEACHER.

Our marital struggles aren’t unique. Far too often I am distracted and not really connected to Bill in the way I wish I was. I also spend a lot of time focused on the things that aren’t going well and being crabby. I know that these things are counter-productive, but it’s hard to know how to change. 

And so, I was thrilled to learn that Nathan and Sarah Bartel of Cana Feast are hosting a four-part workshop called “The Little Way of Marriage” based on the spirituality of St. Therese and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie (I mean, how perfect, right?). In this workshop, married people discover small but powerful steps that help them feel more connection and joy in their marriage! 

Bill and I will be there with bells on and it would be great to go through this free experience with you. 

Because, my friends, the best gift we can give our children is a strong and life-giving marriage. 

No matter where you are in your marriage right now, come be a student of love with us and allow the Lord to show you the Little Way to joy and connection

See you there!

In Christ Jesus,

Nancy