"The Story of Us - Part 7"

Hello y'all!
Tomorrow, January, 18th, Dan and I will be celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary! BUT, this is our 4th wedding anniversary post in english! This is a translation of the same post in portuguese that I first posted on January LAST YEAR. Yes, I'm planning on writing the post of our 5th anniversary but first I have to translate this one! Call me lazy, I'll admit it!

Ps.: This is a translation but I couldn't help but change something here and there! And I actually added a couple of paragraphs! So you might want to read it again even if you have already read the original portuguese post (click here for the original, one year old post in portuguese.)

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Like I said on my last post, on January, 18th Dan and I celebrated four years of marriage!!! =)

I decided, therefore, to share one more part of "The Story of Us" post series. For those of you who don't know to what I refer, right at the beginning of this blog I posted the WHOLE story of how Dan and I met each other and how we ended up dating. I divided the story in 6 parts and during that time I had plenty of extra free hours in my day and energy to write all of my posts both in portuguese and in english! That's so not the case anymore! For those of you who might be interested, I'm posting the link for each of the six posts of "The Story of Us" series. I'll also ask you to ignore my many english errors. It's been a long time since I wrote those posts and I would like to believe that my english improved considerably since then, although I'm sure I still have "bad english days"(something like "bad hair day"? You got it!) and even my "good english days" are far from perfect!

"The Story of US" - part 1"
"The Story of US" - part 2"
"The Story of US" - part 3"
"The Story of US" - part 4"
"The Story of US" - part 5"
"The Story of US" - part 6"

But let's get down to business! Actually I've decided to call this post the seventh part of "the story of us" because it's the newest post I write regarding this same subject, but it doesn't follow the same chronological sequence the other six posts share. This time, what I intend to tell is how Dan and I decided to get married!

Unfortunately, Dan didn't ask me to marry him, officially - I mean! So I don't have "Our Engagement Story" to share. I feel kinda sad for myself that we didn't do this way - now that I live in the US - but in Brazil it's really not that common to have it anyway, although it's getting more popular, fact!

It's kinda awesome when you have your man kneeling down to gently ask you in marriage and to get to know what his creativity elaborated for this moment! Specially now that I live in the US and got to know some of my friends' story and even to be present in one of them. And not to mention the beautiful engagement ring the lady receives!!! Who actually can say "no" looking at one of these?? haha (I joke! That's not what I actually believe, don't worry!)

So I didn't have a formal occasion for the moment of our engagement. (But I frequenty make sure to tell Dan every year that he owes me and I'm expecting a moment like this - and a diamond ring - for when we are older.) Yet, when I tell Dan that he didn't officially asked me to marry him he insists that he actually asked me in marriage, indeed. But that's only a half-truth. I'll tell you more about it later! Wait for it!

The bottom line is that Dan and I have always discussed marriage when we were dating. And at my request, we weren't sleeping together, so to discuss marriage it's not an unusual thing in these conditions although it shouldn't have to be uncommon in any circumstances, really! And two people not sleeping together, dating for a reasonable time will naturally be considering to marry with each other. So marriage was in our minds since the beginning!

I told you that Dan insists he officially asked me in marriage. But the whole truth is that we had three occasions more or less like that (without the kneeling down, the fancy dinner and the diamond ring parts, I mean.). And one of these occasions actually happened before we started dating. It was actually kinda of a shock to me and I believe I described this moment at the "The Story of Us" post part 5 or 6 (check the links above).

Fact is that Dan was already 26 years old at that moment and this is NOT an age to leave your "singlehood" behind and start dating someone if you actually don't think the person is a good candidate to marry. (Although, once more, this shouldn't be any different no matter the age, but let's be realistic considering how people are raised nowadays.) But back to Dan. He was kinda tired to always be dating the "wrong" person. By "wrong" he meant the person who you are simply not sure you want to marry one day.

