Five Faves

The blog has been a little quiet lately. I've been too tired and actually just too busy to actually have the time to sit down and write a post. I've thought about it several times but our days have literally been nonstop activity. And nap time has been spent with me reorganizing the house and prepping the boys room for the big transformation to bunk beds that is set to occur this Saturday. Anyways, before I get my ab exercises done, I thought I'd pop on and write about my five faves this week.

1. Gratitude from my students

The second grader I tutor had a writing assignment to write a thank you note to someone and she chose me! I was honored and really flattered. It was so sweet of her and the note is now hanging on our fridge in the midst of the kids' artwork. What a great motivator when I find myself losing steam as the holidays approach quickly.

2. Gymsport Open Gym Play Time

About once or twice a month, I take the kids to Gymsport, a local gymnastics gym. They offer preschool open gym Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9-12. It is $5/child/hour. We usually go from about 10:30-11:30 and then stay around afterwards to eat our lunch at the tables provided there. The boys LOVE it. They can run, jump, bounce, climb, and do so many fun things without getting in trouble for it. As the winter approaches, it is great to have something so close to our house and so cheap to go and do get their energy out.

3. Philip Rivers

So, he's not a Steelers quarterback, but he is an AMAZING, devout Catholic who is an awesome witness to the faith. He and his wife has six children and they speak out about why couples should use NFP. I saw a video online recently of an interview he did speaking about NFP and why he and his wife use it. It is honest and sincere. My favorite quote from the whole thing is this:

 “For us it was a Church teaching, so you have to do it. As you obey...then you start to understand and see the fruits of it (NFP) in your marriage.”

Take five minutes and check out the video here. 

4. Sales

Last Thursday night, Brian just happened to be on Craigslist when an ad for a wooden train table with accessories popped up for only $40. And it was literally 15 minutes from our house. We jumped and were able to purchase this gem the next day! Now, we have an awesome, usually very pricey, Christmas gift for a fraction of the price! Also, this past Friday, the boys and I had a little extra time after we were done at the gym and between when we needed to be at our next activity, so we wandered around the shops at the shopping center where the gym is located. I found Brian a pair of really nice dress shoes that originally cost $100 on sale for only $40! They were the only pair in his size, and he loves them. He can't get over how comfortable they are. I was also able to pick up a Jingles the Dog DVD and book for Matthew at Hallmark. (Both are Christmas gifts.) The book was $10 and the DVD was $10. After coupons, I paid only $11 for both. Awesome! And I was able to buy them without Matthew knowing I did so. He loves Jingles and will be excited for his new book and DVD.

5. This picture from after the circus on Sunday night.

I mean, how can you  not smile?

Have a great night!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

From our first Christmas "In Love"

Six years ago today, Brian and I said "I love you" to each other for the very first time. We had been dating for five days and had know each other 17 days. Some of you may be saying, "Wow. That was fast." I'm pretty sure it gave my parents heart attacks (and when Matthew announces that he and his girlfriend of a week have said those words to each other, I may have a total internal melt down), but for us, it was totally perfect. Part of it had to do with the fact that we met online. Those first six emails we exchanged were long and in depth and took hours to write. We learned a lot about each other right from the start. But we also spent our first two dates talking for hours and hours. We loved learning about each other and did it pretty quickly. It wasn't hard to fall totally in love with each other. And I can't even pinpoint the moment I realized I loved Brian. At some point, it just felt natural to think of him and feel "in love" all at the same time. Neither of us hesitated the first time we said those three little words either. There was no awkward pause. It just flowed naturally. That same night we both discussed marriage and decided at that point that that was where our relationship was ultimately headed. It was a night of revelations. And it's one we always look back at fondly.

All that being said, I had never said "I love you" to anyone outside of my family before Brian came along. At sixteen, I had discerned my vocation was to be a wife and mother, so I never wasted my time dating the guys at high school (pretty sure they weren't interested in the crazy Catholic girl either.) I had been interested in several guys in college and had gone on a handful of dates, but the relationships never progressed past "friendship" (some never even got to that level!). All of that also meant that I'd never waste those three precious words on anyone else. I wanted to say them to my future husband and to him only. They were words meant just for him and give them away to someone else would somehow cheapen their meaning in my mind.

