They're Here

Can I pretend that I wrote this blog post a month ago?

Welcome to the world...
Eliana Michelle (3 pounds 7 ounces) and Wesley Alexander (4 pounds 8 ounces)

On Saturday, January 17th around 9pm, these two little ones made their grand entrance.  I was so worried about them going into the c-section because they were only 34 1/2 weeks along and we weren't sure if they would be able to breathe on their own.  Eliana had stopped moving and wasn't getting enough oxygen from the placenta which is why we had to schedule things last minute.  They sent us from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula to a hospital with a better NICU just in case they needed it.

My eyes filled with tears when I heard Eliana's first cry.  It was a miracle to hear the sound of the new life that God had been growing inside of me, but I also was just filled with relief that she could cry, which meant she could breathe and she was going to be okay.  Three minutes later Wesley followed with cries of his own.  I got a great report from the pediatrician shortly afterwards, although they were still whisked away to the NICU to get feeding tubes and spend the next few days in the incubators.

Eliana quickly figured out how to suck and within a few days was bottle feeding.  Wesley took a little longer, but by Wednesday was also eating and was ready to come home.  We headed back to La Ceiba Wednesday afternoon to meet brothers and sister and experience life out of the hospital for the first time.

The last month has been full of eating and sleeping and burping and swinging and trying to figure out the whole nursing thing.  Mommy and Papi and Nana are tired, but so happy!  Older siblings are in love and want to help as much as they can.  They are gentle and loving and cannot wait until the twins are old enough to play.  Since the twins came so small, we've had to be careful about washing hands and germs and all that, but its amazing how great they are doing since they still haven't even reached their due date of February 25th.  We've been trying to take pictures to show for scale how really little they are.  This is Wesley next to a 12 inch spider man :)


 Our favorite story as we have been introducing them to friends is from our four year old friend Elias.  When I first told Elias that I was going to have twins, the conversation went like this...
Me: Elias, did you know that I have two babies in my belly?
Elias: Why did you eat two babies?
Me: (laughing) I didn't eat them Elias, they are growing in there.  God is making them big and strong so they can come out and play with you.
So when Elias came to meet the babies he kept staring back and forth between me and them...
Me: Elias, these are the babies that were growing in my tummy.
Elias: (confused) Are you going to eat them again?
Gotta love four year old reasoning skills!

We have had lots of visitors from my team and Lesther's family and the PDE family.  It has been fun to see some of the girls come by and hold my little ones and be so excited for me over the new step for our family.  They all want to help and have offered to take care of them or come help clean my house or do whatever we need.  I love seeing the Lord work in them to be so generous and want to give what they can.  We are very blessed by our community here.  My mom is here for awhile and I don't know what I would do without her.  She is the best nana in the world and has made Valentine's Day cake, done homework, done midnight feedings, rocked babies, made dinner, washed clothes, and so much more.  I may never let her leave...  More of my family comes in March and I can't wait for them to get here and meet Eliana and Wesley.

Its amazing to me that they have such different personalities at such a young age.  Isn't God creative?  Eliana is awake more, alert, active, and is going to be a spit-fire.  She is already holding her head up, trying to roll over, interactive, trying to figure out her hands, etc.  She is a little bit of a thing, but watch out world because that is not going to stop her.  She still loves being held and cuddled and has started trying to turn towards my voice when she hears me... I love that!  Welsey is our little lazy bear.  He is a sleepy little guy and has been lazy from the beginning.  He never moved around as much as his sister, even in the womb.  And in the hospital he was content to get his food by a tube, why work for it if they are going to just fill up my tummy anyways?  He has more digestive issues and is just a little more complicated, but he is the sweetest snuggly boy in the world.  And, not to be outdone by his sister he is also trying to hold his head up and intentionally smiled yesterday for the first time.  He had to be first in something, so I guess he figured smiling was something that didn't take too much effort :)  I think he is going to be the sweetest little thing who will help me stay sane while his sister is out taking over the world.

I guess when you wait a month, this is the kind of marathon blog post you get :)

I'll leave you with our only picture as a family of 7, you read that right, 7.  Wow.

Pocoyo and Chicharon

Months ago I asked Andres what he thought we should name the babies.  He didn't even hesitate when he responded with "Pocoyo and Chicharon".  Okay them.  So we have affectionately referred to them as such :)  You'll be pleased to know those names won't be sticking after birth!

I haven't written much about the twins and pregnancy, but I wanted to share an update.  We are at 34 weeks and the babies are healthy and moving around and have strong heartbeats!  We were able to get a precious picture of our son's face, but the little girl is camera shy and hasn't let us see her face even one time!  And believe me... we have had enough ultrasounds that that is really a feat.  Due to various health problems throughout this pregnancy, we have had lots of doctor visits and at this point could not be more thankful to have healthy babies!

However, healthy they may be, they are not growing as they should due to the placenta.  So it looks like they will coming early!  We expect to do a c-section early next week, most likely Tuesday!  So pray for a healthy delivery and babies who can breathe and eat on their own, so that they can come home with me next week.  They are currently both around 4 pounds!

Keep your eyes out for pictures!  I'm officially on maternity leave, so expect the blog to take a personal turn a few weeks as I take a step back from Puerta de Esperanza.

Graduation!

Yesterday was a big day for C and her son W.  And really, a big day for Puerta de Esperanza.  Although we have had other girls leave the house, she is our first graduate who really left when we felt like she was spiritually, physically, and financially ready.  We are SOOO proud of her!

We are definitely sad to see her go after 3 years of living in the home.  W has never known another home or another family outside of PDE and cried when we left him in his new apartment yesterday.  He will quickly adjust I'm sure, but it is a big change!

