Can you please pray for a friend of mine?
She has had 6 miscarriages. Yes, SIX and sent her full file to Omaha for review by Dr. Hilg.ers 2 weeks ago and was waiting for an answer when just yesterday she found out she is again pregnant.
Her seventh pregnancy and she is so very scared since nobody knows why she keeps losing these pregnancies.
She has had all the diagnostic tests in the world from hormones, to genetics, to blood and inmunology and doctors have not been able to find anything wrong, yet she continues to lose babies everytime she gets pregnant from 6 to 11 weeks
Also a couple of weeks ago they started adoption proceedings, but were turned down due to her husband´s age (he is 50 and was in the seminary many years before leaving and then meeting her late in life).
I do not know how she can survive another miscarriage and now with adoption probably closed.
Virgin of Guadalupe please interceed!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Josemaría
Hi!
After much prayer we have finally decided on a name for our son.
JOSEMARÍA
My DH wanted to give him his own name: Alonso, but later had some doubts and I prefered Josemaría due to the meaning: its means the Sacred Family, also St. Joseph and of course our Lady.
There is also a saint called Josemaría, Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the Opus Dei and our agency was founded by Opus Dei members so its also a way to thank him. In Mexico some of the people that have worked most for the cause of adoption have belonged to the Work (la Obra).
But mostly its because of St. Joseph and our Lady and its also a name I always liked very much.
Its a very traditional and old Spanish name and since my DH has a very Spanish last name it goes perfectly. It has come back recently into fashion and its considered a name with a lot of personality. Heroes, writers and many important personalities in centuries past had this name.
In the end my DH chose to give him the name Josemaría and in the baptism also his name as second. He also asked if he could name all his male children in baptism with his name as second and I completly agreed.
This is how wikipedia explains this name:
José María (abbreviated José M.ª) or Josemaría (this is how we will write it) is a Spanish language male given name, usually considered a single given name rather than two names, and is a combination of the Spanish names of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ.
The separate names "José" for males and "María" for females also exist in the Spanish language. They can also combine in the inverse order forming the female name "María José" (M.ª José); that is, the gender of the compound names "José María" and "María José" is determined by their first component. The name "José María" is colloquially shortened to "José Mari", "Josema" or replaced by the hypocoristic forms "Chema" or "Chemari".
We will call his Josemaría (my DH) and I Josema.
I have tried to post more pictures today, but have not been able due to some blogger issues.
I also have not been able to leave for maternity and have been trying to keep up with the blogs late at night. My boss was sick for the last 2 weeks and I have been working part time trying to leave everything in order and not being able to assign my tasks to others since I need this permission and some of his approvals.
I will try to leave middle of next week and will come back either 4 or 5 months later. The reason that I might come back later than expected is that HR discovered while looking into all my files that instead of 20 vacation days left I had 38, which means that I can take a month more off than the 4 planned to be with Josema or gradually ease into work, for example work Monday, Tues and Wed and then take vacation Thurs and Friday for the first 2 months.
Once I come back I have a very flexible job and can work from home a lot and as long as I deliver the results I can manage my times.
I will try to post pictures very soon and I am keeping all of those still waiting in my prayers.
After much prayer we have finally decided on a name for our son.
JOSEMARÍA
My DH wanted to give him his own name: Alonso, but later had some doubts and I prefered Josemaría due to the meaning: its means the Sacred Family, also St. Joseph and of course our Lady.
There is also a saint called Josemaría, Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the Opus Dei and our agency was founded by Opus Dei members so its also a way to thank him. In Mexico some of the people that have worked most for the cause of adoption have belonged to the Work (la Obra).
But mostly its because of St. Joseph and our Lady and its also a name I always liked very much.
Its a very traditional and old Spanish name and since my DH has a very Spanish last name it goes perfectly. It has come back recently into fashion and its considered a name with a lot of personality. Heroes, writers and many important personalities in centuries past had this name.
In the end my DH chose to give him the name Josemaría and in the baptism also his name as second. He also asked if he could name all his male children in baptism with his name as second and I completly agreed.
This is how wikipedia explains this name:
José María (abbreviated José M.ª) or Josemaría (this is how we will write it) is a Spanish language male given name, usually considered a single given name rather than two names, and is a combination of the Spanish names of Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ.
The separate names "José" for males and "María" for females also exist in the Spanish language. They can also combine in the inverse order forming the female name "María José" (M.ª José); that is, the gender of the compound names "José María" and "María José" is determined by their first component. The name "José María" is colloquially shortened to "José Mari", "Josema" or replaced by the hypocoristic forms "Chema" or "Chemari".
We will call his Josemaría (my DH) and I Josema.
I have tried to post more pictures today, but have not been able due to some blogger issues.
I also have not been able to leave for maternity and have been trying to keep up with the blogs late at night. My boss was sick for the last 2 weeks and I have been working part time trying to leave everything in order and not being able to assign my tasks to others since I need this permission and some of his approvals.
I will try to leave middle of next week and will come back either 4 or 5 months later. The reason that I might come back later than expected is that HR discovered while looking into all my files that instead of 20 vacation days left I had 38, which means that I can take a month more off than the 4 planned to be with Josema or gradually ease into work, for example work Monday, Tues and Wed and then take vacation Thurs and Friday for the first 2 months.
Once I come back I have a very flexible job and can work from home a lot and as long as I deliver the results I can manage my times.
I will try to post pictures very soon and I am keeping all of those still waiting in my prayers.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
JPII relics and an offer
Hi!
Zenit just published the article announcing the coming of JPII relics to Mexico and giving some more information about them.
I am enclosing it here since it explains the great importance they have and the reason why the came to Mexico. I copied it below and here is the link: http://www.zenit.org/article-33283?l=english
As I had written here in the last days my DH, some friends, our son and I had the priviledge to go to a private showing of the relics at the bishops commision to give thanks for our son. There we prayed for (as well as in the Basilica of Guadalupe right in front of Her) for all the intentions sent to us and for all bloggers.
I was able to buy before this at the Basilica some stamps of JPII, the Virgin of Guadalupe and some rosarys. They were blessed by the promoter of the cause of St Juan Diego and the formost expert on our Lady of Guadalupe in the world and also at the relics by the bishops there. I passed them over JPII relics which is a custom in the Church so these objects can later be used for prayer.