I can't say what a HUGE blessing that has been for our relationship and marriage. I got to discover what love is and how it works with Brian. I had no one before him to discover that amazing adventure with, and because of that, Brian and I are even more bonded to each other than we would be otherwise. I didn't have a fear telling him I loved him because I knew I was meant to marry him and that meant that he'd never break my heart. I wasn't scared to put it all out on the line because having never done it before, I didn't even think that it may backfire at some point. My future spouse would never hurt me, and so I need not worry that the love I felt for him wouldn't be returned. It wasn't stressful or scary to say "I love you" the first time.

Having saved those words for Brian has also made him realize what an incredible he was getting to be the one to hear me say them for the first time. I remember how beautiful and innocent he found the whole scene. And how touched he was that he was the one God had chosen to hear those three precious words. He felt honored and took the job of protecting my heart and treating it delicately very serious right from the start.

To me, it made sense to save "I love you" for my future husband. First and foremost, I didn't want my future husband out there running around and telling some other girl that he loved her. So why would my future husband want me out there telling some other guy I loved him even if it wasn't really love? That thought just hurt my heart (and honestly, it was something I had to work hard to overcome in our relationship. Even Brian will say when he said those words before he never truly  knew what it meant to be in love until he met me, and that helps a bit.) I have never been one to believe that you can be "in love" multiple times throughout life. Love means sacrificing yourself for the good of your beloved. That kind of love is not found in teenage relationships. (Of course, there's always exceptions to the rule.) It's not found in the flirtatious college relationships where you wouldn't dare bring the other half of the relationship home to mom. Love is deep and intimate. You can't be deep and intimate with more than one person in a lifetime. Or at least I can't. God forbid something ever happen to Brian, I'm pretty sure I couldn't remarry simply because I'd always be in love with him. I'm pretty certain I could never love again. (And I get some people do remarry and love again, but for me, emotionally, it just wouldn't work.)

I can only hope and pray that I somehow pass on this idea and sentiment to our children. I'm not sure how to do that, and I'm not really sure how my parents passed on such an idea to me without me knowing they were doing it. I hope one day I get them to understand that words are powerful, especially love. Love means so much more than being giddy and happy and just attracted to another person. It means be willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING to make the other person happy. Love doesn't contain the selfish idea of "I." It is all about someone else. I hope to teach them that love is what they see on the cross. And until they are willing to totally give their life for the other person, those three words have no business in their relationships with the opposite sex. Ultimately, though, I hope they can look at Brian and I and see how very much in love we are still are and think, "I want that." And realize that the only way to get "that" is to play their cards like we did. I pray they love their future spouses enough to save everything for them, including three of the most important and unfortunately, overused words in the English language.

To end, I love you, Brian. I have since six years ago, and I always will. Thank you for loving me like you do. :)

Life Lessons from Dr. Sunyoger

The above picture was taken today at Fort Steuben Mall in Steubenville, Ohio. The woman I am standing with is Dr. Mary Antoinette Sunyoger, my most admired and respected professor from my undergrad days at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She and her husband even attended my graduation party in Pittsburgh and were guests at my wedding to Brian. Today, Brian and I piled the boys into the van and headed out to see Dr. Sunyoger at a book signing for her new book, Life Lessons.

I will always remember my first class with Dr. Sunyoger. It was the spring of 2006, and I registered for Grammar and Its Teaching Methods as well as Rhetoric. I had heard of Dr. Sunyoger through others who had taken classes with her before, and I had met her for about five minutes when she had to sign a form to waive a prerequisite for me to take her class. Everyone raved about her. Still, I wasn't quite sure what to expect on that dreary January day in 2006.

Dr. Sunyoger walked into class and immediately had us put our desks into a circle. She took role and made sure to learn each of our names that very first day. I remember how much she loved my Steelers finger nails (Pittsburgh was on its way to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995, so I went all out!) Then, she got down to the rules and class expectations. She is the only person in the world who can be serious and stern about the rules all while smiling and pleasantly going through them. It was quite the paradox. Somehow, though, within the first ten minutes of class, she had earned every single student's respect. That's not an easy task. Plus, she did it without us even really knowing how it happened. You couldn't help but leave class with a little bit of fear (I had a feeling she'd come down hard, but rightly so, if you didn't keep up with the work and come prepared to class). You were also excited as you left the room that first day. Her class would be exciting and she was beyond passionate about teaching. At 9am, that was a very good thing.

