When Myla Came To Our House

A whole year and a half has passed since my last post and I have to say, I'm quite amazed to see that there have been a few people still stopping in! Sorry to disappoint you time after time!

After my trip to a second world country I realized how full my life was....to overflowing! And this was one of the things that got eliminated. I continued to homeschool our boys and make a go of my photography business, but dropped some things that seemed to be overwhelming burdens that just weren't necessary to have in my life!

Since that time much has happened and God has worked amazingly in our lives!!!

Almost 2 years ago I wrote briefly in a blog post about having longed for a daughter for years. As I said in that post, I'd gained peace over being blessed with all boys and grateful for my family just the way it was.

I loved the specialness of having all boys and felt that our family of seven was "perfect"!

My "baby" was potty trained, old enough to feed and dress himself, and I was enjoying having "older" children. You see, I've always been a baby lover and if I didn't have one of my own at the time, then I needed to be holding someone else's if possible! I just couldn't imagine having my LAST baby!!! How do people do that?! Well fast forward some more and I was there. I LOVED my new found freedom in having a little older children. So for three years I lived my life FINALLY in peace with God's best for our family......but He had a special surprise for us!

In August of last year we realized that we'd be expecting more laundry come next April!!!

....definitely wasn't in our plans and it took a good long time to get used to the idea of having another little person in our home! And as for hoping for a boy or girl, I was for the first time, on the fence! I was thankful it wasn't up to me to decide what we were having!!!! Another boy would keep things nice and simple and obviously I know how to do boys. On the other hand, a girl would be a fun, new, and  exciting adventure, but would also change our lives in many ways!

My pregnancy was exactly like all the others, just more sever symptoms.....I'm not in my 20's anymore! :) Ha! I survived the morning sickness and mostly breezed through the second trimester. However the last stretch brought months of groin/pubic pain that gradually got worse to the point that my hubby was taking me grocery shopping and I was doing only what had to be done. I was too proud to ride around in a motored cart at Walmart and instead walked painfully slow everywhere I went! It didn't matter if I was sitting, standing, or walking, it just plain hurt. Thankfully though the pain wasn't unbearable, more of a dull ache, with occasional grinding....yuck! I did a LOT of sitting towards the end until the last couple weeks. At that point I'd had it with being sedentary and I just got up and went and tried to ignore it as best I could.

Here are a few lovely iPhone pictures of my progress...

The last one was taken two days before delivery.

Rewind to December at my 22 week ultrasound. I told the tech we wanted to find out what we were having and she immediately went to see if she could tell. No sooner did I have the words out of my mouth when she says, "it's a girl" very matter of factly.......wait!.............what did she just say....a GIRL?! Was she talking to us?!? Is she 100% sure??????? Tears slipped down my face and once I could talk around the lump in my throat, I asked her to check again just to be certain. Upon learning that we had five boys she gladly headed back down to confirm that yes, undoubtedly there was a little girl in there!

I will never forget that feeling of shock, amazement, thankfulness, and EXCITEMENT!!!! I'd given up my dream three years earlier and now God had given us the ultimate surprise in His perfect timing!!!!

Here she is.....

Fast forward now to April 4 at 12:40 am and 38.2 weeks pregnant. I had recently gone to bed when I felt what I suspected to be my water breaking. What made it so surreal is that I had JUST prayed, "Lord please, could my water just break?" (My water has never broken until I'm pushing!) I was sooooooo over being pregnant and in pain. I was miserable physically, mentally, and spiritually! This baby couldn't be born soon enough....and it had nothing to do with her being a girl! So as you can imagine, I was quite shocked when my prayer was almost immediately answered! LOL!

A long story short, little miss was born after only 28 minutes of excruciating pain!!! It was a very fast and furious birth, typical of my others, but beat my previous fastest of 45 minutes!

Meet Myla Quinn! All 8 lbs. 8 ozs. of her!!! ....my biggest baby by 7 ounces!