Obviously one have to venture into dating to find out if one person is the "right" or "wrong" for you, BUT that doesn't mean that a previous selection of the candidates isn't helpful. It's helpful and I dare to say it's very important. And there is also the intuition factor (or God-sent intuition factor, for those who believe) that I wouldn't disregard if I were you, my dear reader who is not married yet! I'll go a little beyond that (bordering the mysticism haha) and say that's specially true if it's the guy who is sensing this intuition, not the girl.

It's an intuition that makes you realize (but without all the words to explain it) that THIS person has something different. Something in her/him attracts you very much and it's something more profound that the merely physical attraction (even though you made sure the physical attraction it's present! It's important, you guys and although its importance degree varies, it is "kinda" important!). This person also passed the test of the pre-screening, meaning that nothing leads you to believe that there might be a serious impediment nor a serious flaw that could indicate that the relationship shouldn't even start between you two.

I would say that, if we were to be very honest with ourselves and don't let the feelings "of needy" we might be feeling weigh in on our reasoning, we can know right away if a person it's a possible and good candidate for us. If not right away, within a few weeks, for sure! (ps.: I don't include in this scenario that person who is a pathological "two-faces" and therefore can be really deceiving. On this case, it usually takes longer for the other to realize something is wrong and it might be helpful to always try to know his/her family and friends.)

To always be aware of this intuition factor had helped me a lot in the beginning of any of my past relationships. That's why NONE of them lasted more than between 2 weeks and a month, but with Dan, it lasts forever! =) I'll be more specific. When Dan and I were dating for a little more than a month (so he had passed my usual "relationship deadline") I started to get a bit anxious and in crisis with myself. I remember thinking: "Oh no. I can't see any red flags in this relationship!!! I still like him and even more now than when we started and I can't see any signs that might threaten this relationship to progress, to work out." - I freaked out, you guys, well, because everything was going fine and the way it should be!

But the reason why I freaked out it's that this reasoning also made me realize that Dan and I would - maybe - probably - get married one day! That was it! There would be no more "looking for the right person". He would be the one! But, obviously, at the same time there was this fear that I could be wrong. And what if we are dating for years when we finally realize we are not meant for each other? Can you imagine a broken heart like that? I can't and I must believe it's the worst thing ever to give yourself and your heart so much only to take it back later (even though I've never planned to give myself physically completely to someone before marriage, and it's even more traumatic if you think of all those people who actually do it and then break up!). How can one heart recover from a breakup of a long and profound relationship? It cannot! It's broken, broken!!!!! It will never be the same anymore, I'm sure! (I'm talking mostly about the way I see it). Yes, mistakes make us stronger and make us learn (we all hope) but that doesn't mean that's how things should always be.

So it had come to me the moment of decision. To continue dating Dan (and (1) to marry him, or (2) to have my heart broken eventually if that doesn't work out) OR to break with him right now!! (At that time, I mean!). So I stopped and took a time for reflection! Like a good engineer, I tried to think in all the "variables of my problem". And I found out that my fear was actually that in the future, if Dan and I are still dating, there might be another guy who would make me doubt that Dan and I are really meant to be. (Because there were no other real problems and the fear that Dan could be a two-faces was really minimal, close to nonexistent.)

Well, if that was really all that I was scared of, I had a solution! And I know you are probably going to think that is a cold blood solution and a not very romantic one at all and I agree with you! But it worked WONDERS! My solution was to make a list of all the guys I had a little crush on and to examine all of them in the minimal details. Since the list was considerably large (about 15 guys? lol), I tranquilized myself that even though there might be someone new in the future, I would already had him covered in some way or another with this present analysis. I weighed all the pros and cons of each one of them and sometimes even compared them to Dan. I can assure you it was a very comprehensive analysis and that I was very specific. Enough to make me see that Dan was really the one for me and that I could rest assure and be calm with my decision. And that actually happened! I was tranquil! I never more doubted that Dan had what it takes for me to marry him! It gave me so much peace! A very needed peace! (And if you must know, Dan was aware of this analysis because I told him almost right away! I cannot keep my mouth shut you too must have realized it by now!) So you could see that the thought of marrying Dan was present in my mind like a serious possibility really soon in our relationship! Less than two months into it! And I was incredibly happy about my newest discovery!!