I still have a few left that I specially bought for the bloggers that have been so key in our journey to become parents and in thanks for our son. I have some 20 so no problem if several people request one or for someone else, specially those who are sick. So far I have 6 requests. JPII is a special intercessor in sickness (IF is one example, but also cancer, etc) I can send them via mail if you send me you address. It might take some time from Mexico, but I would gladly do it.
Blessed John Paul II Relic Starts Mexico Tour
Faithful Asking Pontiff's Prayers for Peace
MEXICO CITY, AUG. 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The only first class relic of Blessed John Paul II is beginning a five-month tour through Mexico, being welcomed with hope that the prayers of the Polish Pontiff can bring peace to the country plagued by drug violence.
The presence of the relic, which will be taken to all the dioceses of Mexico through the month of December, has aroused great expectation throughout the country.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop primate of Mexico, invited all the archdiocese's faithful to venerate the relic, which was brought from Rome and which will be in the Basilica of Guadalupe until Sunday, and in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City from Sept. 5-8.
Cardinal Rivera Carrera noted the opportunity to solicit the mediation of Blessed John Paul II for the return of a climate of peace, fraternity and concord in Mexico.
Mexico is the first country to receive the relic -- a sample of blood -- the only existing first degree relic of the Pope, since John Paul II's body was placed in a sarcophagus immediately after his death, with no other relic taken from his body.
This relic of Blessed John Paul II, and the wax image which was made for this occasion, will go to 90 dioceses of the Mexican republic before the relic is returned to Vatican City.
"It is an honor for the primate archdiocese of Mexico to receive this relic, both because of its enormous spiritual significance as well as the great affection that John Paul II always had for our homeland," said Cardinal Rivera Carrera.
Blessed John Paul II visited Mexico on five occasions, the last to canonize Juan Diego, the visionary of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.
Zenit just published the article announcing the coming of JPII relics to Mexico and giving some more information about them.
I am enclosing it here since it explains the great importance they have and the reason why the came to Mexico. I copied it below and here is the link: http://www.zenit.org/article-33283?l=english
As I had written here in the last days my DH, some friends, our son and I had the priviledge to go to a private showing of the relics at the bishops commision to give thanks for our son. There we prayed for (as well as in the Basilica of Guadalupe right in front of Her) for all the intentions sent to us and for all bloggers.
I was able to buy before this at the Basilica some stamps of JPII, the Virgin of Guadalupe and some rosarys. They were blessed by the promoter of the cause of St Juan Diego and the formost expert on our Lady of Guadalupe in the world and also at the relics by the bishops there. I passed them over JPII relics which is a custom in the Church so these objects can later be used for prayer.
I still have a few left that I specially bought for the bloggers that have been so key in our journey to become parents and in thanks for our son. I have some 20 so no problem if several people request one or for someone else, specially those who are sick. So far I have 6 requests. JPII is a special intercessor in sickness (IF is one example, but also cancer, etc) I can send them via mail if you send me you address. It might take some time from Mexico, but I would gladly do it.
Blessed John Paul II Relic Starts Mexico Tour
Faithful Asking Pontiff's Prayers for Peace
MEXICO CITY, AUG. 24, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The only first class relic of Blessed John Paul II is beginning a five-month tour through Mexico, being welcomed with hope that the prayers of the Polish Pontiff can bring peace to the country plagued by drug violence.
The presence of the relic, which will be taken to all the dioceses of Mexico through the month of December, has aroused great expectation throughout the country.
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, archbishop primate of Mexico, invited all the archdiocese's faithful to venerate the relic, which was brought from Rome and which will be in the Basilica of Guadalupe until Sunday, and in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City from Sept. 5-8.
Cardinal Rivera Carrera noted the opportunity to solicit the mediation of Blessed John Paul II for the return of a climate of peace, fraternity and concord in Mexico.
Mexico is the first country to receive the relic -- a sample of blood -- the only existing first degree relic of the Pope, since John Paul II's body was placed in a sarcophagus immediately after his death, with no other relic taken from his body.
This relic of Blessed John Paul II, and the wax image which was made for this occasion, will go to 90 dioceses of the Mexican republic before the relic is returned to Vatican City.
"It is an honor for the primate archdiocese of Mexico to receive this relic, both because of its enormous spiritual significance as well as the great affection that John Paul II always had for our homeland," said Cardinal Rivera Carrera.
Blessed John Paul II visited Mexico on five occasions, the last to canonize Juan Diego, the visionary of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
So many blessings
Today has been an amazing day. so full of blessings that I am having a hard time believing all of them happened and on top of it the very same day.
It started as a normal day, more paperwork for our adoption, family vists, etc.
Then I received an email from one of the priests that celebrated our marriage, Fr. Juan Diego, a monk. He was in Europe for WYD Madrid and did not know about our adoption. So it was a little bit late when he read our announcement.
I received the following message today:
I could not believe my eyes, but this was only the beginning today when we celebrate the first week with our son.
As I blogged last night we were invited to a private viewing of the first class relics of JPII. An amazing opportunity and it was in the bishops comision offices near the Basilica of Guadalupe.
.
My DH and I arrived at the Basilica and thought we would not have a lot of time to vist Our Lady of Guadalupe this time, but the other members of the group were late and so we had plenty of time to visit with Her.
This was to be our sons first pilgramage.
The Basilica was only partially filled, a rarity, and we saw that there was the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the middle of the Basilica.
Imagine this, the miracolous image of Our Lady ,and then Her son right in front of Her. I could again not believe it.
We were able to pray to both and also ask Jesus and His Mother for all the intentions sent to us yesterday and today.
We prayed for all by name and read out loud all of your interntions some 7 feet from Her actual image right in the place where She appeared.
Then we go back to the main church to pray a little bit more and I see a couple sitting some rows away from us and recognize a dear friend that now lives in France and her husband. They also had suffered from infertilty and only had been able to have one daughter. She always ached for more and her story has always resonanted with me.
Well they were right there praying the rosary and I went over to say hi. She tells me that they have a very important appointment with a priest and she mentions the name. Fr.Eduardo Chav.ez.
My face dropps. He is the foremost expert on the Apparitions of Guadalupe in the world, the one that worked on the cause to beatify Juan Diego (actually he was the postulator) and also one of the most popular speakers in the Catholic Church in Latin America.
