our little miracle

Zoe Rain Milagros Lopez is the name we have chosen for this little miracle inside of me. 

Names are important to us so we have put a lot of thought into this one. 

Maybe a little extra thought because of the circumstances. 

If you have read my blog for very long you know that Caleb was supposed to be a girl (and I'm still hesitant to believe we are actually having a girl now even though we had a 3D ultrasound this time.) You might also remember that the name we had planned was Zoe Marie.  

Marie is my middle name and the middle name of my great grandmother (I was actually named after her.) I like the way the names sound together but was not altogether fond of the meaning. 

Zoe means life and Marie means bitter or bitterness. I've always kind of hated that my middle name means bitter even though I love the fact that I was named after my grandma. So after a lot of thought and prayer I told Jose I changed my mind and we needed to find a new middle name for this little girl.  Unfortunately, we were stumped. There are lots of girls names we both like but didn't like the way they sounded with Zoe. 

One night while Jose was reading the Proverb of the day to the boys it was the 4th and much of the Proverb is about finding wisdom and never letting her go and all the good she will do for you. 

So he joked we should name a little girl wisdom. 

Sometimes I can't tell if he's joking so I vetoed the idea and googled "girls names meaning wisdom" I found a list with all these names I have never even heard of from all over the world but one of them stood out to me. 

Rain. 

Rain has special meaning to me so I took it as a sign that we found her middle name Zoe Rain Lopez was our name in my mind. Even though I hadn't confirmed it with Jose. A couple days later we were on a date and I told him what I was thinking. He liked it. Our only concern is we live in a country where both of those names are extremely difficult to say correctly. We didn't want our little girl to hate her name because nobody can understand what she's saying when she introduces herself. So we started discussing nicknames. Jose mentioned the name Milagros because it means miracle in spanish. We consider this baby a miracle so it just seemed to fit. Plus Pastora Milagros in Lima has been a huge blessing to us in so many ways through everything so we loved having the opportunity to honor her as well. When we talked about it I said "we could call her Mila (me-luh) here" and we knew we had a winner.  

2 weeks ago at 25 1/2 weeks pregnant

So you can call her Zoe, Mila, Rain, or littlest Lopez. We will probably call her all of the above and more but for right now we are calling her our little miracle

Pregnancy after loss

The last couple months have been a bit of a roller coaster for me. Since everything seemed fine with my last pregnancy I feel this hesitancy to totally get comfortable. Planning for the future seems so silly. I mean I did that last time. I had a baby registry and planned out how I would decorate the nursery. When he didn't come home with me though, any baby stuff I had out only served as a reminder of the big hole in my heart and my arms. But if I don't think about the nursery and the baby, if I don't plan then does that say I'm expecting the same outcome as before? This is the difficulty in being pregnant after losing a child the way I did. I want this child so much and I'm afraid to lose it. I'm also afraid to give into the joys of expecting in case I do lose it. I'm told it's normal to feel this way and I'm sure it is. That doesn't make it any easier.

The good news is that I have now had 2 ultrasounds with great results. The report that the Dr sent home with me listed my amniotic fluid level as "normal" both times. There is no way to explain how happy I am to have a normal amount of amniotic fluid. The baby has wiggled all the way through both ultrasounds and that is another great sign. Last time we took the boys with us hoping to find out the gender (no dice, the baby is still too small for Peruvian ultrasound technology to be able to tell) and we got to see the hand and the feet. We told them the baby was waving and they were excited about it. Both of my boys are voting for another brother. Apparently they like the boys club we've got over here.    Everyone in the world is wishing for me to have a girl, so the rebel in me thinks I should have another boy. It kind of seems like thats what I'm wired for anyway. Honestly I'll be happy either way. I just really want a healthy baby. Seriously, that's all that I care about.


If you are praying for us please continue to pray for the baby's health and peace for our family.
Also the value of the dollar has been plummeting over here. That means our money is not going as far as it was before because we are losing value in the exchange. God is faithful and has been providing as we have needs but we are praying that the dollar turns around and at least stabilizes. Hopefully it's just temporary.

We have a lot going on in the next few months that I'm just waiting until it's all finalized before I share. But please continue to pray that God opens doors and brings the provision for the doors that he has opened

A Rainbow

February 2nd was one of the hardest days of our lives. We lost our sweet baby boy Caleb when he was only 2 days old. While we know he is in Heaven and that gives some comfort it doesn’t completely take away the pain of what happened and the fact that we miss him.  

