Five Reasons I Love Our Catholic School

It's Catholic Schools Week and I didn't want it to pass without pointing out some of the things I love about the Catholic school our children attend. If you are considering where to enroll your kiddos next year then I hope this list might help you see some of the perks of a Catholic education.

Now, we have had a great experience with our local public school and we are very fortunate to live in such an amazing school district. We have also had some experience with and lots of exposure to homeschooling so we know how wonderful that can be. But this isn't a week for celebrating public schools or homeschools. It's a week for celebrating the parish ministry that is brick-and-mortar Catholic schools. So let's get going!


1 - Caring about people is a part of the culture
This isn't about building up a politically correct culture, this is about serving, loving, and reaching out to others. Students at our school regularly have service projects such as visiting the local nursing homes, making Thank You cards for our troops, and collecting donations for food banks and crisis pregnancy centers. Older students are partnered with younger ones to serve as prayer partners, helping them through Mass and being their general Big Buddy. And when I brought my kids with their severe food allergies to the school parents, faculty, staff, and students were all on board with keeping my boys safe and included. Once I popped in during lunch time and saw two of JF's classmates heading to the bathroom. "We have to wash our hands so JF doesn't have an allergic," they told me. I mean, how sweet is that?

2 - It's not nominal
Our Catholic school is 100% orthodox and proudly Roman Catholic. Pre-K through 8th grade students attend Mass weekly and appropriate grades attend monthly confession. Each class, K-8, makes a weekly holy half hour before the Blessed Sacrament. They pray throughout the day in class, celebrate feast days, and talk about saints, morals, ethics, virtue, and faith. When my grandfather was dying my kids were able to go to school and tell their classmates what was happening and then their entire class prayed for my grandfather (as Ben told the story he added, "Even Sister!"). When Grandpa's funeral was held (he belonged to the same parish as us) we learned that every time there is a funeral a class is sent over to attend the Mass so they can pray for the dead. How amazingly beautiful is that?

Pay no attention to the mural that literally and figuratively looks like Hell. 

3 - It's the perfect size
One of my kids is dual-enrolled at the Catholic and public schools. At the public school when he is pulled out for extra help he is with four other kids, working at a table with one teacher. At the Catholic school he is in a class with 12 other kids and there is one other Kinder classroom. When he is pulled out for extra help he is by himself or with one other student and the teacher. At recess my first grader plays kickball with boys from his class and second and third grade. My kids, the oldest is in 3rd grade, know most of the other students at their school and they know who is siblings with who. That size means they are cared for and looked after by their fellow students and all the faculty and staff. When one child or team succeeds the whole school celebrates and when one child or family suffers the whole school rallies to support.

4 - The whole family is more connected with the parish
There is definitely a wide variety of people involved at our parish but, for us, it has worked out that because of the way our family has benefited from the parish ministry that is the parochial school  we have also been more inclined to partake in other parish events. Our children are comfortable at our church and we all know they are welcome there so penance services, adoration, Holy Week Masses, parish retreats, speakers, and yardwork clean-up days - we attend these events without batting an eye. Doing so has broadened our connections and friends beyond the school pick-up line and our small groups. It feels good to give back to and be engaged with a parish that has given us so much.

5 - Academically it's just as good if not better
Yes, the building is old, but the technology is good and the teachers are excellent. Beginning in Kindergarten students are having experiences in public speaking by doing readings at the weekly All School Mass. The school has been recognized nationally for its excellence in academics and it's not uncommon for the local public and Catholic high schools to have the Valedictorian be from our elementary school. Along with the core classes, students have Religion, Spanish, Computer Class, and even Art. Sports, band, and choir are available. My children are learning, having fun, and surrounded by people who love Christ and His Church. It's literally the answer to our prayers.

I know that we are incredibly fortunate to live in a town with good public and parochial schools. I would love to hear about the things that make your Catholic school great! And if you live in my area and you're interested in learning more about our school please feel free to contact me.

Back to School for 2016

This year we've got kids at the public school, parochial school, and a little homeschool.

While my kids in the brick and mortar schools went back in August, Resa Rie didn't begin her PreK4 Homeschool until just last week.

L, Ben, and JF love their school(s). Resa was not impressed. Oh well. Here's the First Day of School pictures.

L is a third grader and still wants to be a mom when she grows up. She loves coloring, being outside, and spaghetti. Ben is in first grade and wants to be a train driver, pilot, taxi driver, and farmer when he grows up.  He'll be busy.

