Hi, readers! Hope you are having a blessed Easter season. In happy marriage news, Chris and I just celebrated our five year anniversary on Friday. It has truly flown by!
Today, we meet another modern Catholic couple, Jen and Logan Lirette. I got in contact with Logan and Jen because they also run a Catholic marriage blog and ministry. They have been very helpful to me as I get started, as they have been doing this for some time. Be sure to check out Surprised by Marriage for lots of ideas and encouragement for your marriage! But first… their story.
- Tell us your story.
We started going to school together in the first grade but didn’t get to know each other until high school. Our chemistry teacher in 11th grade assigned us seats next to each other halfway through the year, and a few months later, we were dating! We broke up a couple times in college but remained good friends during those periods. In July 2008, Logan proposed to me (we were both 22 years old). After both of us graduated college, we married in June 2009. We’ve been living in the same town both of us grew up in, just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, for our entire marriage. A couple months after our wedding, I became pregnant with our first son, who is in heaven after being stillborn at 22 weeks. After some difficult pregnancies, we now have 3 boys with us (ages 4, 6, and 8) and are expecting another baby at the end of the summer. Logan works full-time as a surveillance technician and Jen works part-time in a nearby church parish. Together we run Surprised By Marriage, an online marriage ministry where we share both the struggles and graces of Catholic marriage. We also help put on marriage events at our church parish because we are so passionate about the importance of marriage!
- What do you two like to do together?
We enjoy going on frequent dates and annual marriage retreats together. When I’m not pregnant, we play sports together. A night at home for us looks like watching a movie together or playing a competitive board game. We also like to get involved with ministries at church, using our different gifts to make a great team.
- What does your domestic church look like?
Our family attends Mass together every week and prays together every night before our kids go to bed, as well as before meals. We like to celebrate some of our favorite feast days, which usually involve a special meal, coloring a picture of our favorite saints, and/or watching a video about the saint’s story. Some of our favorite feast days are St. Patrick, St. Joseph, St. Nicholas, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Logan and I have made praying together as a couple a priority every day. We usually pray at night once the kids are in bed, but we also pray the Rosary together when Logan is off work. We’ve both been praying the Rosary individually for years and have been blessed by praying it together a couple times a week too.
- What was a trial you faced in your marriage? How did you handle it?
The sudden loss of our first son was one of the most difficult experiences of our marriage. It was during the first year of our marriage when we were still very much adjusting to life as a married couple. We both grieved very differently, which made communication hard. We also struggled to get pregnant again, and that put some strain on our relationship. Thankfully, we had been praying together as a couple since our engagement, so Logan made sure we were still praying together during our grief, and I know that’s what got us through that period. We also learned to be vulnerable with each other and share what we were struggling with with each other. Those first few years were hard but ultimately prepared us for trials that came later in marriage.
- If you could give one piece of advice to a newly married couple, what would it be?
.jpg?w=525)
Pray together every single day, no excuses — God will bless your efforts, no matter how small. Make sure to have fun together too. It’s possible to strive for a holy marriage while still having fun in the process!
- Last week, we discussed fasting and mortification as a way to help us become more disciplined masters of ourselves. What is one fast/ mortification either of you have done that was fruitful for you?
We don’t meat on Fridays throughout the year, which has really helped us remember each week that God gave the ultimate sacrifice for us, Himself on the cross. Doing it together holds us accountable too.
Thanks so much for sharing, Jen and Logan! I love that you strive to have a marriage that is both fun and holy at the same time. And your ministry at Surprised by Marriage is helping so many couples, too- I know it has encouraged and inspired Chris and me.
Readers, remember to check out Jen and Logan’s page at https://surprisedbymarriage.com/ for marriage challenges, blog posts (including this guest post by me a few weeks ago!), and much more. If YOU would like to be featured here on my blog as a future spotlight couple, drop a comment below!
PS If you want to end on her feast day, remember to start the St. Gianna Molla novena tomorrow!
