A look through my lens...

So, my original intent of this blog was to use it as a place to post my photography and to expand my business. I just did a wedding a few weeks ago, and finally have some images ready to post. This was a beautiful wedding. The bride, Rhapsody, had a smile on her face all day! I hope you enjoy a sampling of their wedding.

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PRAY FOR BABY CATE!

My friend Charlie Cantrell and his wife Ali are in need of prayers for their little girl, Cate.

She is 7 months old and had to have heart surgery over a week ago and is still in the hospital with complications.

Her dad, Charlie has started a blog to update us all on her progress and prayer requests.

Please check out Baby Cate's blog and start stormin' heaven with me to pray for her!!

News of her has reached to all ends of the world! We are even trying to reach the Pope!

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Getting back to blogging....

I know I haven't written as much lately...getting back into blogging has been a bit slow since the miscarriage. As I had planned on this being a pregnancy blog, topics of what to write about have been few and far between, as you can see.

I must say had almost made it a whole week without crying..until last night. We went to a beautiful wedding! While we were at the reception I noticed how many pregnant women and young families surrounded me. Not only were there 3 pregnant women in the bridal party, many of the friends that were at the wedding were graduates of Franciscan who had all come back fro the wedding with their 2, 3, and 4 children! Most of the parents all younger than Brian and I!!

This scenario did not bode well for my emotions! As we headed to the buffet line, the tears showed up. Brian noticed me watching a little baby in front of us. I looked at Brian and lost it. It was a bit awkward as we stood there in line, and I just wanted to run out of the room and sit in a corner and cry! Brian just held me as I regained my composure.

It's not that I am overjoyed for all the beautiful young families, and the couples who are expecting their bundles of joy, it's just that it is so hard to be faced with it in such close quarters after experiencing our loss.

Again, I rely on our faith, and trust in God that He has a reason for everything. I have hope in knowing that our little girl is praying for her mommy and daddy as we go through this grieving process. I delight in the Lord in His mercy and Love, knowing more than we do, why we needed a saint in heaven.

As a popular praise and worship song says, "though there is pain in the offering...Lord, blessed be Your Name!"

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Our dear little one...

I sensed your presence even before I knew you existed…

The Father hid me in secret to create you in secret within me…

Your namesake became your first intercessor as I stood before St. Therese and asked her to pray for our baby.

As the truth about your life was revealed, Daddy and I were overjoyed!

We delighted in the miracle that our loved formed into flesh, by the Grace of God.

Your grandparents, aunts and uncles were bursting with excitement as they learned about you

Friends and loved ones saw and recognized the glow on my face before I could even share the news.

Daddy joyfully said “hello” to you often and prayed over you at night.

At mass my hand was always near you, as I prayed that you would always know the love and glory of God!

Your presence within my womb was a daily comfort and joy!

The day we heard and saw your heartbeat, your precious life changed ours!

You grew more and more each day, as our love for you grew more and more as well.

Then, again in secret, God had a divine plan, and He answered my prayer for you to know His love and glory.

He called you home to rest in His Sacred Heart…

He called you home to be the reflection of Daddy and I, interceding before His glory.

He called you home to be among the communion of saints in the heavenly choir.

Daddy and I were so sad to hear the news and rejoiced in the promise of our faith.

We longed to hold you in our arms and look into your eyes and have peace knowing that Jesus embraces you and that you are looking down upon us.

Even though among us for so short a time, God has a plan for you for all eternity.

Now as I go to mass and feel the emptiness in my womb, I know you join us as we sing, “Holy, holy, Holy!”

We had a mass to celebrate your life and so many friends and loved ones came to pray.

The grace of God was present with His peace as tears of sorrow and joy were shed.

We buried you with love and a dozen red roses as we prayed for you to be welcomed into the Kingdom.

Daddy and I held each other as we went to bed that night, thinking of our little girl.

As I fell asleep I had an image of you, running with excitement in the sun…

Your long, dark, hair following you and the flowers on your dress of yellow and blue…

As the tears fell down my face, Daddy brought me into his embrace…

Reminding me that you are so excited to be in Heaven…the only home you will ever know!