I would like to add two more considerations regarding all this matter that weren't present in the original post but that I feel they can add some value to the whole thing. The first consideration is that I always knew, and so did Dan, that once we were married it would be forever and it wouldn't matter the problems or the people that would come to enter our lives, we would MAKE our marriage work through all things. The second consideration is that I'm not a person who actually believes there is just one person meant for you. I just don't think it's reasonable! And I don't think that's the only actual possibility for a relationship to work. I don't even think God meant this way. Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe I'm partially wrong. Maybe for some couples they were really meant for each other like no one else could have been.Yes. I do believe there are some cases, a few, like this! But I don't consider it to be of common sense nor do I believe it's a quintessential factor on the process of choosing to marry someone! Because, like I said, once I'm married, I'm married forever! We make it work! Of course it's still true that it's important to look for and to FIND a good fit for you.

I feel I should be honest with you guys. There were some moments (probably PMS moments, Oh, poor Dan!) that I wasn't sure we had it all, but I can finally say, now after these five years of marriage, that I cannot really imagine myself with some other guy (and that not even the strongest PMS would change that!) That Dan is really the one! The one that I chose, that chose me, but sometimes, also THE ONLY ONE! So I guess what I'm trying to say is that marriage really gets better over time, if both parts keep believing on it and keep putting effort into making it work! =)

Wow, that was a long "parenthesis", but we are finally getting back to our actual story! I was going to tell you about the three times Dan and I asked each other in marriage (or kinda of)! The first time happened before we were even dating and I'll briefly described it again. I was tired of starting to date guys just to find out if that would work or not and so was Dan. So, he said these exact words when we were talking about starting to date each other: "If we start dating, I don't plan to end it." haha Kinda scary to hear this, right?? So this was our first not official moment of "engagement", on our very first day of relationship. CRAZY!!!

Then, the second time we kinda asked each other in marriage actually started with me saying all the words! We were dating for about six months, I think. Like I said, we always talked marriage, kids, education of the kids, etc. So during one of these times, we were online chatting through msn and I just let go: "I want to marry you, hahaha" (lols included. I confess I added the "hahaha" because of jitters of the moment). To which Dan kindly and promptly (for my relief) replied: "Me too!!!".

Finally, our third and last time - and probably the one most close to the official american engagement moment (THE one, according to Dan) - came when we were at the airport saying goodbye for the first time! For those of you who don't know it yet, Dan went to the US to complete his graduate studies when we were still dating and I was still in college. So we ended up dating long distance for about one year and a half. What a terribly sad time it was! I hated all of it! But we are ok now, we've managed it, we've been through it and the outcome turned out to be successful. So we were crying and saying goodbye, and between tears he holds my face and say: "We are going to get married! Do you understand it? We are going to get married!" to which I nodded, sobbed, and parted ways (physically, only).

Lastly, I want to tell you about the official and actual start of our engagement that came when I reserved the church for the ceremony! Again in unusual conditions and somehow another crazy part of our story! It was February, 2008. Dan and I had been dating long distance for almost six months already (1.5 years total) and we were once again, online chatting through MSN. Dan would be travelling back to Brazil and staying for a month in just a few days for the first time since he'd left. One of the reasons was that he had his master's defense to present in Brazil and the other one, to reunite with me for some time! After this, he would go back to the US again to continue his temporary work as a lab technician. He would start his PhD in Texas only in August, that year.

We were discussing deadlines and future plans. Between his winter break and his future PhD program schedule and me finishing college and a few other things, we concluded we would have to marry in mid January, next year (aka 2009). There wouldn't be other better time, or not even another doable time, actually. Well, not for at least another six months period after January/09.