But God is faithful and has sent a rainbow in the midst of our storm.

"Rainbow Babies" is the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When a rainbow appears, it doesn't mean the storm never happened or that the family is not still dealing with its aftermath. What it means is that something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy and hope.

~Courtney

This week we discovered we are expecting another baby he or she is due April 7th 2013. Please pray for us that this would be a boring and happy pregnancy. It was a surprise but we are thrilled beyond words.  

Caleb Elijah Lopez

This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write in my entire life. I want to write it and at the same time I don't. Even as I sit here trying to write my heart aches thinking of where I was at exactly this moment last week longing to be there instead of here.

A week. How can it already have been a week? I've thought a million times what I'm going to write here and how I'm going to begin and what order I'll put it in and I think I've been so afraid to come back here...so afraid of...of leaving something out...of attaching simple words to an event that is so far from simple, it might just not be possible. I don't know how it's going to come or if it will make sense, but I'm just going to write.

I already had 2 sons. Thinking I was going to have a little girl was an adjustment but I was happy. We scheduled the c-section for February 1st because I liked that the baby's birthday would be 2.1.12 and here in Peru it would be written 1.2.12 things like that make me happy. There had been complications as I've mentioned here but we were praying for the baby to make it. The hospital had us check in the night before because my surgery was scheduled at 8am. I was so nervous I barely slept and I prayed all night. 

At 6am the nurse came in and told me to take a shower. She told Jose he needed to have baby shampoo and some other things that we didn't think to bring with us so he had to go to the store. But no stores were open so he waited until 7:30. The nurses came for me minutes after he left. My spanish is not very good and I needed Jose with me so I kept saying "Yo necesito mi esposo. Espere POR FAVOR" (my way of saying "I need my husband. wait PLEASE") they just kept telling me he went to the store and would be back soon. They prepped me and gave me an epidural. I was strapped to a table and I heard the nurses saying something about my husband wanting to come in and how weird it was and I started crying. A different nurse came over and tried to comfort me. I just said my little spanish phrase a few times and finally she said "he's coming we won't start without him here." When they let Jose in he told me they just had him wait until everything was ready.  

We knew that girl was just a guess, but it was still a surprise when the Dr said "baronsito!" (little boy) And I was so happy. Sure we didn't have any boy stuff but I didn't realize just how much I wanted another boy until that moment. When the nurse held him up to me to see I wanted so badly to hold him and kiss him and tell him how I loved him. But they needed to get him into an incubator and run tests. I knew that would happen long before he was born. Everything is fuzzy after that. I remember Jose saying "Caleb Elijah it is!" I heard my Dr say that I had no amniotic fluid, and I remember praying that Caleb and I would be ok. 

They took me to a recovery room and I was there for what seemed like days. I kept begging the girl to let me see my husband and my baby and they finally took me upstairs but me and caleb both had to stay where we were, separated. When I got to my room Jose told me Caleb's colon was not fully developed and he needed surgery. They were running tests to see what needed to be done. Most likely he would need a colostomy. We waited and waited to find out what was going to happen. I asked Jose to take a picture of him so I could at least see him and he did. Finally the dr confirmed he would need a colostomy and hopefully by 6-9 months we could reverse it and he would be fine. His surgery ended up being around 9 pm and we could do nothing but wait. Jose kept checking on him but there was no news. Finally they told us he had come through surgery fine and it was successful. 

Thursday morning Caleb's Dr told us he had stopped breathing when they took him off the oxygen at 4am. They were able to get him breathing again with the oxygen tubes and they said that sometimes that happens with babies that young. They have trouble getting used to breathing on their own. I was determined to see him so I got out of bed as soon as I could. The pain was horrible. I don't remember ever hurting as badly as I did after this c-section. I kept asking to see him and they were barely letting Jose. Finally after Jose had asked again and again they said I could come down.   

He looked just as I imagined him, like his brothers. With a full head of black hair and light skin like me. Logan and Timothy had both been big 9.6 and 7.12 lbs respectively. Both of them were 21 1/2 inches long. Caleb was 5.5 lb and 17 inches long. He was so small yet he looked substantial. His legs were very short and skinny but he had broad shoulders so we called him our little football player. He looked like he had shoulder pads on. He was so beautiful and I cried. I sobbed actually. I had prayed for him for 4 years and here we was. I thought I was going to lose him but I didn't. He was a miracle. He survived when the Dr said I was having a miscarriage. I thought if he could just make it to term everything would be ok. 