This is what Amazon says:
FATHER EDU,ARDO CH.AVEZ is one of the most renowned experts on the Guadalupe apparitions and the postulator of St. Juan Diego’s cause for sainthood. He is the first Dean of the Catholic University Lumen Gentium of the Archdiocese of Mexico, co-founder and Dean of the Higher Institute for Guadalupan Studies and honorary Canon of the Guadalupe Basilica
One of his books in English is called: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love edited by the Knights of Columbus. I highly recommend anything by him and if you ever have the opportunnity to hear him speak do not miss it.
Well she then tells us: "Do you want to meet him?"
I am again speechless.
"Yes!!!"
I had met him a while back in a conference, but here was the opportunity to ask him to bless our son and consacrate him to our Lady. Today of all days when we are introducing him to Her.
As we were walking outside of the Basilica we meet the rest of the group that we had been waiting for and we decide all to go and meet Fr. Chavez.
We meet him and my DH and I tell him we have just adopted our son and would love to have his blessing, since Our Lady has been right by our side during our journey.
He asks us many questions and then gives the most amazing blessing ever to our son , for us as his parents and for our marriage. He asks our Lady of Guadalupe to guard over us. I will post the pictures very soon.
I still have tears in my eyes thinking about it.
Then we go out and head towards the Bishops commision. There we go right in and arrive at a small room where a priest is just begining to explain what these relics are.
They are only allowing very small groups to enter and we are one of the few priviledged ones.
Only three countries have these relics for now. Italy in Rome, Poland and now Mexico.
The intention of bringing these relics are to ask JPII to interceed for peace and also since he had a very special relationship with Mexico and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
A priest explains that a first class relic is part of the body of a saint or a person in the path to sainthood, a second class relic is something that they used (in this case there was also a casoc) and a third class relic is something they touched.
Well in this case it is a small vial with the blood of JPII and the casoc and the priest told us we could ask for his intercession and that the relics had special gifts and could be venerated (not adored).
In the ceremony of beatification of JPII they had a sculputre with his blood carried by the nun whose cure is attributed to him and the very same blood was here.
Again we asked for JPII to interceed for all of you and all the intentions sent to us. Our son again was there with us and we could only be so thanful for all the gifts of this day.
I was able to have several images of Our Lady, of JPII and rosaries blessed by Fr. Chavez and also I was able to place them over the relics. I can send a set to each person that asks me to. It migth take some days from Mexico, but I would gladly do it. Just shoot me an email and I will do so.
As I write this I cannot belive all the blessings for our son today:
A mass dedicated for him right in Fatima.
His first pilgramage to Guadalupe and also his first vist to the Blessed Sacrament
The blessing of the most important propagator of the faith in Guadalupe for him and our family
The vist to the relics of JPII.
It started as a normal day, more paperwork for our adoption, family vists, etc.
Then I received an email from one of the priests that celebrated our marriage, Fr. Juan Diego, a monk. He was in Europe for WYD Madrid and did not know about our adoption. So it was a little bit late when he read our announcement.
I received the following message today:
I am so very happy for you. I am at Fatima and will be celebrating Mass today at the Chapel of the Apparitions. I will dedicate the Mass in thanks for your son.
I could not believe my eyes, but this was only the beginning today when we celebrate the first week with our son.
As I blogged last night we were invited to a private viewing of the first class relics of JPII. An amazing opportunity and it was in the bishops comision offices near the Basilica of Guadalupe.
.
My DH and I arrived at the Basilica and thought we would not have a lot of time to vist Our Lady of Guadalupe this time, but the other members of the group were late and so we had plenty of time to visit with Her.
This was to be our sons first pilgramage.
The Basilica was only partially filled, a rarity, and we saw that there was the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the middle of the Basilica.
Imagine this, the miracolous image of Our Lady ,and then Her son right in front of Her. I could again not believe it.
We were able to pray to both and also ask Jesus and His Mother for all the intentions sent to us yesterday and today.
We prayed for all by name and read out loud all of your interntions some 7 feet from Her actual image right in the place where She appeared.
Then we go back to the main church to pray a little bit more and I see a couple sitting some rows away from us and recognize a dear friend that now lives in France and her husband. They also had suffered from infertilty and only had been able to have one daughter. She always ached for more and her story has always resonanted with me.
Well they were right there praying the rosary and I went over to say hi. She tells me that they have a very important appointment with a priest and she mentions the name. Fr.Eduardo Chav.ez.
My face dropps. He is the foremost expert on the Apparitions of Guadalupe in the world, the one that worked on the cause to beatify Juan Diego (actually he was the postulator) and also one of the most popular speakers in the Catholic Church in Latin America.
This is what Amazon says:
FATHER EDU,ARDO CH.AVEZ is one of the most renowned experts on the Guadalupe apparitions and the postulator of St. Juan Diego’s cause for sainthood. He is the first Dean of the Catholic University Lumen Gentium of the Archdiocese of Mexico, co-founder and Dean of the Higher Institute for Guadalupan Studies and honorary Canon of the Guadalupe Basilica
One of his books in English is called: Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of the Civilization of Love edited by the Knights of Columbus. I highly recommend anything by him and if you ever have the opportunnity to hear him speak do not miss it.
Well she then tells us: "Do you want to meet him?"
I am again speechless.
"Yes!!!"
I had met him a while back in a conference, but here was the opportunity to ask him to bless our son and consacrate him to our Lady. Today of all days when we are introducing him to Her.
As we were walking outside of the Basilica we meet the rest of the group that we had been waiting for and we decide all to go and meet Fr. Chavez.
We meet him and my DH and I tell him we have just adopted our son and would love to have his blessing, since Our Lady has been right by our side during our journey.
He asks us many questions and then gives the most amazing blessing ever to our son , for us as his parents and for our marriage. He asks our Lady of Guadalupe to guard over us. I will post the pictures very soon.
I still have tears in my eyes thinking about it.
Then we go out and head towards the Bishops commision. There we go right in and arrive at a small room where a priest is just begining to explain what these relics are.
They are only allowing very small groups to enter and we are one of the few priviledged ones.
Only three countries have these relics for now. Italy in Rome, Poland and now Mexico.
The intention of bringing these relics are to ask JPII to interceed for peace and also since he had a very special relationship with Mexico and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
A priest explains that a first class relic is part of the body of a saint or a person in the path to sainthood, a second class relic is something that they used (in this case there was also a casoc) and a third class relic is something they touched.
Well in this case it is a small vial with the blood of JPII and the casoc and the priest told us we could ask for his intercession and that the relics had special gifts and could be venerated (not adored).
