Godmothers

 Who would have thought 13 years ago that these two adorable girls would end being Brigid and Kiara's Godmothers.  These two have trouble written all over them!

I still think they look like trouble.

Katie and Juliana at the twin's baptism.

As a side note - Katie is my Goddaughter.  So the Goddaughter was the Godmother for her Godmother's daughter.  Wow, that's almost a tongue twister.

My Doctor, The Doctor

The twins and I attended our first Dr. Who party.  Doctor who?  Exactly!  I am completely, utterly hooked on Dr. Who.  I am glad I have Dr. Who friends who can relate and are even more insane fans than I am.  Of course, without these sweet friends I never would have known about Dr. Who in the first place.  A huge thank you to the Wiegrefe family for hosting such a wonderful party!

 Sonic screwdriver pretzels anyone?

 A few more of the desserts - fish fingers and custard (cookies and pudding), a red Dalek cupcake (EXTERMINATE - you Dr. Who fans just said that in a Dalek voice didn't you...), and cute peanut butter ball adiposes.  So yummy!!

I took a picture of myself in Dr. Who shirt - Mad Man With A Box.  I can so relate as I am a Mad Woman With A Van (full of kids).

 The girls and I in our prime location for the viewing of the 50th anniversary show.  Amazing show, by the way.  I can't wait to watch it again and again!

 The 11th Doctor, 10th Doctor, and 9th Doctor.  

I loved the costumes.  The 11th Doctor even had a sonic screwdriver that made noise.  They went all out with this party.  I can't wait for the Christmas Special.  :-)

 Timey Wimey 

 This was their front door.   Too cool - can I have one Darren??

So while the twins and I were partying and visiting I got a call from Darren.  He said I needed to come home right away because Gianna tripped going up the stairs and bit her tongue REALLY, REALLY bad.  So home I went as quick as I could.  I dropped the twins off and loaded Gianna up.  We headed to the ER.

 It looks so much worse in person.  YUCK!

She was such a trooper and hasn't cried since I picked her up.

 Hangin' in the ER.

Check out her new, extremely cool, personalized bracelet.

The doctor said they don't do stitches on tongues because it would trap the bacteria in the wound and cause more troubles.  He did give us an antibiotic to help prevent an infection.  He said that the hole should start to heal and be back together as soon as three days.  Wow, insane.

Gianna was ready to head home before we had the prescription filled. She kept saying "My doctor.  Where is my doctor."  Considering this was a "Dr. Who" day I had to chuckle.  She's well on her way to being a Dr. Who fan and she doesn't even know it.  (for those of you who don't watch Dr. Who...his travel companions tend to call him "My Doctor.")

Gianna is doing well tonight and seems to be in little pain.  I'll post pictures again when it starts to heal.

Two Months Old

We are two months old today!!

 Brigid

Kiara 

Both of them checkin' Stephen out.  He was my photographer's assistant tonight.

Opposites

 Smile for the camera girls...

 Yes, Mommy.

 (She even cooed at me.)

 No way...

not gonna happen!

All Saints

Here are All Saints' Day pictures half a month late.  Though these are the saints everyone wanted to be, not everyone got to wear their costumes on All Saints' Day.  Cormac and Rex were in South Dakota visiting Grandma and Grandpa.  Gianna, Brigid, and Kiara did not go to the All Saints' Day party.  So that left Blase, Stephen and Brech as the only ones who really dressed up.  You know me though - I still made costumes even if they didn't wear them on the correct day.

 Rex as St. George

 Cormac as St. Martin de Tours

 Stephen as St. Michael the Archangel

A special thanks to Aunt Mauri for helping with the cardboard breastplate.

 Brigid and Kiara as angels who battled with St. Michael.

(Yes, there are really feathers on their wings.)

 Brech Earl as St. Dominic Savio

(I love how his costume required NO work from me.  I should encourage more costumes like this.)

Blase as St. Columcille 

(Blase's cape can double as a Jedi Knight or Lord of the Rings costume in the future.)

Gianna as St. Catherine of Siena 

The Names That Never Were

Did I ever tell you that I thought the twins were boys?  Seriously - I thought throughout the entire pregnancy that they were boys.  In fact, I was a bit shocked when it was announced they were girls.  Didn't see that one coming!!

We put some time into picking names for the twins.  The girl names were names we liked.  I honestly didn't expect we'd need them so picking the girl names was easy.  Come to think of it - picking the boy names were easy too.

Had the girls been boys their names would have been either:

Mitchell Jerome

or

Henry (Hank) Knute


I bet you are wondering why those names.  I actually loved those names with the exception of  "Hank".  It was gonna grow on me of course.  I really never liked the name Rex until I had one.  (insert loving smile here)  I even suggested to Darren we nickname Kiara "Hank".  He didn't go for that.

Let me explain their name meanings.

Mitchell - this was Darren's dad's last name until Grandma Sally married Grandpa Jerry Gebes.

Jerome - this one has many reasons - first, Darren's middle name; second, Darren's Grandpa Gebes' first name; third, my brother Loman's middle name who is named after our uncle Jerry.

Henry "Hank" - this was Grandpa Jerry Gebes' brother's first name.  Hank and George (another brother of Jerry's) were quite the duo in their day.  I was told you can't have a George (Stephen's middle name) without a Hank.  Please remember Uncle George in your prayers as he passed away this week.  He will be missed, though I'm sure Hank and him are up to their tricks in heaven.

Knute - this is part of Darren's mom's maiden name, Knutson.  There is a Saint Canute that is also spelled Knute at times.

So now you know the story behind the names that never were.

