By Elizabeth Kauffeld, RN, BSN, CMSRN, CFCE
I can remember sitting in math class as a high school freshman when my teacher asked me about the lapel pin I was wearing that had the letters “NHTLA”. I proudly told her that it stood for “New Hampshire Teenage Life Association” and explained that it was an organization that promoted the protection of human life from conception to natural death. She laughed nervously and said, “Oh. I thought teenage life was the mall and movies and boyfriends.” I like to think that it made some kind of impact on that teacher to hear a young person who was passionate about standing up for the most vulnerable amongst us.
My teenage years were filled with trips to the March for Life in Washington, DC, rallies, protests, prayer meetings, and pro-life strategy meetings where we channeled our teenage angst into fighting for the unborn. I was brought up with a deep sense of obligation to the unborn and the elderly. I am grateful to my parents for the gift of my faith and the encouragement to be passionate about the cause for life.
As a young couple preparing for marriage, my husband and I stumbled upon the Creighton Model FertilityCare System. From the very first appointment with my FertilityCare Practitioner, I was hooked. I knew about NFP. I knew the Church’s stance on contraception. Until I was exposed to the complexity and well researched nature of modern natural family planning, I didn’t know that NFP is, at its foundation, the work of valuing life. I knew right away that I wanted to help other couples along their journey of learning FertilityCare and pushing back against the culture of death.
I am so grateful for the blessing that FertilityCare has been in our own marriage, and I am so humbled that other couples invite me to walk alongside them in learning the system as well.
NFP is the work of caring for and guiding couples as they embrace the beautiful gift of fertility that God has given them. It is the work of walking with those couples when embracing the reality of NFP and an openness to life is easy and joyful and especially when it is hard.
Twenty-six years later, my husband and I are approaching our 25th wedding anniversary, and I have been teaching the FertilityCare System for 20 years. When I first started teaching, some of my “older” clients were nearly old enough to be my parents. I am now teaching a generation of couples who could be my children. I find such joy in seeing the goodness of my own fertility and walking with my clients as they learn to understand and embrace theirs. There is such beauty in seeing a couple come to realize the privilege we have all been granted. The almighty God has invited us to be co-creators with Him. How can we see that reality and not also see the value in all life from conception to natural death? NFP truly is “good for life”.
Elizabeth is a mother of 22 years and a wife of 24 years. She is also a nurse, a FertilityCare Educator, a traveler, and an adventure junkie. Elizabeth and her husband Kris have 4 children, 3 boys and a girl. She was born and reared in New England, but she has lived in several different places over her childhood and adult life. She currently calls St. Louis, MO home and works at Mercy St. Louis as a Nurse Supervisor and Education Program Director. She spends most of her spare time worrying about her children and dreaming of her next degree or travel adventure.