In the ceremony of beatification of JPII they had a sculputre with his blood carried by the nun whose cure is attributed to him and the very same blood was here.
Again we asked for JPII to interceed for all of you and all the intentions sent to us. Our son again was there with us and we could only be so thanful for all the gifts of this day.
I was able to have several images of Our Lady, of JPII and rosaries blessed by Fr. Chavez and also I was able to place them over the relics. I can send a set to each person that asks me to. It migth take some days from Mexico, but I would gladly do it. Just shoot me an email and I will do so.
As I write this I cannot belive all the blessings for our son today:
A mass dedicated for him right in Fatima.
His first pilgramage to Guadalupe and also his first vist to the Blessed Sacrament
The blessing of the most important propagator of the faith in Guadalupe for him and our family
The vist to the relics of JPII.
Monday, August 22, 2011
JP II relics and an offer plus more pictures
Hi!
I have not had time to update, but I have been praying for all of those still waiting and reading blogs during the few minutes that we have free.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your prayers, comments and encouragement in our journey and also for our baby boy.
I promise to write at length about the last days and all the signals from God. The response of our families and friends has been overwhelmingly positive and we have been surrounded by so much love that I have no words to describe it. We have had a stream of visitors and family and have had not a free minute in the last week with the adaptation of the baby to our family, legal proceedings and visits.
i am very bad at Blogger, but here are some more pictures of our little boy.
I have been receiving some questions over and over and I will try to answer here in a short version.
Adoption is closed in Mexico and complelty free. You only have to pay for legal fees that amount to some 2 K usd maximum and it because our agency is private. Adoption via the governement agencies is free. The birth mother cannot receive any money as well as our agency who survives from donations. The birth mother gave over her rights on August 15th to our agency (whose main purpose is to give safe haven to pregnant women in distress. 20 to 30% of them decide to give their babies up for adoption) and this is why we had the call that very same day so late. The agency decides to place the babies inmediately to the chosen families. They choose the families via prayer and an adoption committee, but prayer is the final decision factor really. In our case the birth mother canceled several court hearings and this is why the baby could not be placed before right after birth. We have heard from our agency that for her it was an extremely hard decision and it took her many weeks of prayer to reach it. I am always praying for her.
We currently have the guardianship of the baby and we just have to have proceed in the next weeks with some legal matters and a final presentation in front of a judge so we can have full rights over him. It might take from a couple of weeks to a month. The birth mother complelty signed her rights off on Monday of last week to our agency and the agency now has full rights over the baby. The risk of losing the baby is almost zero. He is with us since Tuesday morning and for all matters he is our son.
We still do not have a name. I know its ridiculous, but we were sure and then had doubts. We are down to 2 names: Alonso which is my husbands name and a name we both love and Josemaría, a very old Spanish name consisting of both Joseph and Mary, which in Spanish. My choice is Josemaria, but i also like Alonso and if my Dh wants it I am complelty OK with it, but now he has doubts. Please pray for us because we are running out of time to decide and also need to name the baby as soon as possible.
Now for the offer:
Tomorrow a dear friend has invited us for what is the best gift ever. The Vatican has loaned to Mexico first class relics of JPII (a vial of his blood) and the relics have started to tour the country. Well tomorrow my Dh and I have been invited to a private showing right in front of the Basilica of Guadalupe at the bishops commision by this dear friend. This is one in a lifetime opportunity for us and we will be going to give thanks for our baby and to ask for His intrcession for Napro Mexico and for all of those still waiting. I can take the intentions sent to me so please put them in the comments section. I am not sure if we will be able to go tomorrow to the Basilica, but we will also try to give Her thanks.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Our son
Yesterday morning we picked our son up at our adoption agency. We had a small ceremony to give thanks to God for him and then came home. Later that same day we took him to the pediatrician to check some reflux and to start with his check-ups. The pediatrician (as well as our agency) told us he is extremely healthy, very alert and a very happy boy.
We are so happy there are no words. I will post later all the details and more photos.
thank you again so very much for being part of our journey from IF to miscarriage to adoption.
Monday, August 15, 2011
The greatest gift ever from Our Lady: Our son is coming!!!!!!!!!
Today day of the Assumption of Mary we found out that we are parents. Today at 9 p.m Mexico city time we got the call. .
Parents of a healthy baby boy, born April 21st of this year. Holy Thursday.
5 years after my DH asked me to marry him on this very same day. The day when we consectated our marriage to Her.
What other sign can we ask?
We are parents!!!!!!!!!!!
One year later at this very same time I was pregnant and now after all the pain we are parents again.
Tomorrow we will meet our son. The one that we get to meet here on Earth.
We will meet him under a painting of our Lady of Guadalupe, in a room painted with the colors of our Lady.
Later we will have a mass. A mass in thanksgiving. For him, for the brave woman who chose to give him life, for all of those that work for life.
I am crying from joy. I am also praying for all of those that continue to wait. I pray this day comes very very soon for all of you.
¡Gracias Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!
Parents of a healthy baby boy, born April 21st of this year. Holy Thursday.
5 years after my DH asked me to marry him on this very same day. The day when we consectated our marriage to Her.
What other sign can we ask?
We are parents!!!!!!!!!!!
One year later at this very same time I was pregnant and now after all the pain we are parents again.
Tomorrow we will meet our son. The one that we get to meet here on Earth.
We will meet him under a painting of our Lady of Guadalupe, in a room painted with the colors of our Lady.
Later we will have a mass. A mass in thanksgiving. For him, for the brave woman who chose to give him life, for all of those that work for life.
I am crying from joy. I am also praying for all of those that continue to wait. I pray this day comes very very soon for all of you.
¡Gracias Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!
Gifts of the Annunciation
This last weekend was so very hard and yet God with such mercy has shown me that He is with us despite the darkness.
He permitted me to see several things that I had not been able due to my own pain. He opened my eyes and I really thing all of this has to do with the Annunciation. So many things at once it must be Her.
It all started during Friday when I decided to put some type of order in my life.
I have a terrible time with physical order. I tend to leave things where they do not belong, I keep too many papers, start too many books and do not finish them etc,
If I am under stress or not doing well emotionally things get even worse than normal.
Well, things had realy gotten out of hand since our miscarriage and one of the things that I had put off was putting order into my medical files and many other papers. Mountains of them.
So I started full of strenght willing to tackle all of this.
What I did not consider is what I would need to face again and that perhaps I was not ready even after all this time.
