December 13, 2012 Joseph's Birthday

I will never forget you. See upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you -Isaiah 49: 15-16

 

 

Singing Christmas Carols while Joseph meets his sister

Our little Angel

 

Dear Friends,

In this beautiful season of Advent, we welcome the Newborn King who came so that we might all have eternal life. Today our family welcomed our little angel, Joseph Angelo Mohler, born this morning at 9:40am. He left our arms and entered into our heavenly Father's at 10:40. During his time, we baptized him, prayed with him, sang songs including Christmas carols and held him. He was even able to meet all four grandparents and Aunt Katie. He knew only love and joy in his short life.

We are forever grateful to all of you for your support, love and prayers throughout our pregnancy. We will keep you posted on upcoming services and celebrations. A funeral mass will be held Saturday the 22nd at 10am at St. Marks in Catonsville and burial at New Cathedral Cemetary, a place very special to John's family, will follow. We would love to see any of you that would like to join us.

We are humbled and honored by your outpouring of gifts and flowers for us. We ask now instead, that you consider making a donation in honor of Joseph Angelo to The Northwest Pregnancy Center and Maternity Home in DC(http://www.northwestcenter.net/) to help other moms and babies in need, and continue to bring meaning to his life.

Sending much love to you all. We will provide you with more updates and details in the near future.

 

Jenny & John

Expecting the Unexpected; Joseph Angelo

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”- Matthew 11: 28-30

“The difficult times we fear are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.”  -Elizabeth Lesser as quoted by Mother Katherine Caldwell, TOR

“You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather” -Andre 3000

“Do your best and let God do the rest” –Dr. Ben Carson

 

I have a significant, yet at the same time insignificant, update to share this week…. Angel Marie, we are told, is actually a boy! We were preliminarily told this last month and had it confirmed last Monday at our appointment. While it doesn’t really matter to us, it has been harder than I thought it would be to wrap my head around this news. We realize “the devil is in the details,” and are not letting this distract us from sharing, focusing on, and loving our child. We have thus given him a new name, Joseph Angelo. The name Angelo (and Angel) literally means “messenger from God” and His message of love is clear. As Father DeAscanis shared with us at spiritual direction last month, Angels, after all, don’t have gender.

Furthermore, at our appointment with the specialist this week, we learned that my amniotic fluid levels are increasing as Joe is having a difficult time swallowing and processing the fluid. This means that I will continue to get bigger, faster, and ultimately this may trick my body into thinking I am closer to term than I actually am, potentially causing little Joseph to arrive soon. Please continue to pray. I can assure you it is working, I know I could not be managing (and thankfully don’t have to be) on my own. “Where I am weak He is strong.”

For someone who is a planner, and a perfectionist, one who always has to be in control, (affectionately, type A if you will), I have learned many lessons in letting go and lessons in trust over the past few months…. And yes, this is probably the one and only blog in the world that quotes, Outkast, Dr. Carson and a TOR Sister in one post….  I am learning so much about myself, my incredible husband, and my wonderful family and friends in all of this. Certainly, how we react to the storms of adversity, rather than the good times, is what defines us. In life, I have found, there really are few times when we have absolutely no control over situations and when life begins and ends is at the top of the list (though many even try to “control” this and do, what I believe, only God has the authority to do). Our culture/society does not know how to handle these times. My family is thus experiencing/witnessing both of these battles at once, and the struggle is thus particularly intense. There is no way to prepare for both your child to come into this world and leave it, potentially within a matter of minutes of each other.

I can not say enough about how thankful we are for our faith and that we don’t have to go through this alone. We are prayerfully making the choices we have been offered believing in His will, and giving the rest to God. Anyway, more on suffering and redemptive love in the next post. Before I close, I would like to share a beautiful testimony with you that has inspired us and helped us prepare for what lies ahead. We are inspired by the  beauty and grace this couple received while expecting the unexpected. Click on the link below to watch at your own risk, and have some tissues on hand if you choose to do so (do not watch at work, trust me).

99 Balloons

“Not a pulpit, not a slick presentation, not a best selling book, just a 6 lb boy with Trisomy 18, God found great pleasure to take a lowly thing in the eyes of the world and show truth…. At your funeral we released 99 balloons, each balloon representing a day in your life, how beautiful it was to watch, how quickly they were gone. -Elliot’s Father

http://youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0