Living the Catholic Faith

I may have done a post similar to this in the past, but I feel a need to do it again.

As many of my readers know, I grew up in a very large Southern Baptist Church. Attended this church my whole life. A Church that to this day, I still love dearly and have many friends who continue to attend there.

When I began to date Jonathan, I began to lose some of my friends. I know there were many issues that played in to this. I wasn't at the church every time the doors were open, because Jon lived 4 hours away, so many weekends, I wasn't in town. However, there was still the opportunity to email me, talk to me in other ways, as my closest friends, even to this day, still do. Many events transpired to make me feel like I should not be attending the church anymore. My faith was also shaken and there were some things I just really struggled with.

Jonathan was a Catholic. Honestly, I faced a lot of issues from my friends because he was a Catholic. Many comments about how we were unequally yoked. I ended up losing many friends over our relationship. However, many of the things I was struggling with, he could answer.

I began on my own journey, studying about Catholicism, hoping to find fault in it as I had always been taught growing up. But as I began to study it, I learned that the things I had been taught, weren't exactly what Catholics believed. This isn't a post to talk about why I converted though...

For a long time, even after converting, I was afraid to change my Facebook status from Christian to Catholic. I thought "Why should I. I'm still a Christian." Truth was, I didn't want to have to explain myself to any of my friends from my old church. I KNEW I belonged in the Catholic Church, but yet, still felt some... shame? I hate to say that word, but it's the only word I can think of. I had studied everything and in 2 years time, decided to join the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). Yet, in 2 yrs time, I hadn't learned how to defend many of my new beliefs.

After a while, as I began to grow in my faith, I quietly changed my status. Then for a while, that was it. I didn't post anything possibly Catholic sounding. But then I began to grow more. I began to want to share stuff. My group of FB friends that were Catholic also began to grow, and I wanted to share with them the exciting things I was finding and learning. Slowly, I began to post Catholic links, comments, and more. I think now, all my friends probably know that I am Catholic.

Growing up, the Catholics I knew were 'cafeteria Catholics'. I hate that term, but we all know some of them. They picked and choose what they wanted to believe about Catholicism. But that's not Catholicism. When you're Catholic, you can't pick and choose. Don't get me wrong, sometimes people are struggling with a certain aspect of the faith. Maybe they're struggling with Mary, or confession. But if they are, the wise thing for them to be doing is studying more about it, praying about it, and seeking Christ and why the Church teaches what they do. Usually, they will see and understand it better eventually. But to say "Oh no, I think the  Church is wrong about XYZ (Abortion, gay marriage, contraception)" without studying WHY the Church says what she believes, is wrong.

But recently, something has occurred to me. If the majority of the Catholics I knew growing up were not devout in their faith, or never expressed to me why they believed what they believed, what does that say? That says it is time for me to be THAT Catholic, the one among my non-Catholic friends who DOES talk about my faith, let's it be known that while I am Catholic, I truly love the Lord, serve Him, and know I am getting the most out of my faith possible. THAT Catholic that can explain (to the best of my horrible debating abilities) why we believe what we do. I need to be an example to the friends from my youth, of what a Catholic is suppose to look like. A sinner, seeking after Christ, doing my absolute best to live a Holy life, using all the wonderful things my faith has available to help me live a Holy life, and receiving Him in the Eucharist each week, not because it's a Holy Day of Obligation but because- it's Christ!! I should WANT to be there to receive Him each week.

I have been a Catholic now for 4.5 years, and could not be happier in my faith.

Knights of Columbus

When my husband was in high school, he attended a Catholic boys school. While there, he joined the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization. He became a 1st Degree Knight, but never went further with it.

When we got married and moved to Colorado, I heard the Knights of Columbus mentioned several times. I kept trying to convince him to get involved, but he would have been the youngest by far and was not interested at all. I just kept praying that eventually he would, as I knew he would make some Godly friends and grow in his faith if involved. 

Forward 5 years when we got stationed here in Germany. I made several female friends, and they asked me if my husband was a Knight, as their husbands all were or were in the process of becoming one. I began praying again and trying to convince him. After meeting some of the men, he decided to get re-involved and became a 2nd and 3rd Degree Knight. 

Twice a month, he would go to their meetings and socials. I all of a sudden began to see a new man form in my husband, one that was truly seeking God, wanting to know how to become a more Godly man, husband, and father. I knew that having this time with other Godly men was having a serious impact on him. Usually at the meetings, one of our local priests was also there, and he began to get to know them better. 

During this time, I was also getting to know more Catholic women better, and my Catholic faith was really growing. Slowly, I noticed my husband suggesting we go to Confession more, and for Lent, as a family, we made the commitment to start attending daily mass once a week. This has even continued for the most part since Lent. 