After a few hours of filing I found all the paper work from my miscarriage and subsecuent health issues. Papers that I had forgotten and not dared to look at for many months.
And it hit me like a ton of bricks.
All week I had been on shakey grond emotionally and this was the last drop to really bring me down.
The paper work from the U/S stated: that it had been a RETAINED DEAD EGG.
This is how the lab had called my baby, Miguel, this little baby that died at 6 or 7 weeks gestation and whose pregnancy continued until week 9th and that had a soul.
And they called it an egg. How dare they. My eyes filled with tears for hours.
Waves of grief like it just had happened.
It really broke my heart.
And then I also found more paper work. Of the 4 days I had spent in the hospital a week after my D&C having contractions knowing full well that there was no baby.
And then the other test that in December said that most probably I had miscarried again. Tons and tons of paperwork.
So it was a very, very hard weekend, but I needed to face all of this again to bring some sort of closure. One year ago I was pregnant and did not know I was about to suffer the worst 4 months of my life. My own calvary.
We had conquered IF at 39, what could really be worse than IF?
Well here I had all the proofs that it had not been a nightmare.
All of this and other things that I have been struggling with including prayer and order really put me down all weekend and have been eating away at my heart since December. And I could not shake the feeling.
Still God helped me to see many other things which I had been blind to in my pain in the last months.
Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of our engagement. I had not been really aware of the date , yet God permited me to find all of this papers in the same weekend as our engagement. Not planned at all by me.
My DH had given me the engagement ring on the eve of the Annunciation during Adoration. He chose this date as all the dates having to do with us with a Marian feast. Even our adoption permission was granted on a Marian day: the day of the Visitation.
In the church that we go to the monks and nuns there have a very special way to celebrate this day and they start with a night of Adoration and singing. Just beautiful.
During this night my DH asked me to marry him. In the most beautiful setting imaginable, a church we loved, the Blessed Sacrament, music, candle light and many beloved friends praying around us.
After he gave me the ring we walked silently to the back of the church to ask the blessing from one of our monk friends who later married us. We also sneaked to the front to tell one of the nuns there, mother superior and a dear friend to pray for our marriage during this night. We were showered with prayer that same night.
Sometimes the pain is so great that you lose sight of what you have.
For example my DH , who has been such a blessing throught all of this. The most amazing man ever.
He has been asking Mary to keep over us during all of this. He has been the strong one in prayer, the silent strong one, when I have not been able to go on.
I am sure his amazing faith in Mary has a lot to do with our marriage surviving.
And Mary has been with us since the very beginning 5 years ago. I had forgotten it.
Still yesterday I did not want to go to Mass since I was struggling with being mad at God. I put up all sort of excuses when DH said:
So we went to mass in a new church (due to my excuses we were late to most masses) and after mass I see a man who I had seen at my normal parish. He was at mass and letar outside selling washing cloths and then I remebered that I had been introduced to him by the monks at my church.
One of the monks had asked me to help this man out by buying from him: This man had a wife who was bedridden from diabetes and they were barely surviving. He was over 70 and subsisted from selling the washing cloths. The monks gave him food each month and permited him to sell his washing cloths outside of Mass. A very, very sad story.
Well right after Mass where I was struggling with my feelings of anger I see this man and all the memories of what I had been told by the monk came back.
Here I was angry at God and this man struggled each day even to eat and have medicines. It was such a sign for me that I have no words,.
He then approached DH and I and asked us to buy from him a couple of cloths. He told us he did not have money to pay for the light and water in his house. He then showed me that he had a bag and a tube attached to him full of his urine. So not only his wife was sick, but he had to beg for both of them. He was also very sick. My heart broke.
I felt so ashamed of being angry at God and of feeling sorry for myself.
I had an amazing man for a husband, full of prayer, we both were healthy, we had access to medical care, food on the table, money to buy the basics and much more.
We purchased several cloths from this man and gave him some more money and his eyes could not believe it. I felt so utterly happy to have been able to help him at least with something.
I had forgotten in these days of darkness to focus on others, I could only focus on my pain.
Then today, day of the Annunciation, we get a call from our agency and the visit from a dear friend. Both also God sent.
The call was from the agency head herself. The woman that had changed adoption laws in MExico. The one that would choose our baby and also would call us to tell us that we were parents.
Well she called DH on his cell phone. DH goes white as as sheet of paper. He asks me to turn down the music. We think its THE CALL. I start trembling. I almost scream from excitment.
I tell him with my lips its the day of the Annunciation! Maybe its THE day.
She asks him if we are back from vacation. He says yes. He is smiling, I see almost tears in his eyes. He looks so excited!!!
After what seems forever, she tells him she is actually calling to find out if he and I would accept to become part of the advisory committee of our agency.
What?? no baby? more waiting again!
us advisors? wow!
This would be a graat honor since they choose these persons very, very carefully and we can give back to all this agency has done for us.
My heart calms down and I breath again. I feel a tremandous sense of peace that all will be well with our adoption, its just not our time.
But the gift is not this one really.
I get a glimpse of our future happiness in DH eyes, his absolute joy at what he thought would be the call to announce that we were parents. This is such a gift in itself. To see that he would absolutely be the happiest man alive as an adoptive father.
His joy was exactly the same as when I told him I was pregnant. Exactly the same.
I feel such peace. Maybe we will not be biological parents here on earth, but we will be adoptive ones in a few weeks or months and the joy will be the same. I just had a glimpse today. Such a gift.
Later today we receive the visit from a very dear friend. We discuss our adoption process . He has just gotten married again after a very difficult divorce and annulment process. He has a child that he has not seen for over 10 years.
He has been always very silent about their family plans, yet is asking a lot of questions about ours. Finally I ask him what their plans are.
His answer pierces my heart.
They cannot have children. We had no idea and we are best of friends.
And he tells us the reason. After his divorce he did not want to be separated again from a child and he decides on a vasectomy on an whim. One that is irreversible. He has since repented many times.
DH and I cannot believe it. He says:
I again feel such peace. We have nothing to regret. We have done all according to our conciences, according to God. In our case it has not been a decision by us, or we have done something to hurt somebody else.
Our friend tells us:
This day of the Annunciation I was able to see what I have not in many, many months: Our future joy as adoptive parents, the amazing gift my DH is, how blessed we really are even if we do not have children with us and that thankfully we have nothing to regret in our journey to become parents since we have done all according to His Will.
