Inspiration of the Week: The Great Work of Forgiveness

"Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right; it makes you free." Stormie Omartian

I am reading a great book called "The power of Prayer to Change Your Marriage." I wouldn't say our marriage is in trouble, but only being married for 15 months with 3 month old twins I'd say we have a few things to learn. They say your newlyweds for the first 5 years of your marriage as you learn to communicate and do life together. 

Let me tell you, communication gets real tricky when your both sleep deprived & taking care of infants full-time. 

Sadly, one would think your prayers would get stronger during this time, but my prayer life began to seriously suffer after the girls were born, thus affecting all other aspects of life, namely my marriage.

So I picked up this book, after reading another one of her books because I love that you pray scripture and proclaim God's truths. There is power in knowing that your prayers will be answered and will be heard when you pray God's word. 

The truth about forgiveness is that it starts with you and with God. You must choose to forgive everyday and if you have an unforgiving spirit you WILL miss out on God's blessings. It Will affect your prayer life (Mark 11:25) and it gives way for Satan to work in your own life. (2 Cor. 2:11)

When we have an attitude of unforgiveness it is a grievous sin against God and we should repent and be very sorry for the sprit we have. We need to confess and ask to be forgiven of this as we learn to forgive others. 

Here's a few things/verses I learned about not forgiving that are scary enough to make me want to daily bow before God and ask Him to show me where there is unforgiveness in my heart so that I may live in freedom.

Not forgiving means you won't be forgiven by God

"But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:15

Not forgiving delays the answers to your prayers

"Whenever you stand praying , if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25

Not forgiving means you are walking in darkness

"He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." 1 John 2:11

 And here are a few promises that excite me about what happens when we forgive!

Forgiving brings blessings to you

"finally all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing" 1 Peter 3:8-9

Forgiving allows you to be forgiven

"Judge not and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37

Forgiving makes you Christlike

Even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do" Colossians 3:13

Forgiving is a way to pursue peace and keep from becoming bitter

"pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; look carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled" Hebrews 12: 14-15

Forgiveness, I am learning is about repentance and love. To love someone enough to forgive and to repent to our God of any unforgiveness in our hearts. It is a daily work, not something we do once a month or once a year, but a daily turning to God in prayer in a posture of repentance... and it is hard! 

Please pray with me that my life might reflect this attitude of forgiveness that I might not miss His blessings in my life and in my marriage and that we will live in freedom!

Where do you stand when it comes to forgiveness? 

Celebrating (almost) 3 months!

Amelia & Stella- the first 3 months! from Jackie Perez on Vimeo.

Sleep Training Update

Yes that is my baby. And that is how she is sleeping most mornings. I go in around 6:30am to find her head all the way back on her boppy pillow with her arms behind her head. She looks so peaceful I almost hate to wake her up!

While we have been taking a break from sleep training, there are a few things we are still doing with the girls to prepare them for that long awaited day when we pick up where we left off!

First, we decided to continue feeding them every 3 hours rather than every 4 hours. Their little tummy's still can't hold more than 5 oz. (& that is only at their 7pm feeding). They need to eat smaller amounts (they average between 2-3 oz.) every 3 hours. They eat at 6:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, & 6:30pm. Sometimes this fluctuates by a half hour.

Waketime- we try to keep the girls up for at least a half hour after their feedings before putting them back down for a nap. After their 6:30am feeding though, they may just go right back to sleep depending on how they slept during the night... I am just fine with putting them right back to bed after this feeding. (This also gives me a chance to pump, make new bottles, sterilize, and get the house picked up before their next feeding). Usually they take 3 naps after their first 3 feedings.

After the 3:30pm feeding we try to keep them up the whole time. We play on our gym mat, practice laying on our back and rolling side-to-side, sing to Jesus during our praise and worship time, and then we start our bedtime routine.

Bedtime routine starts about 45 minutes to an hour before their last feeding. (It's take awhile to get through it with 2 babies!) We give them a bath (this is the only part of the routine that we sometimes skip). Followed by a little baby massage with the super rich aveeno baby lotion, we read them each a story, turn on our praise baby soothing music, dim the lights in the nursery and then feed them. When we're done they still need to be kept upright for at least 20 minutes to help their reflux. We say our prayers together and then put them down to sleep.

