I recently lost custody of my daughter to my ex. She is taking it extremely hard and I need all the support I can get. I have tried prayig for the situation but feel that I need support from others because so far the case is not going anywhere. It is just sitting in limbo and my baby is without her mother. It kills me and pains me to be away fro her especially when I know that she relies heavily on me. I have always been the primary caregiver for her and she is taking it really hard being without her mommy. I would like to regain joint custody of my daughter so that I can be back in her life and get her back on a normal schedule. Thanks for your prayers!
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“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…” Jeremiah 1:5
I have been sooooo anxious to share these photos with you. Some of you may have seen the little video my brother made of us during our maternity photoshoot, but here are the photos!! Thanks to our good friend Dawn for taking these dreamy photos of the three of us;) These are hands down my favorite photos of Jeremy and I. I will forever cherish them and I cannot wait to show them to our precious daughter some day. *Taken when I was 30 weeks pregnant, but I am 34 weeks now.
Don’t miss the video of this photoshoot at the bottom of this post!
Before Jer and I started dating, we this particularly memorable perfect summer day picking warm berries and walking alongside the train tracks through the daisy fields. It was the day that Jeremy began calling me “Daisy Braids” – a nickname that he continued to call me throughout our dating relationship, letter writing, and into our marriage. That day was the day that our love multiplied.
“Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” Isaiah 49:16
With grace in her heart and flowers in her hair
Every year, when the wild daisy fields bloom, it reminds me of the summer we fell in love. And every year, I am more in love with this man that God has given me.
Today, our love continues to multiply in more ways than one;)
“Every good and perfect gift comes from above” James 1:17
A prayer for our baby girl
Father God, thank you for the blessing of being able to carry and care for this child of yours. I recognize that you are the author of life and your timing is so perfect. Thank you for bringing this sweet baby girl into our lives in your perfect timing and according to your perfect will. Thank you for knitting her together so beautifully and uniquely in my womb (Psalm 139:13). Jesus, I ask that you would bring her into this world healthy and strong, and with red curly hair;) Lord thank you for giving me a husband, and her a father, who will lead her, teach her, and love her with everything he’s got. Thank you for equipping and refining Jeremy in preparation for raising our daughter together. Lord, I pray that our baby girl would be born into this world blameless and innocent, a child of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, where she would shine as a light in this world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ she may be proud that she did not run in vain or labor in vain (Philippians 2:15-16). Lord protect her with your full armor the moment she comes into this world, and give her your spirit from the moment she is born. I pray that she would come to know how deep and wide, unconditional and unending, your love is for her (Ephesians 3:18).Lord may she be a fiercely burning light, driving out darkness wherever she is (John 1:5). May she be like an arrow (Psalm 127:4) shot out into this world with purpose to accomplish the work you have for her to do. Lord may she be a compassionate, creative, and courageous daughter, full of joy and overflowing with peace. Give her a strong sense of discernment and good judgment so that she will not be easily deceived. Bless her with iron friendships – friendships that will refine her and sharpen her. I ask for your favor over her life Lord. May she be a Godly woman who leads others to the foot of the cross and loves them the whole way there. Lord, I pray for her purity, that she would not be easily tempted but rather that she would be self-disciplined and self-controlled. May her faithfulness to you would be unwavering, and her devotion to you undivided. Fill her with your Holy Spirit to help through hurt times and hard decisions. May she be wise and willing, always listening to you God, and obeying what you have called her to do and who you have called her to be. Give her good health and a strong capable body that is not hindered, but that is able to do abundantly more than she could ever ask or imagine. May her spirit be infectious and invite others into the freedom and fullness of Christ – in a field of roses, may she be a wildflower. I pray also for her future husband. Lord may he have parents that know you intimately and follow you wholeheartedly. May his parents teach and instruct him to walk in your ways and to know and love truth. May he grow up to be a Godly, humble, respected, and honorable man who leads his family in faith. Father God thank you for loving this child and for being her protector, provider, redeemer, friend, counselor, encourager, Shepard, and King. Remind her always that she is more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:15), beautifully and wonderfully made (Psalm 149:13), and unconditionally loved (Psalm 52:8). Lord, I submit this daughter of ours to you, may we raise her and love her in a way that is pleasing to you. In Jesus holy name, Amen.
