Cinco Favoritos {4}

I thought I would switch it up this week with Hallie's fave five link up! So here's my five favorite documentaries...as of late.

1.

This documentary is made by Tom Shadyac, the director of some hilarious movies like Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor. At some point in his life, he suffered a serious injury and realized that all of his possessions did not bring him happiness. This is his attempt at figuring out what brings mankind true satisfaction. 

2.

It's probably no shock to you that I watch pregnancy documentaries. I have seen most of the famous ones, but I had never heard of or watched this until we started our Bradley class. It is a really cool documentary that follows the develop of a child from shortly after conception to birth. Super awesome. It isn't on Netflix, so we had to watch it on YouTube. It wasn't terrible because there are about 10 ten minute clips that make it easy to watch smoothly. 

3.

This documentary will make you very aware of the battle we are fighting in America. While we still have our freedoms and it is certainly a great place to live, we have to be on guard: it is our duty to protect the family and marriage. This makes you super aware of how the nuclear family is under severe attack from many different angles. It can be found here. Watch the first 20 minutes. (I'll admit, the end of the movie gets a little redundant...so don't feel bad if you turn it off!)

4.

My husband went through a small phase where he was obsessed with NOVA documentaries. The good news is we stumbled upon some really interesting ones! This might look really cheezy, but the monarch butterfly is super interesting and truly miraculous. You can find this one here.

5.

Okay, okay. I only have four current faves. Anyone have recommendations for numero cinco?! 

Weekly Wrap-Up {1}

When you finally arrive at the beloved Friday, do you have ever have that feeling of "where has this week gone?!" or "what even happened this week?" I haven't even been working this summer and I still have those feelings, maybe even more than when I am working. So, to help solve this little conundrum, and to remind myself that this week actually was fun, productive, good, hard, whatever-the-adjective-might-be, I am hopping on board the Weekly Wrap-Up. Inspired by Gabby from Essentially Eclectic, I recap the week one day at time. Feel free to link-up with me or with Gabby (who may or may not be posting Weekly Wrap-Ups each week).

Without further ado!

1

It's kind of sad how hard it is for me to remember what I did Monday. I think that is mostly because I became really overwhelmed with the prospect of going back to work only to then have a baby, take maternity leave, and then go back to work again, but this time as a mama. So I spent most of the day trying to process all of those feelings. What was awesome about Monday though, now that I remember, was this delicious veggie sandwich.

Seriously. You can find the recipe over here. If you decide to make these (which should definitely be the decision you make), you won't regret it AT.ALL. They are so filling and tasty. Danny devoured it like it was a burger!

2

I found out this week that I am not gestationally diabetic! Yippee! Last week I had to take the three hour glucose tolerance test and waited all week to get a phone call with results. Usually no new is good news, so after a week without a phone call, I assumed I was in the clear, but it was still nice to go to hear straight out of my nurse midwife's mouth that I passed the test with flying colors. 

3

Who knew a cloth diapering party could be so much fun! Earlier this week a bunch of young moms got together to discuss the different methods of cloth diapering. It was hosted by my friend Maraeca and the cloth diaper guru, Jenna, over at A Mama Collective. There were three of us who are expecting (all within the same month) and are just venturing into the cloth diapering world; the rest of the moms, about 10 or so, already cloth diaper and were able to share a lot of their live and learn moments and successful techniques. It was so nice to know that there is a little community (support group?) for cloth diapering. It gives me a lot of confidence in our decision, especially since three of the moms work full time (just like I will) and one is the mom of 6! If a mom of 6 can cloth diaper, a mom of 1 (that's me!) can, too!

4

We did our hospital tour this week! I am really pleased with the hospital we get to deliver at. I am so happy our insurance covers it! It is the closest thing to a birthing center that we have and the hospital as a whole is very pro-natural birth/low intervention. They have almost no restrictions about what you can or can't do during labor. Literally, the only one is that you can't have an open flame which seems pretty reasonable! It makes it pretty real, going on a hospital tour and all. Then we went to our Bradley Birthing class, the natural method we have chosen to help us through labor. We meet with about 6 other couples once a week for two hours. The class is taught by a Bradley certified instructor. It is so nice to join together with other couples around the same stage of pregnancy. We have been given lots of good tools. This week the focus was on the practical side of labor: what should you bring to the hospital, what will you do if your wife needs your full attention but you really need to use the restroom? (The answer to that one is hold it!) We really love the class and would definitely recommend it to anyone! You can find them all over the country. 

5

Friday, Friday, everybody get down on Friday! Today has barely begun but it is already great. I got to sleep in! I haven't been sleeping that well due to a lovely burning in my heart, but last night I slept pretty well, and since Danny had a really early morning meeting where he would be served breakfast and coffee, I didn't wake up to make breakfast for us. Also, Friday is the last day of the week where I force myself to work out. Then I get a whole two days off before Monday. That's rockin', too! I know working out is important and I never regret doing it, but 31 weeks into pregnancy makes it a little bit more difficult! 

Cheers to you all! I hope you have a blessed weekend! And don't forget to link-up your own weekly wrap up here!

Carving Out Time for Prayer

Linking up today with Jenni Mullinix over at Live Called.