While we were with him we noticed his oxygen saturation level was only at 50% the dr told Jose a bunch of stuff and when we were talking about it I asked Jose if they thought he was going to die, he didn't know. Every time they talked to us they mentioned one more thing that was a cause for concern. God was preparing me but I didn't want to believe it. 

One hour after I left Caleb he left us. Just like that. He stopped breathing and this time they couldn't get him to start again. 6 pm. 33 hours and 5 minutes. That's how long caleb was here. I've heard people say that having a child is like having a piece of your heart walking around outside of your body. You can't control what happens to it but everything that does happen feels like it's happening to you. It's true but how do you explain the way you feel when that piece of your heart dies? I know he's in heaven and given the choice to stay there or come to me he would stay. I'm not mad at God but I'm jealous. He gets to know my baby and I don't. I know it's his plan and theres a reason for it. But it still hurts. I still have moments where I feel like I can't go on. That the pain of losing him is more than I can take. That I will never be ok. But then I have moments where peace comes in like a flood. Gods presence is tangible. I know he is with me and he is comforting me. Even while I grieve he is comforting me. I'm not eloquent enough to explain any of this really. This is just the way it is. 

The next couple days were filled with doing things we never would have thought we would have to do. Thinking about things we never would have thought we would have to think about. Reliving a moment I never wanted to live. Jose wrote this to our Pastor and it sums up how I feel as well. 

"Every step of my walk of faith he has stretched me.  Every step I knew is one for something bigger.  Every step has come at a higher cost but also a higher reward.  I can only imagine what this time of trial will bring to my life.  I knew when he called me, that I being a soldier, am willing to die.  I know that I am not afraid to die now if you ask me to, but it came at a higher price to ask my son to die.  how great a sacrifice can I be identified with than the one that sent his son to die for us.  God will get the Glory in Caleb's life and he will get it through my life.  All this does it gets me more angry at the devil for tempting me with denying Christ and provoking me to fear and not faith."    

3 days after Caleb died we had Sunday service. All we did was worship and Jose gave a short word of testimony about Caleb and an invitation to have a relationship with God. The house was packed. We had 32 people in our living room and 6 of them raised their hands and answered the invitation. It was a beautiful way to celebrate my sons life. 6 people's lives have been changed because of my son's short life. Thousands of people have heard Caleb's story and prayed for him and us. People that didn't know us or each other all came together on our behalf because of Caleb. I can't say that I would have chosen this. I can't say that I'm glad this happened. But I know it was worth it. 

Caleb will always be my son. I will always carry him in my heart. His life as short as it was had an eternal impact and I'm grateful for that. I thank God for giving him to me even for the short time that I had him. 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD."
Jeremiah 29:11-14a

While I was pregnant God gave me this passage. I thought it was for the baby. After He died I asked God why he would give me that passage when clearly it didn't apply. But it wasn't for Caleb. It was for me. To carry me. He knew this would happen. He knew why it would happen. It was for my good. I have a future and a hope. When I pray he listens. I will find Him.
In everything I will find Him.

I want to remember

It has been a crazy 5 months since we moved to Piura. In some ways I feel like we have been here forever. A lot has happened in our lives and with our church. Last Sunday we had 17 people in church! That is huge for us. Especially considering we didn't know any of those people 5 months ago.
We are really excited about several things we are working on right now and I wanted to share them so you can pray for us as we move forward.

As of last week week I started a women's group. I had 3 people (not counting me) on our first night and 9 on the second. I believe there are a lot of women that will want to be involved. We are going over the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldridge. If you've never heard of it or read it I highly recommend it. (It is one of my all time favorite Christian books) The main thing I need prayer for here is that we can find a girl to interpret at these meetings. Jose has been doing it and while I like having him around I think there will be more openness with just women present.

In February we are having our second outreach as a church. "Operación Mochila" or Operation Backpack. We will go back into the same area we went to for Christmas and hand out *hopefully* 100 backpacks with school supplies inside. As far as we know this is totally original here. And just in case you think our timing is strange the school year begins in March.
Our goal after this is to have a monthly kids club so that we can build relationships with the kids/families in the same area. We will go in on a Saturday every month and have a Jesus centered fun time with the kids. As our team grows we hope to either go more often or spread out and bring the same idea to different areas of town
We are planning more outreaches either monthly or bi-monthly and I will share about those as we get closer to them.