And yes, he's taller than L, but don't talk about it with her.

JF is in Kindergarten and is dual-enrolled at the public and parochial schools. So far it is working really well for him. As you can see he wants to be a pirate when he grows up.

Resa was excited about "all the things" associated with school, which perhaps explains her disappointment. She wants to be a mom when she grows up and she loves coloring, jumping, sliding, and writing her name. :)

Wishing all of you a happy back to school time of year, too.

A Song for Everything: A Little Home-School Pre-School for Resa

This year while my oldest three kids attend brick-and-mortar schools I will be doing a little homeschoolin to get Resa Rie ready for next year, when she will attend Kindergarten.

Now, most real homeschoolers I know don't do preschool, successfully covering pre-k curriculum in the first weeks of Kindergarten or just introducing their children to the concepts through life. When my oldest, L, was 4 we opted to homeschool her, too, but I was pregnant and naps quickly became more important. However, being a girl, the oldest, and the only grandchild meant that she still learned her letters, numbers, the days of the week, and a few other things - and that was mostly from books and conversations, not PBS Kids! When she went straight to Kindergarten she was fine. We knew that Ben would benefit from attending Pre-K4 and we were right - it was a good investment and really helped him do well in Kindergarten. JF, of course has been in preschool for three years, as that was how he received speech therapy.

Resa, though, is in a different place than her siblings before her and so we will do actual homeschool with her. But when I say that please know it will be super casual and laid back. 

She already can identify all the shapes, colors, numbers 1-10, and about 1/4 of the alphabet. She also sorta knows how to write her name and how to say most of her prayers. We'll need to solidify the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be, though.

My other goals - which we have a whole entire year to accomplish - are to teach Resa:

- the days of the week (we got a song for that)

- the months of the year (we got a song for that one, too)

- how to identify the letters of the alphabet

- how to write the letters of the alphabet

- how to write numbers 1-10

- how to count to 20 on her own, 100 with me

- her address (another song)

- my phone number (yet another song)

- how to writer her first and at least sorta write her last name

Days of the week song: the days of the week sung to O My Darlin'. It works in Spanish, too.

Months of the year song: Singing the months through to the tune of Ten Little Indians with "these are the months of the year. Good job!" at the end. 

The address song is our address to the tune of Ten Little Indians (the second half). So, for example and not my real address:
Two-Fifteen Oak Tree Avenue / Chicago Illinois!

My phone number is sung to Knick-Knack Paddy Whack. Is that what the song even called? Anyways, again not my real phone number:
123-456-7891 with a knick-knack paddy whack give my mom a call / her name is Bonnie.
It works. My older kids don't want to sing it to people but they have used it to remember my number so grown ups can call me. #winning

Other resources - books I'll be using:
Catholic Icing's Preschool Curriculum

Various Usborne Wipe Clean books

This summer we had a pretty good run for going to the library and reading books. I'm hoping to continue that with Resa and spend some time reading classics with her. I think I'll make a list of A-Z books (like A for Alexander and the Horrible...Day - sorta like what Haley did here) and loosely try to follow that through the weeks. We'll see. I call myself a fake homeschooler (unlike the "real" homeschoolers I referenced) because my standards are loose and low and none of it quite feels legit, yaknowwhatI'msayin?

And I have changed up my shelves a bit to make things a bit more schoolish. We'll see how long this lasts but yay for mason jars, toys my kids were given, and Target dollar bins!

I figure two days a week for 30 minutes will be great. We'll probably start after Labor Day - once the big kids have settled in school and our home is off to its new rhythm. Honestly, I am really glad for this time with Resa. She is so peaceful and sweet, the middle child with no health issues or anything else to call attention to her, and so it's easy to let her be. It'll be good to intentionally sit down with her and work with her. One more year for her to be with me and be my little baby girl.

That got sappy so we'll wrap this up. If you have a favorite book for my list or another resource you'd love to tell me about please share!

The Kiddos Last Day of School

Only a month late, and in the blogging vein of "better late than never" I give you the kids' last day of school pictures.

At the start of the 2015-2016 School Year L was excited to learn cursive, liked riding her bike, and wanted to be a mommy when she grew up.

Ben was excited to learn to read, liked playing with his friends, and wanted to be a train driver when he grew up.

