I have been so bad at blogging lately . . . please forgive me!!! I have been meaning to give an update on Grandma . . . she was in the hospital for about 10 days and finally went home last Friday!!! Yeah!!! She is now at Auntie Pat's house. She has a full-time nurse with her which certainly puts all of our minds at ease - knowing that there is a medical professional with her. I am not certain how long she will have the nurses . . . I think it is just until she gets over this infection. Please continue to pray for her. She is a strong woman, but she isn't used to relying upon so many medications and doctors and such.
We are so blessed to have her in our lives and treasure her greatly!!
Hi there!
If you would take a minute and pray for my sweet grandma - she ended up in the hospital early Wednesday morning. She was having a very difficult time breathing and my parents ended up calling 911 and having her transported to Henry Mayo. They were hoping to have her transported down to Encino-Tarzana near her doctors, but there wasn't any room and grandma seems to be happy where she is. My aunt drove down on Thursday to help with watching grandma. We are so blessed to have such a terrific family and so many who are willing to drop everything and run. Please pray for grandma - she seems to be getting better - as long as she doesn't do anything she is fine (and by "anything" - I mean brush her teeth). Please pray that she gets her strength back and can return home as quickly as possible.
It was so cute - my mom called me Wednesday morning to tell what had happened whilst we slept - I got off the phone and told the girls, then called Flav to let him know. As I was talking to him I looked over and saw the girls sitting at the table praying for their "bammy bape" (grammy great).
I will keep you posted. Thank you for your prayers!
Yesterday the girls and I headed down to Palm Desert - Flavio is working down here all week, so we thought we'd skip a few days of school and enjoy the desert. We went to dinner and returned to our friend's house - Steve, the friend, suggested that I park my car in their driveway and that Flavio park his car (actually his parents' car) on the street in front of their house. No problem. Did that. Flav and the girls went to bed around 8:45 and at about 9:15 Steve and I heard this loud sound - kinda like a trash truck going down the street. We went outside to see what happened . . . and well . . . the car that was parked in front of the house was now in the neighbors driveway!!!!!!! In the middle of the street was a man, obviously intoxicated, holding his chest. His $70k F-150 was next to my in-laws Tahoe. According to this gentleman - "the car just jumped out in front of him!" and he told the police officer that he was only going 15mph! That's funny!!! Not only did he propel the Tahoe at least a car length and a half, but he knocked over our friends very substantial mailbox - we are talking all concrete!!! Solid and HUGE!!!! Praise the Lord we hadn't gotten home any later - and weren't getting the girls out of the car. The PGA West patrol came by along with the Sheriff who cuffed the guy and took him off to jail - I've never seen someone handcuffed before.
Well, that was our fun night - hopefully the rest of the week will be uneventful!!!
Well, true to form I am a day late and a dollar short! Yesterday was my niece's sixth birthday!!!! Where does the time go??? Although she is only 16 weeks older than my dear Ellie - there are times when I am fairly sure she is much older - she is so sweet and loving and the most mature little thing I have ever met and I mean that in a good way! She cracks us up with her matter-of-fact way of getting things done and her maturity and understanding of the things around her!
We love this little girl to death and have so enjoyed watching her grow and grow! My girls look forward to any opportunity to play with their sweet cousin Alyssa!!! Lily is counting down the days until the Birthday Party - every day I am asked, several times mind you, if today is "lyssa's birt'day paaty?"
We hope you had a fantastic birthday and look forward to celebrating with you on Saturday!!!!
Love you sweet girl!
After Lily and I dropped Ellie off at school this morning we were out running a few errands and we had this little conversation:
Me: "Lily, did you have sweet dreams last night?"
Lily: "yes"
Me: "What did you dream about?"
Lily: couldn't understand
Me: "What did you dream about?
Lily: "'bout God."
Me: "Really! What did you dream about God?"
Lily: "Dat he waz playin' wif Jackson."
Ahhh! Made me cry!
I love that little girl - and how right she is!!!
Four weeks ago today we met our son, Jackson Christopher - it is crazy - I'm looking at the clock right now and realizing that exactly four weeks ago I laid eyes on my son! In some ways it seems like the time has gone by rapidly and in other ways it seems as though time stopped on October 10th!!! I was thinking last night how everyone looks forward to Fridays - they have taken on a whole new meaning for me . . . a day which is a reminder of my son - not that every other day isn't a reminder, but for the past four weeks, without fail my eyes have gone to the clock right around this time - I don't know why, but they have! I go back to that room in the hospital, I see my baby boy lying in the bassinet where my two daughters once laid kicking and flailing around - he was still, he was perfect, but he was still.
