NFP

M and our first.

I have been charting for 8 years, minus pregnancies, with the same wonderful practitioner to guide me through. Here, compiled together for the first time, are my writings on Natural Family Planning and the Ends of Marriage:

God's Providence and NFP
"The ability given by science for a husband and wife to understand the wife’s fertility and her cycles gives them the opportunity to exercise the God-given power to have dominion over nature..."

The Empty Womb: Forsaking Fertility in Marriage
"I ask myself, is this the life that I would choose to have: changing diapers, potty training, naptimes, cooking, cleaning all day, everyday, without days off? Why am I planning on having more? There are some married people who have decided to not have any kids, ever..." 

My Tribute to my NFP Practitioner (who is not an app)
"That first meeting with her when I had only been charting four weeks, with my fiance (M of course), was definitely potentially very awkward. I don't remember any of the details really, except that I was not having normal mucus. (Ewww, I am going to talk about mucus.)..." 

When Children are a "Choice"
"Society does not know it, and does not want to tolerate it, but the only thing we are called to say to God when we are presented with a child is 'yes...' " 

Natural Family Planning Needs a New Name
"Every time we have conceived a child, I realize the great gift of a new life coming into existence inside me. While we can hope each month for a new child, it is never something that we have planned. We can do everything we can to make it possible for a human to come into existence, but we can never plan this child into our family..."