JF was excited to learn about the Polar Express (don't think that happened), liked trains, and wanted to drive a train when he grew up.

You can see their pictures here.

And here they are at the end of the year, on their last day of school:

Heading back to school and flipping the bird at the Mommy Wars

Back to school is early in Illinois (mid August) but it makes me think Fall thoughts.

After a summer of playing in the sprinkler, eating drippy popcicles on the patio, and watching movies in the cool air conditioning during the heat of the day I am ready for the next season. It's much less sweaty for this pregnant woman.

I'm pretty pumped about autumn and what that means in my part of the country. I can't wait to get the autumn decorations out, but I'm also feeling a little emotional - just like I did when L started school. The same kiddos who went to school last year will be in school again this year, but Ben is now beginning kindergarten with the official school uniform and full school day. There's so much I want for all my kids, but this just about sums it up:

But this is not about me - this is about you and you, L, are about to do some amazing things. School is so much fun. Being a part of a school community is so much fun. You will learn, play, grow, and be loved. I hope you are happy and challenged and encouraged. Please know that your father and I expect you to always show compassion, generosity, and respect. We expect you to always be kind, good, honest, and hard-working. We want you to love and serve and glorify our good God.

As much as I am getting misty-eyed over milestones, I am also remembering that the schedule and rhythm school brings to our home is a huge gift for me - it is freeing for me. That's one of the things I learned in Kindergarten:

More than anything, what I learned in kindergarten, after two years of pathetic attempts at super basic "homeschool" preschool (we're talking letter, shape, and number recognition here along with a little catechism), is that I need structure and I am really bad at giving it to myself. Our days ran so much more smoothly when the school day made us get up, get dressed, and be out the door by a certain time. Our home was immeasurably more peaceful following the school day routine. And perhaps most importantly I thrived with that schedule. Thrived.

Next year may bring something different for us as we make decisions to keep James safe from his dairy allergy, but right now I feel really great about what we're doing right now:

I am " interested in educating and building up [my] children, family, and community through traditional school," and I'm seeing that happen in our family's life now, which is really wonderful.


At this time of year I see a lot of my friends beginning their homeschooling. My good friend Grete is in week 3 because my good friend Grete has got her act together! Sometimes I look at her life and her amazing kiddos and the wonderful things they are able to do and... I am so happy for them while not wanting that life at all. (Which I say with a laugh and confidence that Grete would laugh too. Or at least smile. Perhaps while shaking her head at me.) I've seen how the schooling choices they've made over the years have really blessed their family and I feel like I've watched my friend become a better and more truer version of herself.

It's been really beautiful and totally a flipped birdie to the Mommy Wars that her parenting choice has been so different than mine and yet we are both so happy in our vocations and homes, and we are friends.

Once I wrote about not homeschooling:

Having the desire for be part of a traditional school community, to have time to volunteer in your community, to create or work, and then using the time while your kids are at school to do those things doesn't mean you're selfish or that you care less for your children. God has gifted you with certain talents, convictions, and holy desires - be who He has made you to be and you will set the world on fire.

I 100% believe that is true, and it's been a gift for me to have the hours of the school days to spend more time with my littles, to work on and create things that I love, and to try to serve our parish, friends, and family. But I also want to stress that that's what works for me and you should see Grete and all the things she is able to accomplish.

Back to school time can be such a beautiful testament to the fact that God has made us each unique, that there are seasons in our lives, that we have been gifted with different talents and strengths, that we are all on a path towards holiness, and that when we embrace those things our lives will look splendidly different but equally good.


Today two of my kiddos have their first day of school with another beginning mid-week. I'll be laying low in internetland over the next couple of weeks, tackling various projects and obligations and helping my cranky, hot, tired, hungry kids re-adjust to the school year. By September we will be on a roll so you'll see more of me then. Have fun, keep cool, and be good. ;)



Tangent in question form: Do you think it's okay if I get out the lovely fall decorations for the August 22nd Blessed Brunch I'm hosting? I have a rule (that I usually break) of no fall decorations before September 1st... What do you think?

End of summer

Summer has flown by and is almost at an end. The kids go back next week and I'll have a second grader and a kindergartner both at our parish school, a pre-k-er at the public school, two at home, and one in the oven. (Whaaaat?!!!)

What was I saying? Oh yes: This summer has been a good one. 

Resa is fully, 100% out of diapers and 100% adorable.

