Santiago's growth once again!

Yesterday I went to get Chago weigh again and he gained 9 ounces in a week!  Wooowho!  Praise God!  He is now 6 pounds 6 ounces!

Santiago's growth

I wanted to thank for you praying for Chago's (that's his little nick name that his papi made up for him).  I went to the hospital today to visit the lactation consultant and she weighed him.  He is now 5 pounds 13 ounces which may be little but compared to what he weighed prior he has grown 7 ounces this past week.  Praise the Lord!  Please continue to keep praying for him. 

Santiago is a month old today!!!

We can't believe how fast time has gone by but our little one is a month old today!  We have truly enjoyed being with him every second of the day.  He has been such a gift from the Lord.  We don't want him to grow up too fast since we always hear that they grow fast.  Please continue to pray for his growth cause he is still on the smaller side.  Thanks!

What you thought we would stop putting flicks up?

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are having so much fun!

How could we not with this boy! It is great to have him and watch him grow. He is 3 weeks old now and we can't believe it is going so fast. It could be that since we have gotten little or no sleep it still feels like December 18th (the day he was born). It just feels like a really long day. We love it though!!!! No one can prepare you for the emotions you have for your child. All the other struggles pale in comparison. A few new flicks!

Reflections From A New Dad

Blame it on the Rain

In the culture that we live in, it is almost impossible (I said almost) to avoid high interest media stories. Especially when those stories relate to the rise and fall of the celebutante. I typically try to avoid stories like these if for no other reason is that self-righteousness is close at hand. But sometimes it is good to see how the lives of "The Beautiful People" play out in stark contrast to yet in negative agreement with scripture. This has most recently played out in the biggest story at the end of 2007, which will inevitably continue in 2008, is Jamie Lynn Spears.  The 16 year old sister of media icon Britney Spears is pregnant. I will spare you what details I know but it appears that one of the media darlings is just a sinner in need of a savior like the rest of us. As I was watching some of the specifics on CNN, one element of this story got my attention. Some of the "experts" on hollywood/parenting/everything began to suggest that this was Britney Spears' fault. Her wild but sad and public life has spiraled out of control and according to the experts has affected her sister. Immediately as I heard this an old song from a fake 90's singing group call Milli Vanilli began to sing aloud in my head. The chorus of this song? "Blame it on the rain".

Milli Vanilli is a tragic story in and of itself. They were a singing duo (not really) that made a few hits in the early 90's, only to find out that they were not really singing those songs. They were frauds and the expose' left them out to dry as nothing more than the amusement of comics and self-righteous journalists alike. One of the songs that made them infamous was Blame It On The Rain. This song was about how people will basically take no responsibility for their actions but will blame other people (hence blame it on the rain, a tongue in cheek theme song for the irresponsible) or circumstances for their ills. As I listened to these "experts" talk and then shift the blame to Britney, media and everyone else, noticeably absent, at least at the time, was her mom. The conversation then shifted to should Nickelodeon, Jamie Spears' television company that hosts her shoe Zoey 101 (I think thats what it's called) drop her show from the network. Nickelodeon is a kids network with a supposed squeaky clean image. Having one of its stars be pregnant at age 16 would apparently tarnish that image, I agree. So as this debate was going back and forth about who's fault this is and the who the real father is and when will the network drop the show, to her mom who was about to release a book on parenting, which by the way has been postponed indefinitely, to this phrase "Now so many moms will have to explain to their kids that their role model's (Jamie Lynn Spears) example should not be followed". The experts then started saying how all these children are now in danger of following this example of sex outside of marriage or sex at this age resulting in getting pregnant. "Click" was the noise my TV makes when I turn it off or change the channel. Can't remember which one I did but I do remember having this thought "I don't want my son to have anyone famous as a role model. I don't want Chago being crushed bcuz his idol has committed some sin that is socially unacceptable versus grieving to God". For whatever reason this thought bothered me as I thought of that statement that all these parents are worried that their kids will follow suit and I said out loud, really? Does Jamie Lynn Spears' life carry more authority with the kids who watch her show than the parents of those kids? According to the experts it did and does. Two thoughts stood out to me as I pondered the reality of this speculated truth.

