how are we doing?

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!

maternity shoot

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

Happy Birthday Danny!

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)

Dad's Day at Ellie's School

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!

update

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?

• We will see the perinatologist in 3 weeks and from there will, most likely, be referred to a fetal cardiologist for a fetal EKG.
• We see Dr. Frields again in 4 weeks - we opted to wait.

My brother asked a good question - he wanted to know what we were telling our girls - tonight we talked to Ellie and Lily (although I'm pretty sure Lily doesn't have any idea what is going on) and told them that the baby seems to be a little sick. We told them that we were trusting God and the doctors to see what we will need to do. Our prayer is that they see God work in a mighty way - that they see that He IS a God who answers prayers and that is concerned about all things!

Thank you again for your continued prayerful support! We certainly feel God working in our lives and know that our peace is ONLY from Our God Almighty!

overwhelmed, humbled, blessed, thankful, and so much more. . .

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:

1. The Body of Christ - how does one go through a trial, large or small, without the Body of Christ holding them up in prayer???
   
   
2. My family!!!!!!!!!!!! They have been just as awesome as I thought they would be! Thank you for helping us carry this burden to the Lord in prayer!
   
   
3. My dear, sweet friends, who don't have to be here for us, but choose to! Thank you!!!!
   
   
4. The Word of God!!!! What a source of encouragement it is to hear the Scriptures! Here are a few of the verses that have touched me . . .
   
   1Peter 5:6-11. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
   
   Philippians 4:6-9 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you."
   
   "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Pet 1:6-7)
   
   Romans 8:18
   "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
   
   
   Romans 8:26
   "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
   Romans 8:37-39
   "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death not life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God who is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
   
   
5. I am truly thankful that there is nothing that I can do right now - that God has made it abundantly clear that this is HIS and NOT mine at all!!! He has given us this baby for a reason unknown to us, but I can truly say, today, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow and watch my Creator at work! The peace that passes all understanding is truly at work here!
   
   
6. I am thankful that Ellie is in school and that our days are slightly busier than they have been in the past allowing less time for me to be at home wondering WHAT IS GOING ON????

I am sure that there is far more that I am thankful for, but for know that is all my little (cold-filled) head can produce!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for loving us enough to pray for us!

Trials

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!

Baby #3

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.

Dear sweet family and friends,
Where to begin?

Ephesians 3:17b-21
". . .that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 4:4-7
"There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift."

Yesterday, Flavio and I had an appointment with a specialist - a perinatologist, two weeks ago I had awakened in the middle of the night to some extreme bleeding - we called the doctor, he told us to come in asap! We did, the ER ran tests, he did an ultrasound and just wasn't satisfied with what we were finding - which was NOTHING! I am so thankful for a very wise and godly doctor - he referred me to a perinatologist (just a doctor who specializes in babies around the time of birth) just to "make sure that we weren't missing anything." First we had to meet with a genetic counselor - it is her job to tells us all of our options with regards to tests one of which being the amniocentesis - which we declined - knowing that God created this precious baby before the foundations of the earth there is not a single thing we are going to do with the results and there is a 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage!!! Anyways, we were then sent in to have an ultrasound with the doctor - he did a very thorough exam and his findings were this:

1) our baby has a fairly large hole in its heart - it is called a ventricular septal defect (vsd) - it is a hole in the wall that separates the right and left ventricles of the heart. If the hole were small there would be a good chance that it would heal itself prior to birth, but since this hole seems to be larger it is most likely something that would need to be taken care of after birth.

2) the right kidney does not appear to be functioning at all and has a few cysts. How the cysts have gotten there I am not sure - the good news is that the left kidney is working great! And, praise the Lord, we can function perfectly fine with one working kidney. There is plenty of amniotic fluid around the baby - another proof that the left kidney is functioning as it should!

3) due to the fact that there are two abnormalities in our baby our chances (according to the doctor) are higher for a chromosomal abnormality - meaning, giving birth to a baby with either Down's Syndrome or Trisomy 18. With Down's they generally find that the skull is thicker, however, the doctor said that the thickness of our baby's skull is right where it should be!

Having said and shared all of this, we know WITHOUT A DOUBT, that the God we serve is a mighty God! He spoke the world into existence and He can, if He so chooses, heal our baby! We also know, that He has promised to never leave us (His children) or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8)! We also know, that He brings trials into our lives for a reason - to refine us and bring us closer to Him (James 1:2-5). We also know that He will never give us more than we can handle and He will give us the grace to get through it (Ephesians 3:20-21)! God, is far more knowing than we, and He knows that this is a trial that we can handle - I am thoroughly humbled by that fact!!!!! We also know that the prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16b) and that when two or more are gathered together He is there in their midst (Matthew 18:19-20). We also know that God cares more for us and this baby than we could ever comprehend, for that we are so abundantly thankful!!!

We know all of this and yet our hearts ache for our baby - as you can imagine the past day and a half have been a whirlwind of emotions! We walked in to the doctor's office expecting a "well, all looks fine. have a great pregnancy" and came out with this! We are still processing all of this and yet, we come to Our Heavenly Father and to you, our most precious family and friends, asking that you bow before the Throne of Grace on our behalf and the behalf of our baby.

I can think of a few specific prayer requests - if God puts it on your heart, please pray for us.
1) That our baby would be healed and perfect!
2) If God, so chooses to keep our baby with a hole in its heart, that we would give us the grace and wisdom to go through this.
3) that we would lean upon the Lord - taking our strength from Him and Him alone!
4) that we would be wise in what to share with our girls
5) That God would be honored and glorified in ALL that transpires and that there might be souls that are won for Him through this! I can think of nothing greater than knowing He used us to advance His Kingdom!

TO GOD BE THE GLORY GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE!!!!!!
We love you all more than you will ever know!

Love,
Flavio and Michelle

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

--

Happy Birthday Peter!

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!

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!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLAVIO!!!!

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!!!

labor day with great friends

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!!!

first pics with new camera

my very own . . .

Yesterday, I made a big purchase! I got my very own digital slr camera!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to my sweet hubby and some wonderful family members I was able to get my camera for my birthday!!! Oh, and thanks to Costco for having an unbelievable package!!! Love Costco - they certainly help the dollar go further. I have been taking pics since I opened it up and put it together. It is AWESOME!!!!!! I couldn't be happier! I asked Ellie if she would go outside with me so I could take some pictures of her - she eagerly agreed (love the Model Phase she is currently in) - I will post some of those pics in a bit.

Look forward to more pictures . . . now that I have my own camera. But, I do have to say a hearty thanks to my very sacrificial mom - she has always been willing to let me borrow her camera. Thanks Mom!!!!!


Gotta go . . . I'm sure there is something worth taking a picture of! :o)