She has captivated our hearts and is adored by all five of her big brothers!!!!! She is a miraculous gift, one I continue to thank God for daily! My heart is filled to overflowing and I feel so unworthy of such a blessing!!!!!!! God knew my heart and mind at it's ugliest and yet, when the time was right, He chose to bless us when we least expected it! God is like that! And He is good even when the answer is "no"!!!!

The story doesn't end there though! You see, she was born about 12 days before her due date and definitely an early baby! Two days later, a very special uncle was called home in a tragic, fatal accident. I am so grateful that we had this little sunshine during those dark days that followed!!!! She brought a ray of light to all of us, including my family that came from out of state and even to my grieving aunt.

So Myla's first week of life was filled with people bringing in food, family coming and staying at our house, and a huge viewing/calling and funeral. My two brothers and at that time, my brother's fiancé left after being here a week. My dad left a few days later and then my mom stayed a week beyond that. Once my mom left we had a week to regroup and absorb what all had really taken place over the past two weeks! Then a dear friend from Kansas (that I hadn't been with in years!) came with her little guy and stayed with us for about three days. Once she left we had another week to finish getting summer clothes pulled out and winter ones put away and to pack for our two week trip to Texas for my brother's wedding. We had a great time in Texas, specially being all together in one house!!!!

Whew!!!! Just reading all that makes me tired! Here we are two weeks later and I have a TWO MONTH OLD!!!! I'm so sad that it has flown by and I barely got to bask in the glow of having a newborn, but I am even more grateful, that I had my baby to hold through those sad, tough times and during the rejoicing, fun times!!! I think it's finally, truly sunk in.........we have a DAUGHTER! Praise the Lord!!!!!

I'm sure after reading all that, you can now understand why I don't have many "professional" pictures of little Myla! It's just been too crazy and she doesn't exactly enjoy the whole picture taking process!!!! Ha! But I'll share with you a few I do have from the past 2 months, including a lovely iphone snapshot or two. Enjoy and thanks for stopping back in! I can't promise though that I'll be back around any time soon! :) I'm a busy momma to SIX now.......wow that still sounds like such a big number!!!!


8 days new

Lots of protectors!!!!

1 day old!

Myla & Mommy (3 days old)

 Daddy & Myla (10 days old)

Chubbing up and all broke out at 4 weeks. :(

Andrew, Myla, and I at my brother's wedding. (6 weeks old)

4 Generations!!!

Myla's 2 months pictures in an heirloom dress given to us by my grandma.

  

 Yesterday's smily shot at 9 weeks old!

Esperanza 11-12 / Part Four

My conclusion of our trip is going to fall very short of interesting, compared to the past three posts! I have little pictures to add and at this point, few words. Sorry, we did school this morning and our grocery shopping this afternoon/evening with all five....back to reality! ;) Needless to say, I'm done for the day, but wanted to finish this up before the weekend. It seems I need to have some words to share on Sunday at church! Ugh! Can I just take my blog along?!? ;) ...they told me no, so I better come up with something else! It was worth a try though! :D

Anyway, picking up where I left off in Part Three, New Year's Eve day, I believe we landed back in Lima around 3 something in the afternoon.

Pastor Luis and a young man from his church met us at the airport. We hopped in two taxis for about an hour ride to the other side of Lima where Pastor Luis's church and home was. We dropped our things off where we would be spending the night and then went out for some supper.

That night the church had a party for it's youth and other youth in the area. It was a good, clean party to ring in the New Year, filled with music, dancing, food and fireworks.....lot's and lot's and lot's of fireworks!!! I have never seen so many in my life, not even in all my 4th of July's put together! Jeanna took a video of it on her camera and it's over 5 minutes long and that still wasn't the half of it! We aren't even talking sporadic fireworks, it was like 10 minutes or more of continual grand finale!!! So cool!

When your on the third floor with a huge window, the view is amazing!!! I wish I could show you, but once again I left my camera behind and planned to get Jeanna's from her. So sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it! ;) It was a very memorable night and early morning!

Thankfully we were able to sleep in the next morning and had plenty of time to get around and pack up. Church had been canceled due to the holiday and so we had our own little service as we waited to be picked up.