With this in mind, I've realized we didn't even have a year ahead of us. And for those of you who already ventured into engagement know that almost every nice place or church is completely booked for at least one year in advance! So one day I was praying with my mom in a church that's pretty popular for weddings (that's another difference between the brazilian and the american style. You get to choose the church you want to get married, usually in the bride's hometown, but you don't have to be a parishioner of that church.) I said to my mom I was going to look - just look -  into the wedding reservations at the parish's office. As I was looking into their reservations, there was no more vacancies for the whole month of January EXCEPT in one day, mid January because there had been a recent cancellation. I freaked out! We HAD to marry in mid January, and there it was: a miraculous opening because of a cancellation. I took that as a God sent sign and booked the church right away, even without talking to Dan first.

And that's how I turned a bride, officially! Booking the church even before Dan was back from the US for the first time after he was gone! We didn't even know exactly how things were going to be between us in our reunion (sure, we had a pretty good idea since we'd talked all the time through webcam. But it surely was a crazy thing to do, nonetheless. I just hope I was successful on explaining what happened that lead me to do book the church so impulsively!

And afterwards, I actually had to cancel my reservation at that church anyway. Because when it was the time to book the place for the reception we couldn't match the day on which we already had the church reservation. In the end, we had our wedding ceremony in my actual parish, with Mass (so not an usual thing in Brazil. even if you really want one!) on a Sunday, at noon, because our pastor was really attentive and sweet with us and my family and he suggested it as a favor when I was telling him about our wedding schedule problems! Much better than anything I could have planned myself or even hoped for! I always remember to pray for him, at his request when I asked him how we could show our gratitude.

So that's our engagement/wedding story! Maybe I will share more details in the future! For now, that's it! Once again I apologize for the huge post!

Bye-bye 2013, Hello 2014

This is my year in review blog post.I would like to have written it a month ago while sending out Christmas cards but the end of last year was kinda crazy to us! Needless to say, I didn't even send out any Christmas cards but got some in reply (?) which made me incredibly ashamed and somehow propelled me to write this ASAP. Also, the fact that it's already 2014 for three days has something to do with it!

And there were so many things I would like to write in this blog, but time is getting short by the second. Literally.

But I would love if you guys would remind me to write about my 2014 resolutions, a spiritual post about asking God's grace and a post with my favorite Mary songs. If I feel like I owe something to someone I tend to be more effective.

But here we go, to my 2013 year recap.

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We kicked off 2013 with a third trimester pregnant Gabby on our new house! In february things started to get crazy as half the world visited us! I joke, but we really had a lot of family coming over and staying with us for some time! It felt great to be able to host people as it was the first time we had a spare bedroom and a comfortable home to share it.

In March, 10th, our little dude Nico arrived! He was a good boy as he waited to be born on a Sunday, after mass and only one and half day before my parents arrive. They got to see Nico when I was still on the hospital. Everything was smooth, thanks be to God. Except that he had shown to be clingy and not a very good night sleeper since the beginning! But there is still room to be grateful as, incredibly, I'm managing it and not lying dead on the floor. Usually.

In April, my in laws came and Nico was baptized. Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, Rebecca was still not talking, not potty trained and not doing a LOT things I wished she was. On the bright side, she also managed really well the arrival of her little brother! Sure, "there will be" jealousy, sometimes, but the fact is that I was expecting much, much worse. She is a good girl!

Only in May all the visitors were gone and we could taste what really meant to have two kids and no family around us! Right now, looking back, I don't feel like it was too bad! Although I can't help but remember how Dan got sleep deprived. The guy needs to chillax! Are you reading it, honey? Don't worry so much! The kids will survive and they will do just fine. And you need some good nights of sleep!

But I'm not complaining about Dan, don't get me wrong! The "complaints" come from over complimenting him. He is such a selfless guy and worried about the minimal details regarding our babies that more than a few times he over did himself! I wrote a little about it on the "father's day" post.

