Pregnancy Brain...

…I has it.

Earlier this week, my car got locked in the garage. The garage door broke, and my car was its hostage.   These things happen, right?  Wrong.  If you’re pregnant and feeling just a tad bit emotional, this is less of a “s*** happens” situation, and more of a “the universe has turned against you and is going to come to a screeching halt” crisis.

I broke down crying.

More like sobbing.

I was quite hysterical, and while I was bawling my eyes out and managing to smear my recently applied makeup all over my blotchy, bloated face, I could hear the logical part of brain calling to me from somewhere in the distance: “Why are you crying?” “This isn’t a big deal….”

Let me tell you what- being aware of your sanity as it is overrun by those monsters called hormones is the worst.  It’s a double hit. You’re not only going crazy, you’re aware you’re going crazy.

And yet I couldn't stop for a good 5 minutes.

As my mom has always said though, crying is the most efficient way of getting rid of excess hormones.  Well, at least I’m efficient.  Often.

I don’t know what’s worse though: the mood swings, or the fog that lies over your brain, rendering your memory/ thought processes useless.

Exhibit A.  This morning I was blow drying my hair, when I started wondering “hmmmm, now did I actually wash my hair, or just get it wet….?”  I quickly convinced myself that no one is dense enough to forget step 1 in a 2-step process, and told myself I must have used shampoo… even though I couldn’t remember the shower at all.  But my hair gave me away as the day progressed. Lovely.

Ohhh well.  Getting to our sweet little baby on the ultrasound yesterday made it more than worth it.  My mom and the ultrasound tech thought our 24 week old bean looks like his/her daddy. What do you (my non-existent readers) think?

I can't wait to meet you, my sweet baby

Somewhat Old, but Not Dated

I wrote this post after the election and forgot to post it.  I found it again today and thought "Well, this is still relevant, so why not?"




I stumbled across this post on a very good blog, from a young priest. His entire blog gives me a strange sense of peace about the election results.  As I’m tempted to feel a sense of doom of the ever-descending judgment this nation brings upon itself, it is reassuring to hear the rise of a new generation of men.  These men, priests that will shepherd their flock, have been formed in THE Truth.  They will shepherd, not by shying away from the divisive issues, but by uniting their parishes on the foundation of Christ’s Truth.

We live in a world where truth (let alone Truth) no longer exists.  Our relativistic society screams “Whatever seems true to you, is your truth”… not to be confused with “my truth,” of course.  It is screaming this so loudly, that I get a weird sense of calm and peace.  Satan knows he must scream in an effort to distract from the alternative: the most beautiful Truth. The knowledge of God and of all that HE IS.  This Truth stops us in our tracks when we finally hear it.  It sings to our souls if our hearts have not yet been hardened.

But as the history of humanity demonstrates, Truth is often confused with the web of lies that Satan is constantly weaving, as he cleverly takes what is pure and good and lovely and subtly twists it juuust enough to confuse.

I take further consolation in this quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen, that His Church will always be able to discern Truth.
       
          "Since a week ago last Saturday, we can no longer expect them to defend the law of God. These
          sects will work out the very logic of their ways, and in 50 or 100 years there will be only the
          [Catholic] Church and paganism. We will be left to fight the battle alone, and we will."
               
                        --Then-father Fulton J. Sheen, March 1931, reacting to the United States Federal Council of
                        Churches of Christ endorsement of the use contraception by married couples

I think this gives me peace because it simply admits the task at hand, the task that we of the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” faith have ALWAYS been tasked with, regardless of this past election.  At one time, we could count on a majorly Christian society to stand with us on most social issues. As seen in the quote, up until the 1930’s, all Christian faiths said that contraception had no place in marriage.  Today, in 2012, we have now seen abortion and gay marriage added to the list of things that were once sinful, but are no longer considered to be so by society and many Christians.

Is the connection not obvious? But more importantly, does Truth change?  Can God deny Himself?  Regardless, Satan has taken most into his clever clutches, leaving the Church alone to fight this great battle.

And She will.

I am thankful for this Church, Christ’s beloved bridegroom, who is unwavering in doctrine, and has been a steady proponent for the Truth for its entire 2,000+ years of existence.  She has been through many trials and tribulations and has survived, and she will do so again, because Christ promised her that “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”

Well Said, Mr. President

The battle between good and evil begins at the moment of conception: "The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." ~ Revelation 12.4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Opl0jnKbn5Y

One year and couting....

Exactly one year ago today I married the man of dreams, the one and only, Mr. Matthew Andrew Braman.  We met in the magical land of New Zealand, and my heart has belonged to him ever since.  

This past year has flown by and I’m so grateful for every bit of it.  It feels like our adventures are only just beginning, and that’s a thrilling feeling indeed.  I would like to recount the adventures we have shared thus far:

• Honeymooning in Italy- a fabulous trip indeed
• We (you, me and Maxx) moved into our first apartment in downtown Denver
• We became registered parishioner’s at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish (how appropriate?!)
• I got my first “big-girl” job
• You switched to your second “big-boy” job, signaling the true start to your career
•  We shared our first Christmas and Easter together, and our second Thanksgiving
•  We had multiple friends visit and explore CO with us

And we were blessed to celebrate it all by staying a night at the oh-so-fabulous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. 

