Hi, readers!  August has five Sundays, so I have another Bonus Week on my hands.  I will share a bit of an update about my book/ blog project, too, but I mostly want to share something else I have been doing lately.  I call it Feminine Friday.

Book Project Update

Throughout the past few months, I have continued to send my book manuscript to publishers and make connections in that realm.  In late July, I attended (virtually) a conference for the Catholic Writers’ Guild, an organization that has been so helpful to me this past year.  I came away with renewed zeal for publishing my book, and some resources for marketing and self-publishing, if I decide to go that route eventually.  Also in July, Chris and I prayed the novena to St. Anne with my book’s publication as our prayer intention, and that brought me a great deal of peace (though no contract! Ha!).

Elsewhere on the interwebs, I finally feel like I have gotten the hang of Instagram (the regular feed anyway- let’s not talk about reels!).  I even did a giveaway in conjunction with a Catholic artist a few weeks ago.  My friend and Catholic podcaster, Stephanie Mora, interviewed me for her NFP podcast, Natural Misconceptions (listen to my episode HERE, and check out everything else she has to offer!).  Sometimes it feels slow, but I am extending my reach, learning more about married saints and Catholic marriage, and moving along the (winding!) path God has for my book each day.

Feminine Fridays

As is hopefully obvious by now, I am pretty passionate about helping people create strong, sacramental, Christ-centered marriages.  This is why I researched married saints, read all the papal documents on marriage, wrote a book, started a blog and social media…  All of it!  But I wanted to find some other ways to influence our culture in this positive direction, too.

Looking around at modern society, I see rampant divorce, adultery, cohabitation before marriage, cohabitation instead of marriage, fatherlessness, etc. etc. etc.  These are largely symptoms of society lacking the strong, beautiful marriages I feel passionate about.  But the question is… Why don’t we have marriages like that? 

In my opinion, it is because most people don’t really know what marriage is meant to be.  Part of that is a lack of understanding of the balance between true masculinity and true femininity- a balance that God intended for marriage from the beginning.

So, I got to thinking.  How can I help inspire our society to appreciate the balance of true masculinity and true femininity?  Besides writing- just by my own, simple life. I decided that I could embrace the gift of femininity that God gave me, and Feminine Friday was born.  

As a busy mama to three young children, you can often find me in athleisure attire (emphasis on the leisure… there is not a whole lot of athletics going on over here).  But each Friday for the past few months, I have been wearing either a skirt or a dress.  My four year old daughter, my mom, my aunt, and several friends participate now, too!  

Why wear more dresses and skirts?

When I am in a dress or a skirt, I do feel more beautiful and feminine.  I notice that my behavior can be affected, too- I act more lady-like because I am dressed more like a lady.  I remember more frequently to thank God for the gift of my femininity, and ask Him to help me use that gift to glorify Him.  My husband feels encouraged, in turn, to be more of a truly masculine man of God, and I hope other men are, too.  Beauty, gentleness and femininity inspire chivalry, courageousness, and non-toxic masculinity.  Like I said… God Himself designed it that way!

Some disclaimers…  I am absolutely not saying you have to be a girly-girl to be truly feminine.  I am not saying shorts or pants are immoral (I still wear them most days myself).  I am simply sharing my reasoning behind wearing more dresses and skirts and my experiences since I began this experiment.  Try it out and see how it goes for you!

I have actually started to enjoy how I feel in a skirt or dress so much that now I wear them periodically on other days besides Fridays and Sunday mornings for Mass.  I’ve gotten some really fun skirts and dresses that are practical even at play dates with my three littles, but still beautiful and feminine.  Join me for Feminine Friday and use the hashtags #femininefriday and #femininegeniusfriday (this is a reference to a JPII quote about the “feminine genius” we women are given by God) when you share your outfit of the day on Instagram!  Right after you follow @holiermatrimony, that is! 🙂