After this point, I don't actually have a month to month recap. But a developmental one! Two actually. One regarding Nico's achievements and the other about Rebecca's. And then some random picked facts put it together. Let's get to it!

Nico, by the end of 2013, cute as it can be had 6 teeth. He started solids at 4 months and just recently we realized that he probably cried of hungry for five months. Don't worry, he was fine, but would had liked a little more food shoved down, that's for sure, now we know. He never liked tummy time and it was during these moments that he clearly showed the size of his big mouth and powerful voice. He also dislikes being left alone and on the other hand, becomes incredibly satisfied while being carried. Mommy cooked a lot of dinners with Nico on the side! This time I don't mean it literally, chillax! He also smiled a lot, and melted our hearts more than I could count! Daddy could tell you that too! Nico floods him with kisses. Just daddy....... but I'm fine, I'm fine! Actually, I love that Nico loves his daddy so much and vice versa! A recipe for success, I'll tell you! And finally, the big milestone came two days ago, so only in 2014, but he started moving. I wouldn't say crawling... what he is doing it's too weird and funny to be called crawling. But never mind that, cuz he is on the go, yay!

Rebecca was a warrior last year! Actually, 2013 was Rebecca's year. Well, Nico's too since he was born, BUT.... Rebecca was awesome you guys! She became an awesome big sister, she started using fork and spoon really well, she conquered and mastered potty training (she is GREAT at it), she loves to learn and read new books with mommy, she shows great potential (speaking of her intelligence), turned three years old at the end of August, started MDO a few days after, she loves school, she's great at making friends, she is joyful and playful, she went to her first Halloween party, she got sick more times that I would have liked, she got better, AND SHE IS TALKING!!! What a year!!! Whatta girl!!

This year we went a few times (three, to be exact) to the beach for the great pleasure of our Rebecca old time beach lover and our brand new beach lover, Nico! We went a lot of times to Menchies for frozen dairy-free yogurt and a lot of times to the library! All of us benefited from the local library and I'm happy and proud of it! Gabby reread all seven HP books in english and fell in love with magic all over again! 

We bought a lot of things for our house like paintings and a big cross for the walls, a six seats dinner table, some small appliances and things for the kitchen, some gym equipments for Dan, a new bike and, naturally, an extra queen bed for the guest room and necessary things for Nico. We are grateful to God for all of this. I'm still missing some curtains and a rug for the living room! Let's see what can be done this year!

Spiritually, we continued to attend catholic formation ministered by the Opus Dei and Dan and I attended the Couple's Prayer Series at our parish! The kids and I (most times Nico and mommy because Rebecca was at MDO) also attended Kids adoration hour almost every Tuesday and that's probably one of the biggest blessings of this year! 

Emotionally, I feel very much in love with my husband like I've never been since we got married! I'm very happy! =) I'm sure this will continue to the next years with God's help and our own efforts!

We started to drink wine regularly. Our neighborhood - our house included - started recycling. Dan got a merit based raise on his pay check and family came to visit one last time on December! We got to spend Christmas together in a vacation house in Orlando and I got see the Harry Potter theme park and drink butter beer and pumpkin juice! We spent new years in our house in Texas and they left without us yesterday morning to more adventures!

And lastly, a sad happening. My mom's best friend from college, my sister's godparents, lost his sweet and talented 25 years old son on a car crash on Dec, 26th. I cannot explain in so little words how this affected us! We weren't so close, specially because they moved to the US about 15 years ago, and before that we lived in different cities in Brazil. But they kept visiting us every year, we had each others on facebook and their three sons were the sweetest guys one can ever met! I truly feel like I missed a brother, although I'm sure I cannot even imagine their pain. I'll be praying for his soul and comfort for his family for all my life!

Be safe everyone! Love God and your neighbor. Life is too precious and the pain of those who stay is enormous and life after death lasts forever!

Peace to all and a truly blessed new year is what I wish for everyone.