“For this child I prayed…” 1 Samuel 1:27
We also took some photos on my parents’ property:)
“She is more precious than rubies…”Proverbs 3:15
30 weeks pregnant
Here is a little video recap my brother Jack put together for us;) The song in the video is called “Multiplied” by Needtobreathe. This song has lots of meaning to it if you listen to/read the lyrics. One of my all time fav songs.
Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot containYour love will surely come find usLike blazing wild fires singing Your name
God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your designMay this offering stretch across the skiesAnd these Halleluiahs be multiplied
Dress: Filly Boo Maternity + Aritzia
Hair and make-up: Powder Inc – Nicole Wagner
Video: Jack BottiPhotos: Dawn PhotographyLocation: My parents’ property + hills of Helvetia, Oregon
Maternity favorites: shop >>here
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Texas police have arrested a woman who allegedly falsely claimed her 7-year-old girl had been diagnosed with cancer to scam people for money. Shaving her head and posting staged photos on social media, the mom said her daughter had just months to live.
Juanita Garcia, 46, was arrested by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office for the cancer con and charged with exploitation of a child – a third-degree felony.
The investigation began on October 22, when Child Protective Services told the sheriff’s office that Garcia had been organizing fraudulent fundraisers for her daughter. The organization also discovered she had told potential donors that her daughter had only months to live, both in person and on social media, the Washington Post reported.
“My princess fighting her cancer I know she will prayers for my baby,” read one post Garcia made on Facebook on June 24, which featured a photograph showing the girl wearing a mesh or gauze-like cap.
Investigators found Garcia had even shaved the girl’s head to portray a side-effect of cancer treatment, Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sargent J. R. Rodriguez told CBS affiliate KGBT‑TV.
In another post to Facebook shared by investigators, a photo shows the little girl with a shaved head wearing a T-shirt that reads “I’m not a boy. I’m a girl fighting cancer.”
“Witnesses reported that Garcia would approach them asking for monetary donations to pay for her daughter’s cancer treatments,” police said in a statement. “Through the course of the investigation, investigators discovered that the 7-year-old child had been medically evaluated, and no illness had been found.”
During questioning, Garcia admitted that her daughter had never been diagnosed with cancer, and that she had accepted monetary donations from various people.
The arrest was made on December 10. Court records do not list a defense attorney for her, but records show that Garcia was released Friday on a $10,000 bond, according to the New York Daily News.
Police data has not revealed how much Garcia was able to con or what happened to the money she collected. The sheriff’s office cautioned the public to remain vigilant against fraud.
“We don’t want to discourage people to participate in those fundraisers, but we do want them to be cautious,” Rodriguez told KGBT-TV.
The Washington Post reported there have been similar cancer scams using social media. A Colorado woman received a 90-day jail sentence last year for faking a cancer diagnosis for her son. The woman received thousands of dollars in donations and free trip to Disneyland, according to the Post.
In a related case, a 40-year old Oklahoma woman falsely claimed she had been diagnosed with cancer on Facebook. She also shaved her head and received money for treatment, including $3,000 from one group, according to the state’s attorney general.
In New York, the state’s attorney general announced in July that investigators had found donors had given millions of dollars to the National Children’s Leukemia Foundation for, among other things, a bone marrow registry and cancer research building. The trouble was that neither existed. The one-man foundation was run by Zvi Shor, who paid himself an annual salary of over $500,000, with additional contributions to a lifetime pension of $100,000 a year. State investigators also found that the foundation’s Make a Dream Come True program, which claimed to help children go to places like Disney World, was also non-existent or “gornisht” .
www.rt.com
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, before a single one of them came to be”. Psalm 139:13-16
Greetings!
Please forgive the delay in updating you. We didn’t arrive home until the early morning hours on Saturday. Since then, we have been trying to adjust to life at home, and catch-up on some rest. I think that the major adjustment has been – well, no rest!
Since this is such an important update, I wanted to take the time to process the events of the last several months, and provide an update that is transparent, and appropriately reflected our thoughts on this journey.
