When I heard the radio headline yesterday afternoon, I groaned. Because I knew I was going to have to blog about the pope’s comments, and as a proponent of natural family planning, it would be hard to convince anyone that I’m approaching the topic objectively. But there under the awning of the Gerbes fuel station,…
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The Babies I’ll Never Have
It is Saturday afternoon and I am folding baby clothes—new, soft, tiny baby clothes—and layering them lovingly into a gift box for one of our choir members. I had forgotten how much I love baby clothes. I love everything about babies. You know, I don’t even hate the diaper changes. Did I get tired of…
Read MoreSex Always Has Consequences
When I heard the story on the news this morning, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or do a face palm. There’s a new study out saying that women taking the newer-generation mini birth control pills have 3x higher risk of blood clots compared to women who don’t take oral contraceptives. But, they hasten to…
Read MoreWhat It’s Like To Practice Natural Family Planning
After yesterday’s post about why I don’t like birth control, I think it only makes sense to talk about the alternative. Natural family planning is widely reviled as a game of reproductive roulette, an unreasonable burden on couples, or an unnecessary restriction on sexual expression. Those of us who use NFP try to dispel those myths,…
Read MoreWhat’s YOUR Problem?
Life is unpredictable, but over the past several years I’ve learned there’s one thing I can count on with absolute certainty: somewhere between one week and two days before university graduation, I will lose my voice. It happens virtually every semester, just before I join the platform party at honors convocation as the official singer…
Read MoreBig Boys, crazy hair, and sex ed (a 7QT post)
___1___ We had a friend over for dinner last weekend, and as we were asking her about her studies and her plans for the future, Alex sat across from her shaking his head. “This is why I don’t want to grow up,” he said. “There’s too much work.” ___2___ This reminds me of what I…
Read MoreMotherhood, Mostly (a 7QT post)
___1___ I’ve been so busy lately, I just now realized I never shared this! We are running a giveaway of This Little Light of Mine on Goodreads. Six copies available, to be “drawn” by Goodreads on May 1st. Click on over and sign up! ___2___ I think every woman–probably everyone–is well aware that the reproductive…
Read MoreMaking Marriage Better
I’m qualified to write on that topic, don’t you think? 🙂 Today I’m sending you to a guest post I wrote. I’ve talked before about how the experience of infertility convinced me that planning our family naturally was so much more respectful of who I am as a human being in general, and a woman in particular. But…
Read MoreLiving Mindfully
I think most of us, most of the time, don’t think about what we’re doing. I think we live our lives on inertia, nudged by forces we’re not even aware of in directions whose validity we never question. Most of what we do is done on autopilot, a series of habits we’re not even aware…
Read MoreEnvironment, Family, and Planning
Not that long ago I wrote a blog post called Too Big For Me. I know the world’s problems are too big and too complex to be reduced to black and white. But there is a topic that most people consider closed, no longer worth debating, that warrants another look. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=birth-control-in-water-supply I’ve shared before what…
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Kathleen M. Basi 