Seth's Baptism Day

BAPTISM - Is a beautiful testimony of what a heart has believed and what faith has received. It's a proclamation of God's saving grace, a declaration of obedience to Christ, and a celebration of a life that has been changed.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! "

11 CORINTHIANS 5:17

October 28, we baptized our baby boy, God Parents (my brother Javi) and Herb's sister (Janette). Our little guy was a true trooper, he behaved like a big boy and it was just a very blessed and joyous day for all of us.

Remembering Kacey

IN LOVING MEMORY OF KACEY - (SETH'S BIRTH MOTHER) MAY 1983 - OCT. 25, 2007

"For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life". (Psalm 56:13)

I post this picture on Seth's blogsite tonight in memory of his birth mother. We received notice today that Seth's birthmother had an accidental death. It's been an extremely hard day for Herb and I today. I have so many mixed emotions about this young girl that was in our lives for (5) months.

So this is the women that gave birth to our son and delivered him to us. God used this young girl to give us a baby and just 2 1/2 mths after she gave birth to Seth, she is gone, gone forever.

All I can say is that her life will always be remembered through the face of our son Seth. Everytime I look into the eyes of our precious one - I will see his birth mother's face shining through. I just ask that during this time, all of you who read this blog, please keep Seth's birth mother in your prayers, may her spirit rise and may our Good Lord bring her home to eternal life.

Praying to you Lord Jesus that you have mercy on Kasey and may her spirit rest in peace forever and ever.

Early Steps Evaluation

Praise God for he is always in control. This morning we were visited by an occupational therapist, a nurse and our coordinator for the early steps program. They began to immediately test and evaluate Seth. I am happy and proud to say that Seth did not qualify for the program, that is a good thing, because it means that when it comes to his motor, cognitive and social skills he scored high and passed with flying colors. Once I get the summary report back, I will post all the details, but here is what I know right now:

Social skills he scored 108 points (the highest is 115)

Motor skills he scored a 98

Cognitive skills he scored a 95

so what does this all mean - WE HAVE ONE BEAUTIFUL SMART BABY BOY !!!

THANK YOU JESUS - I am one Happy & Proud Mama !!!!

Happy Halloween

Here is an Early Yummy
Halloween Treat !!!!

Enjoy the pictures
You gotta Love the smile !!!

48 hrs at the hospital

Remember two months ago when I said stay tuned for the detailed blogging about the 48 hr hospital stay for the birth of Seth. Well, I think tonight I can finally put thoughts together and complete this one task.

You know the biggest challenge for me as a mom to a newborn (which is new to me because I have never had a newborn before) is time management. I guess this is the biggest challenge for all new moms, but WOW - I am having a rude awakening. Let me get on with the 48hr blog before I continue to ramble.

Here I am sitting in bed at 2:00am. Gave Seth a midnight bottle and could not go back to sleep. Let me take you back to August 6th, 2007 - We received a call from the attorney's office around 4:00pm to say that Seth BM was admitted to the hospital, she had a doctor's appointment at 2:30 that afternoon and from there they admitted her. At around 6:30pm, we received a call from the BF stated that BM was admitted and that she was feeling ok, she was walking around and that he would call us as the evening progressed.

Well sure enough, the calls came in periodically throughout the evening, around 11:00pm, Herb and I decided to try and get some sleep, as I laid my head on my pillow - I thought okay tonight is the beginning of the sleepless nights for a while, as a nervous smile came about my face and my mix emotions continued to flutter my heart. All of a sudden, at least it seemed that way, the cell phone rang, it was 12:30am, a voice on the other end (BF) says, congratulations your son was born. I could not believe it !!!! I said oh the baby was born already and he said yep and I said how is he? And he replied perfect - the baby is healthy, he was born at 11:14pm, and he weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz and was 19 1/2" long. As I took in a big breath and was silent on the phone for a fraction of a second, the BF said well are you all coming over to the hospital? My response was if it's ok with the BM and they said of course and so within a few minutes, we were all in the car and on our way to the hospital about 35 minutes away from our home.