This week has been more difficult than others, I don't know exactly why, but it has. I've found myself weeping and can't exactly put my finger on the reason, I just know that my heart aches for my little boy! And just the time I start to get sad my sweet girls do something so silly and funny that my tears of sadness turn to tears of joy! Over and over I praise God that He gave me two beautifully healthy girls to ease my heart just a bit, to make me laugh, to hug and kiss! They are truly a blessing beyond words!!!
I know my heart aches and yet, I can't begin to imagine what our friends The Kostjuks are going through right now - tomorrow will be a celebration of their sweet Reese's life - last week she went home to be with Jesus! She got the best birthday present ever - to be in the arms of God!!! Please pray for them and their families as the service is tomorrow morning. We rejoice with them that Reese is looking upon the face of God and that she is perfect and healthy, but we hurt with them as no parent ever wants to say goodbye to their baby!!!
Yesterday the girls and I, along with Tilly, headed down the The Happiest Place on Earth!!! We hadn't been since our passes ran out in the spring. I picked Ellie up a little bit early from school and told her that we were going on an adventure - they tried to figure out where we were going the entire time - it was so cute! I love surprising them. Although, Lily was pretty sure that we were going to either Chuck E. Cheese, McDonald's, or Disneyland. They got so excited when we pulled into the parking structure.
We had a great day - there were almost no lines and we were able to go on several rides. The highlight for me was taking Ellie and Lily on Matterhorn! They loved it!!!! Many more Disneyland adventures to come!!! Can't wait!
BTW, the pics are in reverse order, but I'm too tired to change them right now! enjoy!
Is anyone else having trouble uploading pics to blogspot??? I've been trying and keep getting an error code!!!
If you have any tips leave me a comment.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials
Tom was saying that Christians can greatly rejoice because of three things found in this text:
1) God grants us joy
2) God guarantees joy
3) God guards joy
We have seen, first hand, God showing His mercy to us and we have been able to experience true, lasting joy.
I've been thinking much about trials and what God gives to us and was thinking about Job - a precious man from the Bible - he was a wealthy man, he had a wonderful family, had many animals - by the world's standard he "had it all" - in a moment it was all taken from him!! Job 1:20-22 (after finding out all that he had was gone) "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." At the end of chapter 2 (verses 9&10) he says this: "Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.' But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips."
The example of Job has been an amazing one! He is right - why should we only expect good from God? God is good, but without trials we wouldn't know what we really believed! We can say that we love God and believe that there is a God, but when you walk through fire that is when you have to "put your money where your mouth is" so to speak!
Do you know what you believe? Why do you believe it? Many people believe in God - do you know that James 2:19 says You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder.
If I have learned anything from the life and death of our son, it is that there is no time like the present to make yourselves right before God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour!
Jude 24-25
Now to him sho is able to keep you from stunbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
When I started my blog last year I decided to name it after my girls . . . little did we know that their middle names would be so meaningful!! God was gracious to give them to us and they have provided immense joy . . . but today, those names have so much meaning - more than I could have ever imagined. According to dictionary.com grace means "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God" and joy means "the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation". It is because of the grace that God has bestowed upon us that we are able to express true joy through the loss of our son, Jackson.
In the past two weeks, actually since we found out about Jackson's initial heart condition, we have been asked how we are doing - our answer has varied slightly - today we have moments that are harder than others and moments that are really good, moments of joy and moments of tears, but all in all we are doing good! I was talking to a friend today and she was asking how we were doing and before I could fully answer she said probably as good as can be expected and I thought for a second and said no, I think we are doing better than that - only because we have hope in God. Our Jackson is not here, but he is perfect with Our Lord, the Creator of all things - the Creator of sweet Jackson!!!
I got a call yesterday morning from my doctor, Dr. Frields. It was two weeks from meeting our son. He called to tell us that he had just received the preliminary report from the autopsy. He is still waiting for results from the heart and kidney, but what we did find out is that Jackson suffered from triplody - a condition where he had an additional set of chromosomes. If you think back to high school biology you will remember that we each have 46 chromosomes - if there is any variation in that there are liable to be some problems - well Jackson had 69 chromosomes!!! My doctor said that babies with triplody don't usually make it past the first trimester and rarely survive outside of the womb for very long. I am grateful that our son survived as long as he did and that we were able to meet him - it was not how I had wanted to meet him, but there is something very comforting to this mama to have a face and a name attached to this precious baby in heaven!