*****

I'm 2 weeks away from my due date with this pregnancy. I have been pregnant for 38 weeks or 9 1/2 months (the way pregnancy is measured each month is 4 weeks so you end up saying you took 10 months total...yes, it's very confusing) This honestly has seemed like a very fast pregnancy and I 'm probably one of the only pregnant women ever who kind of wishes it would last longer. I would just ask that I not have to have contractions or heart burn. Those are the absolute worst part of being pregnant at this point. That and I miss Sushi. But we don't have that here in Piura anyway so it's not much of an issue right now.

The first picture lost it's caption in the process of putting these together but I'm 6 weeks pregnant in it. 

This pregnancy has been a huge trial of my faith. I know I talked about it a little here I'm just going to expand on it a little so I don't forget. Every time we have seen the Dr he has found another problem or concern. Lately there is some dilation in what he thinks is her kidneys and her head is measuring right on target but her abdomen and femur are several weeks smaller than they should be. I was put on bed rest the week before Christmas because my body was trying to go into labor and and I was only 33 weeks. I have so little amniotic fluid that even if my water did break I probably wouldn't notice. All of these things are cause for concern and make my Dr frown quite a bit. The papers they send home with me start with the statement "unique pregnancy." I know that God is taking care of me and the baby and even the fact that we've made it this far is a miracle. But that doesn't mean I haven't freaked out quite a bit. I'm actually embarrassed how many times I've started crying while listening to my Dr talk. He must think I'm the worlds most emotional woman. I want to remember this feeling though. When she is 9 months old if I'm struggling to get her to sleep through the night I want to remember that it's a miracle she's here. That I couldn't sleep through the night a year before because the Dr thought she wouldn't make it. When she's 3 years old if I can't get her to listen or be still I want to remember that 4 years before I wasn't listening to God or being still. I was all over the place emotionally. When she's a teenager and doesn't trust me or believe I know what I'm doing I don't want to be mad at her. I want to remember that when I was 29 I had a hard time trusting the one who made me and her. I need to remember these things for so many reasons but mostly because I want to always treasure the gift that God has given me in this baby and in the things he has taught me while I've carried her.

*****

The other day we did show and tell as a part of school. Both of the boys got very excited. I told them that I wanted them to bring something that is special to them and tell me why they like it.
Logan's was his playmobil Nativity set. In telling me about it he said "I like this because it's a very special birthday. It was Jesus birthday. Something very important to know is Jesus is the son of GOD! That is why this is special to me. Thank you." (I was pretty impressed with his presentation considering it was his first show and tell ever)
Timothy brought his bag full of jenga's (He has like 3 sets of the game that he uses as blocks. This is by far his favorite toy in the world) He held the bag up as high as he could and said "I have jenga's! all together they make credits, and castles, and special features. I play with JENGA'S! OK!" While Timothy didn't really have the poise Logan did he did understand and completed the assignment which is a win in my book. I never want to forget their first show and tell.

Timothy playing with Jenga's

*****

Recently Timothy watched a movie that had a couple of kids running a lemonade stand. Ever since then he has been wanting to do one. We talked about setting one up in our yard and letting him sell us lemonade but had not had a chance to do it yet. So the other day Jose told me that while some of his guys were over they were talking out in the yard and Timothy set up a chocolate milk stand. We had a pitcher of chocolate milk already made so Timothy took a table and chair to our yard. Set out cups, the chocolate milk and his piggy bank. He sat there waiting for someone to buy a glass of chocolate milk for a while. I'm pretty sure he didn't make any sales but we did run out of chocolate milk. He's not one to let good chocolate anything sit untouched for long. I wish I had seen it, but just hearing the story makes me smile. He's a funny kid.

So Thankful

I'm almost a week late but we have a lot to be thankful for this year. 