Many gifts from Mary on this day
He permitted me to see several things that I had not been able due to my own pain. He opened my eyes and I really thing all of this has to do with the Annunciation. So many things at once it must be Her.
It all started during Friday when I decided to put some type of order in my life.
I have a terrible time with physical order. I tend to leave things where they do not belong, I keep too many papers, start too many books and do not finish them etc,
If I am under stress or not doing well emotionally things get even worse than normal.
Well, things had realy gotten out of hand since our miscarriage and one of the things that I had put off was putting order into my medical files and many other papers. Mountains of them.
So I started full of strenght willing to tackle all of this.
What I did not consider is what I would need to face again and that perhaps I was not ready even after all this time.
After a few hours of filing I found all the paper work from my miscarriage and subsecuent health issues. Papers that I had forgotten and not dared to look at for many months.
And it hit me like a ton of bricks.
All week I had been on shakey grond emotionally and this was the last drop to really bring me down.
The paper work from the U/S stated: that it had been a RETAINED DEAD EGG.
This is how the lab had called my baby, Miguel, this little baby that died at 6 or 7 weeks gestation and whose pregnancy continued until week 9th and that had a soul.
And they called it an egg. How dare they. My eyes filled with tears for hours.
Waves of grief like it just had happened.
It really broke my heart.
And then I also found more paper work. Of the 4 days I had spent in the hospital a week after my D&C having contractions knowing full well that there was no baby.
And then the other test that in December said that most probably I had miscarried again. Tons and tons of paperwork.
So it was a very, very hard weekend, but I needed to face all of this again to bring some sort of closure. One year ago I was pregnant and did not know I was about to suffer the worst 4 months of my life. My own calvary.
We had conquered IF at 39, what could really be worse than IF?
Well here I had all the proofs that it had not been a nightmare.
All of this and other things that I have been struggling with including prayer and order really put me down all weekend and have been eating away at my heart since December. And I could not shake the feeling.
Still God helped me to see many other things which I had been blind to in my pain in the last months.
Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of our engagement. I had not been really aware of the date , yet God permited me to find all of this papers in the same weekend as our engagement. Not planned at all by me.
My DH had given me the engagement ring on the eve of the Annunciation during Adoration. He chose this date as all the dates having to do with us with a Marian feast. Even our adoption permission was granted on a Marian day: the day of the Visitation.
In the church that we go to the monks and nuns there have a very special way to celebrate this day and they start with a night of Adoration and singing. Just beautiful.
During this night my DH asked me to marry him. In the most beautiful setting imaginable, a church we loved, the Blessed Sacrament, music, candle light and many beloved friends praying around us.
After he gave me the ring we walked silently to the back of the church to ask the blessing from one of our monk friends who later married us. We also sneaked to the front to tell one of the nuns there, mother superior and a dear friend to pray for our marriage during this night. We were showered with prayer that same night.
Sometimes the pain is so great that you lose sight of what you have.
For example my DH , who has been such a blessing throught all of this. The most amazing man ever.
He has been asking Mary to keep over us during all of this. He has been the strong one in prayer, the silent strong one, when I have not been able to go on.
I am sure his amazing faith in Mary has a lot to do with our marriage surviving.
And Mary has been with us since the very beginning 5 years ago. I had forgotten it.
Still yesterday I did not want to go to Mass since I was struggling with being mad at God. I put up all sort of excuses when DH said:
God really wants us to go to Mass today even when its hardest and we both are suffering.
So we went to mass in a new church (due to my excuses we were late to most masses) and after mass I see a man who I had seen at my normal parish. He was at mass and letar outside selling washing cloths and then I remebered that I had been introduced to him by the monks at my church.
One of the monks had asked me to help this man out by buying from him: This man had a wife who was bedridden from diabetes and they were barely surviving. He was over 70 and subsisted from selling the washing cloths. The monks gave him food each month and permited him to sell his washing cloths outside of Mass. A very, very sad story.
Well right after Mass where I was struggling with my feelings of anger I see this man and all the memories of what I had been told by the monk came back.
Here I was angry at God and this man struggled each day even to eat and have medicines. It was such a sign for me that I have no words,.
He then approached DH and I and asked us to buy from him a couple of cloths. He told us he did not have money to pay for the light and water in his house. He then showed me that he had a bag and a tube attached to him full of his urine. So not only his wife was sick, but he had to beg for both of them. He was also very sick. My heart broke.
I felt so ashamed of being angry at God and of feeling sorry for myself.
I had an amazing man for a husband, full of prayer, we both were healthy, we had access to medical care, food on the table, money to buy the basics and much more.
We purchased several cloths from this man and gave him some more money and his eyes could not believe it. I felt so utterly happy to have been able to help him at least with something.
I had forgotten in these days of darkness to focus on others, I could only focus on my pain.
Then today, day of the Annunciation, we get a call from our agency and the visit from a dear friend. Both also God sent.
The call was from the agency head herself. The woman that had changed adoption laws in MExico. The one that would choose our baby and also would call us to tell us that we were parents.
Well she called DH on his cell phone. DH goes white as as sheet of paper. He asks me to turn down the music. We think its THE CALL. I start trembling. I almost scream from excitment.
I tell him with my lips its the day of the Annunciation! Maybe its THE day.
She asks him if we are back from vacation. He says yes. He is smiling, I see almost tears in his eyes. He looks so excited!!!
After what seems forever, she tells him she is actually calling to find out if he and I would accept to become part of the advisory committee of our agency.
What?? no baby? more waiting again!
us advisors? wow!
This would be a graat honor since they choose these persons very, very carefully and we can give back to all this agency has done for us.
My heart calms down and I breath again. I feel a tremandous sense of peace that all will be well with our adoption, its just not our time.
But the gift is not this one really.
I get a glimpse of our future happiness in DH eyes, his absolute joy at what he thought would be the call to announce that we were parents. This is such a gift in itself. To see that he would absolutely be the happiest man alive as an adoptive father.
His joy was exactly the same as when I told him I was pregnant. Exactly the same.
I feel such peace. Maybe we will not be biological parents here on earth, but we will be adoptive ones in a few weeks or months and the joy will be the same. I just had a glimpse today. Such a gift.
Later today we receive the visit from a very dear friend. We discuss our adoption process . He has just gotten married again after a very difficult divorce and annulment process. He has a child that he has not seen for over 10 years.
He has been always very silent about their family plans, yet is asking a lot of questions about ours. Finally I ask him what their plans are.
