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.