Another three months

I am not going to lie, it is not easy to keep up with myself. I had a great summer mostly home with my girls and now I am back to work full time. Kyle is now working in North Carolina, still only coming home on weekends. My darling husband, he is such a hard worker. God bless him for all he does. I just hope one day we can live together.

My girls are beautiful! Emma, a gorgeous and exquisitely smart toddler, and Hanna, the ever-so-sweet infant. Oh, how I treasure every moment I spend in their presence. I just wish it was more and more. I melt like chocolate in the sun when they surround me. Love has a whole new meaning when you become a parent. I would instantly die for these two if I could save them for harm at any moment.

My husband and I have a few hurdles. I pray that our weekends get smoother. I pray he will engage more with the girls. I pray that I can be better and better at being his wife. I want to obey him, not bother him. I want him to feel loved when he is at home. I hope he knows how much i love him and how proud I am to be his wife. I need to do a better job showing him that.

I have not written.

However, I did give birth to another amazing little baby girl on mother's day this year! So this is how it happened, from craving hot dogs to holding my darling Hanna. She is a true beauty and as young as she is full of personality. She is clever. I can see it in her eyes. She is a thinker. She takes in things and ponders. She is brilliant and so sweet. She is everything beautiful and simply pure. It is pleasure to hold her, love her and be her mother. Here she is!

Children continue dying from cancer...

My heart sinks learning of little ones suffering so much. No child should endure pain. They are so innocent and pure and beautiful. Maybe that is why God is taking them back.

It's Good Friday!

I am copying a segment from Pastor Asher's blog that I found very powerful:

As I read today’s Gospel (John 18:1-19:42), I was trying to imagine myself in the story and to figure out who am I relating to the most this time around. Last year I found myself relating to the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear. Strangely enough, this year it was Pontius Pilate who captured my imagination. Pilate did not harbor malice, anger, hatred, or any other ill feelings towards Jesus. He was a Roman bureaucrat and an able administrator trying to maintain fragile peace in a peripheral province of the Roman Empire. He had the power and resources to change things. He also had a conscience that warned him from harming Jesus (not to mention a wife who told him to do the right thing). Somehow, Pilate ended up standing idly by, washing his hands of any involvement and blaming others for the injustice.

Thousands of people in the word starved today; thousands more died because of object poverty. Millions of children around the world and in our own country did not go to school because education is not available to them or because they cannot afford it; many families are worried about losing their homes, our economy is not doing too well, there are wars and armed conflicts all over the globe. None of these are my fault. I am neither advocating nor actively supporting these problems… Unfortunately, my silence and inaction are saying something… Jesus is still crucified every day …

“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40 NIV

All of us have at least some of the ability and the knowledge. Most of us lack the desire or the drive…

Thank you for the lesson, pastor! It's a good one!

Okay! We are getting there!

Had my OB appointment today and they told me I am 2cm dilated and 80% effaced. Same thing happened with Emma, and she came exactly 2 weeks after these news. So I am thinking 2 more weeks of whale-status... Of course, we never know. She could drag it out to the end easily. We are scheduled for C-section om May 10th at 10am, which is 3 weeks from now, so either way, the time is near! I get to hold, and meet Hanna-banana soon!

Graceface is adorable. She is getting a cold again, which I am not happy about. I hope we can get over it without fever, ear infection or other fine ailments that can develop. I wonder how she will be with Hanna.

I also wonder if I can make some progress with Fam-fam, our pit-bull/golden retriever. She's been quite aggressive lately, and it concerns me, since we'll be having 2 little girls running around the house. I love my pooch and would be devastated if I had to part with her, so I am determined to start some training. It's weird because she was fine all this time and I don't know why she gets so ticked off lately.

Anyways, I'll be in touch soon...hopefully with Banana pics! :)

Haven't checked in in a while...

So we are down to the final stretch before Hanna joins the family. I am well, and pretty much pain-free so far, and thankfully, the terrors of the third trimester managed to avoid me so far. Hoping for the next 3-4 weeks to go just as smooth. I am scheduled for a repeat C-section on May 10th, but in my heart I am sort of expecting Hanna to arrive on the 4th-ish. We'll see.

