Skip to main content

ANAHI TURNED TWO-DOS


Anahi’s Second Birthday

Anahi turned two on September 21. To celebrate, my sister Nila helped me organize a little party at our house. Anahi and I had a great time with all of our friends. We had a cake, finger food, candy, and a piñata. The kids also got to play for a while in the Globo Loco (bouncy house), and my sisters put on a puppet show.

After a time of singing with the kids, I tried to share a few words, but I soon realized that I can’t say too much without breaking down. Anahi is my connection to Julie and Timi. Since I lost them, she has become my sunshine and a ray of hope in my life. But even as she has given me a reason to keep going forward, when I start to reflect I can't help but think about what she meant to my two loves.




I know that Julie would have written so much more about Anahi by now. About how she likes to entertain and interact, and about how easily she smiles when someone asks her to pose for a picture. About how she loves her clothing and dressing up and staying clean. And maybe even about how, when someone asks her how old she is, she answers, "dos."

Despite only being two years old, Anahi has already gone through so much. She lost her parents at birth, and then she and I lost Julie and Timi. In the year that Anahi and I have been together, we have become each other's hope and inspiration. I know that in a few years Anahi will become aware of what happened to her so early in her life, and I pray that she can overcome it to experience the fullness of life. As I write this, I look forward not just to her next birthday, but also to the life that God has prepared for her.

Anahi, if one day you read this blog, listen to this: You are God's child, entrusted to me at an early age, a gift to me and many others. You are an inspiration, beautiful inside and out. I love you, and I want to see you grow strong and grow in all areas. You are a woman of great purpose. When you came to us, Julie named you Esther, believing that you were born for such a time as this. As I end this third blog entry since the accident, I want your friends and your Mami to know how blessed I am to have you in my life, for such at time as this.

Happy Birthday 
With love,
Your daddy, Norb
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 16, 2012 at 5:54 AM

    That was beautiful. Prayers continue your way. She is so cute. Cousin Lauri






    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas in Paraguay!

If you're wondering what Paraguayans do at Christmastime, they have some great traditions , including the " noche buena " meal on Christmas Eve at midnight.  They eat lots chipa guasu (a type of corn casserole, stay tuned for a recipe), asado or grilled meat (some eat it cold), salads, especially fruit salad, watermelon and drink mucho terere . Families travel from all over the country, many even return from working in other countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Spain, to celebrate with loved ones. This is us at last year's Kurrle celebration in Asuncion. Festivities are anything but a silent night with fireworks, loud music and drinking cidra (hard cider).  Most Paraguayans do not decorate Christmas trees (we decorate ours in shorts!) or emphasize Santa Claus.  Instead, they put beautiful nativities " pesebres " in their yards and in store fronts.  Kind of novel to focus on Christ at Christmas, isn't it! To beat the heat, many Paraguayans g
4 comments
Read more

Paraguayan Weddings

On Valentine’s Day, we had the joy of attending the wedding of Sandra and Anastacio, young leaders in the church. Sandra is my assistant with Children of Promise and Anastacio, apart from his carpentry job, has a popular youth-focused radio program every night at 8:00 on our station. We’ve been to quite a few weddings, and these are some of the uniquenesses of southern Paraguayan wedding celebrations from our North American culture: 1. Nothing is fancy. Emphasis is placed on the act of marriage and not on the decorations or food. 2. It is not an expectation that parents help pay for expenses. Most families just make it each month with regular expenses and cannot afford to pay for eleborate feasts. Most couples have to spend months saving for their own wedding. 3. Borrow as much as possible. Many times wedding dresses are borrowed 5-10 times, because few women can afford their own. Flowers, decorations, shoes and ties (Norb loans out his ties often...since he never wears them!
3 comments
Read more

Fighting Discouragement in the Busyness of Life

Hubby and I have made an agreement not to talk about sensitive issues after 10:00 p.m. It’s a rule in our household because when we were first married our late night talks would turn into fights and we would say hurtful things, because we were tired and our reasoning senses were shot. We eliminated almost all arguments with that simple rule. Exhaustion takes the best out of a person. Another new book on the market,talks about the high burnout rate among pastors. In reading reviews of the book, the author says that lack of sleep is one of the main causes of burnout. I’m reading this book that also deals with the correlation of sleep deprivation and discouragement. It’s a book for overactive people who are seeking to strengthen a love relationship with the Lord. Being in the ministry, I feel the demands of people’s needs constantly. Daily, we hear claps at the door to pray, to chauffeur people around, to do weddings, funerals, to lead Bible studies, to counsel just about any pro
3 comments
Read more