Gratitude

Today I was drawn to my copy of Small Steps for Catholic Moms for the first time since February.  It was right about the time I started throwing up that the book got set aside.  I saw it on my shelf today and opened it up to the November section on gratitude.  Though today is the 9th, the page I found myself on was November 8th.  Sometimes God sends messages through sweet people like Elizabeth Foss and Danielle Bean.  When God works though those two - it is worth a blog post.

Taken from the book - November 8th

Think

"Nothing can bring greater happiness than doing God's will for the love of God." Blessed Miguel Pro

Pray

Remind me, Lord, that your will for me is not in opposition to my own happiness, but is actually the path to my own happiness.  Make me grateful for the crosses you send my way.

Act

Embrace your crosses.  Pick something that annoys you - even something small - and give it to God.  Attach new meaning to it as an offering of thanksgiving for one of your many blessings.

My cross today.

Empty boxes.

An intense reminder that I will bear no more children.  

Why?  Those boxes held all the little boy clothes from Newborn to 18 months.  Today's cross was to go through all those clothes knowing there will be no more little boys born in our family. 

I can hear you say that they are just clothes.  Clothes that remind me of big 12 year olds that were little once and wore those adorable Carhartt overalls.  There was that one outfit I bought for Cormac right after he was born.  I was shopping with Mauri and the Fameree's that day.  A great memory.  Of course there was that worn out shirt that was everyone's favorite and yet it managed to make it through all those boys. 

I ACTED today by going through all those totes.  It was very annoying because I didn't want to accept that it was really over.  I can't honestly hold on to all those clothes in the hopes that God will send us more children somehow.  How fitting that I should read THAT page this morning.  Give it to God it said.  Attach new meaning it said.  ACT.

I gave it to God - every one of those memories.  Then I divided the nicest Newborn through 6 months clothes into two piles for new, young mothers expecting boys this winter.  I divided the 9-18 month clothes between two friends here in Fargo.  I am giving the clothes to new boys and their mommies and kept the memories close to my heart.  Those memories are what I am thankful for.  Five wonderful boys are some of my greatest blessings.

I PRAYED tonight for the wisdom to see that this is my path to happiness.  Clothes will never make me happy, but all those cherished memories will.  A very wise woman told me not long after I came home from the hospital that Darren and I could say we followed God's will all the way to the end.  We had five boys, three girls, two miscarriages, and one ectopic pregnancy in under 13 years.  We were always open to life.  We were always willing to accept the children God sent us.  That chapter of my life is closed and not by my choice.  Now we move on to a new chapter, but still will follow God's will for love of God.  I expect my happiness will continue to increase as my blessings from God also increase.

Darren made a very good point to me this week.  You see, sometimes I still cry at night.  Sometimes I still don't feel whole - like something is missing.  Sometimes I don't want to pray because those nights it is hard to thank God.  Darren said that I attached my spiritual life to my vocation of being a mother having lots of babies.  He thought that since I am no long able to bear children it makes sense that part of my spiritual life has been lost too.  I need to refocus that "missing" part of my spiritual life in a new direction.  He thought that a good place would be helping others more.  The day after he told me that, I made a meal for one of Darren's co-workers and his family.  His wife is very sick with morning sickness - which you all know I can relate to quite easily.  That simple meal helped heal me.  I felt like the hole in my spiritual life was starting to fill in.  Even though I can't have another baby, I can help those who are having babies.  That sounds like a wonderful consolation prize. Blessings and happiness for others.  Blessings and happiness for me.

Today I ACTED and I PRAYED and was blessed.  I can only imagine the mess I would be tonight had I not picked up that book, turned to that page, and let God heal me.  I will never stop being amazed at how much He loves me.

Thanks to the Aunts and Grandparents

                        Kiara Adabelle                           and                                   Brigid Johnelle
would like to say a big, big thank you to Aunt Courtney and Aunt Mauri for coming and helping out after our birth.  A big, big thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Bestgen and Grandma Gebes for coming to help also.  Grandparents are awesome too, we just don't have a shirt that says so.

Generation Pictures with the Girls

 Simons

 

 Bestgen

Knutson 

Gebes

Sadly, there will be no Enright generation picture.  I know Grandma Bestgen is looking down from heaven smiling at these girls and praying us all into heaven with her.  

We were unable to get an Ingalls generation picture as well.  Grandpa Ingalls was busy looking for missing cattle.  I am hoping next time we can get a picture with Great-Grandma Margie and Grandpa Howard Ingalls.

Baptism Times Two

 We traveled to South Dakota to have the girls baptized.  They were baptized on the 9th of October in Sturgis by Fr. Kari.  He is the same priest that baptized Rex for us.  We were blessed to have many of our family attend the baptism as well as all four Godparents.  Kiara's Godfather, Fr. Corey Litzner, came all the way from Michigan to be there.

Fr. Kari gave every little kid a job during the baptism.  It would have brought you to tears to see all of those sweet children helping out.  Everyone did a great job.

 I am holding Kiara

and Darren is holding Brigid. 

Brigid being baptized. 

 Kiara's turn being baptized.

 Time for some oil on the head.

 The Godfathers lighting the candles.

 The Godparents by their new Goddaughters.

 Fr. Kari

Fr. Corey Liztner, Katie Bruch, Kiara and I, Darren and Brigid, Juliana Bestgen, Luke Bestgen

 One of the photographers (Rex).

 Brigid with her Godparents.

 Kiara with her Godparents.

 Fr. Kari with the girls.

The best family picture on my camera.  There may have been a better one taken by someone else's camera.