In the meantime my BIG girl turned 2 years old! She is just adorable, and had a wonderful birthday! I am the luckiest mommy to have my Emma. I hope Hanna will be a great baby too.

Healthy and happy and loved and blessed with a long fruitful life.
Healthy and happy and loved and blessed with a long fruitful life.
Healthy and happy and loved and blessed with a long fruitful life.

That is all I want for my girls. I love them so much! It is unbelievable how much a parent can love their child. There are no words to describe it. I feel pretty prepared for welcoming Hanna. Her room is done. Her car seat is installed. She has more clothes than a celebrity. The only thing I have no clue how I will do is juggle all my tasks with a newborn and a toddler. I pray that it will be a breeze.

I also pray that I can be a good, responsible mother. I want to teach them love and truth. Amen

It is finished

I finished listening to the entire Bible today! What a journey it has been! I started listening in June, I believe. And here is another gem I found. A reference to Christ's coming from the book of Zechariah:

Zechariah 12

Mourning for the One They Pierced
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.

Zechariah 13

Cleansing From Sin
1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.

My duty...

Once again God tells me to obey and submit to my husband:

1 Peter 3

1 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

I will! Please give me strength and do not let me stray!

Discipline

Hebrews 12

God Disciplines His Children
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Hebrews 3:15

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Babies

My cousin had a baby girl on Feburary 6th and Kyle's cousin had a baby boy on the 7th! Both babies are healthy! What a blessed family. In 3 short months, Hanna will join us! I can't wait! May God give me a healthy baby too!

Pregosaurus

This is in 2009, a month before Emma was born. :)

Hanna

So I wonder what Hanna will look like, be like, act like...Will she be like Emma? Not likely. They say no two are alike. Well she is an active little girl. I feel bad about not thinking about her as much as I did with Emma. I am so busy that I often forget that there is a miracle inside of me. Four and a half more months! I looked at Emma's hat they gave her at the hospital. It is so tiny. I forgot so easily how tiny she was. Now we are having conversations. Mostly about Piggy, Cow, Horsie and Sheepy (she made this up...so cute). These four toys she carries everywhere! I have to put a little more effort into Hanna's room. We are close, but I need to clean the closet in her room and start going through Emma's old clothes.

Soon, I will be a mother of two daughters. I do pray that they are blessed by the Lord and that they are healthy and have beautiful lives. I also pray that I am able to give my husband a son one day. What a blessing they are! I was starring at Emma's face this morning. Not a blemish! She is so very beautiful. I am such a lucky mommy to have her. I can't wait to see Ms. Hanna.

On Courtney's wedding - January 7, 2010

Neuroblastoma takes 6 year-old Liam Witt

Rest in peace!

1 Corinthians 12-13 (New International Version, ©2010)

1 Corinthians 12

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

 ¹ Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  ⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
 ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,^[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.^{[b] 11} All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Unity and Diversity in the Body

 ¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.  ¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
 ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
 ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[d]? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Love Is Indispensable

    And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[e] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[f] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

On Suffering...

Romans 5:3-5 (New International Version, ©2010)

³ Not only so, but we^[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

A Prayer For Sick Children

Our Father, who art in heaven, I am begging you to turn your eyes on the sick, suffering children of this world. There are so many, and they endure so much pain! Lord, I am begging you in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Savior, who healed so many, have mercy on these children! Heal them from their illnesses, so they may serve you with their lives. May they become followers of Jesus Christ, spreading the Gospel to many. Lord, if you are willing, you can make them clean, just like you were willing to make the leper, who knelt in front of you, clean! Please, be willing! Place your blessing upon the sick children of the world!

Rylie, Liam, Dorina, Lizzie, Daniel, Lena, Leo, Kayleigh, Karl, Aiden, Ylaria, Victoria, Shelly, Molly and many, many more sick little children,

May God be with you each and every day and may He bring healing to your bodies and unfaltering faith into your hearts! May the Good Lord keep the faith of your parents and caretakers! May He surround you with everlasting love!  May He comfort those who had to endure loosing a child!

Amen