 We have watched a lot of Doctor Who, getting ready for the season that was just released on Netflix.

 This is L, entranced with River Song.

We've done some small jobs around the house and yard. The newer wallpaper is pretty blah, and the old wallpaper I uncovered is... well ugly now. However, if this was bright and clean and new I would actually love it. Soon it will be painted white.

The yard needed taming. Well, it still needs a lot of help, but slow and steady wins the race. Ben helping his dad is just so, so, so, so cute.

Joe turned two and we had a Curious George party for him. Look at that cake my sister in law made and look at that smile. He was thrilled with us singing to him.

On Facebook people keep sharing an old article by Brandon Vogt about the advising medical experts approving James' alleged miracle, thinking it's new and that the cause has been re-opened. Unfortunately that is not true and, to my knowledge, the cause is still closed.

Which is really sad, so let's look at a cute picture of Ben and JF sleeping in our bed.

It's funny the article is going around now because just two weeks ago I shared my 30 minute presentation during a live Google broadcast. If you missed it, you can watch (or just listen to) the video here.

Last week I was back in the Portland, Oregon area recording more episodes of The Visitation Project. I'm really excited for the shows we did and I can't wait for you to hear them!

One of the episodes we recorded was the exclusive podcast that is available to our donors. You get to meet our engineer, Keith, and hear some other secret stuff. If you've got ten bucks to spare and you'd like to receive the podcast, our GoFundMe is still live and we'd love a little help. Here's where I explain why we need you and what makes our show different than other podcasts we all know and love. 

And lastly, if you missed Sunday night's episode, it's up on the Mater Dei website. A mom who homeschools, a mom who used to homeschool and now sends her kid to parochial school, and a mom with kids at the parochial and public school - hear what we have to say about being the primary educator of your children. Check it out here!

Ben and JF's first days of school

Remember waaaaay back in late summer when all the kids went back to school? All the moms posted pictures of their kids on the first day of school.

I did that for L, except I totally messed up and marked that she was a second grader instead of a first grader. Oops.

I never did it for JF, who began school the week after L. Double oops.

Nor did I do it for Ben, who began the week after JF. Triple oops.

So here I am, trying to make up for past mistakes.

JF was so excited for his first day of school (pre-school at the local public school so he can continue his speech therapy services). His brother and sisters kept talking about the bus (the bus!) and so he was excited too. Even though it was a new district and classroom for him, he seemed really pumped.

For some reason my camera fogged up, but that didn't stop me from getting a group picture. Look at how happy they are! The bus! The bus! JF gets to ride the bus!

 And then the bus came and JF realized he had to get ON the bus and LEAVE - ALONE!

I could hear him screaming as they drove away. :(

The next day I didn't stand and wave, just walked him to the bus, said good-bye and walked away. He still cried. The next day I asked him if he wanted to take flowers to his teacher and he loved that idea. For weeks we would pick flowers from our landscaping and, clutching them tightly, he would climb the steps of the bus with a huge, proud smile on his face and not even a hint of fear.

I'm so glad we ripped out those bushes and planted flowers.


The week after JF started was Ben's first day of Pre-K4 at our parish's school. After having his brother and sister go off to school every day without him for a whole year, he was ready. He was pumped!

We did the first day of school questionnaire and I love his answers.

Poor little boy, boat building is not a part of the curriculum.

But he has learned so much. Both my boys have. They are having so much fun and they love school.
It's such a delight to see my boys thrive.


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Plus, I'd love to connect with you. You can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. I hope to "meet" you soon!

Autumn in my home - a blog hop

When it comes to decorating for Autumn I have two rules.
#1 - Nothing Fallish before September 1st.
#2 - Nothing Halloween before October 1st.

I regularly break both those rules.

I don't know about you, but I love seeing how other people decorate for special occasions. It can say so much about one's style, sense of humor, and beliefs. I always appreciate seeing the thoughtful and fun ways people mark the seasons and celebrations in their homes.

That's why I asked a handful of my favorite bloggers if they would join me for a blog hop. Today we're each showing off our Autumn decorations. Get yourself a pumpkin spice anything, get comfortable, and enjoy!

Here's a look at my home during September, October, and November.

September
My husband is a physics teacher in an area public school and two of my children attend parochial school with one more in the Early Childhood Education classroom at the local public school. After a long summer, September really is "the most wonderful time of the year."

A little more about our mantel.