I was blessed to grow up in a very spiritual household, not just religious, though we were and are a religiously Catholic family. We didn't just go to Mass on Sundays, Christmas, and Easter, but rather we spent time praying regularly as a family, whether it was around the dining room table before a meal, in the car on the road to school or other events, in the middle of an argument (my mom had a tendency to bust out with prayer during these heated Irish confrontations)...we would pray whenever really. Prayer was just a part of our daily lives. My parents did a wonderful job encouraging us to pray faithfully on our own. They gave us lots of tools to use in prayer: the rosary, the Bible, spiritual readings, journals, and the courage to use our own voices in prayer. I hope to give our children the same tools to pray and to get to know Jesus on a very personal level.

In high school I had a very dedicated prayer life. I would journal and read scripture daily (I found this to be the best way for me to really converse with the Lord); I would often pray the rosary, usually with my sister Mary while we were in our bunk bed (we shared a room for basically our entire lives); and sometimes I would get to daily Mass. Life was simple then. There was lots of time. After high school, I was blessed to attend a great Catholic university, the University of Dallas, where there was also plenty of opportunity to foster daily prayer. I attended daily Mass, often spent time in the adoration chapel, prayed openly with friends, and continued my habit of journaling. Life was a bit busier, so things maybe didn't happen every day, but generally prayer was a big piece of my life. Of course, there were bouts of spiritual dryness, but all in all, I had a habitual prayer life. As I moved into adult single life, I was able to maintain some of these same habits. My first year in Arizona, I attended daily Mass (it helped that Danny and I would often meet in the morning for Mass, grab a coffee after, and then head out to live our separate lives. Having a handsome guy meeting you at Mass is definitely not a bad sign!) and used my Magnificat to pray and reflect. But I have noticed that as I move more into adult life, further into my vocation, my career, and whatever else, it has become harder for me to pray regularly.

This summer should have been a great time to dig my heels into some serious prayer habits. For goodness sake! I basically didn't have a job this summer! I started praying the rosary on a daily basis when I was back in Santa Cruz, but that faded when I came back to the hot desert. I filled up my days doing baby projects, writing this blog, and lived life fully. Danny and I do read the daily Mass readings each morning and discuss them; we say grace before meals; we pray in the car; but I didn't carve out daily time for personal prayer. Looking back at my goals for summer, I accomplished all of them (and more!) except that. Yesterday, I felt particularly convicted about this. I got home from running errands and forced myself to sit on the couch to journal. No scripture or rosaries. Just me, my journal, and Jesus. And I was amazed at what was revealed to me. I asked our Lord: why do I avoid personal prayer? In response, I heard in my heart, "You avoid prayer because you like to be in control, and prayer makes your realize that you are not in control. I am in control." This really struck a cord in me since I really have done all this preparation this summer (getting the nursery ready, prepping my sub plans for maternity leave, and a number of other busy-body activities) so that I can maintain some level of control once the little one arrives. In reality, while all those things are important and good, they do not give me control. Control is still in the hands of the Lord. He can control things much better than I.

I recently told Danny that I am nervous about going back to school because of all the transition. In addition to going back to school, I am also dabbling in a new job on the side, I want to keep blogging (I love it!), I am going to be a new mom here pretty soon, and I want to serve and honor my husband by being a rockin' wife. I told him: "I want to be awesome at all of those things and I just don't know how I am going to to do it." After yesterday's 10 minutes (that might be generous...maybe 5 min) in prayer I know how it will happen. I am not going to do any of it. The Lord is going to do it. He has, after all, put all of these great desires and opportunities in front of me, but He can only do it if I give over control to Him. And the first step? Adding quiet prayer time to my daily life, even if it is a measly 5 minutes. Only with the habit of prayer, and that habit alone, will I be able to thrive as a teacher, blogger, recruiter, mother, and wife. 

Five Favorites {1}

Linking up today with Grace who is holding the place for Hallie!

Since I am pregnant, most of these are going to be related to food...or babies. Just a fair warning!

1. How cute are cloth diapers?! I am really a fan of just the solid colored pocket diapers by BumGenius, but I must admit, I wouldn't deny a few patterns in my baby's collection of diapers. :) When we setting up our crib last night, my husband even said, "These diapers are so cute!" Win!

2. String Cheese. Where would we be with out cheese? I mean really people! If it wasn't for string cheese these days, I would die. That might be an exaggeration, but not a big one. When I wake up starving in the middle of the night, string cheese is my go to snack.

3. This veggie sandwich. This is what my husband likes to call a healthy Big Mac. It is loaded with grilled eggplant, onion, zucchini, squash, and bell pepper and the bread as a goat cheese-basil-garlic spread (which I could eat by the spoonful) on one side and a balsamic vinaigrette on the other. The bread is some delicious ciabatta we also threw on the grill. SO GOOD! I am telling you. This sandwich is too good for words.

4. Nectarines from my beloved Trader Joe's. We probably live too close to TJ's. If it wasn't for our grocery budget, I would spend way too much money there. But these nectarines are worth the $5 you pay for the four pounds. When you buy the carton, they are pretty hard still, but I always leave about four out at a time (the AZ heat is sure to ripen things up!) and then keep the rest of the carton in the fridge. They are so sweet and juicy and delicious. Go to TJ's and buy some. You won't regret it!

5. Summer days. They are quickly coming to an end, folks. Tear. I will seriously miss these morning where I get to wake up with Danny, make him breakfast, do the morning readings with him, and have nice slow entry into the day. Pretty soon here (T-5 days), it will be back to the grind.