Welcome to Episode 132 of the Being Human Podcast:  We Didn’t Plan to Have Seven Kids: Accommodating Life w/ Barbra Bottaro This week, Dr. Greg welcomes his wife Barbra (and their baby, David) to the show for a fun episode about the joys and challenges of the vocation to marriage and the call to be generous in love!    Discussed in this episode:  Learning how to parent as a process of trial and error, learning from mistakes, and adapting;  Relying on God's grace and others in one’s community as necessary when  navigating the challenges of family life;  How the spirit of generosity in love that Christians are called to is being eroded by the contraceptive mentality prevalent in our culture; Accommodating life rather than having life accommodate to one’s desires and needs; The family as a community and school of love and the natural progression of having children;  The importance of trusting God to provide for what is needed for the lives He entrusts to one’s care;  Love as a duty, responsibility, and challenge rather than just a good feeling; Striving to give 100% to one’s spouse in marriage rather than relying on a 50/50 split of responsibilities;  The importance of being intentional in noticing and caring for each child's needs as a way to teach them self-worth; The necessity of working through wounds from one’s family-of-origin in order not to pass them along to one’s children;  The great need for parental love in our culture and ways that couples can love others without being a biological parent;  Complementarity between the married and consecrated vocations and how each vocation can benefit the other.    Resources mentioned or relevant: Letter to Families from Pope John Paul II;  A Marriage Built to Last - Dr. Greg’s 8-part relationships course;  Need help? Schedule a free consultation call with someone on our team to discuss how we can support you; Learn about IDDM (Mentorship), our new model of accompaniment; Sign up for Being Human, our weekly newsletter, to stay up to date on the exciting developments at CatholicPsych; Visit our website to read the CatholicPsych blog, shop in the CatholicPsych bookshop, or discover other resources we have available;  Download The Integrated App for access to free audio exercises, the Catholic Mindfulness Virtual Retreat, courses, prayer resources, and more;  Become a member of the Integrated Life Community to get access to every course Dr. Greg has created, plus the opportunity to participate in Integrated LIVE’s - weekly, Mentor hosted Q&As covering topics like boundaries, communication, trauma, forgiveness, and more! Join the waitlist to be notified about our next Open House to learn more about the new CPMAP certification!   Contact us! Have a topic or a question you would like Dr. Greg to address on the podcast? Want to give some feedback about this episode? Email us at beinghuman@catholicpsych.com - we would love to hear from you!   Rate, review, and subscribe Please help us in our mission to integrate the Faith with Psychology by hitting subscribe and also sharing this podcast with your friends. Please consider rating or leaving a review of our show. It helps us reach other Catholics just like you who want to become more integrated, whole, and happy human beings. For Apple podcasts, click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate 5 stars, and choose “write a review.” Then type your sincere thoughts about the show! If you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any episodes. Subscribe to the podcast now!