Who went to the hospital at 1:00am? My hubbie, me, our son anthony and my mom. As we approached the parking lot of the hospital, we all got out of the car and I look from a distance and I see the BF outside walking towards us. As he approached us, he came up to me, gave me a hug and said congratulations, as he shook Herb's hand and told him the same thing. I was in complete awwhh. This was the beginning of the many ways that Jesus revealed himself to me through out the 48 hrs at the hospital. As we start walking toward the building, I look from a distance and there I see Seth BM sitting outside in a wheelchair smoking a cigarette. I was pretty shocked at that but what can you do. I approached the BM and said how are you feeling? and she smiled and said just like I just gave birth. It was a bit strange but the BF said well when you guys are ready, just go through those doors to the second floor and the nurse station are already expecting your arrival. I walked with Herb and the rest of the family towards those doors calmly but my mind was jolting, I could not get to our son fast enough. We finally made it to the nurse's station and I told them that we were the adopted parents for the (baby- leaving out last name for confidentiality), they called the head nurse in charge. As we waited for the head nurse, our other son Anthony points out to me this sign looking straight at us that reads

"WHEN GOD NEEDS SOMETHING DONE, HE SENDS A BABY AND THEN WAITS" Wow ! What an affirmation that was for me that I was right where I was meant to be in my life. It seemed for that precise moment, all my struggles with my life, our finances, my infertility, our shortcomings in our marriage, time just seemed to stop and I knew that MY GOD was in control. As my thoughts and emotions began to unravel, my attention then turned to the head nurse. She introduced herself and said congratulations, then those worrying words "Can I speak to you folks for a minute by yourselves? Of course, my first thought was Ok there is something wrong with the baby. She takes us into this room and says the baby is perfectly healthy, but I do need to talk to you about something, as I took a breath, she advised I know that you all were expecting to stay in a hospital room with the baby but we have no rooms available, and I said "Oh my goodness, don't even worry about that, it's ok just take us to see our baby". She smiled and said the baby was put in a special nursery for special care, not because there is anything wrong with him but just because we are short staffed and we had to put all the babies together in one nursery. I said to her again, that is fine - just take us to see our son. She then escorted Herb and I to the nursery and introduced us to the nurse in charge at the nursery, she was so pleasant. She said congratulations and she picked up our son and handed him over to me. I can't tell you the emotions that I was feeling, when I first held him in my arms. I could not believe what our amazing God had orchestrated. Here I am, a women who struggled year after year trying to get pregnant and not being able to conceive, going to doctor's and never getting an answer as to why I could not conceive, then we finally move the west coast, taking my struggle to an infertility doctor, sharing my story with him, we try Invitro fertilization - after taking many hormone pills, medicine and shots it finally worked. I finally got pregnant, only to lose the baby 7 1/2 mths later, that was in 2003, fast forward almost 4 yrs later to the exact date and I am holding our newborn baby in my arms., People there is a God and he is real and he comes alive in your life if you seek him with all your heart, mind and soul .

Going back to the nursery room, Herb was standing next to me in aww. He was so happy too. The nurse set us up in a corner there, by this time it was already almost 3:30am. I sat in a rocking chair and fed, and held our new baby boy proudly in my arms. Giving God all the glory and honor for the work he completed.

I will pick up on what happened the next morning at the hospital soon.

First Meeting with Early Steps

On Seth's first month visit with his pediatrician, she evaluated Seth and informed us that she would like for him to begin receiving Occupational Therapy. She advised that Seth left side of his head was more flat than his right and that OT would be good for him now at such an eraly stage. So without further due, through the help of my sister and her contacts, I contacted Early Steps Program. This is a state funded program that helps any child under the age of three to receive any type of therapy that could be needed. This morning Seth had his first meeting with the Coordinator of Early Steps. She was a very nice lady we went over all the paper work and she explained how the program works and what will happen during our follow up meeting. It was very positive and his next meeting will be on Oct. 24 - Seth will meet with our coordinator, an OT and a nurse. He will undergo a series a test for coordination, mobility, auditory and much more. I will keep everyone posted as to what happens. Please keep us in your prayers.

