June 4, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Just after getting married, my husband Dave and I sold our house, cashed in our investments and left our careers to evangelize the truths of the Gospel. It was quite a leap of faith, as we did not know what the future would bring. But, with placing our trust in God, He has never failed us.
When we started putting our ideas into motion for Catholic Chapter House we were also struggling with fertility issues. We had spent over two years working with FertilityCare Toronto (formerly the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family Centre) and had come to the conclusion, with acceptance, that a baby was not in our near future.
I was working fulltime with the National Campus Life Network and stepped out of a staff position and into a board position as President to be able to dedicate myself fulltime to this new ministry. While Dave had a fulltime job in the finance industry, he sensed the uncertainty and sure enough was let go in December 2010. We were not too worried though. We had anticipated this and had taken some necessary precautions financially.
In January 2011 we found out a new life had been developing for a few weeks – our daughter had been present since December. The news rocked our world and, as all new life does, changed us forever.
It wasn’t an easy pregnancy with a good share of “morning sickness” that lasted well past the mornings. A roller coaster of emotions (I hear this is par for the course). And, some precautionary bed rest for the latter part of the pregnancy.
In many ways our culture would look at our situation and see the pregnancy as unplanned, unexpected and, quite frankly, bad timing. Since we believed conceiving was out of the picture we certainly were not expecting this new arrival. And, our plans were all geared towards, at least for the foreseeable future, life with just the two of us working hard at establishing our new apostolate. We had many ideas we wanted to put into action that would require more than both of our fulltime energy. A baby was not factored in by us, though would certainly be welcomed.
But, God knew what He was doing.
Over the past three years, we have learned what it really means to trust in God. Neither of us have received a paycheck in over two and a half years. And, yet, God has provided for our every need. We have certainly not gone without and have been able to more than provide for our daughter.
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Our daughter is our inspiration. While her life was not exactly planned or expected by us, it has enriched our life beyond measure. In a world that is obsessed with planning children, I am actually very happy that our daughter was planned by God as a beautiful surprise for us.
Every day we marvel at the growth and development of our daughter. We love seeing the world through her eyes. God’s timing was perfect. And, now we are waiting to see who else He may have in store for our family.
Here is a short video of our story followed by more details about our ministry through Catholic Chapter House:
Catholic Chapter House aims to catechize and evangelize Catholics and those interested in the truths of the faith with an unwavering faithfulness to the teachings on life and family.
Our upcoming event with Dr. Peter Kreeft is a shining example of this commitment. Dr. Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College and author of 67 books, is one of the brightest minds and most fearless defenders of truth in these areas deemed controversial in today’s world.
We are excited to have LifeSiteNews as our platinum sponsor for this event. I invite you to attend and share the information with others so they, too, can benefit from the knowledge of Dr. Kreeft and encounters with fellow Catholics. All details can be found here.
We hope to meet you soon, either online or offline!
To learn more about Catholic Chapter house see our store or our Blog and our events pages.