So what happened on our Marriage Encounter weekend?

So I signed DH and I up for an ME weekend as our anniversary gift to ourselves back in July.  All of this was done electronically, and I even got a receipt!  Well 3 days before the weekend was supposed to start I had not been contacted by anyone and was starting to wonder!  So I contacted the local ME people and they did not have us on the list!!!  I emailed them my "receipt" and they were as shocked as I was.  Luckily another couple had just canceled and we were moved to the top of the 9 couple waiting list.  So we were still "in".

So we got to the weekend and I have to say that alot of it sounded very familiar, because DH and I are involved with Catholic Engaged Encounter and this had alot of similarities.  I was a little unsure of how much we would "learn" on the weekend.  But we both kept an open mind and really started to enjoy ourselves!

And then the miracles started happening....okay maybe "miracle" is too strong of a word.  But we had some really amazing things happen that God most definitely had a hand in!

First, at dinner we met this lovely couple and started discussing my pregnancy and how it was a little difficult because we felt very fearful of what might happen having already lost 4 babies.  She understood as she had experienced infertility herself...and then she told me that she had gone through several surgeries with Dr. Hilgers from Omaha.  I ABOUT choked on my food!  WHAT?!?!  You have worked with Dr. H???  (So I've read lots of people's stories about using NaPro and working with Dr. H but I've never met anyone in real life yet, and to find her at my ME weekend??)  And sure enough, she is one of his first research patients....in fact, she's one of the women from:  In Their Own Words:  Women Healed !!!!!!!!!   I don't think I really knew what to say.  I was just awestruck that God would have put us together...first at a retreat that we almost missed attending due to technical glitches, and second that out of 35 couples, He put us together at dinner (we had assigned seating at every meal, but did not get to sit with every couple). 

So the second part is that Rob and I were able to talk about our fears about this pregnancy, and to release some of the pain we have held onto since losing Mary Grace and the other babies.  I guess there were some parts of our grief that we held separately; we had never shared with each other.  And this weekend allowed for a huge release of those feelings, and an ability to better understand where the other stood as far as how we were approaching this new pregnancy emotionally.  I don't know how to better explain it, but it was HUGE for us.

Third, we asked the priest for a special blessing over this pregnancy.  He told us to meet him in his hotel room after one of the sessions, and we came in and sat down and gave him some background information...our fertility history if you will.  Then he completely surprised me with the following 3 questions:
1.  Do you blame yourself for these losses?
2.  Do you feel like you've let your husband down?
3.  Do you feel like he'd have been better off marrying someone else?
I knew the answers to these questions immediately, but had never spoken them out loud or talked them out with Robert.  My answers were yes, yes and no...in that order. 

He asked Rob some questions and then asked if he could pray over us.  He put one hand on both mine and Rob's head and began to pray back and forth between english and speaking in tongues.  This went on for several minutes and Rob later told me that he experienced a deep feeling of instant peace.  And after he was done praying he said he had a vision of Rob and I very old sitting around a breakfast table with many grandchildren all around. 

It was really beautiful.  And I think it was just what we needed to be able to move forward through this pregnancy in hope, rather than just moving forward in fear.  So that was our weekend!  God really put it all together for us, don't you think? ;)  I would definitely recommend an ME weekend to anyone who already has a good marriage and is looking to make it better.  They have them for different denominations as well, so it is definitely an option for many people!   Check out Worldwide Marriage Encounter for more information.