Newlywed and New to NFP (Part 2)
Written by S.J. Duca. Originally published in Family Foundations.
Annie and Matt are the second couple featured in this two part series, where newlyweds share about their journey to the altar, their Natural Family Planning (NFP) experience, and what excites them most about Couple to Couple League’s new PeakDay app.
( You can read the first part in this series about Holly + John’s story here.)
Matt and Annie
Annie and Matt’s wedding website gives a sense of their fun-loving personalities. Rather than picture-perfect, the photos of their wedding party are goofy, ranging from friends with eyes blinking when the camera clicked to friends sleeping. While recounting how they began dating during college, Matt remembers the time Annie accidentally called 911. Annie’s favorite wedding reception memory is Matt getting swept up by the mass of people at the reception and crowd surfing. “It was epic,” she described.
Married in January 2023, the newly-weds aren’t so new to NFP. “We took our NFP class early in our engagement,” said Annie. “We wanted to start those conversations so we could enter marriage being comfortable with the constant conversation of NFP.”
For Annie and Matt, practicing NFP empowers men and women to live out their marriage intentionally and confidently.
“Knowing my cycles has given me a voice, and I use that voice to communicate with my husband,” described Annie. “As a result, we are just so much more sensitive and empathetic to one another. It is a way we experience freedom in our marriage, which empowers both of us.”
“As men and women, we are called to be fathers and mothers, in whatever capacity that is,” added Matt, “and with NFP you’re able to either achieve or postpone pregnancy. This allows you to either become a father or mother or be able to provide and care well for those you are already a father or mother to.”
Annie also pointed to the relationship between NFP and women’s mental health, how our mind, body, and spirit are fundamentally integrated.
“It would be difficult to come to know one’s whole person without knowing how one’s body functions,” she said. “Our bodies help communicate; if we neglect that beautiful aspect of ourselves, it can affect our minds and spirits negatively.”
Both Annie and Matt look forward to learning more about NFP — particularly the impact of nutrition on the health of a woman’s cycle — in the context of marriage.
And as they deepen their knowledge, they look to the PeakDay app for support. “PeakDay is beautiful — the new design is attractive and refreshing!” said Annie. “That attractiveness reveals the true beauty of learning NFP, making it that much easier for couples to start charting and feel connected to one another.”
The newly married couple left me with the best advice they received at their wedding, a sagacious message that I’ll, in turn, leave you with, good reader, for the months ahead:
“A dear priest said that he learned there are two fundamental things to priesthood, and they are the same as in married life: to join in the breaking of the bread on the altar and in the breaking of bread with community at the table in the home,” shared Annie. “Those two things will help sustain us for the rest of our lives.”