Religious/Personal

Mishaps and Mistakes of a Marriage Gone Awry

God redeems all things, Jerry and Mary say.

Bitterness, selfishness, and contraception woes rocked this marriage before the husband came home from the Navy and he looked into becoming a Catholic.

Jerry - We are not your typical NFP teachers. We stand before you today as proof that God redeems all things and makes them new once more. We have been married for 23 years, and during our fertile years we did not practice NFP. I’m sure you are wondering, if we didn’t practice NFP, then how can we possibly be teaching it?

Mary - I grew up in a large Irish/German Catholic family. My parents did not contracept or use NFP; they were completely open to God’s timetable. Contraception was not something I knew about until my mid-teens when I was placed on the Pill to regulate my erratic periods.

A Guys’ Guide to the Fertility Foibles

How does a guy talk about NFP?

The education gained in a Natural Family Planning (NFP) class is certainly empowering, but it’s also a bit of an eye-opener for most guys. While it’s cool to be enlightened with knowledge that even your fiancée’s ob-gyn may not fully grasp, you may wonder at times if anyone should really know this much about a woman’s body.

Despite your love for her, there’s a good chance you’ll feel the urge to scoot your chair away just a bit at times. Don’t worry: This is a natural reaction the first time you take part in conversations about cervical mucus and tackiness with obscure references to egg whites in a way you’ve never envisioned (and would rather not).

Ten High-Five Surprises in Marriage

Some adjustments were easy, but others were difficult.

Marriage has been sweet but surprising for newlyweds Stephanie and Peter Weinert, of Silver Spring, Md. We asked them to give us their biggest eye openers. Here are each of their “high-fives.”

Stephanie’s five

1. Ease. After all the jokes about life after the honeymoon and bickering over toilet seats and toothpaste tubes, I thought we’d be in for a huge transition after the wedding – especially since we dated long distance. I think we were both shocked by how seamless the transition was. Preparing well in pre-Cana helped a lot.