I made this wreath for less than $10 from items in the WalMart craft section. I love way the colors pop against our front door. 

A little vignette on the front porch.

 

October
Many of September's decorations remain but the mantel gets a new treatment and many more items come out of storage.

The white board in the back is actually one of the ceiling tiles we ripped out of our basement. 

The tombstone I made for my parish's All Saints' Halloween party.

The ghost carrying the pumpkin was my mom's and I have always loved it. She gave it to me a few years ago and it's one of my favorite things.

I made this wreath a few years ago but added the bird this year.

A little bit of autumn on every shelf.

The chalkboard is back in the playroom.

Halloween and Fall books in the book basket.

Halloween tree and skull.

Even the owl lamp is dressing up for Halloween.

I found the print on Pinterest.

November
Once again I reuse a lot of the same decorations. My door wreath and the leaves on the mirror remain. Other items get moved around a bit and overall it feels a lot more simple than Halloween and October.

Early in November the kids and I make turkey handprint crafts with a list of all the things they're grateful for. The pictures hang in the house through November and I keep them with the decorations so each year I can reminisce a little as I pull them out of the box.

So that's my house all autumn long but I'm not the only one showing off my decorations. There's a whole group of us doing a Blog Hop today.Check out all these other lovely ladies and all their fabulous decorations.

Mama Needs Coffee
House for Five
Fountains of Home
Team Whitaker
This Ain't the Lyceum
Two O's + More
Surviving Our Blessings
Better Than Eden
Svellerella
Clan Donaldson


If you're new here, stick around! You can follow A Knotted Life on Bloglovin' or Feedly.
Plus, I'd love to connect with you. You can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. I hope to "meet" you soon!

The Hard Decision of Public Over Parochial - a guest post by Michelle Hughes

Recently, we decided that our children will attend public high school. We’d been discerning diligently for the past 7-8 months, but the hope of providing Catholic high school education to our children had been on our minds for even longer than that. There were many things we considered as we discerned. I’ve been able to compartmentalize them into three main categories: the expense; the extra-curricular opportunities (sports, clubs, etc); and the environment (Catholic and otherwise). Our comfort levels with different aspects of all of those were based on our experiences. Craig attended Catholic school all the way through high school. I attended Catholic school from grades 1 through 8. After that, I attended public high school.

For the purposes of this post, I am going to focus on the financial expense of providing a Catholic high school education. It seems, unfortunately, that Catholic high schools in most of our country have gone the way of being “Private Schools with Mass.” The tuition to attend the Catholic high school in my area is pretty close to what it costs to attend any other private high school in our city. It might be a little less expensive (by $1000-2000) but when you’re talking $10-12,000 per year, that’s not that much of a discount. Many families like mine - those who have accepted alarger-than-average amount of children, often expand the family beyond theability to provide Catholic education through high school. I’m not even going
to touch the college expense. My kids will know from the get-go that paying for college will be largely on them.

To hear many Church leaders (Priests, Bishops, etc) speak, you would think that the Catholic Church wants to provide a Catholic education to anyone who wants it. And I do think the desire is there. The problem is that a Catholic education is exclusive to those who can afford it, and sadly, many families cannot justify $10,000+/year tuition for four years for each kid in high school for a family the size of mine. I also know of families smaller than mine, for whom the Catholic education is out of reach. I know of families larger than mine that make it work, too. I think that’s great and God has blessed them abundantly for their sacrifice.

Our diocese is building a new Catholic high school about an hour southeast of where I live. I signed up to contribute to this effort. I made a 3-year-commitment of 1% of our take-home pay for this campaign. At the time, we were still thinking that our kids could perhaps attend Catholic high school. But now that the decision has been made to send them to public school, I can’t help but note the irony that I am helping pay for a new Catholic high school to which I can’t even afford to send my kids.

There has been much said to me and around me about the financial assistance available for Catholic high school, but the reality of the matter seems to be that there just isn’t that much to go around to everyone who needs it. Even if the first year was made doable, the following years could crush us financially, and once your kid has started going somewhere for high school, you really don’t want to move them, so we’d be stuck if we started…at least for our oldest. I’ve heard that endowments for the private schools in our city are much bigger than what is available at the local Catholic high school, which only puts added pressure on the finances (of both school and families).

