All is Well!

Praise the Lord, Antonio's surgery went well. Both doctors involved were quite pleased.  Antonio's subglottic stenosis has improved.  This is the narrowing in his airway that I have mentioned before.  Instead of being more than 30% narrow, it is now only about 15% narrow.  What an answer to prayer!!  As far as his gallbladder, that is now gone.  The gallbladder did show inflammation and of course "stones".

Antonio is now recovering nicely at home. He is in some discomfort, but is handling the pain well.  The one thing about my little guy is that he always has a smile on his face, no matter how bad he is feeling.  What a brave little boy he was!

When the nurse came to tell us it was time for Antonio to go to the OR my heart sank.  My little man was all smiles and I was in turmoil.  I kept repeating over and over in my mind the verse in 2Timothy 1:7 " For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  By God's grace I was able to keep it together.  I kissed my "boy" and then watched him drive away in a motorized car to the OR along side his daddy and the nurse, still with a smile on his face.

During the three hour wait for Antonio to come out of surgery my husband and I prayed and tried to keep ourselves busy.  It was a long three hours, but God is good and kept our hearts and minds stayed on Him.  When we were finally able to see him I did have a great sense of relief.

My husband and I want to thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement.

On a different note, my husbands graphic novel is now out on the "stands".  It is called "Female Forces - Sonja Sotomayor".  The graphic novel can be purchased in comic book shops, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and through Amazon.com  The book is now in the Supreme Court Library in Washington.  My husband was quite honored by this gesture.

God is good.










 

 

Busy, Busy!!

   What a wild and crazy last two months.  Sometimes I feel like I can hardly breath.  At least it is a good busy.

   Like I mentioned in my last post, Ashlee competed in another vocal solo on April 23rd.  She did quite well and will be going to Nationals on Aug.1-7.  Nationals will be held in Detroit, MI.  My husband and me and the two little one's will be accompanying Ashlee to the competition.  We are looking forward to the trip.  It will be a very intense week for Ashlee.  This competition has hundreds of contestants.

   After she competed on April 23rd, she and I caught a plane out to FL that evening.  We flew to FL because she had a vocal audition at 10:07am on the 24th at the college see will be attending in the fall.  This audition is for a scholarship towards her college.  I do have to say, the music professors were impressed with Ashlee.  I heard her sing her opera piece through the door and it was beautiful.  God gave her the grace to do all the singing that she has had to do in the last two months.  We are still waiting to hear if she was awarded scholarship money.  We are hoping and praying!!!

   Right now Ash is on her senior high class trip.  She left last Fri. and will be back this Sat.  Yes, it is hard to believe we have a third child graduating from high school.  Ashlee graduates on June 6, 2010 from Emmanuel Christian Academy.

   The trip to FL with my daughter, Ashlee was a wonderful trip.  We were able to stay with a friend of mine from junior high.  She and her family live in Lakeland, FL, the same town that the college is located in.  It puts my mind at ease knowing that Ash has people that she knows in town.  Well anyways, like I said we had a wonderful time staying in their home.  We were able to visit a the church that the family goes to.  Ashlee and I loved it.  It is called First Baptist at the Mall.  This is the biggest church she and I have ever seen.  It has over 8,000 members.  The church holds three Sunday morning services.  Ashlee also will have a job at the church, working with special needs children.  My friends husband got Ash the job.  It has been such a blessing how God has been working everything out regarding Ashlee's college choice.  She and I can see that Lord's hand in all things regarding her schooling.

   We also went to the beach, Anna Marie Island.  It was overcast and extremely windy, but was had a wonderful time.  The bad thing is Ashlee, my friends twin girls and I got sunburned, especially Ash.  We didn't realize that overcast days cause sunburns quicker and more sever.  On another day, Ash and I spent the day at Southeastern University.  We got a tour of the campus and she was able to sit in on a private vocal lesson.  The campus is absolutely beautiful.  The dorms are pristine, the cafeteria looks like a restaurant and the food is amazing.  The professors and the students were very friendly and helpful.  The most important thing my daughter and I loved about the college was the love for the Lord that was evident on the campus.  What a blessing that was.  Directly in the middle of the campus is a very large bronze statue of Jesus washing Peter's feet.  Our tour guide was telling us that the statue is the heart beat of the college.  He said we strive to have the students graduate from this college with a servant's heart.  He said you cannot serve and love God like you should if you do not have a servants heart.  How right he is.

   Here are some pictures of our trip to FL.