Intercede for us, dear Therese Marie, our little saint…

As you praise with the saints and angels before God’s glory!

We love you…Always & Forever!

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Parents of a Saint...

I can't say this was the easiest post to write...
but we know that God is in control...

We wanted to inform you of some sorrowful news. Yesterday, we were informed by the doctor that I was in the midst of a miscarriage. The doctor and the nurses were more than helpful and were a great support as we heard the news. The doctor sent us home so that things could happen naturally.

Family and friends immediately responded and were at our side. God is so good in allowing us to be in such a great community with so much support. We both believed that this baby was going to be a girl, and as the due date was technically January 4, we believed that she was going to be born on January 2, St. Therese's birthday. (It was St. Therese that first clued me in that she might be pregnant when she was on a pilgrimage in Canada in April.) So, we have decided to honor our daughter by naming her Therese Marie. (Marie for Mary, the Mother of God)

"Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the God, this is your spiritual act of worship" Romans 12:1

This was a verse from the second reading at our wedding, and little did we know how God was going to use it in our marriage. Even though we had planned on waiting a few more months to try having children, God had other plans. If you were at our wedding you heard our excited response of "YES!" When the priest asked us, "Will you accept children lovingly from God?!"

So, of course we were ecstatic when we found out that God had gifted us with life. We did have an ultrasound done early on, so we were blessed to hear and see the heartbeat of our little miracle. We were in AWE!

While we are going through a range of emotions and we know that God is holding us and our daughter in His arms. As one of our friends reminded us, our job as parents is to get our children to heaven, and we have succeeded in that!

Someone else shared that God in His mercy creates life, and we as parents were able to share in that creation, and sometimes God chooses to allow that life not to suffer or experience the pain of this world, yet wants them to spend their life in Eternity with Him. What a gift that we now have a saint standing before God interceding for us. What a gift that our daughter was able to pass from this earth into Eternity within my womb.

We know and trust that Jesus will hold our little one in His arms, until we can hold her in Heaven. Heaven is her home, and it will be the only home she ever knows! We have comfort in our faith and uniting our suffering with Christ and His mother, as Mary suffered the loss of her Son. We are comforted in knowing that we are the parents of a saint and will join with our daughter every time that we are at mass, and sing the "Holy, Holy, Holy" with all the saints and the angels before our Eucharistic Lord.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go through this time of transition.

Just as we celebrated her life at conception, we will also celebrate her life in eternity. We will be having a Mass and burial for Therese Marie later this week.

We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord, and trust that not our will, but His be done.

This prayer was shared with us and give us much hope as we remember our daughter.

Why, my Lord-dare I ask why?

She will not hear the whisper of the wind or see the beauty of her parents' face-she will not see the beauty of Your creation or the flame of a sunrise.

Why, my Lord?

"Why, My child-do you ask 'why'? Well, I will tell you why. You see, your child lives. Instead of the wind she hears the sound of angels singing before My throne. Instead of the beauty that passes she sees everlasting Beauty-she sees My face. She was created and lived a short time so the image of her parents imprinted on her face may stand before Me as their personal intercessor. She knows secrets of heaven unknown to men on earth.

She laughs with a special joy that only the innocent possess. My ways are not the ways of man. I create for My Kingdom and each creature fills a place in that Kingdom that could not be filled by another. She was created for My joy and her parents' merits. She has never seen pain or sin.

She has never felt hunger or pain. I breathed a soul into a seed, made it grow and called it forth."

I am humbled before you, my Lord, for questioning Your wisdom, goodness, and love. I speak as a fool-forgive me. I acknowledge Your sovereign rights over life and death. I thank You for the life that began for so short a time to enjoy so long an Eternity.
-- Mother M. Angelica

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. We love you all and are grateful for you in our lives.

In His Arms,
Brian, Rachael and Therese Marie

email me | Simple Heart Photography| Facebook | Blog | Call 317.219.7574