We had 25 people at our house on Thanksgiving. I made my first Turkey ever (actually 2 turkey breasts because my oven is tiny and I was afraid a whole turkey wouldn't fit), I also made my first pumpkin pie complete with crust since you can't buy pre-made crust here and gravy for the turkey. Aside from that I made stuffing, sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes. All of those things were new to the Peruvians we invited over. (mashed potatoes are actually somewhat common but not the way I make them ha) the pastor Jose has been mentoring came and brought his family. His wife wanted to help and was walking around the kitchen as I was cooking saying "what is that?" "Are you sure you don't want to peel these potatoes?" "what are you doing?" She was very helpful, but I did for a moment want to banish her from the kitchen. In the end we ran out of almost everything and everyone was surprised that they liked the american food cooked by the gringa. ;) Apparently US americans have a reputation for not being able to cook. How we got the reputation I don't know.

The one picture I took of the night/food.
It was an awesome night and I Tarzan-ed my way through several conversations before I just started telling people I don't speak spanish after 10. Actually I barely speak english after 10 so I'm doing ok I guess.

I am now 30 weeks or 7 1/2 months pregnant.
We are trying to get family pictures today or this week so I will hopefully have some to put on here soon. I'm not that great at self portraits. I thank God for sustaining this baby and keeping her safe. She moves around a lot and every kick and hiccup is a reminder that God is watching over her.
We are only 8 weeks away from meeting her on the outside. I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy has flown by!

Some highlights of the past month have been
~Pastors GF and Rose and the team from Powerhouse that came to visit
~Jose's dad Pedro came and spent a month with us. He also took time to make lots of improvements on the house while he was here. Such a blessing!
~3 day trip to Ecuador to renew our visas
~Powerhouse Church Peru had our first baptism's Logan and Jose's dad were 2 of the people baptized
~We hosted our first men's/pastors meeting with 20 people
It has been an awesome and full month

We are looking forward to a few things in the next month and year and will update more as the details are put together.
We have also updated our Prayer Needs tab. Please continue to pray for us!
 

Life

You know those people that have mountain size faith? They get hit with something that seems impossible to recover from and they just kind shake it off and move forward. In my mind they are to faith what Rocky is to boxing. You should never count them out because no matter what hits them they always come back stronger than ever. Jose is one of those people. His faith and steadiness in the storms we have gone through always points me back to the one who holds our future in his hand.

I on the other hand am not like Rocky. I usually get blindsided by that first punch and then reel for a little bit before I get my head back in order. Then I'm usually ready for the fight. A couple months ago I mentioned that we needed prayer for the baby because I have low amniotic fluid. Last night I was talking with a friend and we naturally started talking about the baby. She asked me how I'm doing. I kind of just spilled my guts about how I've been feeling in general. It was good and healing and while I was talking to her God was talking to me.

About a year ago a big percentage of my prayer life was me telling God I wanted to have more kids but it just didn't seem like it was possible. I had so many questions and logistical concerns and was just trying to get God to show me what to do. Then La Casa Del Padre had a conference and brought in 3 prophets. I was not at the conference and didn't even expect to meet them, but on Sunday they called Jose and I up on stage so they could pray and prophesy over us. One of them told me he saw divine protection for our family and angelic assignments over our children not just the ones that we already had but the ones that were coming. He said that I had many, many questions but God just had a smile on his face as he poured out a divine grace over our family for more children, even when the circumstances are not as great as we may think they should be. The things that he said gave me peace and I let it go. Just waiting for God's timing. Jose and I decided that April would be good timing for us to start trying for another baby. That was obviously the right timing because I got pregnant right away. Long before the pregnancy test would have come up positive I knew.

Since we were moving in the middle of the pregnancy and our plan was to visit Piura in my 12th week. My US Dr never saw me before 12 weeks so it seemed like a good plan. Things for us are always subject to change though and through about 4 different circumstances we ended up postponing our trip to my 15th week. The week before we came La Casa Del Padre had the Pastors mentors (Pastor Danny an Giselle Bonilla) in town. They happen to be American and they also operate in the prophetic. They were talking to Jose and I after the service and she told me she saw a little girl that looked like me preaching to a crowd. Then she asked if I had a little girl. I told her no but I'm pregnant so you never know.

So we get to Piura and I have my Dr's appointment. He couldn't find the heartbeat, so he did an ultrasound. The baby's heart beat was strong but my amniotic fluid was low, the baby was measuring a week small and wasn't moving around. He was kind but told me what to watch for if I were to have a miscarriage. I was blindsided by this he didn't have anything he could do and there was nothing I could do. I started to think I would lose the baby. We emailed a few people and told them to pray. I didn't tell everybody and I didn't know when I would be able to. I didn't want to hear anything good or bad about other people that had been through it. I just needed to process and pray.