His answer pierces my heart.
They cannot have children. We had no idea and we are best of friends.
And he tells us the reason. After his divorce he did not want to be separated again from a child and he decides on a vasectomy on an whim. One that is irreversible. He has since repented many times.
DH and I cannot believe it. He says:
Its so ironic, here I could have children and chose not to by a mistake and here you both want children so badly and cannot. He says he has confessed since and his wife has accepted this.
I again feel such peace. We have nothing to regret. We have done all according to our conciences, according to God. In our case it has not been a decision by us, or we have done something to hurt somebody else.
Our friend tells us:
This is the greatest gift, you both have nothing to regret.
This day of the Annunciation I was able to see what I have not in many, many months: Our future joy as adoptive parents, the amazing gift my DH is, how blessed we really are even if we do not have children with us and that thankfully we have nothing to regret in our journey to become parents since we have done all according to His Will.
Many gifts from Mary on this day
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Cancer news
Finally some good news among the darkness!
Thank you, thank you very much for all the prayers!
The doctor moved the appointment to yesterday so we did not have to wait until today.
My dad has cancer, but its ONLY in the prostate from what the doctors could determine via all the testing. There is still the possibility of a crazy cell somewhere, but we will only know when they take our the prostate and retest for the antigen.
Prostate cancer is one of the least horrible cancers from what everybody has written to me here (thank you Leila for sharing your story and all the rest!) and from what we have read so this is also positive.
They do not know the extent of the tumor since the biospy does not give this information, but since they will take out the prostate complety this will of less importance.
He will need to have a 5 hour operation in September (with several riks due to his age and health) and from there they will need to continue monitoring him for at least a year until fully OK, but this is still much, much better than metastasis.
On the other hand the doctor talked to my parents about some new studies. I am sharing in case this is of interest to anybody out there.
The univ.ersity of Michi.gan has published a study linking in families three types of cancer: prostate, breast and colon cancer. My father (one of 8th) has one sister who had very aggresive breast cancer in her later 30s. She has been cancer free now more than 30 years much with the help of alternative therapies.
And now my father has prostate cancer.
The doctor told my dad that if one (only one) of these cancers is present in the family the other related family members need to monitor for the 3 cancers more aggresively than normal since they have been studying a marked increase of all of 3 in the families with at least 1 member with one of them.
So this means that my dad (the very German man who does not share any problems with anybody ) needs to inform all his brothers and sisters to be extra careful with these 3 types of cancer.
The doctor (who is linked to the Ma.yo clinic via the British American hospital here) told my parents that all persons related to him will need to be put on an at risk plan for extra monitoring for these cancers including my sister, brother and me.
Not nice to hear that you have more risk for cancer, but its also good to know now so we can be extra careful.
I am sure God has a plan in all of this and good will come out of all of this.
Thank you, thank you very much for all the prayers!
The doctor moved the appointment to yesterday so we did not have to wait until today.
My dad has cancer, but its ONLY in the prostate from what the doctors could determine via all the testing. There is still the possibility of a crazy cell somewhere, but we will only know when they take our the prostate and retest for the antigen.
Prostate cancer is one of the least horrible cancers from what everybody has written to me here (thank you Leila for sharing your story and all the rest!) and from what we have read so this is also positive.
They do not know the extent of the tumor since the biospy does not give this information, but since they will take out the prostate complety this will of less importance.
He will need to have a 5 hour operation in September (with several riks due to his age and health) and from there they will need to continue monitoring him for at least a year until fully OK, but this is still much, much better than metastasis.
On the other hand the doctor talked to my parents about some new studies. I am sharing in case this is of interest to anybody out there.
The univ.ersity of Michi.gan has published a study linking in families three types of cancer: prostate, breast and colon cancer. My father (one of 8th) has one sister who had very aggresive breast cancer in her later 30s. She has been cancer free now more than 30 years much with the help of alternative therapies.
And now my father has prostate cancer.
The doctor told my dad that if one (only one) of these cancers is present in the family the other related family members need to monitor for the 3 cancers more aggresively than normal since they have been studying a marked increase of all of 3 in the families with at least 1 member with one of them.
So this means that my dad (the very German man who does not share any problems with anybody ) needs to inform all his brothers and sisters to be extra careful with these 3 types of cancer.
The doctor (who is linked to the Ma.yo clinic via the British American hospital here) told my parents that all persons related to him will need to be put on an at risk plan for extra monitoring for these cancers including my sister, brother and me.
Not nice to hear that you have more risk for cancer, but its also good to know now so we can be extra careful.
I am sure God has a plan in all of this and good will come out of all of this.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Update on my dad
Thank you so much for your prayers Friday.
We will know on Wednesday the final diagnosis. Today the lab will deliver all the studies to the doctor and only in case of something urgent he will call my mom and dad. If nothing urgent comes up they have an appointment Wednesday to go over the treatment.
We are only looking at 2 options right now: One very bad one which is metastasis and the other which we hope for is the removal only of the prostate.
Because of certain health factor by my dad they will need to remove the prostate completly in a 5 hour operation. Not an easy and quite simple operation, but much better than the option of chemo etc.
I am simply amazed at my fathers strenght during this time.
As I have blogged here my dad was born in Germany of a German father and Mexican/German mother. He was born in the middle of Germany in 1939, weeks before the start of the 2nd World War.
His life has not been an easy one. Living through a war and then rebuilding your life from scratch is something that I have always admired from him.
My grandmother was a housewife (she had traveled to Germany to study from Mexico) and my grandfather a sales man.
My grand mother lost 2 of her brothers in the War. They were Mexican also studiying in Germany , but since they had German blood the Nazis did not let them leave Germany and sent them to the front. They were 16 and 17 years old. One never was found.
My dad barely survived his birth since he was born at only 7 months with very limited medical supplies. He had to be registered as an emergency since they thought he would not survive and the war also was approaching.
This is why he has the wrong name, one that my grandfather never used. My grandmother had to give him a name and they gave him the name of the nurses boyfriend. Yep.
My grandmother had to think up of a name and the nurse told her to use her boyfriends name. My poor father then had a name for life that nobody used in his family. He later was registered with the right name as a second name
He is the 3rd of 8th children, born 11 months apart from his older sister and therefore had to use a nurse maid since my grandmother was too weak to nurse.
