Sponsor Couple

When JM and I met I wasn’t living near my parents.  But he and I began a life together in the town I did live in.  We ate at certain restaurants, feel in love with certain parks, went to certain churches, etc. So when Chuy proposed we decided to get married in the church we loved attending together.  Little did we know this would come across as a faux paux.  We’ve been questioned every step of the way on why we chose that church for our marriage.  We never questioned ourselves as to why we love this church, we know we love it and that we should be married here.  After this weekend we feel in love with something else about this church. 

After mass we drove to our next appointment in our crazy busy weekend.  It was in the town of Mansfield, south of Arlington.  As we pull up to this gorgeous home with a BMW in the drive way we are dumb spelled.  Chuy gaffs and says “These people are nothing like us, why are we here?” I answer him “God put us in each other’s lives, maybe if we don’t need them, they need us”.

We’ve just arrived at our sponsor couple’s house.  This couple was assigned to us by the church according to a personality test Chuy and I took when speaking with a priest about our intent to marry.  Supposedly this couple is assigned to us because they have a similar background or lifestyle as us.  If we were to compare houses right now, this would not seem to be the case.  But as soon as we met this couple we realized we were a perfect match. 

First of all they flew in the front door with a bang!  Kids running all over the place, clothes being thrown into the wash, phone ringing, etc.  It was a sight!  But everything was working like clockwork and the house was immaculately clean.  When it came time to sit down and speak with us the kids were in their rooms watching a movie, we were offered beverages and all was still.  Talk about inspiring!

Turns out they had a long distance relationship in the beginning like Chuy and me.  They also had no money in the beginning (as most couples don’t) but she works from home and travels for business every now and then.  I know Chuy would love if I could work from home, so he was happy to hear that from her.

They also come from big families and they both live away from their families.  So traveling to see the grandparents is a big ordeal.  They shared with us the drama of who gets which holiday, who comes to visit and who doesn't, etc. 

We only met for two hours this weekend.  We'll be meeting them again at the end of the month.  Harvest season is coming up, so JM won't be able to get away from town as often as he can now.  I thought we were going to be matched with an older couple who "has this marriage thing all figured out" but this couple is only 40 years old and they dont have it all figured out.  But they did figure out how to stay married for 16 years.  JM and I are just working on getting to the alter so we feel very blessed to have this couple in our lives!

Living life to the Fullest being blessed by God every step of the way.

-Rachel

Sharing is Caring

Have you heard about Kony 2012? 

My 15 year old sister sent me a Facebook request about Kony today.  And then my friends at Dateless Until I Do wrote a blog post about it as well.  They included a 29 minute video that I started to watch, but the tears were flowing so be warned!

The author of this video begins by pointing out that due to the internet, social media and facebook we can share everything today.  And when you look at Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ you realize people are very willing to share.  It's almost addicting.  But then, when it comes to war, murder, injustice and the loss of human rights - who is willing to share their view on that?  Especially when it isn't our war and our personal human rights....

I've realized if I want my blog to be a platform of my life and what I find important than I must be true to myself and share this with you.   I'd share it with my family, the Man and my friends so I'm sharing it with you.  Watch this video

I also want to share with you an amazing book I recently read. 

It was given to me by the Man's sister.  His sister is an incredibly loving stay at home mom who volunteers her time with the Church.  I was shocked this small town mom would find a book about a person and event halfway around the world!  This book ,"Left to Tell", is about the 1994 Rwanda genocide.  Not exactly the bedtime reading that I am familiar with.  But don't worry this book will not give you nightmares.  Instead the author, Immaculee, passes along her courage, faith and passion for Living Life to the Fullest!  If you need a copy of this book feel free to borrow mine!  But purchasing this book online ensures the funds go towards the recovery of the people of Rwanda. 

In the mean time, learn about Kony 2012!  Hopefully someone has already shared this with you and you can share it with someone!

Is a ring really necessary?!

So why an engagement ring?  

Ok, that doesn't answer the question but I thought it was funny.

According to Wikipedia an engagement ring is:

"...presented as a betrothal gift by a man to his prospective spouse while he proposes marriage or directly after she accepts his marriage proposal. It represents a formal agreement to future marriage."

I like the idea of an engagement ring.  There's an exchange.  She gives her word he gives a ring.  I'm a Carrie Bradshaw fan and who could forget the movie ending when Mr. Big asks the question, she says "yes" and then Big says "This is why there is a ring, you gotta have something to close the deal".  I agree.  Let's face it, women love the idea of marriage so much, they would probably go around saying they were engaged if they didn't need a ring to prove it! 


Which is why I'm very much on board with an engagement ring.  So much so that I pause when I think of making any drastic change WITHOUT a ring.  I know my family is expecting a ring.  I know my friends are too.  The Man in my life is such a romantic he could care less about the ring.  He just wants to the girl.  Which I understand and I love that!  But I want both.  The man and the ring.  Women are difficult, and I'm NO exception.