The first night it took almost 2 hours for them to fall asleep!! Last night however it took less than 30 minutes! They usually sleep from around 8pm until almost midnight/1am and then take a bottle. They wake again between 3/4am for another little bottle and then we start our day again at 6:30am.

I think we are creating healthy habits for our girls by helping them learn to sleep now and also being sensitive to their individual needs that when we begin sleep training full force it will likely be much easier.

Though we miss our sleep, it is such sweet times at 3am to hold and feed a sweet little angel completely dependent on you. Our sleep training books say to not make eye contact in the middle of the night feedings so as not to stimulate them too much... I don't want to miss a second of looking into their big eyes and thanking Jesus for the gift of life he has blessed us with!!

Thanks for following us on this journey!

Foto (almost) Friday!

Learning how to do life again, post pregnancy. This photo was taken earlier this week as I finally was able to get both girls fed, dressed, and out of the house before the sun started to blaze. Since we've been home in the DR I haven't gone many places (alone or with the girls) and I had really wanted to start walking running again... this was a good place to start! It felt absolutely wonderful to be out and about again!!

Inspiration of the Week

A long time friend of mine gave a piece of paper with the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi typed on it. She made it for me as I was planning on entering the mission field. It is pinned to my board that hangs near my computer as a reminder of how we should live. Today I am asking God for the strength and courage to live this prayer out.

Lord, make me an instrument of peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.
Where there is doubt, let me sow faith.
Where there is despair, let me sow hope.
Where there is darkness, let me sow light.
Where there is sadness, let me sow joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.


Blessings to you today!

A Giant Step... Backwards.

Sleep training has been really difficult on both the girls, and me and Alan. Because of their reflux they don't intake the required amount of milk a day to actually begin the training. Although we add rice cereal to their milk (thus making them fuller on less to limit the amount of vomiting) they still may only take 2.5-3 oz at a feeding. Here's what it was looking like for a day:
7am: wake and feed, girls usually take 4-5oz.
11am: feed, girls average around 2.5-3oz.
3pm: feed, girls average 2.5-3oz
7pm: feed, girls average 4-5oz.
8-9pm: girls cry cry cry and usually take another 1-2oz.
They really are only averaging between 14-18oz a day, although they get a lot of rice cereal, I am just not convinced they are ready for the sleep training. The book says you need to feed them every 4 hours and to stretch them if they want to eat at say 3 hours. I am fine to stretch and distract if my baby seems a little hungry, but what if she's truly starving??? And ours are... frequently.

So, I think all in all, we're are implementing some principals of the sleep training, but won't actually begin Baby Boot Camp for another few weeks to give our girlies stomachs some more time to develop and we'll see where we go from there! A big lesson I am learning is to read books and take in advice, but to not let that replace motherly (or fatherly) instincts. We know our babies and what is best for them.

On a super fun note- Stella smiled her first big I-am-so-happy-to-see-my-mommy smile yesterday... it was amazing. Pretty sure my heart leapt from my chest.

Ok, gotta go get ready. Today we venture into the real world and are taking the girls to church in the DR for the first time!

2 words... sleep. training.

So, last week, (the day my mom left to be exact-- more on that later) we began sleep training. I have read several books on the matter. Babywise. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Babies, and Sleeping 12 Hours by 12 Weeks Old. While they mostly all share the same principals we decided to follow the latter. Mainly because I am so exhausted and the first two books did not have a step-by-step plan and the last book clearly maps out what to do.

Week 1 we spent stretching the girls feeding times to every 4 hours. This was surprisingly not to difficult. They eat at 7am, 11am, 3pm, and 7pm and they we put them down to bed which takes about an hour for them to actually go to sleep. We "sssshhhh" and put binkies in, and then walk away. repeat, repeat, repeat, and sometimes repeat again and then they are usually asleep.  After a week of this schedule I think we decided to move it back 30 minutes making it 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:30pm, and 6:30pm. It's all about making the necessary adjustments for your family and your children.

During the evening we let them sleep as long as they will go and then feed them through the night. In a few days once they get a hang of the newly tweeked daily feeding schedule then we'll work on eliminating the night feedings. Right now Alan has the 9pm-3am shift while I sleep and then I take the 3am-9am shift while he sleeps. For now this works well for us, though we'd both like to get a full night's sleep (at the same time!!) again!

Pray for us as we "teach" our girls the importance of healthy sleep!