The first was that if this is true, it makes perfect sense to me why non-celebrities make celebrities have to be examples of moral uprightness. We (non famous people) tend to hold people who are famous to a higher standard as if by being famous they have attained some level of enlightenment. We see it all the time. Someone famous speaks on an issue and people act as if God himself spoke. I have always been amazed at that. It is still one of those mysteries of life for me. I began to think about why we make famous people live up to some high moral standard. I'm sure there are many reasons but thinking about what was being said on CNN it became clear to me that we tend to think that role models should provide character training more than parents. Stop and really think about this for a minute. How could millions of kids be affected by the sin of Jamie Lynn Spears? Don't they have parents that teach them right from wrong? The astounding answer is probably not. In our society everything but parents have become parents. Televisions, musicians, actors, the internet, video games and consoles, street corners, drug dealers, violence, ADHD medications and anything else people can put hope in has become somewhat acceptable to society as parental influences. No wonder we monitor what stars do and judge them for doing the very things we non-famous people do all the time. Eminem once had a song called The Way I Am which theme was this very thought. I also remember an old NBA commercial where Charles Barkley and some other players would say "I am not a role model". Now that I think of it, I don't blame them for not wanting to be. Famous people have become the scapegoat of a lot of horrible parenting in our day. If, fill in the blank, would realize so many people look up to them they wouldn't do fill in the blank. Question I have is, why do so many people look up to them? So what if you can act, sing, shoot, kick, block, jump, are thin, pretty, funny or talented. The only difference between them and us is opportunity. They got theirs and many of us didn't. They get paid to do it and we do it for the love. All that being said at the end of the day they are sinners who need a savior. They are not to be held on a pedestal because of fame. Many of them never even wanted that title. They were given it. Whatever gifts anyone has was given by God anyway. 1st Corinthians 4:7 says"For who sees anything different in you? What do you have hat you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it"? Celebrities cannot raise society's children no matter how much we want them to. 

The second thought I pondered was how easy it is to blame everything on the rain(just a metaphor people). If parents abdicate responsibility of parenting to say people who are famous then parents can blame the actions of famous people for the actions their kids choose thus freeing themselves of their God given responsibility. That, to me, is what I seem to see consistently in this day and age. That is what I consistently don't want to be or do as a parent. As I was watching and thinking about all of this I was looking down at my boy. The reality of  a lack of Christ centered parenting  was before me and the responsibility became more sobering. This was yet another thing by God's grace I must protect my boy from. Not necessarily famous people but a laziness on my part to allow famous people etc to influence his life. I don't mind if he appreciates the gifts God has given to others. As a matter of fact he will be a Redskins fan like Papi (me, dad in spanish). I want him to cheer for athletes from time to time. With passion when its the skins! However by God's grace his life will not be so intertwined that when one of those athletes sins in ways made public that he is tempted to sin in the same way. What a failure as a parent. What a shame as a Christian. May I take responsibility for his life, his sin to many degrees and who affects him. Scripture doesn't give us the allowance to blame others for our failures. Can you imagine standing before God and Him saying to you, "It's not your fault that you didn't train your son Lebron James should've known better than that. I hold him responsible for your child's sin, not him or you". Absurdity! Yet that is the mentality that we are surrounded by everyday. 

One day someone famous that my son knows will sin and by god's grace I will not be a parent who is worried about how this will affect my boy. And I pray that I am also not one of those parents who abdicate leadership and training and yet have no problem Blaming It On The Rain.

Santiago is 2 weeks old today!

Today Santiago is 2 weeks old!  We can't believe how quickly time passed.  Each day we learn something new about him, the way he eats, sleeps, different cries, etc.  We never imagined how much joy parenting would be for us.  

We would please ask you to pray for him when it comes to his feeding.  When Santiago eats he tends to fall asleep therefore he doesn't eat a lot.  We know it is normal for babies to lose some weight after they are born but because he weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces he can't lose much weight. Watching him not eat is really hard for me since I know that he needs to gain weight.  Please keep him in your prayers.