The Bernsteins

There have been so many incredible people that we have met through our time at Blessed Sacrament - hence the reason to drive the added miles to church every weekend.  One of these families are the Bernsteins.  They are a family with 2 little girls, a little boy, and another on the way.  As odd as it sounds they are partially to thank for the miracle that Gabriella is in our lives.  Michael and Monica teach the NFP class and Blessed Sacrament and it was through that course that my eyes and heart were completely opened to NFP.  Sarah planted the idea in my head which I had never thought of as a "normal opportunity" in the past and it has been one of the best realities in our life.  So without going into all of the detail (this is a cycling blog and all) the understanding of Natural Family Planning is to understand your body and get to know it in terms of when you are fertile and when you are not.  This knowledge helps you to achieve pregnancy or avoid depending on what God is calling you to do.  Men... well we are always fertile, but it is very interesting to get to know your wife on a very different intimate level.  Well, because of those courses and their shared knowledge, when we were diagnosed we had a much greater likelihood of conceiving a child because of NFP.  For this and many other reasons, the Bernsteins have a special place in our hearts.

One weekend after mass Michael shared with us 2 very contrasting things.  They were pregnant and could use our prayers during the earlier times, and also that Michael's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer.  They were blessed to find out that the cancer was at stage 0 but still, surgery was recommended.  Last we heard, Mrs. Bernstein was doing well, but still never a thing someone wants to go through.

The family also made a very generous donation to our fundraising efforts and so this last weekend when we were out for our ride, I wanted to ride for their family.  We did a ride over the north end of Lake Washington, up Juanita hill, through Kirkland and Bellevue and over the windy I-90 bridge before re-entering hilly Seattle.  It was a victorious 45 miles and I was very happy with the added energy I had after pounding through those hills.  Great to be improving as a climber!

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