The afternoon was spent eating a once again late meal (it had become rather normal by this point! ha!) and then going to the Inca Market for some shopping. Afterwords, Jeanna and I did a mini photo shoot for the pastor and his beautiful wife, Zorida. It was fun and Lima has so many amazing places to take pictures!!! Jeanna and I worked great together!

Ahhhhhh, GREEN!!!!

The evening went fast as we packed our last minute purchases for home and took of once again for the airport. As usual, the line was pathetically long and once we had our boarding passes we were off to find some supper. Till we inhaled it, said our last goodbyes, went through security, etc, etc, we made it just in time to be the last ones to board our plane! Whew!

It was almost midnight and we had a long flight ahead of us! Long enough that they showed three movies almost back to back! I fell asleep at the end of the first one, briefly woke at the beginning of the second and then was out till the end of the last one! I never dreamed I could sleep soundly in an airplane seat, but I was pretty oblivious for several hours! :)

We landed in Atlanta at almost 7 in the morning on Monday and had 3 hours to claim our baggage, re-check it, customs, security, find our gate, and then find some breakfast. Delta was so kind to feed us breakfast at 5 in the morning, but wow! Who can stomach it at that time?! I'm not even usually out of bed at that time on a normal day, let alone eating something!!! It was kind of them though! :)

By 11:00a.m. we were back in FREEZING Chicago waiting on our ride home.

This trip is one I will never forget! A mission trip is special, but a mission trip with just three other women is incomparable! We became very close.

We laughed together and we cried together. We made so many memories, even those kind that "what happened in Peru, stays in Peru!" LOL! Don't ask, cause I won't tell a soul! Ha! When you room together for a whole week and your walls are paper thin, well, let's just say you don't have too many secrets! LOL! You become pretty good friends.

Or you want to strangle each other! JK!

I am so honored and feel immeasurably blessed to have been called to be a part of the Esperanza 11-12 Peru mission trip!!! A HUGE "Thank You!" to everyone who prayed and/or gave in one form or another! I couldn't have went on my own, but with much support I was able to go and use my talents to bless others and glorify Him!!! "Thank you! Thank you!"

A special thanks to Italo, Rebecca, and David at the orphanage for having us for the week! All the miles and gas it took to go back and forth each day! Your sacrifice of your time and resources were a huge blessing! For having never met you before, I felt so welcomed and loved the moment I did! You opened up your lovely home and beautiful hearts and I am grateful! At this point it doesn't appear that I'll/we'll be coming back this summer, but I pray that somewhere in my future I will return to a place in the Amazon jungle that has an orphanage overflowing with happy children! God bless you for the work you are doing in that place!

I also want to thank Luis and Zorida, and his mother for opening up their homes and also making me feel so welcome! I had a great time on New Year's Eve and will never forget your mother's hospitality! She was so sorry for her tiny apartment and yet we fit perfectly! She gave all she had and it was a blessing! May the Lord continue to bless you as you reach out to those in your neighborhood!

Mission trips come and they go, but I don't think this will be one easily forgotten.

Many faces are etched in my mind and I wish that I could stop back in at the prison and sit a while, even if it means crying. Or go and sew with the young ladies at Casa Hogar and cuddle babies. Or even travel the long road to the Shipibi tribe and experience their daily life, but I am here. I'm a wife and a mother, these are my first callings. I can continue to pray for these women and help to send others, until my time is called again, if it is His will that there be another time! I am grateful to have experienced all He has had for me and have come away richly blessed. I am filled to overflowing and I pray that I was spilling over on all those lives around me last week! It always amazes me that God can use an ordinary person like me to complete His will! I LOVED being part of His perfect plan and so thankful He choose me this time! How can one go to bless others and yet come home feeling as I do now?! To God be the glory! Great things He hath done!!!!



***Just an FYI*** If you will be at our church this Sunday, I blog much better than I speak! And your prayers would be much appreciated. I much prefer to hid behind a computer screen.

***WARNING*** to those going on a small group mission trip, there is a good chance you'll get to speak up front once you get back! ;) Just thought you should be properly warned, since I was not! ha!

