BLESSINGS

Victor and I have really close friends who live two streets over from us. You will recognize Theodore from our Wedding. He was one of the groom's men and was paired up with Emily. Rene and Theodore married Christmas Day about three years ago. This is their son Noah. In this picture Rene is about 35 weeks.You are probably asking yourself: "Why are you telling us about your friends?" Well, I will tell you:

Theodore shared with us that they named their baby Faith long before she was born because she represented their Faith in God. Earlier in the pregnancy their baby had been diagnosed with full trisomy 13; a condition that cuases severe birth defects. Doctors informed them that this condition "is not compatible with life." The ultrasounds revealed a perfect looking baby. Yet she had been diagnosed with a heart defect caused by the T-13, hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Here is a link to a video of trisomy babies that are now with Heavenly Father. A great video showing they are truly a gift from God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QJF0Cs4f9s

The Provencios asked for our thoughts and prayers. All they wanted was to go full term and be healthy enough to go home. If even for a short while.

Theodore sent us e-mails keeping us up to date.

Faith Christian Provencio was born January 22nd at 11:37 p.m.

Theodore sent us this e-mail the next day:

"We had allot of family there along with photographer Amy Fink and Fr. Daniel O'Sullivan. Right after Father O'Sullivan baptized her. At first about 5 minutes she did not respond to stimulation to breath and her heart rate was dropping. As soon as the Fr. started the sacrament of baptism Faiths heart rate rose and she started to breath, it was nothing less than a miracle. Most trisomy 13 babies don't survive birth. It was great to have Faith finally with us. Though Faith did have problems that developed later, she would have episodes where she could not breath and turn blue. We would stimulate her give her oxygen and she would start to breath again. This was being caused by her heart condition. She had her last episode about 7 pm this one she did not recover from she passed away peacefully being held by Mom & Dad at 7:26 pm Friday January 23rd 2009 a short 19 hours 49 minutes after her birth."

I am truly grateful for the blessings of having healthy children. I am especially grateful for the powerful example of our friends and their deep faith and trust in Heavenly Father. I realized that we sometimes forget what a blessing our families are and that they are a gift from Heavenly Father. Sometimes we are given years with our children; spouses; and parents. Sometimes it's just for hours or minutes.

I hope we will all take some time to show how much we love our children; spouses and parents. It is not much to give a hug; say I love you; smile or just sit quietly on the couch listening to music or reading a book out loud.

Have fun loving each other this week!