My mentor emailed me Exodus 23:25-26 "So you shall serve the Lord your God & he will bless your bread & water. And I will take away sickness from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days." Jose randomly decided to listen to the recording of the prophecy from last year and I heard the things he said about angelic assignments over our children to come. Then God gave me Jeremiah 29:11 "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." And I remembered something Pastor Danny Bonilla told me when we were talking that night. He said "I feel like God wants you to know that everything is going to be ok with your baby" Those things bound me up and got me ready to fight. We shared our prayer request with the world and many people joined us in praying for the little life inside of me. I had confidence that this child would live.

We went back for another appointment last week. I felt ready for any kind of news. The news we got was that my amniotic fluid is still low. He couldn't tell for sure but he thinks it's a girl and she has caught up in her growth. (no small babies for me) She was moving around a lot and her heart beat is still strong. Then he told us he had thought we were going to lose her when we went in the first time but she's growing and active and it seems like she's going to make it. I left feeling ok. I knew that it was possible my amniotic fluid was still low and to be honest I'm 6 months pregnant and still look like this.

Which he said is because of my amniotic fluid. So I wasn't really all that surprised. But a few days after the Dr I started to worry.

Have you ever read a story in the bible and gotten frustrated with the people and their response to God? Whenever I read about the Israelites and their time in the desert I just want to shake them. I want to yell "God just let you walk through the sea and then drowned the Egyptians! WHY are you complaining? Did you already forget?" But I'm not like that with myself. I come back to God praying for peace and comfort when he gave me a pile of comfort to fall back on. I mean, how many pregnant women get 3 different prophets telling them their baby is going to be ok? yeah, not many. I know I'm weak and just as bad as the Israelites I want to yell at.

But now I'm fighting. My little girl is going to be named Zoe. It's a name Jose and I picked out 8 years ago. Before we were even married. Zoe means Life which I think is prophetic in and of itself.

If I could live anywhere it would be the beach

This is what I'm loving right now. 

So I thought it was the best way to start this blog.

Jose's cousin, and uncle blessed us by lending us their car

and beach house for a couple days.

It is winter and so there were literally 3 people at the beach with us. 

Locals who were not there to play.

   

 But we played and we froze 

we collected a ton of seashells 

walked up and down the beach 

and watched crabs roll balls of dirt

It was lovely and peaceful. 

kind of like this 

I really love the beach. If Jose and I ever retire I want to live there. If we don't I'm believing my mansion in heaven is built beside the crystal sea. (yes I think there is a beach in heaven. God made a lot of them on earth so he must love them at least as much as I do)  

It was a nice break from the rest of our trip because, well, house hunting is stressful.

Especially when you have a very specific list of needs and most of the houses you see work for half of them.

There is also the fact that Peru has a slower time table. "we need to have something by monday" doesn't mean anything here. We might as well talk like the grown ups on charlie brown. 

My favorite so far was a realtor who wanted to show us a 2 bedroom house that was about $1000 more than we want to pay because it has a big yard. Jose told her no several times and finally spelled out that we need enough room for 5 (well 6 soon) people.

Tomorrow we are looking at a few more houses then making a decision. If we don't find the perfect thing we have at least found a good temporary place. So please keep us in prayer for that.

Another prayer request is for me and the baby. We had a chance to see the dr here in Piura. 

He is an old family friend and I'm really happy to have such a great dr to work with here.

During my exam he did an ultrasound and found that I don't have very much amniotic fluid. 

It's something that can fix it itself and there are a few things we are doing to help. 

I am drinking a ton of water, not lifting heavy things and trying to rest. (hahahahahaha, rest is not easy when you are a mom, wife and missionary who is moving in a month.) Like I said I'm trying.

After I found out I waited a few days to tell other people because Jose and I wanted to just pray. We did and we have peace that this baby is going to live. We are still asking everyone to pray that my body will produce the amniotic fluid, and that we would be able to do everything we need to in the next month while mommy is on light duty. We won't hear anything else about the baby until next month so for now no news is good news.

Lots of prayer requests this week/month.

Thank you so much for lifting us up in prayer!

I will leave you with this

a boat driving down the street. 

I wish I had a boat car...not really