Baby Picture Sunday - the Love of my Life

I chose this picture of baby Luca because for a few months of my life he was my funny Valentine. The only one who could make me smile in a time of hardship. My bunch of sweethearts are all my "loves," but today I wanted to say thanks to Luca.

6 Word Saturday

Happy Birthday, Antonio! I love you!

Thankful Thursday

Wow...you know, I have so much to be thankful for and I just don't spend enough time dwelling on that.

Today, I am thankful to be a part of an AMAZING worship with the Word set at OHOP on Thursday mornings. We sang out of Song of Solomon this morning, chapter 1, verses 2-4: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth - For your love is better than wine. Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth; Therefore the virgins love you. Draw me away! I will run after you. The King has brought me into his chambers. I wil be glad and rejoice in you. I will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do we love you." (slightly paraphrased) Oh, I am so in love with Jesus! I am so blessed to be a part of this set, led by the awesome and anointed Edwin Botero. Thank you!

I am also thankful that my mother-in-law is flying in today! She is a true intercessor and Woman of God. This is her first time traveling alone, so I am praying for a smooth trip for her & looking forward to her arrival. Thank you, God, for Connie!

Tomorrow is Antonio's 12th birthday, so I have to say a word about my firstborn. He astounds me. I am so thankful for this young man of God. He is (mostly) very helpful and eager to please. He blesses my heart. Thank you, God, for allowing me to be a part of Antonio's life, and for keeping him in the palm of Your hand.

Newest Update on Baby Hope

So, you know my niece Hope (7 months) was born without an ear canal in her right ear. She is adorable and cuddly and smart. I haven't seen her since she was a couple weeks old, but I get the updates on my sister's blog Dear Blank, and in our long 2 hour phone calls that are infrequent because we both have little ones that make talking so long almost impossible. (Especially on my end.) I have pressed in with prayer for her little ear, I have put out numerous prayer requests on Hope's behalf, I have believed in miracles. It looks like the miracle is in progress. The specialists finally got to do the echo test on her. Here is Holly's report (taken from her blog entry on January 20th):

Hope had her bone conduction hearing test today. We didn’t have to endure the worrisome fasting, the ultra-early morning drive across town, the scary general anesthetic or the endless hours of waiting, all of which colored our previous ABR attempt (thank God).

Instead we drove five minutes to the Research Hospital on our side of town. Hope nursed until an hour before her appointment. Granted, she did have to choke down some vile-tasting chloral hydrate (screaming her head off the whole time), but that was the worst of it. We were in the room with her while she had the ABR, and once it was done, we were pretty much okay to leave. Just had to hang around for a half-hour after she woke up for a little safety monitoring.

(BTW, babies waking up from sedation are hilarious. Hope was full of grins, but totally loopy. Like an incredibly cheerful drunk.)

Anyway. The results were good. Her right ear is functional, pretty much at the exact same level as her left. So, good. Yay.

But the test couldn’t answer my next question: does she hear with that ear? The inner ear can hear (is capable of hearing), but do the sound waves reach her inner ear?

We don’t know. I thought we would. And we don’t.

I know Who knows. Her Great Daddy who loves her and is so jealous over her. The Holy Spirit, who is doing a creative miracle in her ear. Her best friend, Jesus, in whose name I pray. My children continue to lift up their baby cousin each Saturday at the Children's Prayer Watch; they are still believing in the miraculous.

Also, when I talked to my sister before Christmas, she confessed that she and her mother-in-law have noticed a change in that little right ear. It is bigger. On the outside, you can hardly tell a difference between Hope's 2 ears anymore. It used to be much smaller than her left ear and have a squished appearance. The doctors mentioned future cosmetic surgery. I don't think that will be necessary, do you? I believe that God is working slowly in Hope's ear so that she doesn't experience any pain in this process. I believe, in the name of Jesus, that Hope will not need any surgery on her ear AT ALL and by the time she's old enough for school, she will be blessed with perfect hearing.

Thank you for joining your prayers with mine. They are as incense.

The Fancy Nancy Birthday!

Yes, last Saturday (over a week ago) we had the long-awaited and sadly postponed Fancy Nancy birthday party to celebrate Keliah's 7th birthday.

Fancy Girls: Madi, Cecelia, Keliah, and Mia

We were so happy to have the lovely Madi and Mia join us in our finery. (See their wonderful Mom's blog here) We were very girly and silly for about half an hour until Antonio got out his huge Nerf gun and started a 30-minute-run-around-the-house-and-scream fiesta. Gotta love big brothers.

We had a fashion show, with the girls doing their best "Runway" strut.

Then, because the little ones were ready for treats, we sat down at the table to make our own candy necklaces (with cute kits I got at Target.)

That blended pretty seamlessly into the birthday candle blow-out, singing time. Everyone got to make their own "fancy" cupcake. I had frosted them all pink and set out edible decorations for them to choose from. We had sprinkles, princess toppings, chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips, marachino cherries, colored sugar, pastel mints, as well as any candy left over when they finished their necklaces. Every cupcake was different, and they were all fancy!

I also served ice cream and sparkling apple juice. After this, Keliah opened presents and then the sugar rush kicked in! The squealing/screaming was pretty funny, especially when my ears throbbed with the noise. We managed to get them calm enough for me to read "Bonjour Butterfly" the Fancy Nancy book we got her as they sat beneath the pink gauze canopy put up especially for the party. That only managed to last a little bit longer than the pink crepe paper streamers Rocky festooned the rooms with. We were sad to say good-bye to our friends, promising to get together soon at the park, and sent them home with Fancy Nancy coloring sheets and new sparkle glue. I was a tiny bit glad to take off my fancy clothes and get comfortable, but was sad the girliness was over. I think I need more opportunities to get loverly.

Baby Picture Sunday - My Reason for Breathing is You

I am lucky to have many reasons to breathe.
Namely: Nick and Antonio (in silent contemplation of cupcake goodness.)


Rocky, sweet & funny





Cecelia with her cupcake art.





Keliah and her lovely, gappy smile.



Carlo in joy and passion.


Luca of hilarity.


And the "baby" Sabina who manages to pull off the whole frosting mustache and still be gorgeous.



All my babies. My cup runneth over.