Thank you and have a very blessed Day.

A weekend with Madrina

This past weekend Seth spent most of his weekend with his Madrina(God Mother)in the East Coast. We went have him measured for his Christening outfit. He looked too cute. Among looking cute, he began a cough on Friday night and come Sunday he was just not feeling good with his little cold. He is hanging in there but passed the cold off to his Mama and I took it gladly for him. Anyways here are some pictures of this weekend. Enjoy !!!

Seth in Deep Thought

Hmm! Let me think about this do I stay with Mama or do I go with Ayi ???? Na - I think I will stay with my Mama ....

All about Adoption

This is a wonderful synopsis on adoption that I came across. I hope that you enjoy it as much I did when reading it.

Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, "I know all about adoption, I was adopted." "What does it mean to be adopted?", asked another child. "It means", said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead ofher tummy!"

Yep and that is what we will tell Seth when it's time.

More Pictures

Just for you Ayi - Eat your heart out !!!!

2nd Month Doctor's Visit

October 6 - Seth turned 2 months old. Wow! I can't believe it has been already two months since we recived the call from the BP that our son was being born. As we rushed out the door at 12:30pm and hurried to the hospital to hold our miracle baby in our arms. What a miracle. Our hopes and dreams had finally become a reality. As I got to hold our precious son, as the nurse turned to us and said congratulations - you have a beautiful healthy baby boy! Those words were music to my ears and I can still hear it echoing in my brain. Oh How blessed we are.

Today October 10 - we took our baby Seth to the doctor for his (2) month check-up. These were the findings. Seth has a little dimple looking thing right under his tail bone. So we thought it could be a part of spinabifida. We took him to get an ultrasound on Sept. 17 - and we found out today that the ultrasound and exrays that were done on his spine and the dimple came back normal. All the test were negative and his doctor says that is just a dimple. Thank God for he has reminded us once again that he is God and that when we trust whole heartily that everything works for his glory.

Also Baby Seth is now weighing in at 11 lbs 9 oz and he is 23' long. He is 50 percentile in weight and 50 percentile in height. Not for nothing but he is just scrumptious. I am head over heels with our baby boy.

Thank You Jesus !!!!

Be Watching out for Seth Baptism scheduled for October 28.

Seth's first feeding

Today (October 3) I finally gave Seth his first dose of Rice Cereal. I would say YES that he liked it very much. He drank 6 oz of formula and half of a teaspoon of Cereal in 15 minutes and I have pictures to prove how much he liked it. Check it out !!!!

I Love This Little Guy

I am just in love with this little guy. How can someone fall in love in such little time. Ask God this question? It's simple - says the Lord "It's the same love that I have Loved you with" Love with all your heart, mind and soul. I do Lord, I do. Thank You !

Update On Seth

Seth finally had his last post placement on Sept. 28th. His Social worker came to our house and completed the report. We are expecting to have the final adoption hearing for some time in Dec. That will be the day that Seth will be forever ours. I cannot wait until that day comes. Seth has brought so much happiness in our lives. Anthony always talks to him and cannot wait until he becomes older so they can play together. Seth is Anthony's little toy among other things, he loves to walk into the Publix were he works so that he can show off his little brother. When it comes to Herbie - Everytime that Seth smiles at Herb - Herb says stop smiling at me because you are going to make me fall in love with you. How precious. And me, well I'm just in Awwhh with his presence. I find myself asking the Lord over and over again "What have I done to deserve such a beatiful gift? " Again - we are so blessed, God is faithful all the time.