A Temple of the Holy Spirit

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Daniel & Catherine ready for Confirmation I had the privilege of witnessing my son and daughter receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this past Tuesday at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Lancaster, OH. It was a wonderful Mass with a full choir, trumpets, and all the rest. During his remarks, Bishop Earl K. Fernandes mentioned that we too, like the Basilica, are temples of the Lord. It caused me to reflect on this idea. Although I've mostly seen only pictures of the great cathedrals and basilicas in the world, I have seen some amazing churches even in our own diocese. These structures are a testament to the Church's love for God (read the entire Church - Militant, Suffering, Triumphant). They represent great skill, sacrifice, and passion for Our Lord and often times His Mother.  Yet the words of Christ always echo in my mind when contemplating the beauty that surrounds me in those places; “ Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left u
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Catherine

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You can tell #4 loves his little sister. But so does #'s 1-3 as well, so you can imagine the amount of kisses this girl gets everyday! Catherine is now 7 1/2 months old...I can't believe it, and it's also hard to believe that she has still spent more than half of her life in the hospital. As my favorite NICU nurse told me, the NICU would very quickly be a faded memory and it has, it seems like it has been much longer than 3 months ago that she was there.

As you can see in the video she has the patch over her left eye so that she will use her weaker eye more and increase the strength of her vision. As the patch does not correct the crossed eye, just helps her vision, she will need to have surgery sometime early next year to adjust the muscles that are controlling that eye.

Catherine still has not been fitted for hearing aids yet because all of the results so far keep showing that her hearing is getting worse. They are not sure if this means her hearing truly is getting worse or if it's something else. They want to make sure they know where her hearing is so that they do not put the settings on the aid to high and possibly damage her hearing and of course if it's too low it won't do any good. Since she refuses to raise her hand when she hears a sound during the test, they are planning another hearing test that she needs to be sedated for which will hopefully happen when she has her eye surgery. On the positive side we are starting to see her startle at some sounds and she appears to look for some sounds as well.

Catherine lately has had some vomiting episodes associated with her G-tube feedings so she had her favorite test done on Thursday, an upper GI. I think this is number 6 or 7. The good news is that she does not have any obstructions just really bad reflux. She is on medication already for it, and the hope is when she sees her surgeon in two weeks that she will increase that medication or try some new medicines to help her with it. Despite all the vomiting this week, she still gained an ounce a day and she weighed 13#6oz. tonight! We tell her all the time what a big girl she is (well, #4 says "you're a big boy!") and how fat she's getting. I wonder how long it will take for her not to smile at us when we tell her that.

According to her therapists, she is getting stronger. She is able to hold her head up for longer and longer periods of time. She is starting to try to grab for objects and toys and she always has her thumb and index finger in her mouth. She practices everyday trying to lift her head off the ground while lying on her belly and she really is getting stronger in her upper body. We make sure she gets a workout everyday! She still remains a tremendous joy to everyone and we are so very thankful for her!

Thank you for your continued prayers and nasty emails wondering when we're going to give you an update on Catherine. haha...just kidding....

We continue to pray for all of you! God Bless!

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