You can ask us how we are doing - you may get tears, but that's ok with me! I love to talk about my sweet little boy and would love to share his footprints with you. Thank you for praying for us - we are completely overwhelmed at God's goodness. Jeremiah 29:11 says, 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. God's Word is true - I can tell you first hand that when He promises to never give His children more than they can handle - He means it - so, I know that His plan is to give me a future and a hope! That is AWESOME!! Unlike me, what God says He WILL do - I may flake on you, I may forget, I will disappoint you, but GOD NEVER WILL!!
All that to say, it is because of God's grace that we have joy - true joy!!!
Yesterday, it was a week - a week from meeting our first son and saying goodbye to him. It was quite a day, October 10th, 2008 - and one week later we are still being carried by Our Precious Lord and Savior! I know, without a doubt, that there is NO WAY on earth we could have gone through the past week without God sustaining us, without your prayers! God is good! I cannot say it enough and yet I don't want it to become trite, but HE IS GOOD to His children!!!
We have been blessed beyond measure - we have two beautiful little girls, I have a wonderful husband who is so caring and loving, we have family who has surrounded us, and we have tremendous friends. Over the last week we have received meals, flowers, cards, phone calls, emails, and hugs - thank you seems so insufficient for the immense gratitude we have for all of your thoughtfulness. Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving us and our family so much - we are blessed and tremendously grateful! We pray that God will bless you richly for being so compassionate towards us! I honestly wish that we weren't the recipients of such kindness right now - that would mean that we were still awaiting the birth of our precious son, but we know that God had other plans for Jackson - we know that with our heads, but our hearts still ache for him. My arms ache to hold a little boy - I will have to wait to get to heaven to see my precious son - I know he is with Our Lord God Creator, but I selfishly want him here!
I don't want to forget a single thing from the last few days and at the same time I wish they had never occurred - Flavio told my mom Friday evening, "this was one of the most difficult days of my life....but I wouldn't trade this one for anything."
I don't journal, but I do blog, so this is probably more for me than anyone else . . . so please bear with me as a mother shares the birth of her precious son, perfect, complete, lacking in nothing!
Thurday, October 9th was our follow-up appointment for the perinatologist, we were, naturally, running late :o). It was Flavio, Lily and I, my mom had taken Ellie to school and was going to work in her classroom for me since we had this appointment. God had been preparing my heart in some way - I knew that there was something wrong. I had even toldFlavio the night before that I just felt like something wasn't right - I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something amiss. . . little did we know. We were ushered in to the doctor's office and sat on the table to prepare for the ultrasound. As soon as he started I KNEW something was wrong - if you have ever seen an ultrasound picture - there is movement - we saw none, but he didn't say anything - he went about taking a few measurements - I couldn't really see the numbers, but I could tell that they seemed to be off from how far along I was. Then he measured the femur - it was measuring about 19 weeks . . . I knew that wasn't right - I even asked Dr. Mullins, "did that say 19 weeks?". At that point he asked if he could speak to me alone, since we had Lily, again I KNEW something was really wrong. I can't remember if he said it first or if I did, but it was apparent that there wasn't a heartbeat! I was completely at a loss for words. It is one thing to "think something is wrong" and a complete other to KNOW something is wrong!!! We knew that this was a possibility, but again, not the same when it actually happens! It was a feeling I pray I will never have to know again!!! The doctor eventually asked if it wasok to bring my husband and baby back in - he was very sensitive to the fact that Lily was with us - I thought that was very thoughtful! I toldFlavio - we cried!! Up to this point we didn't know the sex of our sweet baby, I wanted to know, NOW! Dr. Mullins told us what I had expected, it was a little boy! That was hard!!! I love my girls to no end, but the thought of a son was just . . . heartbreaking!!!! I desired a sweet little boy, but know that God needed our precious Jackson more than we did is of immense comfort! The doctor asked what we wanted to do - we said that we wanted to see Dr.Frields (my OB) as soon as possible - he wouldn't let us leave his office until he had spoken with Dr. Frields - he just wanted to make sure that Dr. Frields and his office were aware of what was going on and would usher us immediately in.
We left in a haze! And yet, there was always the grace of God around us - I can't tell you when or how, but we knew that God was supporting us through this! I was immediately thankful that God had, in some small way, prepared me. He is so gracious!!