Esperanza 11-12 / Part Three

Friday, Dec. 30, our last full day in Puerto Malonado took us to a little church where we met with the Shipibi women, an indigenous tribe quite a ways out of town deep into the jungle. It was a group of about eight to ten or so women and some of their small children and a few husbands had come along.

Once again I have very few pictures of this group because I was busy teaching them to sew with their brand new sewing machine! (Thank you to all those in the Ministry of Outreach for your contribution!!! The women were very grateful!) I was again surprised to find that from this remote group a couple of them had once had the opportunity to use a sewing machine somewhere in their past. All of them were very eager to learn and try it out on their own! I have no doubt that they will take good care of the generous gift placed in their hands from people here in our little Indiana town. Before we left, one of the older ladies from the group spoke in their native tongue emphasizing the care they would need to take with the machine. Their gentle natures and cautious spirits spoke volumes while they were learning!

We also gave this group hygiene bags and purchased many of their handcrafts that they'd brought along to share with us. They also showered us with gifts for the sewing lessons.

See what I mean, we gave and gave and gave and just kept getting back without ever expecting it!

Afterwards we ate lunch....yep, more yummy food! ;)

Then off down the long, torturous road back to the orphanage. We made a quick stop at a road side clinic, literally, in the middle of nowhere!

With a school house next door that is partially usable and the other end houses "squatters".

A quick stop back in at Casa Hogar, to drop off additional sewing supplies, an iron, and a huge bag of cloth diapers!

But not so quick that we didn't have time to get in a little more baby lovin! ;)

Such a little cutie!

Then on to the orphanage for one last time. This is the sight we were greeted with....

It's been a long time since I've seen a double rainbow....sigh. Another very awesome thing about this shot, the building you see highlighted is the very building that the Esperanza 2012 team hopes to finish when they go next June! I don't claim to know what that means exactly or promises, but I can't wait to see what God has in store for that trip!!!

Our last evening at the orphanage was spent wading through those tall weeds (praying we didn't see any snakes!) to see what all needed to be done to finish the second house on the property. Back at the main house we visited, played Ninja with David, and discussed projects and details for next summer's mission group. It was another late night, but thankfully the next morning didn't have to be an early one. We would be packing up and heading to the airport once again.

Saturday morning, after we said our tearful goodbyes, prayed together, and boarded our plane and headed back across the jungle...

Over the now snowy Andes Mountains...if you can catch a glimpse of them between the clouds!...

With another touchdown in Cusco...

and off again towards Lima...

I thought of all the blessings, luxuries, convinces, whatever you want to call them, waiting for me at home and of the many precious memories I'll be taking with me.

No more crazy traffic weaving in and out with horns constantly beeping, at all hours mind you! (This picture doesn't even show the truth of it!)

I have an amazing bathroom! (I was soon to find out in Lima, they can be quite cozy!)

My refrigerator makes ice! I don't have to got to town everyday just so I can have an ice cold drink!!! (I know for most of us it's hard to imagine right now, but think dead of summer, blitzing hot with only lukewarm water to drink! You get the picture!)

I can wash my clothes in a machine, not by hand, with the water from our well...

and not have them coming out looking like they've been washed in this...

and speaking of that, everyday I can drive on a nicely paved road, instead of the dirt/mud, rutted, rough road we traveled everyday in Puerto Malonado.

I can live in a house without bars on my windows.

I can come and go as I please and I know right where my children are and who is taking care of their needs.

The list goes on and on...
I've got my own vehicle and don't have to depend on or pay someone else to take me anywhere.
In the heat of the day, I can go inside and get relief.
I have a huge freezer full of meat. I don't have to buy it daily from the market.
My water comes from a tap, not the stream down the road.
I can use my tp and flush it too!!!! :D

All the things I've grown up with that seem "normal" are really luxuries! They can be lived without and many people do! We are truly a rich nation and while in my nation I am not considered rich, the world over I am, and I will be held accountable for it. What am I doing on a daily basis, right here at home? How am I using my resources and time and talents? It was a huge eye opener! Something I've read about and heard about from others, but it means so much more when you can experience it firsthand! And yet all these things are temporary, what we carry in our hearts and in our actions will last beyond a lifetime! An acceptance of Jesus' precious gift and the hope of things to come are what really matters and I pray these are the things that we left behind! I pray we were lights where there was darkness and left esperanza/hope where all else was lost! To God be the glory!!!