In May, the KOC decided they wanted to have a 4th Degree Exemplification. This had not been not in Europe yet, and would be a big undertaking. This past Saturday, October 13, was the first 4th Degree Exemplification. When they began to plan this, they expected to have about 40-60 men participate. Instead, this past Saturday, they had one hundred and twenty-one men make their 4th Degree Exemplification!!! Here is a picture of all of the men. (This picture was taken by the KOC, but I cropped it)

It was an amazing day. The men had the Exemplification in the afternoon, then we met them for a special mass with Bishop Spencer, Episcopal Vicar for Europe and Asia. He was an incredible speaker. (And on a side, he is one of the guest speakers at a Catholic women's conference I'm about to go to, and it makes me super excited to get to hear him!) Following this was a formal dinner at the Officer's Club. The food was great, the company fabulous, the speakers entertaining and enlightening.

Through one of the speakers, we learned this was the 3rd overseas military 3rd Degree Knights of Columbus order (in fact, we have a local German priest that sometimes says mass on base, and he became a 4th degree as well!) It is the 3rd in 6 months, but by far the largest! Men came from all over this country, and even from England and Naples! There were also 5 sets of fathers and sons doing it together, one of which we knew.

It was so exciting to see 121 men stand up, all dressed in their uniforms or tuxes, in the front rows of the church, and know that these are our leaders, the men in our homes setting Godly Christian examples, for their community, wives, and most importantly, their children. I am so proud of my husband, and the other men in our lives living here, and so thankful for each and everyone of them, and what they mean to our family.

Please pray for these men, as they continue to be leaders, following Christ and setting an example to others. Also, please pray for their wives, as we are all about to leave for a European-wide Military Council of Catholic Women conference. We know God has a lot planned for each of us, but prayers are welcome.

Struggles of Diabetes

I don't talk much about my life with diabetes. It's not that I dislike talking about it. After having it for 27 years, there's usually not much to talk about. It's just "normal". However, today I had an incident that I thought I would share. I will start by saying it was very, very scary and has made us decide we need to make a plan, and educate our 5 year old son more.

Ever since moving here, the thought has crossed my mind "What would happen if something happened to me?" I had it all planned, I'd tell Zach to call the number on the board for daddy's job, and go get one of our 5 neighbors. Today, we put that in to practice, but it did not go like I had planned.

I woke up sick, spending the whole morning in the bathroom and bed. Around 11am, I was feeling mostly better and had a bowl of cereal. Around 1pm, I started feeling so nauseas. I took an anti-nausea pill, and threw up the cereal I'd eaten 2 minutes later. I knew that I had insulin in me for that cereal, and without it, I was going to crash. But at the same time, I knew that if I tried to eat or drink anything, it'd likely come back up. And I was sooo tired and exhausted. So I drank some juice, turned my insulin pump off (to get no insulin) and laid down for a nap. After a bit, I woke back up knowing my blood sugar was very low.

I yelled to Zach to bring me some juice. I have something called a glucagon pen. It's a prescription shot that is suppose to get your blood sugar up SUPER fast. Growing up, mom said they didn't help, but I have used 1 or 2 since having kids, when sick and pregnant, and they help. I had one, but it was expired a year ago (I know! Bad me, but with the struggles I've had getting good diabetes care here, it wasn't a top priority unfortunately.) So I called my mom to see if it was ok to use it, while checking my blood sugar. It was 39! (Normal is 80-120 usually) My mom told me to get my neighbor up here and husband home.

Thirty-nine is the type of low that I would send Jon to get me juice for. Yet, I had to do it. I sent Zach to get a neighbor, mainly because if I went in to a seizure, I needed someone to be able to call emergency, or to help get me stuff, etc. NONE of my five neighbors were home! I called Jon multiple times (Later found out it was 8 times!) and he wasn't at his desk. I was hoping calling that many times, the person at the desk would pick up, but the officers didn't. I was able to give the glucagon shot. A very short time later, I was trying to check my blood sugar again. I couldn't see. My hands were shaking, everything was blurry, and I was praying. I was seriously probably just a few seconds from going in to a seizure and felt like I was going to black out. I was about to call emergency myself, not knowing what would happen to my kids, how they'd notify Jon, etc. when the glucagon shot kicked in and started working. Jon called me about 30 min later and came home.

Thankfully, I'm doing fine tonight. But I don't think I've ever been so scared. I informed Jon that I need a way to be able to reach him if he's not at his desk, to get someone in the building to track him down. We're going to be teaching Zach more about my diabetes and what to do if mommy is having a serious issue, like today. Tonight, we're just thanking the Lord that I am okay, and praying nothing like this happens again any time soon.