This is the third week that I’m back to The Pregnancy Center. I’ve been volunteering there since October 2005 but since Julia’s birth I was taking a break to get better adjusted to her and her to me in the house. I’m taking her with me, of course, and it’s been a blessing so far.
The Pregnancy Center is an awesome place to work and I do love the staff team. Everybody has a passion for the cause and A LOT of compassion for the pregnant women.
The majority of girls that look for the center are going through a crisis pregnancy and usually seriously considering abortion. It’s sad to see them go down this path so we do our best, in the most compassionate way, to show them that there are better options. Ultimately, it’s up to them to decide but it’s very rewarding to see them change their minds after getting more information on abortion and other options.
Basically, I’m helping doing the Ultra Sounds of the pregnant women, with 3 other nurses. It’s so amazing to show the mom the baby’s heartbeat and see their eyes water most of the times realizing that they carry a real tiny baby and not just “blood” as some people believe.
I’m also teaching Childbirth Classes for the moms that are carrying their pregnancy to term and I enjoy teaching very much!
In the beginning I was not sure how Julia would adapt to the new schedule but she is doing well so far. Of course, there are a lot of “aunties” that are dying to spoil her a bit while she is there, so it makes it easier.
It is a ministry that faces a lot of spiritual battles, so if you feel led by God, please, pray for the girls and for us that minister to them. It is known that there are at least 3000 abortions A DAY in the United States. Have you thought about how many lives we are missing a year? The numbers are too high and we are losing this battle to the enemy. We do need more volunteers there to do different things but we also need people that stand in the gap and pray for this ministry.
If you live in Kona and want to help out somehow, please, give us a call at – 808 326 1766.
If you don’t live in Kona, consider praying for us. We need this covering.
And if you want to know more details about this ministry I’ll be happy to talk to you by phone or e-mail.
Thank you.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Julia's Birth
Julia was born on November 9th, 2006, Kealakekua, Hawaii. She was 7.2 oz. and 18 inches long. I was in labor for 48h and ended up having an emergency C-section. This was a big disappointment for me because I’ve always wanted to have a natural delivery. Because I had a C-section they did not allow me to hold my baby right away. I was only able to hold her in my arms when she was 3hours old. It’s well known how important the first hour of life of a newborn baby is. It’s when the baby is the most alert and ready to establish the bond with mommy. Thank God Matthew was there and was able to bond with her and it was very rewarding for him but I felt guilty for not being there for my baby.
From the beginning I didn’t have a lot of milk. I breastfed her exclusively for 15 days and had to supplement with formula up to two months and then I stopped breastfeeding because I had NO MORE milk. This was another BIG disappointment because I NEVER thought I would not be able to breastfeed my babies up to one year. And everybody knows the advantages of breast milk, no discussion about that. But reality is that I really didn’t have milk.
Well, guess what? With all these struggles I had a GREAT time of getting closer to God for the first couple of months after she was born and I’ll share with you one experience I had during this time.
I was trying to breastfeed her one day and she was refusing my breast. She was crying, totally upset, obviously hungry, but she would push my breasts away and keep crying and fighting me. After a while I was crying as well, very frustrated and feeling totally rejected by her.
And I was also crying out to God and asking for His help and for discernment to know what to do. At one point I felt God saying:
“Do you know what you feel when she fights and refuses your breasts? I feel the same when you fight my love”. And He went on: “Stop receiving the drops of my love, I want to pour out much more on you”.
And then I was REALLY crying and repenting before God because I never thought that He would feel rejected by me and I didn’t even know I was refusing His love. So I asked Him what I should do to completely receive His love. And He answered: “That’s the problem; you don’t have to DO anything. Stop DOING, simply BE in my presence and let me take care of you. Stop striving and fighting, I want to hold you in my arms, as you are holding Julia, and take care of you, providing everything you need. As soon as you start receiving my love she will also feel it and settle down”.
And I saw myself snuggling with Jesus and hearing Him speak words of love and affirmation to me. As soon as that happened Julia stopped crying and latched on, without my help, all by herself. It was like a miracle but I knew she was feeling Jesus’ love and peace.
That was an extraordinary experience and from that I took a couple of lessons. We all know that our kids belong to God. They are NOT OURS. We all know that in our minds but not always do we feel it in our hearts. After that experience I really felt that she belongs to Jesus and that there’s no better place for her to be other than in His arms of love. It was clear that I can’t provide everything she needs and I’ll always fall short on something. So it became really easy for me to surrender and truly, give her to Him. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
And the second thing I took out of it was true compassion for new moms. If I ever come back to work as a Pediatrician I’m sure I’ll have an extra amount of compassion for the moms of my little patients.