Esperanza 11-12 / Part Two

Imagine for a moment what it must be like to grow up in a family that once you reach 12 or 13 your parents no longer feel that they need to take care of you or maybe they can't afford to. So you are put out on your own or forced to help support the family and earn your keep in less than desirable ways. You may find yourself alone and scared with no place to turn to. Or looking for love in all the wrong places and end up being pregnant without a caring and supportive spouse. It's a sad picture and one that can start too young.

Wednesday, Dec. 28, found us at Casa Hogar. A place of refuge and esperanza (hope) for such girls. It's located the next property back from the orphanage.

It's a home supported by a church in Canada and ran by an amazing Peruvian family, Joel and Patty and their three children. (Their other son wasn't able to be in this picture. And actually there was a third little boy running around there and I'm not sure where he belonged, so maybe he was part of this family too....?)

Not sure if this little guy belongs to them or not, but he sure is a cutie and was so shy at first!

Joel and Patty's love for each other, their children, and the girls living at the Casa Hogar just radiated!

They had little luxuries, if any, but yet were truly happy people!

They are making do with what they have and everyone works together to make the home run efficiently. We saw a few of the girls carrying HEAVY containers of water with smiles on their faces! No attitudes or complaints!

They each have their daily chores and work together to make meals and tend the flowerbeds and things like that. It's a place to call home!

This was truly a home of refuge and peace for girls who otherwise found themselves unwanted or potentially exploited for various reasons. There were six girls living there at the time we visited and all proclaimed to have accepted Jesus! They ranged from about 14 to 18 years old.

We did get a group picture, but I didn't get one on my camera, and I guess looking through them now, I don't even have pictures of all the girls. :( My camera battery died while we were there, so I missed quite a bit. Double :(

Here is Amisaday (aka Amy), Karen, and Juliana with her 8 month old baby boy, ?.

Two of them had babies of their own. Here is the other one, Rebeca and her 9 month old baby Benjamin. He was born a preemie and was definitely tiny!

We had fun loving on these girls and the babies too!

 We gave them all bags of hygiene items, an esperanza bracelet, and most importantly, a sewing machine with all the necessary supplies and patterns. A couple of them had previously had an opportunity to sew on a treadle sewing machine, but I spent the morning teaching them on the machine we brought and letting them all try it out. It was a great morning and at least four of them were very eager to have a sewing machine around!

While I was giving sewing lessons, Jeanna was having a great time playing with the little boys, and Sherry and Linda were purchasing handcrafts that some of the girls already make. Like these beautiful hammocks.

The plan was that we'd teach and equip these girls with a trade they can use now or fall back on if they need to in the future, along with their current crafts. Sherry purchased quite a few things from them and they will be available for purchase at her Freedom parties. Proceeds will be helping the girls out, supporting the orphanage, and you will have a lovely accessory from Peru! A win/win situation!

The girls made us lunch and it was another delicious authentic Peruvian meal! I could eat their food all the time! The spices and herbs they use are just yummy! As we were packing up to go another missionary couple stopped in and brought another sewing machine for the girls to use! They had had it in storage for about a year and "just happened" to drop it off the same day we were there! To add to the awesomeness of it, we'd brought two machines along to teach these girls on and one appeared to no longer be working after the long journey to South America, so we were no longer able to leave them with two machines. God's pretty awesome like that! ;)

After two days worth of traveling and a very unrestful first night in Puerto Maldonado we got to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at our hotel taking naps, eating supper, and getting prepared for the next day. I was so grateful for this time to catch up and be fresh and ready for the next day when we went to the prison.

December 29th was an experience like no other. Words can't even adequately describe the things that took place there inside those prison walls that day. Everyone who prayed, was a part of this experience and I thank all of you for the time you committed to prayer! God definitely went before us and was with us and I pray we left Him in the hearts of those who didn't know Him!