    Next Wednesday May 12th, Antonio, our 8 year old will be having his surgery.  His gallbladder will be removed.  Yes, he has gallstones.  Before the surgeon begins his surgery, ENT(ear, nose, and throat) will be doing a bronchoscopy to check his airway status.  Antonio has mild subglottic stenosis(a narrowing in the airway).  Because he has to be intubated for the surgery, the surgeon wants to make sure there is not going to be any problems.  He also needs to know what size tubing to use to intubate him.  This is the part that I am a little nervous about.  Antonio has a very sensitive airway.  I am also having a hard time with another one of my children being in the hospital.  Everyday I ask the Lord to help me with the doubts that I have regarding his surgery and the fears that I have.  Please pray for Antonio and our family next Wed.

  Thank you for all your prayers.  Please continue to pray for the start of the foundation we will be starting.  God is good.

Just A Quick Note!!!

My daughter Ashlee, will be performing tomorrow in Agawam, MA.  She is in another Fine Arts Competition.  This competition is a huge one.  There are over 150 churches involved.  Ashlee will be singing another vocal solo.  When that competition is over she and I will be catching a flight out to Lakeland, FL at 6:05pm.  We are flying to Southeastern University where she will be singing for a vocal scholarship to the college.  Yes, there is a lot going on in such a short period of time.

Tomorrow she will be singing "Imagine Me Without You", by Jaci Velasquez.  On Saturday she has to perform two pieces.  They are, "On My Own", from the broadway play Les Miserables and "Batti, Batti", an opera piece.  She sings them so beautifully.

My seven year old, Antonio, sang in his homeschool fine arts program today.  He did such a wonderful job.  He sang, "I'm a Soldier of the Cross".  I hope to post the video soon.  My husband missed recording most of the song because he was intently watching Antonio and forgot to press the play button.

Please pray for my daughter, Ashlee.  Pray that she does not forget the words of her music and that she sings with the power of God behind her.  Also, please continue to pray for Eithene Rose, the little girl with many health issues that my little Alana had.

God is good.

Alana's Art Gallery

These are some of Alana's artwork that she did while in the PICU at Mt. Sinai.  She loved to paint.  It made her feel happy.

My husband named all of Alana's pictures.  The first picture is called, "It on Pink", next is "Alana's Many Colors, then "Purple Tracks", followed by, "Green Graffiti", then "See Red Three", and lastly "Ana Alana".

 



There is one more picture that is very special to me.  This picture she and I did the Monday before she passed away.  This was the special day that I spoke about in one of my earlier posts.  It is called, "Remember Me".

It warms my heart to look at these pictures again.  She sure was a good "little artist", just like her daddy.

God is good.

God Grace is Sufficient!

     Sorry it has been a few days since I have last posted.  I wanted to let you all know that Alana's birthday was such a special day.  Let me tell you about it:

     We still do have the Foundation up and running, but we both wanted to do something special on the anniversary of Alana's birthday.  I went to Toys R US and bought a Bubble Maker(which was shaped like a lion) and some extra bubbles.  I then packaged the toy in a birthday gift bag and brought it to CCMC(CT Children's Medical Center).  I was able to witness the giving of the gift that my husband and I had purchased to a sweet little child.  What joy there was on the child's face when those bubbles starting spitting out of the lion mouth.  What joy it gave me to see how happy the child was.  This is exactly why my husband and I want to have this foundation(Alana's Bubbles for Joy Foundation) up and running.  We want to make many more children happy by simply handing them a gift of bubble toys.  Please keep us in your prayers as we get the foundation going.

     My daughter, Ashlee will be competing in another vocal solo competition on Apr. 9.  It she advances to the next round, that will be on Apr.23.  The week of Apr.12th she will be headed to SC for nationals.  This trip is in regards to her winning states and regionals.  The evening of Apr. 23 she and I will be headed to Lakeland, FL to audition for a vocal scholarship.  The audition is held at Southeastern University where Ashlee will be attending in the fall.  She has a lot of singing to do this month.  Again I ask for your prayers for my daughter.  She needs strength and a healthy voice.

