Thursday, February 13, 2014

An Introduction

My name is Maria.  I'm the kind of girl who gets equally excited when I hear that my favorite group of Benedictine nuns are releasing a new CD for Lent as I am when I hear that Jerrod Niemann is releasing a new album.  Okay, I guess I'm not really a "girl" anymore.  Even though the parents of the other students in my art class keep asking what high school I go to, I'm actually quickly approaching 30, and a wife and mother of three beautiful children ages four and under.  I left my career to stay at home and raise my kids when I was seven months pregnant with my eldest.

If you haven't guessed, I'm a devout, dare I even say orthodox, Catholic.  I love my Church, and I am obedient to her teachings.  I am, however, a bit... um... different?  I guess I'll come out and say it.  People have always found me weird and hard to relate to, despite my best efforts to wear my heart on my sleeve and try to be as understandable as possible.  As a child, it made me a bit of an outcast.  As an adult, I think it makes people find me odd but lovable.  (At least, that's my hope.)  Instead of trying to fit in, I've decided to just embrace myself as I am, offbeat as that is.  I love Country music, cookies, vintage clothes, veils, drawing, and painting.

This blog is a chance for me to have some creative space.  I tend to have a lot to say, and, as smart and wonderful as my children are, they are not exactly the best people for this kind of conversation yet.  Having been down the restrictive diet rabbit hole, I care passionately about body acceptance and true health.  I hope to be a voice for body acceptance as a lot of the blogs I've read about it come from women who lost their faith in Christianity and felt shamed by their bodies because of Christianity.  I hope to offer a different perspective, even though I can totally see how this reaction can happen to the modern approaches to sexuality, chastity, purity, and modesty that are going on right now.  I don't blame anyone for rejecting it as, I really do, too, but that's a blog post for another day.  I also really love art, and I especially love drawing portraits.  I love how beautiful humanity is.  I hope that everyone will be able to see the beauty I see through my art and my words.  Lastly, I'll be writing about how to create a Catholic home and any other Catholic issues that catch my fancy.  I have many friends who do not belong to the Catholic Church who still love what I have to say a lot of the time, so I hope that, even if you don't share my faith, you will stick around and have some good conversations with me.  

In any case, thank you for stopping by my blog.  It's nice to meet you.


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