But it's the COST of the ring (as mentioned in my last post) that kills me.  Do you know who is to blame for this?!  De Beers.  Who's that?  That's the guy who said an engagement ring should be two month's income.  Source: Wikipedia- 

"The idea that a man should spend a significant fraction of his annual income for an engagement ring originated from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds.[1] In the 1930s, they suggested that a man should spend the equivalent of one month's income in the engagement ring; later they suggested that he should spend two months' income on it.[1] In 2007, the average cost of an engagement ring in USA as reported by the industry was US$2,100."

It's just marketing.  But it is ingrained in us!  Well, us women.  I'm not sure all men know that expectation.  And even if they do, I'm not sure who actually does it.  And as far as that last line in the quote "Average cost in 2007 was $2,100" - BALONEY or I just hang out with the wrong crowd.  There is no way the average cost of my friends' engagement rings is $2,100.  I don't see any of my friends getting away with NO engagement ring...not in the crowd I run with.  


I do have one friend who wanted to for go the ring all together.  She was engaged in September and married in December (of the same year).  She has a blog and wrote about why she didn't want a diamond ring.  In her conclusion: 

"Dan and I would rather our rings speak more about our hearts than our pocketbooks. Diamonds may be “indestructible,” but the might of our God is stronger."

Ay!  Talk about Catholic guilt.  But I've always felt there is a certain way to do things.  Ask my dad for permission, get down on one knee, have a ring, and then I say "yes".    He has already asked for permission, so I'll let you know when he's on one knee!!

Source

40 Days of Rest

I ran across this great blog I'd love to share.  If you find yourself with little "me" time.  Or if you're running out of time at the end of the day trying to "squeeze it all in"  read this blog post and consider Turning Off the Lights for 40 days

Jennifer Fulwiler shares...

I had three children under age three, a seemingly endless to-do list, and regularly felt like I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I’d begun to deal with my stress by spending too much time on the internet, and my prayer life had become almost nonexistent. As Lent approached that year, I spent a lot of time searching for how I could make it a time of reprioritization and renewal. I wanted to undertake a spiritual practice that would be drastic enough to break me out of my rut, but would also be reasonable for someone with my crazy lifestyle to undertake. And then, during one of my (all-too-rare) prayer times, I got an odd inspiration:
Turn out the lights.

source

I felt drawn to do occasional fasts from artificial light during Lent. After talking to my husband about it, we committed to foregoing all electric sources of light after sundown approximately once a week—and this included not only overhead lights, but glowing screens like computers or televisions as well. For safety’s sake we did leave nightlights on in the hallways while we slept, but in terms of illuminating our evening activities, it was all candlelight. The impact it had on our lives was more powerful than I could have imagined. To list just a few of the profound changes this simple once-a-week fast brought to our lives:

1. It forced us to limit our to-do lists. My 98-year-old grandfather often comments that life is much more hectic now than it was when he was growing up on a remote farm in the 1920s, and I think that electric light has a lot to do with that. The first thing I noticed during our artificial light fast was what a large amount of work I typically tried to accomplish after sundown. I found it impossible to tackle laundry by candlelight, and obviously any work on the computer was out. At first it was exasperating, but then I realized that I had been using artificial light to push myself way beyond reasonable human limits in terms of how much I tried to do in a day. On the days that I was forced to do only as much work as I could do during daylight hours, my life became naturally balanced, with times of rest complementing times of work.

2. It taught us humility. The first night I found myself facing an entire evening with no light, I was just about twitching with anxiety. But what about all that laundry? What about those dishes I didn’t get to? What about email?!?! I hadn’t realized how much I relied on myself and how little I relied on God until I was forced to give up control of my schedule. It was humbling to see that the universe actually did not fall apart at the seams without me working 16 hours a day, even when I didn’t get to those items on my to-do list that were “so important.”

3. It inspired us to live intentionally. On the days when I’d have artificial light to extend my work time as late as I wanted to, I tended to shuffle around the house aimlessly, getting to things when I got to them. But when I knew that my work would have to cease at sundown, with whatever didn’t get done being set aside until the next day, I approached my days much more purposefully.

4. It reduced our stress levels. At the time I was burdened by a lot of worries about everything from money to how I would get through the next day without collapsing from exhaustion. Yet every time we switched off the lights and lit the candles, an amazing thing would happen: My stress would be instantly cut in half. Something about the dim, natural glow and the movement of the flames made me feel deeply relaxed, even when I had been full of tension just moments earlier.

5. It carved out time for the things that matter. The two areas of life that were always threatened by our frantic schedules were prayer time and family time. Without being able to do much work or become distracted by glowing screens, we found that our candle-lit evenings left us plenty of time for our real priorities.   Read more:

While we all give up tangible things this Lent, let's not forget to work on our relationship with our own body, mind and soul.  What's the point of giving up TV if you spend that extra time on the computer?  Why give up alcohol if you don't use that clarity of mind to do something GREAT?  Best of Luck my friends!  You can do it!

Living Life to the Fullest...with my body, mind and soul for 40 days!