I finish this post with a Christmas song:

 "Let there be peace on Earth"

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

Cotton Candy

Blogging surely has a funny effect on me and on my family, or so it seems! I write something on it and then quite the opposite takes place in the near future! I wrote that Nico had zero teeth and less then a week after that he has three teeth popping out! I tell you he only eats avocado and bananas and then he started enjoying pumpkin, carrots and even my homemade baby food! (Thank God!). And I also said that nothing exciting was going on, well, Nico just started clapping his hands!!! It's so cute!!! We all have so much fun watching it and cheering him on! I think it's time I take it to my own advantage and let written in here that Nico - isn't - crawling - yet. DO YOU HEAR IT, BLOG??? ;)

And finally, I say I'll write a new post on the following day from my last post and more than two weeks have passed and you haven't heard from me ever since! I also said I was more organized, so you can figure that this blog's plot against me took action again and my house was messy for a good while (up until we had friends coming over last Saturday night and I HAD to clean the house! Dan helped me A LOT, God bless the man!).

I also stopped making my gryffindor scarf....... And I haven't ironed a single piece of clothe since the last post! Well, but I continued reading HP books and I actually just finished book number five this morning! But I guess I don't get bonus points for this, huh? Nope, I didn't think so!

I also started playing Candy Crush again, but I'm doing it responsibly! At least for now!

My last two weeks had some good things going on too but all the good things I was bragging about on the last post went downhill after I spilled them in here! I know failure is only natural and expected, I myself being human and all, you know! To always restart has to be the most important ability for me to acquire and to never give up hope! So here we are, on restarting mode!

But I was about to tell y'all about "the cherry on top" I mentioned on my last post! But let's change it, because I actually hate those pretend cherries on top of ice cream sundays or cakes. They taste horrible! They taste horrible but look beautiful! Deceitful little nasty things that trick young kids into your awful flavor!

Anyways, let's call it Cotton Candy, then! Not that it's my favorite sweet, but I surely enjoy it sometimes! We even got REBECCA a cotton candy machine as one of her birthday presents, hehe! Yeah, sure! Well, she does enjoy cotton candy, mind you, although she keeps calling it "ice cream"...

But without further ado, let me get to what really matters cause I'm already kinda late for lunch.

The cherry on top The Cotton Candy of my new resolution, that I was about to reveal to you, is:

Wait, I've almost forgotten! I meant to put a disclaimer on this post! So here it goes: if you are not religious, or get annoyed by religious subjects, you may stop your reading here, if you want! I do not wish to make it through you without your fully consent, knowledge or will. So you've been warned, I won't get offended if you wish to stop here and neither you will be offended/annoyed in some degree by what I write in this post! And, sure, if you would like to read the whole post, go ahead, you are always welcomed to do so!

As I was saying, the best part for me, when I decided to have a change in how I was running my house and dealing with my schedule, it's that I committed myself to go to confession every week!

Okay, pause! I cannot postpone lunch for the kiddos anymore. I will have to stop here for a while!

Just came back! Kids and mommy had lunch then we had some fun watching leap frog on Netflix and playing with balloons and now both kids are napping! So back to blogging.

I was writing about my new resolution! You could say that is an old new resolution! Because when I was still single and living with my parents and siblings I used to go to the Opus Dei center every week and I used to go to confession weekly! Then I got married and Dan and I are living in the US, ever since! I tried at the beginning to go to confession twice a month and although our former parish priests didn't say the words exactly, I had the feeling they thought it was a little weird for me to be confessing that often!

And I know what you might be thinking: "well, it is kinda too much indeed." And I used to think the same way, believe me! I used to go to confession weekly because some people offered me this advice, but it wasn't actually of my own consideration at the time. And I know what else you might be thinking: "but what so much do you have to confess?". I believe people are not much instructed in this matter anymore so this is, actually, a common thought for many people! They think: "I'm a good person, I didn't kill anybody, I don't steal, I don't cheat on my boyfriend/girlfriend and I don't do drugs. What is to confess?". And I don't deny you one thing: you probably are not a bad person indeed! But what people fail to acknowledge is that everybody commits multiple sins everyday, even if you are a very holy person. Probably not all of them are that much serious, but they are sins, regardless.