One of the most familiar commentaries I have heard from older parishioners who have already put their children through Catholic high school is that it was worth the sacrifice. I have no doubt that if I were able to sacrifice a reasonable amount without hurting my family in the process, I
would also find the sacrifice to be worth it, edifying even. I understand that the people who encourage me to send my children to Catholic high school and “trust God” and that “it is all worth the sacrifice” mean well. For them, the sacrifice was doable. I don’t know what most people make, what their financial commitments are outside of Catholic high school tuition and all that stuff. Therefore, I can’t give an opinion on whether the sacrifice they made and what would be required of me would be similar or not. I can only speak to our situation and believe me when I tell you that the amount of money I was putting away simply for Catholic High school was preventing Club volleyball, guitar lessons, ballet, among other activities that I had wanted to provide my kids. I was looking down the road and seeing 16 years of nothing outside of school-related activities and tuition in the budget and I was getting down about not being able to provide some experiences for my kids that I think are important to their growth.

An additional consideration for a family like mine might be that we’d be able to provide Catholic high school for one, but not all of our children. Saving the money I was to put towards tuition - for as long as I was looking at having to do that - was putting our family into a delicate position should a job loss occur or any instance that could happen causing either my husband or me to be without an income for any period of time. I’m talking - beyond the emergency savings - how could we continue to provide this if some tragedy befell our family? And even if no tragedy befell us, but life happened and the amount we’d saved couldn’t measure up to what was required - what if we faced the possibility that our children could not continue at the Catholic high school and we provided for one and couldn’t provide for all? Plus we have spaced our children to the extent that we will be paying for preschool for our youngest during our oldest child’s first two years of high school. Preschool is a necessity for us as it doubles as our childcare; our daily childcare expense won’t diminish until our youngest enters Kindergarten.

The balance in these things is critical in our relationship as a family, I think. Rather than face the insecurity of being unable to provide this for all five of our living children, it seemed the more prudent approach to continue to save the money knowing it could help provide things like Club volleyball, Swim team, music lessons, tennis lessons, and other extra-curricular activities that will provide value down the line. It seems more prudent knowing that money will be available to buy a new-to-us car if the time comes, without taking on the burden of payments. Perhaps we will pre-pay preschool tuition to get a discount. Perhaps the next round of orthodontic treatment won’t be such a hassle.

Once the decision was made, a huge load was lifted from my chest. Yes, sadness prevailed for a little bit. It’s hard to admit that you can’t provide your kids with their desires. And the disappointment in the fact that the Catholic Church can’t fulfill her desire to educate all those who would want to come to a Catholic school is still there.

Did the Catholic Church intend to go down this route? I doubt it. The reality of the situation is that Catholic schools are no longer run by Religious (nuns or priests). Paying competitive salaries (and benefits!) for laypeople as teachers and administrators has driven the cost to the point that it is difficult to see a difference between a Catholic school and a private school. The main difference being that at a Catholic school, religion class is a requirement, a chapel/place for daily prayer is available and Mass happens on at least a semi-regular basis. Add to that the fact that Catholics in this country do not support the Church to the level required to provide a Catholic education to all. And - to be fair - most Catholics who are paying tuition to the rate of $10,000/year/kid feel the obligation to pay that and probably believe this IS their financial support for the Church. I know that if I were to pay tuition for Catholic high school, my “first fruits” contribution would most likely have to diminish to cover the cost. Obviously, that’s backwards because it turns my “first fruits” contribution into something else.

I do think something should be figured out. I think there is  something wrong when a Church encourages the faithful to be generous an embrace new life into their marriages, but then shuts the door on those families when it comes to education. I know parents are the primary educators of children. Parents should not drop the kids off at the door of the Catholic school expecting all the magic to happen there, and at the end of 12 years, POOF! a well-formed Catholic with brains to match magically appears. But I also recognize my Church’s call to support Catholic education in all ways, including financial. A little more financial support as well as a bit of emotional and spiritual support from the Church with regard to this issue would be most appreciated.

Michelle is a Catholic, wife and work-outside-the-home mom five children on earth (+1 in heaven). She enjoys exercising (especially Crossfit), reading (especially thriller/mystery type novels), playing with the kids and an occasional date night with her husband, particularly those which include a Margarita. She enjoys blogging (in her "free" time) at Endless Strength about daily life, Catholic and motherly reflections, and weight loss. You can follow her on Instagram or Twitter (both handles are @michellephughes) or "Like" her Endless Strength Facebook page.