Thanks for the best year of my life thus far.  I'm so excited for all the blessed things to come. 

I Love You Like a Love Song, Baby

My blog is still a baby by blogging world standards, but I have never seen a link-up that was more appropriate for me!  Perfect timing! Betty over at Betty Beguiles is doing a love song link up, so here goes nothin!

The first song is Matt and I’s first dance song from our wedding.  Besides the fact that the lyrics seemed perfect, it was special because Stevie Wonder was the first concert we went to together... tough act to follow….

Okay, so maybe the last one isn't a happy love song, but it's one of my favorites anyway.  Soooo there you have it.  

St. Raphael the Matchmaker

Are you an expert on angels?  Because I’m not.  Besides the casual mentioning of guardian angels, and hearing the story of St. Gabriel visiting Mary, I know almost nothing about them.  And until I began planning my wedding, they didn’t seem to have a direct impact on my life.

A little over a year ago, it was time for Matt and I to prayerfully discern which readings we wanted for our nuptial mass.  After diligently going through the 8 different choices for the first reading like the good little Catholics we are, we finally decided on Tobit 8:5-7.  The reading is the prayer that Tobias and Sara say on their wedding night, and it really struck a chord with both of us. 

I was so excited about this reading that I called to tell my mom about it. She listened to me blather on like I tend to do, then we said goodbye, and that was it…  Until a day or so later when she called in excitement to share with me something she’d forgotten about.

A few months before I left to study abroad in New Zealand (which is where Matt and I met), my mom and her good friend read about a novena to St. Raphael the Archangel.  He is patron saint of a few things, one of them being patron saint of match makers.  She and her friend decided to say a novena that their daughters would meet their proper spouses (you haven’t seen a meddling mother until you’ve met a Catholic meddling mother- meddler of meddlers, let me tell you, because they go straight to the source). 

The meddlers said their novena and then promptly forgot about it.  Fast forward to my mom and I’s phone conversation.  After she hung up, she remembered her prayers and made an interesting connection:  St. Raphael is considered patron saint of match makers because he brought Tobias to his future wife Sara so that they could be married.  They got married and bowed their heads in prayer on their wedding night… See where I’m going with this?

Boom! So when Matt and I picked our first reading, it was the fulfillment of my mother’s answered prayers for the Lord to bring me my future spouse, all with the help of St. Raphael.

So St. Raphael, you da man fo bringin me my man. 

Bringing lovebirds together (at least I think that's what is going on in this picture)

Clearly angels are more rad than I give them credit for.  I guess it’s time for me to start reading up and learning more about them.   

"Eversing is clost"

Matt and I had THE best time two weekends ago... We're still reeling from the fun, which will be my excuse for taking so long to post about it.

Some of our dearest friends came to visit: Kaija and Jonna LeVine (the dynamic duo), Patrick (Kaija’s boyfrand), and Jordan (our friend from study abroad).  Matt’s sister, Lauren, also joined in some of the festivities, so for the better part of the weekend, we were rollin’ 7 deep.  Good times were had by all. 

We kicked off the weekend by driving up to WinterPark, a ski resort up in them thar hills.  We promptly checked into our veery affordable hotel, and quickly discovered why they were practically paying us to be there: “Thank you for coming. Eversing is clost,” the hotel clerk  informed us (who didn’t quite have that accent, but we imagined she did while laughing about it all weekend).  Apparently the summer activities and the summer schedule for ski resort officially opened up the next day.   Oops. 

“Sooo, there aren’t any restuarants or anyyyy stores that are open??” ….

“Everysing is clost.”

We almost peed our pants we were laughing so hard.  We knew we were destined for a great weekend exactly then.  

Even though it only took us a grand total of 5 minutes to sniff out an open restaurant/bar, it wouldn’t have mattered much at all if everything had indeed been “clost.”  The company was just too spectacular. 

We had a fabulous weekend filled with all sorts of fun, including, but not limited to: weird sausages (think pheasant, rattle snake, boar), hiking in the mountains, Great Divide’s 18^th Anniversary Beer Festival,  impromptu dance parties in our living room (a warm up for Jonna’s dance-off in downtown Denver), the aforementioned night on the town in Denver,  and much, much more.

Man, we sure are blessed with some fun and attractive people for friends. But as the guy on Reading Rainbow said, “Don’t take my word for it!”:

Pretty pretty princesses

Matt and I with our visitors

A columbine flower. So beautiful.

"Hey guys, check out my tail!" -Jonnasaurus

My beautiful college roomie

Great Divide's 18th Anniversary Party

Was it the 5th and 6th, or the 6th and 7th wheel?... can't remember

Love them dearly.  Thanks for gracing us with your glorious presence. Y'all come back now, ya hear?!