we are loved...

hello friends and familee!

As some of you know, this past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a Tres Dias retreat. Tres Dias is unlike any retreat or conference I've ever attended. I really didn't know what it would be like when I went. I knew that I would hear a series of talks about the Christian life and my prayer for the weekend was to be spurred on. God answered. What I didn't know about the weekend is how many ways God and the team would surprise me with expressions of Love. And I didn't know that some of you would surprise me either with your amazing notes and letters. I am overwhelmed... literally brought to tears by your words, Love and prayers. Thank you so much to each of you who wrote me.

I won't say too much more about the retreat because it is designed with many surprises and I won't ruin it for you. I'll just say if you ever get a chance to go on a Tres Dias retreat (it's all over the country), don't miss it.

I've wanted to write an update for a little while now and just haven't gotten around to it. We are drawing nearer to the embryo transfer day, which will happen on November 5th, a week from Thursday. I'm still taking shots of Lupron as well as oral doses of Estradiol (estrogen). In the last week, I have started getting migraines again. I have gotten them every time I have taken Lupron. Sadly to say I had a headache 3 of the 4 days of my retreat but I was still able to remain engaged for the most part. Several of these headaches aren't the "I'll take some advil and it will be gone" kind of headaches. These are the "I've taken 2 doses of Vicoden and I still feel like my head will explode and I'm going to throw up" kind of headaches. Sorry to be graphic, but now you get the picture.

The last cycle, I was only on Lupron for about 2 weeks and the headaches only lasted a few days. I've now been on Lupron since October 10th and I have about 10 days to go. If the headaches last that long, I'll survive and it will be okay. But man, it would be nice if they didn't right!? We are praying and ask you to join us that they will go away. They are being caused by the extreme shift in hormones, so we are praying for my hormones to stabilize.

I also want to tell you that I went in for another sonogram last week and now a 3rd (of the 4) cysts I had has disappeared! So, now only one remains. We are very happy about that.

We ask for your prayers:

1) that my body would be made ready for our little buddy to reside there for 9 months.

2) that our child's life would be protected next week as they get him ready to be put into my uterus... that God would put a shield of protection around his little life and make him (or her :) very strong.

3) that Felipe and I would receive everything we need from the Father to continue this journey and that we would receive the fullness of all He has to give us through it.

Thank you so much. We love and appreciate you our brothers and sisters.

Here we go...

On Saturday, we started the process of preparing my body for the second embryo transfer (i.e... going back for our little embryo). I got an ultrasound on Friday and the two cysts we were waiting on are now small enough to continue. Not totally gone, but not a total nuisance either. I don't think I've updated in a while, so here's a little refresher: after the first IVF cycle I had 4 cysts on my ovaries. I started taking medication to get rid of them and within a month 2 were gone completely. Within 10 days of that the other 2 had shrunk. So now we can get going.

Felipe started giving me injections again and then in a few days I'll start a series of medications to prepare my body for the transfer. Basically, they are waiting on me to be in the right part of my cycle and they are preparing my uterus for the little buddy.

As you know, we experienced a great loss last month losing our two little embryos. So, the beginning of this IVF cycle is different from the first. We are hopeful. Yet, we are sober. Honestly, I feel a lot calmer as we step into this one. We now know what it feels like for this to not end with a baby in our lives. And we have experienced peace and joy on the other side of death. We know that God is faithful to comfort. Yet, now I want to hope and laugh and rejoice as we walk through this. Please pray for courage for us both. We want to be present to this little life and give to him all that we have to give.

We also ask for your prayers for our little one. This process is more difficult than the first on the embryo. And we know that this is a life. This little embryo has all the potential of becoming a baby. They watched this embryo for a couple of days beyond the others and the cells were dividing beautifully. When the time comes for the transfer to occur (probably the first week of November), they will begin the prep process for the embryo. Please pray for God's protection over this little life... and that my womb would be the perfect place for him to grow.

Thank you all.