Friday was a day of waiting. It was the day we were expecting news of the results from the initial chromosome test to determine whether our little Sophia had Trisomy 13.
Late Friday afternoon, the Head of Neonatology walked into our room holding a single sheet of paper and announced:
“This is better than an A+ on a report card, it’s normal, everything’s normal!”
And with those words, the wait was over, and it was settled. We are obviously overjoyed, and so deeply grateful to God.
Throughout this journey, we have met with many medical professionals, who are bright and competent, and for whom, we have the deepest respect and gratitude. Along the way, these folks have cautioned us that the cell free DNA test that predicted that our little Sophia would have Trisomy 13 was highly accurate, and that false positives are extremely rare. In fact, the particular test we took, boasts the highest accuracy, and the lowest occurrence of false positives in the industry. This week, though everything about Sophia looked “normal”, a few of these professionals told us that we may just be one of the .3% (.003) who were fortunate enough to get a false positive.
To be clear, we believe that God, in His kindness and grace, has gifted men and women in the medical profession, and has permitted advancements and discoveries in medicine for the benefit all mankind. However, we will not now look to science, (i.e. a false positive) to explain what we’ve prayed for God to do on our behalf. We believe that to do so, would rob God of His glory! We’ve never prayed for a false positive. We prayed that God would heal our baby, and that is what we believe He did. We hope that this strengthens your faith, as it has ours – and that, as a result, God is bigger in your eyes.
Many of those reading about our journey have commented that our faith was “inspiring”. We do not consider ourselves special, or as having extraordinary faith. The truth is, some days; we felt we could barely hang-on. It was during these times that we experienced the sustaining grace of God. We’ve simply cried out to God and asked Him to heal our baby. Or, that if it wasn’t his will to heal our baby, that He would grant us mercy, allowing us the gift of time, and the chance to meet her. All along the way, we endeavored to hold our baby “loosely”, with open hands, affirming to God that, as hard as it was from a human perspective, we desired His glory and renown above all else. He has done more than we could ever ask or imagine.
We will always believe that God heard the prayers of His people, and healed our baby – that what we all witnessed in the birth of Sophia was a miraculous intervention of God, owing nothing to our own merit – and simply a result of His mercy. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude to Him!
Our New Forever Family…
Before I close, I want to say a word about some new friends we’ve met on our journey. We have written about them on our blog before. These are the moms and dads of children with a trisomy, and these precious children themselves.
Before we received word that Sophia was at high risk for Trisomy 13, the word “trisomy” wasn’t even a part of our vocabulary. Shortly after receiving our screening results, we were introduced to some the most courageous people we’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. We were instantly adopted into this “family”, and have been counseled, cared for, encouraged and strengthened on every step of our journey. We are grateful that our Sophia does not have Trisomy 13, but we are forever a part of this noble fraternity. It is an honor to fight side-by-side with them. Theirs is a valiant battle against an insidious modern day eugenics ideology that labels these children as “incompatible with life”, and in so many cases, results in the refusal life saving treatment that could give these precious children and their parents the gift of time.
These moms and dads face a battle that thankfully, most moms and dads will never face. We are praying intentionally about what our partnership looks like going forward. But, we will forever be their partners and comrades-in-arms. The children they love so deeply are more than a genetic label, and are no less “fearfully and wonderfully made”. We love them, and they have our deepest respect, admiration and support. We carry their grief, and have wept with them as their dreams for their children were shattered. As they have mourned the loss of their children, we have mourned and wept with them.
Finally, words cannot express our deep gratitude for you – those of you who have stood united with us in prayer, and those of you who have encouraged us on this journey. So many of you have carried us on your hearts. Thank you for “standing in the gap for us”, and for your calls, text messages and Facebook posts. We plan for this blog to live on… as a testimony to God’s kindness and faithfulness, and as a resource to those who may be called to walk the road we have walked.
May any praise and glory be directed exclusively to God alone – who orders all things according to the counsel of His will. His faithfulness endures to all generations.
“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness endures to all generations.” Psalm 100:5
Andy & Jennifer
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Job 42:2
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