The catholic theology of sin, if I can call it this way, it's much more complex and it's not my intention to explain it here! But I will give you some examples of not so serious sins that probably everyone commits every once in a while! Well, there is the sin against patience! And when I lack patience with my neighbor I also lack charity. There is the sin of being selfish. Selfish with my time, my money, my abilities. There is the sin against purity, chastity (although these ones are usually always serious sins, the theory says) There is the sin of laziness, the sin against temperance (self restraint). There is the sin of gossip, bullying, etc! In a big compendium, every action, thought and words that hurts in some degree your relation with God, your relations with your neighbor and your relation with yourself, it's bad, it is a sin! It can be a mortal, serious sin or it can be a venial, light sin.

When I say I used to think that it was kinda too much to go to confession every week I mean that this was what it felt like sometimes! But I would have to add that not doing it correctly was one of the reasons why! If you don't prepare yourself properly for confession, it can easily become banal, and fruitless. By preparing yourself, it's common practice that this means to pray at least for awhile trying to rethink your conduct since your last confession. BUT, many people would also add to make a daily bedtime examination of conscience. And by my own experience I say that this is so very true! Every time I kept a written record of my daily examination of conscience at the end of the day, my confession is better. The contrary is also true!

And I will tell you what made me feel that actually what Opus Dei, in my case, taught me, about going to confession frequently - as in once a week - and doing my examination of conscience is actually the best thing ever you as a catholic can do for yourself and your family, it was, of course, when I was forced to suffer from not doing it!

Since I moved to US, as I was saying, that wasn't possible anymore. And even when I've tried to got to confession at my parish, it didn't feel the same, because I was so much spoiled and used to getting practical advice and spiritual direction from an Opus Dei priest who already knew my soul. So my spiritual life went a bit downhill. And I've learned the hard way that it was so much harder to get rid of old bad habits when you don't confess so frequently and don't have spiritual direction. And I started to miss the old days!

Fortunately, we moved to a place where there are a lot of Opus Dei activities going on! But only after a year living here, it hit me: "I should start going to confession every week! I know there is a chapel where Opus Dei priests attend confessions all day long and there is barely no one in line!" What a blessing, I know!

And I have been to confession every week since then! It's been the third week in a row, now! I can't say it's been perfect, but I'm on my way to improve things (if the "blogging special turnover feature" doesn't get on my way!) ;)

And what's best, I could choose a day when Rebecca goes to MDO (school), so I only have to take care of Nico AND now every Thursday Dan, Nico and I have lunch (a picnic) together after I go to confession and before I get back home! Isn't it truly lovely??? Nico has such a blast seeing daddy in the middle of the weekday, for a change and I try to pack a yummy picnic and it is also a good change from hot meals everyday, lunch and dinner. And Dan and I almost feel like we are on a date!! (Nico is such a sweetie and doesn't bother us at all). =)

So that's my cherry on top cotton candy!

xoxo

"Second post of the week!" or "I have the most inventive post titles!"

Aren't you surprised with my creativity on naming my posts? I am! How can I lack so much of it? But anyways...
________

Wow! One post yesterday and another one today? That's crazy! I think so too! I don't know what has got into me!

Actually I do! I'm not that crazy and my actions do have an explanation - most of the times! The thing is that I really wanted to write about today's post (actually, tomorrow's post because this one turned out long enough already. Typical.) But in order to do so, I felt obligated to finish my kid's anniversary post that already was incredibly late.

Other reason (why do I always feel I need to explain why I'm writing on MY blog? Get a grip, girl!) is that I'm considerably more organized on these last few weeks! And it all started with Harry Potter!

Okay, so now I'm crazy!