As the days passed, I grew to LOVE her class and LOVE her.  I enjoyed the reading and couldn't wait to participate in class discussions. I also really appreciated the way she cared about us as people, not just as students. I remember one morning when I was feeling particularly homesick. I had cried that morning getting ready and just wasn't into participating much in class. I missed my parents and my house and my two dogs, and I wanted to go back to Pittsburgh at that moment and never return to Steubenville. I had shut down in class and zoned out for much of it. I remember after class, Dr. Sunyoger pulled me aside and walked with me down the hall very slowly and checked in with me to make sure everything was okay. The best was, she actually listened to me! I had never had another teacher or professor ever do that before. It meant a lot to me, and it is a moment I will never forget.

Her class required a lot of writing. For my entire career in school, I had always been told I could not write. My writing was too repetitive, my teachers would say. My mom had been proofreading my papers all through college and that was allowing me to pull high B's on them in English classes. The test and quizzes kept me at A's somehow. However, I knew this writing weakness would be an issue in this class, so I took advantage of Dr. Sunyoger's office hours and had her help me with the first paper that was due. She took extra time to show me how to stop being repetitive, and she taught me how to actually write a strong thesis statement. She was the first teacher in my entire life to say, "You are a great writer. Fantastic job!" She gave me the confidence to write more and made me believe in myself as a writer. She even read some of my still unfinished novel and said, "One day you will be a famous novelist. I just know it." (I'm still trying to finish that novel. One day I will have time!) She believed in me, and she gave me the confidence necessary to finish out college as a good writer. Why it took 21 years for me to hear that I am a good writer, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because Dr. Sunyoger saw the potential in me that others had missed when it came to my writing. Maybe it's because she cared enough to help me become a good writer. She taught me to believe in my writing abilities and not be scared to put pen to paper. That is a gift for which I will be forever grateful.

Dr. Sunyoger is an AMAZING woman of God. She goes above and beyond for her students and loves each one as if they are her own. She is tough but fair, just as any good teacher should be. When I tutor each evening, I try to remember what she taught me and how to really take a special interest in each individual student. I try to ask them about the day they had and take an active interest in their daily activities. I do this because she taught me to do it, and I know from being on the receiving end how beneficial it can be for a student. I am not perfect at it, and I fail all of the time. But I am trying, and I am trying to improve with each tutoring session that passes.

In her new book, Dr. Sunyoger talks about Life Lessons that her students have taught her. I'm pretty sure all of her students could write a book about what she has taught us. I was truly blessed to have her for three classes while at Franciscan University. I wish I could've taken more. I will forever treasure how she taught me to write and believe in myself as well as what she taught me about being a great teacher. How different my life would be had our paths not crossed on that snowy January day. God is good.

Dr. Sunyoger, if you read this and there are grammatical errors, I apologize! I may need to retake one of your classes! I am losing my touch! :)

Dr. Sunyoger and myself at my graduation party back in 2007. I say we have aged incredibly well!

Isn't that Everything?

As I sit and write this, Noah is sleeping upstairs and Matthew and Brian are chilling on the couch watching the Steelers not look so great during this preseason game. (Ben says we have hardly seen anything from the offense yet and that Haley is saving it for the regular season. Um, sure. How about Haley just stinks and needs replaced and this offense really has no clue what they are doing?) Matthew is trying to learn all of the players names as well as who does what on the football field. It's cute and makes me love my already fantastic hubby even more!

This past weekend was full of ups and downs emotionally. You know when  you want something really, really bad but you just can't have it? It's like a carrot being dangled in front of you but you just can't jump high enough to get it. This past weekend we had one of those experiences. And me having the mentality of a princess at times, I got really upset and devastated that I couldn't have exactly what I wanted at exactly the time that I wanted. Without getting too personal (what?! I'm not spilling every detail of my life on this blog? How dare I! Sorry, folks. This is not the Real Housewives going on here!), it wasn't totally a necessity what I did not end up getting, but it would've made life a little easier and less stressful.