B and G who used to live with us at PDE are going to be living with them and the girls will help each other with the bills and childcare.  They are living near C's university and our church bus passes right in front of their neighborhood.  C will keep studying and working, although maybe cut back on the amount of classes she can handle as she shares in childcare responsibilities.  B will continue to buy clothes to sell and try to make some extra money traveling outside of the city to sell used clothes.  But she will mainly be taking care of the kids at home.

Please keep these girls in your prayers as they adjust to life in their own place.  Also pray that they will get along with each other and agree on how to raise their children as they both have responsibilities in that area.  Pray for them to stay involved in the church and continue to seek the Lord in their personal life.

We definitely know that we are not saying goodbye... they are our family and we'll be seeing them soon and often :)

Newsletter December 2014

Here is a link to our December Newsletter!
http://eepurl.com/-zICv

This girl

These two have been living with us for a few months now.  We have really gotten used to them being part of the family.  O yells... Papi, Papi every time Lesther walks in the door and Angel plans playtime with him into his day every afternoon.  We love them :)  But we have always known it was a temporary solution.  She needed a safe place to be for awhile and I needed help around the house while being on pregnancy restrictions.

So yesterday brought many tears.

I can honestly say that I am really proud of this girl and I finally see some maturity happening.  She made a decision to look for a job that would provide for herself and her son and when she found one, she took it, even though it is less than ideal.  We talked a lot about saving as much money as possible to be able to soon move out and get her own place.  She is serious about continuing in her studies and made sure her new employer would give her the time she needs.  She made sure that I would provide pencils and notebooks for the new school year, and with all this in place, she was on her way.

Please pray for her transition and for little O.  K will be living with a family cleaning and cooking for them, but they won't let her bring O with her.  Her sister will take care of him while she is at work and he will only get to see his mom a few times a week.  This is going to be very hard on a little guy who has always been with his mama.  And I'm concerned about him and the situation he will be in, but I'm going to try to keep an eye on him when I can.  Truthfully, I am really thankful that K has taken this first step in moving towards independence.  But I do pray that she will save up quickly and be able to find a job that allows her to move into an apartment with her son very soon!

I was able to pray with her last night as she starts on a new page of her life... we talked about how God goes with her even when she feels like she never lives in one place for very long.  He is her only constant and she has to cling to Him!  She promised she would read a Bible if I get her one (she just got good enough at reading to be able to make that promise!), so I think that will be a good Christmas gift :)  Keep praying for her to know Jesus in a real and personal way and that He would be her anchor as she tries to figure out her future.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Today I just wanted to share my favorite song for the season...

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in Thee

Israel's strength and consolation
Hope of all the earth Thou art
Dear desire of every nation
Joy of every longing heart

Born Thy people to deliver
Born a child and yet a king
Born to reign in us forever
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring

By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone
By Thine own sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne

Last night I sat on the couch with my kids staring at the Christmas tree lights and praising the Lord for what a sweet gift of family that He has given to us.  As we celebrated advent together, decorated the tree, and read through verses and stories about Jesus coming, I just pray that my kids will know to cherish the gift of Jesus.  And I pray that for myself.  These past few months have been nothing if not distracting... worries and fears, sickness, changes of plans.  We have felt hard the burden of having kids with other birth moms and what it looks like to share time and the responsibility of raising children with others who don't necessarily agree with us.  I have been worried about our twins coming and for their health and well-being.  We have had sickness and what felt like endless days having to be laid up around the house.  It has made everyone just a little more irritable and impatient.

"From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee"

I feel peace wash over me as I read that line.  Things are not how I would have planned them.  Things are still in upheaval with the government putting Puerta de Esperanza on hold.  I have had more ups and down health-wise with this pregnancy than I could have imagined and have spent more days laying in bed than I would have wanted.  I want to be up making Christmas ornaments with my kids, leading Bible study with the girls, playing with all the little ones, continuing relationships with those who have left.  

But HE is my rest.  From all my fears about inadequacy, potential baby health issues, failure... he has released me.  From all my sins of impatience, frustration, lack of faith... he has forgiven me.  Praise Him for that.

Today I pray for a longing heart... longing to know more and more of Jesus.

Christmas and End of the Year

These two :)  They make my heart happy!

C and her now three year old son W are moving out!  I can hardly believe it, but its been almost three years that they have lived with us.  They moved in February of 2012 and have been PDE staples ever since.  Its going to be so weird to not have them around all the time.  Although I'm pretty sure we're going to see a lot of them!

C is still working towards her forestry degree at the local university and working part-time at Pizza Hut.  She came to know the Lord at PDE, got involved in the local church, and became part of our family.  She is a sweet mom and loves her son fiercely.  We are so proud of her and how far she has come!

We have helped other girls after they move out and they all continue to be part of our family.  But Carolina is special because we consider her our first "graduate" who actually made it to the point that we are really excited to see her step out on her own.  We really think she is ready and we want to support her however we can as she makes this transition.

Over the last three years she has been saving up to have some money to get started, but we want to help with the security deposit on her apartment and some basic furnishings.

As you think about Christmas this year, would you consider putting one of these things on your list and send us money to help her get out on her own?  These are approximate costs.
Security Deposit ($100)
Bed ($150)
Stovetop ($60)
Dorm Size Fridge ($150)
Dresser or Closet ($100)
Kitchen needs ($100)
Linens ($30)

In the same way, please keep Puerta de Esperanza in mind for your year-end giving.  We still need monthly funding badly, but one-time gifts could help us to get through until I can make a support-raising trip next fall.  Here's all the information you need!

Give to account number #92413 Puerta de Esperanza.
Make checks out to Mission to the World with #92413 in the tagline and mail them to...

Mission to the World

P.O. Box 2589

Suwanee, GA 30024-0982

Or give online at... https://donations.mtw.org/donors/login.php