He was baptized as a Lutheran. He later converted here from the example of my mom
My grandfather lost absolutely everything and they barely survived. My fathers town was one of the last bombed by the allies before the signing of the threathy of peace.
They should have never bombed my dads city since it was an episcopal city and also only had at the time children and women, but it was completly destroyed one night.
My father had to hide in a bomb shelter which later held many wounded people and due to the war spent most of his childhood sleeping dressed.
As Germany surrenderd his city was taken over by the Americans. He holds very fond memories of exchanging cigarrete butts he collected from the streets for chocolates with the soldiers.
My father came to Mexico as a refugee via NY helped by the Red Cross (Mexico gives preference to refugees from Mexican mothers and we have had several large immigrations of refugees such as Jews, Spanish and Lebanse. We have also a 30 thousand Germans here which came in the 19th century for mining and Beer brewery (the reason why we have great beers such as Corona) and a second large immigration after the 2nd WW. My family has come from both immigrations.
When my dad came to Mexico he lived crammed in a one room appartment with his mom and 4 siblings. My grandfather was detained in NY first and then Mexico for being German and was freed one year later.
Since they lost everything my grandmother had to work and my grandfather slowly tried to rebuild his life. He never spoke Spanish well and for many years my dad and his siblings had to take therapy and they had to be removed from the German school here since they could not take the very harsh discipline this school had at the time, also they were always ridiculed for their poverty.
My dad then went to Catholic school, but was not Catholic at the time.
During the first years of school here my dad whenever he heard an airplane hid under tables and he never wanted to sleep with his piyamas in case of a bombing
This is only part of his story and one day I will write more (for example he did not finish college and started from the lowest ranks of his company yet ended up being a director there) , but I wanted to explain a little about him and why I am slowly believing if anybody will beat cancer in any of its forms its him.
A person that has survived all of this and still enjoys life to the fullest, loves children and nature has in him a strenght that few of us know.
He is in no way bitter by what he had to endure. He sees it just as part of the cards he was dealt and this is the reason why he wanted my siblings and I to have the very best opportunities in life in terms of education. no luxuries, a very very small house but the opportunities he never had in terms of education.
My mom, me and my brother are very nervous of the news we will be told by the doctors Wednesday, yet my dad is joking, saying that one day he will die and you never ever know when and not to worry too much.
He is still looking out for all of us and living life to the fullest even when facing a cancer diagnosis.
I just hope to have his strenght someday.
We will know on Wednesday the final diagnosis. Today the lab will deliver all the studies to the doctor and only in case of something urgent he will call my mom and dad. If nothing urgent comes up they have an appointment Wednesday to go over the treatment.
We are only looking at 2 options right now: One very bad one which is metastasis and the other which we hope for is the removal only of the prostate.
Because of certain health factor by my dad they will need to remove the prostate completly in a 5 hour operation. Not an easy and quite simple operation, but much better than the option of chemo etc.
I am simply amazed at my fathers strenght during this time.
As I have blogged here my dad was born in Germany of a German father and Mexican/German mother. He was born in the middle of Germany in 1939, weeks before the start of the 2nd World War.
His life has not been an easy one. Living through a war and then rebuilding your life from scratch is something that I have always admired from him.
My grandmother was a housewife (she had traveled to Germany to study from Mexico) and my grandfather a sales man.
My grand mother lost 2 of her brothers in the War. They were Mexican also studiying in Germany , but since they had German blood the Nazis did not let them leave Germany and sent them to the front. They were 16 and 17 years old. One never was found.
My dad barely survived his birth since he was born at only 7 months with very limited medical supplies. He had to be registered as an emergency since they thought he would not survive and the war also was approaching.
This is why he has the wrong name, one that my grandfather never used. My grandmother had to give him a name and they gave him the name of the nurses boyfriend. Yep.
My grandmother had to think up of a name and the nurse told her to use her boyfriends name. My poor father then had a name for life that nobody used in his family. He later was registered with the right name as a second name
He is the 3rd of 8th children, born 11 months apart from his older sister and therefore had to use a nurse maid since my grandmother was too weak to nurse.
He was baptized as a Lutheran. He later converted here from the example of my mom
My grandfather lost absolutely everything and they barely survived. My fathers town was one of the last bombed by the allies before the signing of the threathy of peace.
They should have never bombed my dads city since it was an episcopal city and also only had at the time children and women, but it was completly destroyed one night.
My father had to hide in a bomb shelter which later held many wounded people and due to the war spent most of his childhood sleeping dressed.
As Germany surrenderd his city was taken over by the Americans. He holds very fond memories of exchanging cigarrete butts he collected from the streets for chocolates with the soldiers.
My father came to Mexico as a refugee via NY helped by the Red Cross (Mexico gives preference to refugees from Mexican mothers and we have had several large immigrations of refugees such as Jews, Spanish and Lebanse. We have also a 30 thousand Germans here which came in the 19th century for mining and Beer brewery (the reason why we have great beers such as Corona) and a second large immigration after the 2nd WW. My family has come from both immigrations.
When my dad came to Mexico he lived crammed in a one room appartment with his mom and 4 siblings. My grandfather was detained in NY first and then Mexico for being German and was freed one year later.
Since they lost everything my grandmother had to work and my grandfather slowly tried to rebuild his life. He never spoke Spanish well and for many years my dad and his siblings had to take therapy and they had to be removed from the German school here since they could not take the very harsh discipline this school had at the time, also they were always ridiculed for their poverty.
My dad then went to Catholic school, but was not Catholic at the time.
During the first years of school here my dad whenever he heard an airplane hid under tables and he never wanted to sleep with his piyamas in case of a bombing
This is only part of his story and one day I will write more (for example he did not finish college and started from the lowest ranks of his company yet ended up being a director there) , but I wanted to explain a little about him and why I am slowly believing if anybody will beat cancer in any of its forms its him.
A person that has survived all of this and still enjoys life to the fullest, loves children and nature has in him a strenght that few of us know.
He is in no way bitter by what he had to endure. He sees it just as part of the cards he was dealt and this is the reason why he wanted my siblings and I to have the very best opportunities in life in terms of education. no luxuries, a very very small house but the opportunities he never had in terms of education.
My mom, me and my brother are very nervous of the news we will be told by the doctors Wednesday, yet my dad is joking, saying that one day he will die and you never ever know when and not to worry too much.
He is still looking out for all of us and living life to the fullest even when facing a cancer diagnosis.
I just hope to have his strenght someday.
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