I spent a few hours and part of today just stewing over it and crying and getting mad. I think I even had a few not so nice conversations with God. But then, I took a step back to look at what I do have. Let's run through that happier list.

I have a cute little townhouse in which to live. Sure we rent. And yes it's not big enough to have more children in, but right now I'm not getting pregnant any time soon for many reasons, and we still have years ahead of us to have more babies. Renting isn't terrible. It is a little frustrating, but when the furnace broke last winter I didn't have to pay to fix it. That was kind of cool. So when things go wrong here, that's a YP (your problem....you can thank my old coteacher at Propel for that one) not an MP (my problem.) Major, major bonus. Plus, the townhouse is in a nice area and we have great, quiet neighbors. Oh, and did I mention our large back yard? With two energetic boys that's definitely a blessing.

We have a great parish to attend. St. Catherine of Siena rocks, and so does our pastor, Father Jim. Our kids idolize him, and Matthew pretends to be him on a daily basis. Our fellow parishioners adore our children, and our new associate pastor, Father Gary, is pretty cool, too. There was a time in my life when I thought I'd never find a devout, conservative parish with a great pastor. WRONG! My faith has been blessed by attending there, and I have grown spiritually in countless ways.

I have three amazing children. Brian and I have our angel in Heaven to watch over all of us. (Which is great because just this afternoon in the back yard, Matthew and Noah crashed into our fence in their Little Tikes truck and flipped over. Not a scratch on either of them. Thank you, Abby, for saving Mommy from a parenting fail!) And then we have our two, wonderful boys here on Earth. I'm not really sure what life was like before them, but I'm guessing it must've been pretty boring. They are so full of excitement and life. They do everything with great vigor and truly live each moment to the fullest. They are fun and have taught me more about life and how to live it than I ever imagined possible. I have loved them instantly since the positive pregnancy test, but I fall more in love with them each day. God has blessed us beyond belief with the lives of our children. They are the best gift I have ever received.

I have wonderful and supportive parents who live about five blocks away. They will drop anything at any time if we need (Yep, I have even called my mom at 2am when Matthew wouldn't stop crying or when he had croupe and couldn't breath and she comes right over), and we know we can always count on them.They love our boys to pieces and spend the majority of their time out of work with them. They rarely turn down a babysitting job (except on their anniversary. ;)) They will bend over backwards to help us and make me staying home during the day work. My mom is for sure my absolute best friend, and she wasn't expected to be around at this point in my life. Each extra day with her is really a blessing. She and Brian are the only two that can talk me down off of my dramatic cliffs some days. Having parents who love and care for us so incredibly much and who will give anything to help us means so much. Not everyone is so lucky.

Finally, I have the best husband a girl could ever ask for. Brian loves me for me. (So much so that when I'm crying about the last ten pounds of Noah that I cannot lose for love or money he simply lets me cry and then reassures me that I've only gotten more beautiful since having his children. And I'm pretty sure he's not lying....) He works hard at a job that is all consuming and requires way more hours in a day than he ever could have imagined. At one point he worked two jobs when I first started staying home with Matthew just to make sure we could make ends meet. He has jumped right into helping me with my business and even designed the logo and business cards for it without me asking. He puts my needs and the needs of our children first. He even lets me sleep until 7:30 on Saturdays, even though I'm sure he, too, could benefit from those extra hours of sleep. He gives so much of himself every day, and he's faithful beyond belief. I owe my sanity to him most days, and I love him more each day, too. Of the two of us, he is the better half.

Okay, so I really do have a lot to be thankful for. Now, most days I find it hard to remember and see things that way, so that's one of the reasons I wanted to write it all down. Most of you know me well enough know that I'm really a sunshine and rainbows and unicorns type girl. I find the glass half empty most times. However, on days when I'm busy having a jealousy inspired pity party, I can come back to this post and remember that I have a great husband, wonderful kids, amazing parents, and a cute place to live, and a wonderful parish to belong to. At the end of the day, isn't that everything? Yes, it really is.

And just cause I love my kids so much, here's a picture of them with their brand new pool toys from our trip to Dormont Pool on Saturday. :) They are my little fish!