Isn’t that amazing the way God works? He takes what the enemy meant for evil and turns it into good. I’m SO grateful for that and for God’s gentle way of teaching us, always full of love. Praise Him!!!
I love you, Father!!!
Ana
From the beginning I didn’t have a lot of milk. I breastfed her exclusively for 15 days and had to supplement with formula up to two months and then I stopped breastfeeding because I had NO MORE milk. This was another BIG disappointment because I NEVER thought I would not be able to breastfeed my babies up to one year. And everybody knows the advantages of breast milk, no discussion about that. But reality is that I really didn’t have milk.
Well, guess what? With all these struggles I had a GREAT time of getting closer to God for the first couple of months after she was born and I’ll share with you one experience I had during this time.
I was trying to breastfeed her one day and she was refusing my breast. She was crying, totally upset, obviously hungry, but she would push my breasts away and keep crying and fighting me. After a while I was crying as well, very frustrated and feeling totally rejected by her.
And I was also crying out to God and asking for His help and for discernment to know what to do. At one point I felt God saying:
“Do you know what you feel when she fights and refuses your breasts? I feel the same when you fight my love”. And He went on: “Stop receiving the drops of my love, I want to pour out much more on you”.
And then I was REALLY crying and repenting before God because I never thought that He would feel rejected by me and I didn’t even know I was refusing His love. So I asked Him what I should do to completely receive His love. And He answered: “That’s the problem; you don’t have to DO anything. Stop DOING, simply BE in my presence and let me take care of you. Stop striving and fighting, I want to hold you in my arms, as you are holding Julia, and take care of you, providing everything you need. As soon as you start receiving my love she will also feel it and settle down”.
And I saw myself snuggling with Jesus and hearing Him speak words of love and affirmation to me. As soon as that happened Julia stopped crying and latched on, without my help, all by herself. It was like a miracle but I knew she was feeling Jesus’ love and peace.
That was an extraordinary experience and from that I took a couple of lessons. We all know that our kids belong to God. They are NOT OURS. We all know that in our minds but not always do we feel it in our hearts. After that experience I really felt that she belongs to Jesus and that there’s no better place for her to be other than in His arms of love. It was clear that I can’t provide everything she needs and I’ll always fall short on something. So it became really easy for me to surrender and truly, give her to Him. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
And the second thing I took out of it was true compassion for new moms. If I ever come back to work as a Pediatrician I’m sure I’ll have an extra amount of compassion for the moms of my little patients.
Isn’t that amazing the way God works? He takes what the enemy meant for evil and turns it into good. I’m SO grateful for that and for God’s gentle way of teaching us, always full of love. Praise Him!!!
I love you, Father!!!
Ana
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Introduction to my blog
Hello Dear Family and Friends,
I'm creating this Blog in order to communicate more frequently with all of you and let you all know what is going on with us here in the Big Island of Hawaii.
In order to post something in our website I depend on Matthew because the program we use is in his laptop so it makes it harder for me (Ana). But here it is very simple and handy so I'll try to post frequent news of our family and ministries.
I'd love to hear from you all and know how you are doing. Comments on what I write are very welcome. They will help me to improve communication.
I'd like to give a special "thank you" for John Teague who gave us the idea of creating a Blog. He and his wife, Karen, were here in Kona and took the time to see us and collect some information about our ministries so that they can take that information to Matthew's home church back in California (Redwood Covenant Church).
Thank you all for taking the time to read.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Blessings,
With love,
Ana
I'm creating this Blog in order to communicate more frequently with all of you and let you all know what is going on with us here in the Big Island of Hawaii.
In order to post something in our website I depend on Matthew because the program we use is in his laptop so it makes it harder for me (Ana). But here it is very simple and handy so I'll try to post frequent news of our family and ministries.
I'd love to hear from you all and know how you are doing. Comments on what I write are very welcome. They will help me to improve communication.
I'd like to give a special "thank you" for John Teague who gave us the idea of creating a Blog. He and his wife, Karen, were here in Kona and took the time to see us and collect some information about our ministries so that they can take that information to Matthew's home church back in California (Redwood Covenant Church).
Thank you all for taking the time to read.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Blessings,
With love,
Ana
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