Dr. Mullins' office is at St. Joseph's in Burbank so we got in our cars (Flavio was going to go straight to work after the appt.) and Flav headed down Alameda - I wasn't so sure what he was doing - he found a shopping center, left his car there so he could be with me and Lily! I was so thankful for that! I didn't want to drive to Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC) by myself and I suppose he didn't either! We had talked before about what to name our baby and once we found out that he had a heart condition and may be in need of some help I had toldFlav that it was really important to me that our baby's name meant something - so on the way to
GAMC I told Flav that I wanted to find out what name meant something along the lines of a gift from God.
We arrived at Dr. Frields' office - if you know anything about him he is an excellent doctor and therefore he is BUSY (understatement of the century) - they were so kind and rushed us right in so we didn't have to wait with everyone else. Our doctor came in - we talked - He is one of the many gifts that God granted us! What a blessing to have a doctor who fears God! He told us to go over the Labor and Delivery where we would get started on all the things that were to take place.
God took care of EVERY detail - things that we would have never thought of - one was in the form of Flavio's best friend Jon. Jon and his family moved to Chicago a few years back - he was here for two days on business, Wednesday and Thursday!!! That was not a coincidence!!! God planned that - my husband needed his dear friend! Along with Jon, Heath came by - what a blessing to have these dear friends by our side at this time - we did our fair share of laughing and crying together! We love them so dearly!
Another precious gift was our nurse on Thursday - Bethany! She had been one of my nurses with Lily - her husband is studying to be a pastor and attends The Master's Seminary! Again, not coincidental that she had had to call in sick on both of her regular days because her little girl wasn't feeling well and when they asked her to come in on Thursday she was available! She was awesome!!
Because I had delivered Ellie Grace via c-section and Lily was a vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean) we had a choice to make - how was I going to deliver? (Side note - in the state of California if you deliver after 20 weeks it is considered a stillborn - we had a lot to learn.) This was a rather difficult decision to make - do we take the one that would result in a quick birth and yet have a long recovery or do we take the potentially longer approach of inducing labor (this could take anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days!) with the shorter recovery. Flavio was up for the c-section he didn't want to see me in any pain and wanted to "be done" and move on to the next step - I was torn! I could see his side, but I didn't really want to have to endure the after effects of major surgery. My dad had the idea that we should start with the induction and see what happened - my doctor had said we could change our minds at any time if we wanted - so that seemed to be the way to go. After about an hour or so of deliberating we asked our sweet nurse, Bethany, to order up the medication and get the anesthesiologist here ASAP! Under the circumstances I wanted to feel NO pain!!!
Again, we could see God's grace abounding! My cousin, Susan, who is really more like my sister and best friend, was able to be there the entire time - she and her husband have five children - her parents and brother and sister-in-law and nephews were in Europe leaving her with no babysitter - until she called her husband and found out that he was on his way home for the day and going to be home on Friday as well!!! Is God awesome or what?!?!?! She was with us the entire time!
One of the most precious moments during this entire time was right before our baby was born - Dr. Frields had said it would be about 30 minutes longer - my parents, Susan, and Flavio gathered around me and my dad prayed - a precious prayer from a father watching his daughter and son-in-law go through something so excruciating and the prayer of a sweet grandfather waiting to meet his grandson - that was a special time! Susan began singing "How Great Thou Art" - a time that I will treasure in my heart forever!
On Friday, October 10th at about 2:15pm we welcomed our first son Jackson Christopher Castro! He was, in our eyes, PERFECT! He had ten fingers and ten perfect tiny toes! He was PERFECT! He was 9 1/2 inches long and weighed 10 ounces. He was a tiny, perfectly put together little boy!
We are grateful to Our God and Father for giving us 5 1/2 months with our Little Jackson and praise Him that he is running on streets of gold rather than suffering here on earth!
This was awesome . . . Flavio had liked the name Jackson - I had constantly said it was too popular! I knew that the name "jackson" meant "son of Jack", but get this - Jack is derived from John and guess what John means??? Given by God! So amazing! See, God took care of EVERY detail! And Christopher means Christ Bearer! His name seemed so perfect! God planned this pregnancy and not us! We weren't planning to get pregnant at that time, but God's ways are higher than ours - His plan is perfect!!
I am sure that I have forgotten some things - maybe another blessing from the Lord!
Psalm 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.
Romans 11:33-36Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscurtable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"
"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN.
Romans 8:28Thank you for praying for our family!
