Creighton Model Practitioner Training: We Did It!

I know you're all sitting on the edges of your seats, waiting to hear how Creighton Model practitioner training went.

Guys, we did it!

Stephanie + Sew = brandy new practitioner interns <3

8 days and 7 nights of learning, studying, sleeping, rinsewash&repeat.

They don't call that bad boy an immersion course for nothing, I tell ya.

Sew and I arrived the night before classes started and settled into the house we were borrowing, AKA a priest's house. He was out of town. On an unrelated note, he also apparently stores old dead fish in his fridge, so we had to use the backyard and (thank Heavens) the low, wintery temps as our refrigerator for the week, to avoid our food absorbing that stink and gagging over fishy smells every time we opened the refrigerator door. I do not joke, folks. It was smmmelllllly. But mostly hilarious. I digress.

After settling, we met our teachers and three other classmates for a pizza dinner. Turns out, not only was a blessed to be taking this course with Sew, I was also blessed to be taking it with a blog reader!! (Hi, Stephanie!) Crazy small Creighton world.

From there, it was just a whirlwind. The first two days of classes are Anatomy & Physiology ON STEROIDS. Vulva this, ovulation that, estrogen and progesterone and pituitary gland, OH MY! So much to learn and so little time. But we did it! On day three, we took a big, fat mid-training Anatomy & Physiology test and ROCKED it. It felt so good. Then we went on to learn all about charting mucus, working with clients, how to keep a good record of our teaching, and all the other nitty gritties that come with the life of a practitioner. Basically, it was more information overload. But we absorbed it and came out on the other end ready to do this thing. We ACED our final exams, felt huge weights lift from our shoulders, and headed on our merry way back to our hometowns, excited to take on our first clients.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wee bit scared. I totally am. I'm afraid of taking on too much at once. I'm afraid of messing up somehow. I'm especially afraid of not being able to find enough clients in the east Tennessee area once we move.

But none of that is worth fretting over. Yet.

We're still in the prepping phase now. We teach our first Introductory Session next weekend (eek!) and then get the ball rolling from there. Lucky for us, we've connected with the NaPro doc here in Memphis, so he's basically handing us a gazillion clients ready to go. It's pretty amazing. And scary. But mostly amazing.

Practicing the Intro Session

I get to teach women about the beauty of our natural cycles. About God's perfect design for our bodies. And how, with just a few extra observations each day, we can know so much about our gynecological health.

I'm seriously going to be opening some eyes, people.

My new job rocks. :)

And if I wasn't sure enough that this was a Divine calling, check out what God planted right in my face the day I returned from training...

At Mass on Sunday, I hear this responsorial psalm: Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. 

Yup, sounds about right.

And then the Second Reading was all about... well here, just read it:

Brothers and sisters:
The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord,
and the Lord is for the body;
God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.
Avoid immorality.
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body,
but the immoral person sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
For you have been purchased at a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6: 13C-15A, 17-20
(Emphasis in bold by me.)

I mean, if St. Paul wasn't speaking to the NFP teachers of his time, I don't know who he was talking to!!!

I kid, I kid. I'm sure lots of folks heard lots of different things in this glorious reading this past Sunday, but my heart was looking for confirmation in my new role as a FertilityCare Practitioner Intern. And it definitely got it. Thanks God!

Gosh, pretty sure "Therefore glorify God in your body" needs to be my new tagline or motto or something.

Oh, and if you have no idea what any of this Creighton/NaPro mumbo jumbo is about, call me up, email me, let me know. I'll tell ya all about the Creighton Model and then some. You're gonna love it.

And if you do know what I'm talking about, THANK YOU! Thank you for the support, the encouragement, the prayers. I would not have made it through, heck, I wouldn't have even gone if it weren't for all of your cheerleading and gentle nudges along the way. You guys rock.

Now here goes nothin'!

Big Things!

Welp, it's time to come clean.

John and I have some big things on the horizon.

And no, I'm not talking about our baby due in May. While that certainly is a big thing, there are actually a handful of other big things possibly headed our way in the next few months.

First, John finally got offered an interview for that job he applied to back in September. And he went on that interview. And it went well. It was actually a 3-day long interview that included him being interviewed 14 times by 14 different physicians and giving a 1-hour talk on a topic of his choice. Eek! Talk about high stress! But I have every confidence that he nailed it.

And so now we wait to hear back from them.

Once we hear back, we have to decide... what comes next? Do we pick up and move to east Tennessee? Do we move right away or wait until after baby is born? Do we rent once we get there or look into buying a house? Do we even want him to take this job?!?

Lot's of up in the air details, folks. It's been crazy around here.

And in addition to that crazy, I've got my own crazy going on.

I've been accepted to attend a Creighton Model FertilityCare practitioner training in January outside of Nashville, and I'm pretty sure I'll be going. Eek!!

I've always been interested in becoming a practitioner, especially since Creighton and NaPro have done so many wonderful things for me, I've just never found the right time and I never thought there'd be a training close to Memphis. But then Sew posted about attending a training nearby and my interest was instantly piqued!

At first, I thought it was a long shot, especially with baby being due halfway through the 11-month training, and with training cost being kinda high, AND with the real possibility of us moving to another part of Tennessee (with no Creighton or NaPro presence) in the next few months. But the more I prayed and thought about it, the more I felt called. And so I applied. And now I'm going.

Which ALSO means that I'll probably be phasing myself out of my youth ministry job here real soon. Yikes!

So, a new job for me, possibly a new job for John, possibly a big move here soon, AND a baby on the way.

BIG THINGS, I tell ya!

Please pray for us as we continue to discern our next steps.

And if you know of anyone looking to learn the Creighton Model, consider sending them my way. After my training, that is. :)