     Many of you know that my 7 year old son Antonio, was scheduled for surgery back in November '09 to have gallbladder removed because he has gallstones.  The surgery had to be canceled because Alana was in the hospital in NY quite sick.  We simply could not have one child in the hospital in NY and the other in the hospital in CT.  Well, now he needs to have the surgery.  The gallstones have gotten larger and he is now showing symptoms.  He has been complaining of a pain on the right side of his abdomen, a tell-tale sign.  There will be three doctors involved in his surgery, ENT, the surgeon and GI.  Antonio has what is called "subglottic stenosis.  This is a narrowing in the airway.  The surgeon will not do the surgery unless he knows that Antonio's airway is safe, thus ENT.  ENT will perform a bronchoscopy, which is inserting a tube through the mouth with a camera at the end of it to see if the airway does not have to much scar tissue. Antonio has had many upper and lower airway issues.  Hopefully, all is well and the surgeon can proceed safely with his surgery.  GI will be doing an endoscopy and a colonoscopy during this surgery time.  Antonio will be getting the works.  Please keep our little guy in you prayers.  It's going to be tough to have another one of our little ones in the hospital again.

     Yes, there are many things that will be going on in April.  We will definitely need God's grace.  It's a good thing that God's grace is abundant, we seem to need it a lot.

     I want to say I hope you all have a wonderful Easter or Resurrection Sunday.  I love Easter because of what our Lord sacrificed for us.  His death, burial and resurrection.  It's a wonderful day to remind us that we serve a living God.

   God is good.










     

     

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALANA!!!

    Today would have been our sweet Alana's 3rd birthday.  She just missed it by three months.  I must say, that I am blessed to have had her for the 2 1/2 years that we did.  It seems that she lived a life time in those few short years.

   I want today to be a day of remembering all the wonderful memories about Alana.  There were so many good memories.  As I am typing this post, I can hear her little giggles in my mind and I can see her sweet, sweet smile.  I can picture her doing her little scootching on her bottom across the floor.  I can also hear her call my name and say, "Mama, pot, pot, pot."  That was her way of telling me she had to go potty.

   For the last several days one particular memory keeps replaying in my mind.  Whenever that medical supply company to drop off Aubree and Alana's medical supplies, Alana would get very excited.  I would plop down the two or three boxes of medical supplies and Alana would empty out all the contents of the boxes onto the floor.  She would then proceed to put everything back into the boxes.  It made her quite happy to play with the medical supplies.  She would play like this for hours.  I think I replay this memory in my mind over and over because she was so very content playing with the boxes and supplies and I can still picture her content little face in my mind.

   My husband and I have yet to get the foundation that we are going to be starting up and running.  I was hoping to have it going by her birthday.  But, despite the delay I will be bringing a bubble toy to Connecticut Children's Medical Center for a sick child there in Alana's memory.  Bubbles made her happy and we would love to make another child just as happy.

   Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family.  We love you all.

   God is good.

Forever Memories and Gifts of Love

   The memorial service on Friday was quite special.  It was a bittersweet event as a friend of mine mentioned.  In one sense it was hard to go back the hospital where we lost our daughter but on the other hand all those involved in Alana's care became part of our lives.  Many are like family to us.

   Many members of the transplant team either stopped by to us or were able to stay for the service.  It meant a lot to my husband and myself to see the team.  I could see in their hearts how much Alana had touched each one of them.  Each of them told us how much they miss Alana and what a special little girl she was.

   We were able to see many of the nurses who took care of Alana.  Evelyn spoke at the memorial service and told about how much Alana meant to her.  She was one of Alana's favorite nurses.  Alana would always do her little dances when Evy took care of her.  This nurse has become a good friend to our family.  The social worker from the transplant team also spoke.  She too was touched by Alana's life.

   We were able to show that staff Alana's video that we had shown at her funeral back home.  All were very touched by the video of her life.  Many had not seen what she was like before she became very sick.  I'm glad that it brought joy and laughter to their hearts.

   My mother, my oldest sons godparents and four of my children(plus a girlfriend) were able to travel to NY for the memorial service.  My mother was touched by how much love the nurses and doctor's had for Alana and our family.  I was glad she was able to be at the service.

   When the service was over one of the ladies from the child life department handed me a beautiful flowered box.  I had forgotten about the contents in the box.  Inside the box were the molds we had made of Alana's hand and foot the day she went home to be with Jesus.  I cannot express to you the feelings that welled up inside of me.  The hand and foot molds showed every little crease and crinkle of her skin.  It looks almost perfect.  I just wish I could tell you in words how much that gift means to my husband and myself.

    Thank you Child Life Department at Mt. Sinai for this special and most amazing gift.

   Here is a look of the program for Alana's memorial service.  The child life department did all the planning of the service.  They all did such a wonderful job.  Thank you all again.  Dana, Dawn, Angie and many others, you made March 19, 2010 a special day forever in our hearts.

God is good.