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Hello, this is Lynn Leonard with an update on my precious friends, the Castro family. Yesterday Flavio, Michelle, and Lily went to the perinatologist for their next scheduled visit. During this visit, the doctor told them that the baby no longer had a heartbeat. After hearing this sad news, they waited to meet with Dr. Frields. Since Michelle is 5 1/2 months pregnant, she will have to deliver the baby. She was induced last night at Glendale Adventist at around 9:00 pm. As of right now (Friday afternoon), she has not yet delivered, and is progressing slowly but surely.
Even though they are obviously grieving, it was absolutely amazing to hear them talk yesterday. Michelle spoke a lot about the peace she had from the Lord and just the assurance that God is in control, even in this. She was rejoicing in the fact that their little baby boy is already in Heaven with Jesus, and "the streets in Heaven are so much more wonderful than the streets down here!" (her words!) It is evident that they want to use this sad and unexpected situation to bring glory to God by recognizing that their comfort and strength is through Him alone. It was such a testimony and an example to me and I know it will be to many others too.
Please pray that Michelle's delivery will go quickly and as pain-free as possible. The doctor was supposed to be giving her another dose of the inducing medication this afternoon to help speed up the process. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through the next few days. Also please pray for their little girls, Ellie and Lily, as it will probably be difficult for them to understand, but again, Flavio and Michelle are such an example of God's grace and strength to them too.
Psalm 62:1-2 "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken."
Today is my parents' 39th Wedding Anniversary! They have been a tremendous example to us of Godliness, faithfulness, devotion, love, and so much more! We are so blessed to have wonderful role models!
We love you mom and dad! Thanks for letting us help you celebrate your anniversary in Lone Pine - nothing but the best for you guys!!!!
I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but time has gotten away from me . . . oh that dreaded time!
Anyways, we get asked this question a lot and don't mind getting it one bit, but I thought I'd answer it here. It is a very obvious question and one that I have asked others or thought to ask others going through "various trials" - How are they doing??? How are they getting through the day - my mind wanders to our dear friends the Kostjuks - and I think I have a small understanding of how they are doing what they are doing and how they are going through their days - they are carried by the grace of God!
We are doing good! We don't feel like we are surviving or just getting by, but honestly we are doing good! The fact that our baby appears to have a significant heart defect isn't controlling our days and we would say that it is by the Grace of God!!! It is because of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ who are faithfully upholding us in prayer - God is answering those prayers - we have a peace about all that is going on! That is not to say that God is going to heal our baby, He may well do that and that would be to His Glory, but we know that God is in control and we are wide-eyed aware of all that has been shared with us by our doctors, but are choosing to trust wholly in Our Lord for His outcome.
We cannot thank you enough for praying for us, our baby, and our precious girls! We are tremendously grateful! Our prayer has been and still is that God would be glorified in all that is done here!
What is next for us?
We are actually heading out of town tomorrow - for a week!!! Yeah!!! Can't wait!
We will meet with the Perinatologist on October 9th for a follow-up visit.
We meet with my OB on October 15th for my monthly visit and to get his take on what was said and done the week before.
We are so blessed to be loved by so many!
This week I got to take pictures of The Swihart Family - they are expecting their third baby and first boy! We had a great time . . . here's a teaser - check out the rest of my personal faves at www.graceandjoyphotoblog.blogspot.com 
You'd think I had a more recent picture - I'm sure I do, I just don't have the time to weed through my thousands of pictures . . . he still looks the same - Ellie has changed just a bit!
Ok, I am a terrible sister!!! Yesterday was Danny's birthday - I won't mention how old he is in an effort to protect myself! :o) Anyways, the day got away from me and here I am at 7 o'clock in the evening on the day AFTER his birthday.
If you know Danny you know what a special individual he is - I mean that seriously and not in the "special needs" way it seems to have come out! Shall I try to dig my foot out even more? Ok, I'll just go on . . . to be honest I didn't always get along with Danny while we were growing up . . . apparently (according to him) I liked to "mother him" - I have absolutely NO recollection of said events, but be that as it may - we had our ups and downs. Fast forward a few decades and add some maturity (on both ends) and Danny is a man I feel honored to call my brother and friend! He is a godly man, husband, and father - it is a true joy to watch him with not just his own children, but with mine - he is so sweet and tender and caring and TOTALLY CRAZY!!! Let's just say he freaked me out a bit this summer as he was hurling my precious Ellie Girl into the swimming pool - she survived . . . BARELY! :o)
At the risk of being entirely too sappy . . . I love you Danny and, although I tried desperately over the years to pawn you off on any unsuspecting stranger, I am so happy that you are my brother!!! I hope that your birthday was as "Special" as you are!! (take that however you want!!!)
ps - did you notice . .. I didn't elaborate on how much I love Peter for his birthday - he just got a picture - so you must be my favorite! :o)
Friday was Dynamic Dad's Day at school! Ellie was so excited to have her daddy come and play games. I offered to volunteer so that I could also be there to snap a few pictures!