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any cameras in, so all we can show you is the cold prison walls, but inside are 26 grieving, broken women. Many have children and don't know who is taking care of them or if they are even being taken care of at all. A few were from Columbia and Brazil and other surrounding areas. One of the older ladies had been there 7 years and was missing seeing her grandchildren grow. Another had only been there four days and could barely get the words out for the sobs in her throat and tears streaming down her cheeks. They were heartbroken and aching inside. Longing for deliverance.

You see, in Peru once your sentence is up, you aren't free to go until you've paid your fine, an amount that could take a lifetime to pay. You can pay in payments throughout your sentence, but you have to try and get your money to someone you trust on the outside to take it to where your fine can be paid on. Often times guards will help themselves to those funds passing through their hands and even if it makes it outside those walls, family and friends can't always be trusted. It's a heartbreaking thing!

I've never been inside an American prison, but for some reason I imagine hardened women with a chip on their shoulder and an attitude of "don't mess with me". I hope I'm wrong, but that is the vision I have in my head. (I'm sure they aren't all like that, but I wonder if it isn't the majority.) These women were not like that at all! Even their "leader" didn't walk around with an attitude of you better do as I say or else! They were kind and loving and approachable. Not one instant did any of us feel in danger. I don't know why any of them were in there, but I can't imagine any of them doing anything horrible, that's how soft they were. They loved us and we loved them.

First off, it was a surprise visit! The guards knew we were coming, but I guess none of the prisoners knew it. We sat in a big circle and introduced ourselves and then they did the same, with Rebecca as our translator. One mother even had her young baby in the prison with her. They can have them up to 3 years old with them. Another was 7 months pregnant. Almost all had at least one child somewhere on the other side of those walls. Sherry then gave her testimony and Linda shared some scriptures. The ladies wanted to sing and so we stood and held hands and sang praise songs in Spanish or some of us just hummed along. There wasn't a dry face in our circle of women!

Together we cried and together we laughed!

I wish I could go visit them everyday, the experience was that powerful! I had never expected to be moved to tears, to a place where I was sobbing for all the broken lives and hurt around me.

Later those who made handcrafts brought them out for Sherry and Linda to shop for Accessories for Hope, while Jeanna and I painted their fingernails. When we were done we sat around visiting with them and as we got ready to go, we formed a line and each one passed by us with a hug and some precious words in our ears. We had brought a message of hope with us and they were grateful! We had also taken along hygiene bags for them and inside each one was a Spanish New Testament. The girl who had been there only four days took it out and had it clutched in her hand like a lifeline. That picture is etched on my heart! The prison was definitely the highlight of our trip and none of us were truly ready to leave them!

After our time at the prison we went to eat with Italo, Rebecca, and David.

Then we went to meet Anthony and Marian, soon to be the orphanage's first two children! There mother has died and their father is in prison and their grandma can't afford to keep them any longer. We picked them up and one of their cousins and went for ice cream! A special treat! (Sorry, guess I didn't get any pictures of them either!)

After that Italo dropped us ladies off at the fabric "store", definitely not your everyday JoAnn Fabrics! Ha! We found what Sherry was looking for at the first one! So we walked down the row of stores to see what we could see.

It got late and we were rather drained so Rebecca put Sherry, Jeanna, and I in a motorcar taxi and we went back to our hotel for a late night snack and swim to cool off, while Linda and her spent some precious time together. The perfect ending to a wonderful day! I fell into bed that night thinking how blessed I'd been that day and I couldn't imagine it getting any better! How is it that we went to give and yet we all felt like we were receiving so much?!

***Stop by Jeanna's fb page if you'd like to see additional pictures from our trip. This first album has pictures from our trip, but also some from another trip she took so you kind have to figure it out. A second album has many more from just our trip. (I'm hoping that she has these albums set so that everyone can see them. If not, I'm so sorry I sent you over there!) And don't forget to check out Sherry's Accessories for Hope fb page for information about her freedom parties and how you can help support the abolition of modern day slavery!***