Mommies and Babies

I cannot possibly describe how exciting it is to see women go through the journey of pregnancy and birth! Being a part of it and getting to know them is really beautiful! It's so satisfying to recognize women when they come in for their births and to see them recognize you. There's already a connection because you've been doing their prenatals. Then to see them when they come in for their three day check up or for family planning and to hold their babies and see them being so healthy and growing bigger is really awesome!

On 3/9/09 I witnessed my first home birth, exactly one year later I got to witness another precious baby boy entering the world! Here he is with his beautiful family:


My first home birth, a whole year ago:



Home birth baby turning 1!!!

My first home birth was an amazing and beautiful experience. It's wonderful to look back and to see how the Lord has moved in my life. A year later, I am able to be even more involved in another precious birth! It was a beautiful birth and being able to help catch the baby was incredible!

A few weeks ago, I experienced one of the longest labors I've ever attended. Although it was tiring, it was really beautiful because I was able to make a real connection with the mom. It was awesome to see her actually comforted and reassured by my presence! Because it was such a long, hard labor she really began to trust me as I went through it with her. It really blessed me!!!! It's amazing to serve women and to see it making such a difference for them! I didn't even get to catch the baby because I was holding her hands so tightly, but it didn't matter. I was actually needed by her and that was an amazing feeling! After a long, hard labor, she had a beautiful baby girl! I learned a lot about myself and how I can interact with women during their labors.

This is me holding and weighing the baby at her three day check up


Baby home news:
This is Jusin! I haven't had a chance to mention him before


Justin is chubby and extremely happy! He is great at really making eye contact and allowing you to see into him. He is just so cuddly that he makes me want to pick him up all of the time! He is really starting to lift himself up on all fours. He is constantly and consistently full of joy. He lets your love and smile affect him, which is a beautiful characteristic.

Cindy has such kissable cheecks! She also had really great expressions, she just loves to stare at your face and really reacts to you talking with her. She makes these cute little bird noises when she's talking to you, it's adorable! We have been working on rolling with her and she's really trying hard. Today she started making singing noises because she was working so hard! A few times she's even done it on her own! She's a very lovable girl who has come a long way!



I think Vanessa has had over three or four hair cuts in her short lifetime and I just had to include a picture of how adorable she is with her amazing hair:
A few weeks ago we had a visitor at tlc, it was Lemuel Esquivel! He grew up in the little children's home and was coming back to the Philippines in order to adopt a new baby brother from another baby home here. Lemuel is the reason I first found out about this ministry here! His mom told me about it, the only reason she knew was because of Lemuel! So he is the reason I'm even here! It was wonderful to see him loved on by the staff, they had some great stories about him as a kid. Their over whelming joy and love for him were so evident. If you would like to see pictures from his visit go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149980&id=1438977332 which is his dad's facebook pictures. It is awesome to imagine the kids who are currently in the home going with their own forever families! What a blessing to be able to see these babies one day, grown up, loving the Lord, and flourishing with their beautiful families!

Speaking of forever families, we said goodbye to Mark last week! He was His sweet mom and dad's first baby! They were so sweet with him, it was really wonderful to see, and really sad to say good bye to him. We're also had to say good bye to Andy! He was recently matched with a family here in the Philippines! It's great but so sad to see them go! The twins in the baby home, Jay and Denis will be leaving with their forever families in May, I'm excited to meet thier families, but once again, sad as well. They are really lively and joyful! They're always happy to see me, and they brighten my day! They already have pictures of their family and their new home where they'll be living soon! They show me "this is mommy, and this is daddy and this is our ate and kuya" It makes me cry! It's incredible! It's really cool to see the process of adoption from this point of view.

Here are the twins with Senon

Senon and the twins are practically all like brothers. Senon is really sweet and always loves to be held and cuddled!

It's really fun to go swimming or to play soccer (every saturday night) with these sweet kids! Here's one of our swimming outings:
This is Calvin, he is really sweet and really attached to the care workers. He loves playing with the older boys and sitting and reading with one of us. These pictures are actually from going to the pool for his birthday! He's totally adorable and has a big personality!