This week’s Girlfriends guest is Emily Deardo, author of the newly-released Living Memento Mori: My Journey Through the Stations of the Cross. Emily shares about her diagnosis with serious illness at the age of 11 and the ways in which her struggles and health challenges have shaped her faith life. Her book is an inspiring read any time, but an especially great pick for Lent this year. The Tradition of Memento Mori Watch this video from Father Mike Schmitz to learn more about the tradition of memento mori, whereby Christians would meditate on the reality of human mortality. This practice would bring much needed perspective on the relationship between the eternal and the passing things of this world. Listener Feedback This week, I also share feedback on NFP from listener Liz who writes, in part:

“I’ve only been practicing this past year so I’m by no means a pro, but we started practicing the Couple to Couple League method then we ended up learning the Marquette method as well. For the Marquette method we use a fertility monitor, specifically the Clearblue monitor that says if your estrogen and LH are “low,” “high” or at its “peak” for your cycle. For both methods I’ve used two different apps. I’ve used the “p tracker” app to track period symptoms, but it also had the ability to track temperature and mucus and cervix symptoms. When we started CCL we started using the “CycleProGo” app, which I’ve still been using after we switched to Marquette.” At the end of last week’s show, I read the first chapter of my newest book.  Giving Thanks and Letting Go: Reflections on the Gift of Motherhood is a book in which I share from my heart about the very real changes, challenges, triumphs, and joys of being a mom in an “emptying nest.” You can read that sample chapter at Ave Maria Press. More from Emily Deardo

• Emily’s website
• Emily on Instagram
• Emily on Twitter
• Emily’s Amazon page