Jk, I'm not crazy, I told you already (why do I feel like saying "I'm not crazy" all the time? Maybe I'm a little crazy! Actually, I know that I am! But so are you, in case you don't know!).

But yes! If you follow me on facebook, and chances are that you do follow me if you are reading my blog, you'll know that I am rereading all Harry Potter books! I'm currently reading book number four! And it's been awesome, just like it was on my teenage years! Is it absurdly nerd of me to say that the times when I was first reading the books were probably the highlight of my adolescence? I guess not, the books are really really great, everybody will agree with it! Right??

Mind you that I'm a very self conscious person. An egocentric you might say! And I have a high mental activity. I have a good memory, I tend to analyze every single detail of anything, I over think, I over judge and my imagination tends to run wild, except when I need it, of course!

So as I was reading the books I kept thinking what others might think of me! I imagined things like: "gosh, she must have been neglecting all her duties", "doesn't she have kids to take care of?", "Stay at home mom, must be THE DREAM job". And things like that. Well, mostly, because at certain point I've thought about it myself.

Well, sure, what the heck I think I'm doing with my free time reading the books while a have a house to clean, two kids to take care of, meals to cook, errands to run, etc? And I confess that at the beginning I didn't think I would be able to finish any of the books. But then, the unexpected happened, and I finished book number 1, then book number 2 and book number 3. And sure, some things were neglected! Not the driving (Dan continued to go to work, I continued to go to daily mass, Rebecca continued to go to MDO and I surely continued my grocery shopping). Neither the cooking was neglected (or we would be starving/dead right now, or we'd be really poor because of all the take out meals I would have had to buy. Well, our budget it's a little tight right now but it's not because we've been eating out...), and - finally - I didn't neglect the kids either.

The kids have been sleeping at the same time and our schedule has been easy on me! So I basically read when the kids are napping in the afternoon. That's about 2 hours of reading! And sometimes I would read at night (I actually finished book number 2 past 1am! I couldn't stop until I've finished it!) And there are also the weekends. Dan usually cooks on the weekends and helps me with the kids so I usually have more free time. I love my husband, I know he's the best! And I certainly love his cooking! You know the old saying, "you conquer a woman by the stomach". Or something like that! =)

What proceed it was the following: as if reading the whole book series was not bold enough for me, I decided to knit my own gryffindor scarf! Actually, I'm making four scarves, for the whole family! And being precise, I'm not really knitting because I'm not using needles (how can anyone mange to maneuver those things?) but a loom circle (it's so easy, it's actually ridiculous!) and three tutorial youtube videos. Blessed youtube, when you need it for noble reasons!

And the unexpected happened AGAIN!! So I'm not neglecting all my SAHM (stay at home mom) duties, I'm reading the books, and I'm knitting  making scarves (and it's getting really pretty!!).

So at this point I started to rethink what I was doing before all of this took place in my life. What was I doing with my time? Because I surely couldn't imagine me having the time for all of that! And reality and reason started to come together in my mind and I once again concluded: I was losing all my time! And this turn it wasn't because of Candy Crush Saga (I stopped playing it again, although I confess I did try it for 5 minutes a couple days ago).

But I was losing my time with my old pal enemy, "Mr. Facebook" or "Mr. Miscellaneous of the Internet" (aka, blogs, articles, pinterest, instagram etc). And what a waste! Gosh, It's been so awesome to read HP and to knit make gryffindor scarves, much more than I was enjoying doing nothing in front of the screen.

And on top of that, guess what? I even started to clean, as in "deep clean", my house and even iron the clothes!!! All because I felt empowered and started to think I actually could do EVERYTHING! Now my house is cleaner and more organized than it has been for ages! And finally, I even found the time to write on my blog again!

I'm finishing this post right here, but there is more to it. It's the cherry on top, actually! Maybe tomorrow I'll write about it!

xoxo
gossip girl Gabi

Can you tell I only found out about the strikethtough feature recently? I LOVE it! hehe