Hey there faithful family and friends! Thank you for your prayers and keep 'em comin!
We went to my doctor today - Dr. Frields - and, yet again, the baby was not cooperating and didn't really allow us to get any good pictures. He mentioned that around 22 weeks is really a good time to start getting more accurate pictures of the baby's heart - I am 20 1/2 weeks. He was encouraging - he let us know that this type of heart defect is quite common and easily fixed! Praise the Lord for that! I contend, if surgery of some sort is what needs to take place after our baby is born it will be far harder on us than it will ever be on our son or daughter!
As of now our hospital, Glendale Adventist, is equipped to deliver our baby! Yeah! Generally what happens, according to Dr. Frields, is that once the baby is born he/she will be assessed and sent home with us. We would then bring our little one back for follow-ups until the time they have determined for a surgery.
Dr. Frields was so good to remind us that it is God who is in charge and it is He who has created this little one! We feel so blessed to have a godly and skilled doctor on our side - in addition to God Almighty!!!
I can't rave enough about my doctor - he was so sweet and told us that we could come in as often as we wanted for ultrasounds to see the baby and how he/she is doing! We thought that was really kind and awesome!
So what happens next?
Words cannot begin to describe how completely overwhelmed I am by the outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received since first letting everyone know about our precious little baby! There has not been a day that's gone by without several emails, messages on my phone, posts on my facebook wall, or comments left on my blog!!! I read someone's blog the other day where they talked about five things they were thankful for . . . with each passing day I find myself overwhelmed with thankfulness. This is what I'm thankful for, in no particular order:
It is so amazing to see how God works . . . at Bible Study on Friday night Rick Holland, the college pastor from our church, came to speak. He taught on Sorrows, Sufferings, and Sovereignty! Wow!!! So, right where I am and exactly what I needed to hear. And then this morning our dear Pastor/Teacher, John MacArthur, was sick, an incredibly abnormal occurance, but Rick spoke on James 1:2-12
2Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
7For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;
10and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.
11For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
12Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
I don't quite understand, but there is a sense of comfort here - know that, Yes, without a doubt, we will encounter trials of all types - big, small, and everything in between, BUT, as a Christian, I know that God is in control and He has a purpose behind it! His purpose is that Flavio and I, through this trial of our baby, will be drawn closer to Him and that we will be refined! That our relationship with Our God would be more personal! He will provide EVERYTHING that we need to get through this current trial! What a blessing and encouragement that is to me!!!!
I am grateful for an Awesome God who is in control of ALL things! I am also so grateful for the family and friends who are praying and who have either left a sweet message on my phone or emailed or hugged us at church or just been there! Thank you! We love you all more than you know! Thank you for loving us and our unborn baby enough to pray for us!
I wanted to let you know what is happening with our little baby #3. I am nearly 20 weeks pregnant (tomorrow) and would like to share with you an email that I sent out to our family and friends - if you didn't get it, I apologize, I didn't mean it personally just must not have your email address.
I'm sure I have a more recent and better picture of my little brother, but I can't really locate one at the moment - here he is, with his wonderful wife (girlfriend at the time) holding my sweet Ellie Grace!
I love you Pete! I hope you know how much I love you and what a great man I think you have become! I am so proud of you!
Love, me
Please pray for our friends the Kostjuks - there sweet daughter has been in the hospital since birth - apparently they got a call from the hospital last night and things weren't good - you can go to their blog here to read the whole story.
Please pray for God's will in this situation!
Today is Flavio's birthday and he got to go in to Ellie's class and read a story. She was so excited about it.
We love you Flav!!!
I have been blessed with some wonderful friends and yesterday (while Flav was working) we spent the day with two such friends and their kids. I love getting together with Abby and Lynn - they are so much fun and our kids play so nicely together! We went swimming and came back to this amazing lunch that Lynn's mom just "threw together!!!" Now that school has started we have to grab any and all opportunities to get together - this was a perfect one! Can't wait for the next holiday!!!
I know that these friends will be around for a long time and I look forward to all of the fun, crazy, silly memories that are yet to be made!!!
