update on brendan

well all couldn't be going better for brendan he is making such great progress there are almost no words. if i hadn't seen him and held him myself i'm not sure i could have believed it. he is just the sweetest most beautiful little boy in the world but of course i'm a little biased. but when you look at him he just looks like any other baby that was just born and it seems like he doesn't really fit in at the nicu. but, all of this wouldn't even be possible if it weren't for his great treatment from the hospital and their staff. it will definitely make it harder to not like u of m but i will at least give them props and cheer for them when they're not playing state of course.

brendan you are a miracle and everyone in your family couldn't be more proud that god choose us to be part of your family and be part of watching you grow up and get big.

i love you!

i can't hardly believe it's here

since leaving zondervan i've been without a laptop. for the last three or four years i've had a company one so there was no need to have a personal one. about two or three years ago i made the big switch to mac at home so i've had a mac desktop which i love. but after a month and a half out of work and without a laptop to work anywhere but my office i made the plunge. as of last friday around 10:30 am my brand new macbook pro arrived in it's shiny black box. I LOVE IT!!!!

it's been a pain in the but to get some of files transferred over but i'm making it. it took 9 hours to get my music off my old computer but i waited and it happened and now i'll set. but, during this time of getting a new toy and looking at my old one i realized that i was hording my gifts. so after so prayer i've decided the best place for my mac desktop is with my brother. i think i stunned him when i said it was him but i know he'll appreciate it and will be able to do some of his photography and other stuff with it.

so goodbye old mac and hello macbook pro. he's to a long friendship!!!!!!

god's healing hand

my nephew is now five days old and is doing very good. he has just amazed everyone around him including mommy, daddy, our entire family, and the staff at U of M. i'm extremely excited to go and see him tomorrow. I haven't seen him since friday and he's changed so much already. until you can meet him you just have to trust me that he is the cutest little thing. now i know i'm biased but he really is with all of his black curly hair you just want to hold him and kiss him all over. that will have to wait for now but after talking to brendan's mommy yesterday he's getting closer to being able to be held. i can't wait for that first time tony and sue can hold their son.

my brother has been through a lot in his life and so has sue and they continue to set an example of what walking by faith really looks like. if you've ever wondered how god looks here on earth they are two people to look at. i couldn't be more honored to be part of that family. i hope one day i'm proven to be as strong as them.

thank you for the prayers and keep them coming.

hardest day my family's lived through

today my nephew was born into this world but he came with complications. after hours of labor and strong pushing the doctor decided my sister in-law needed a see section because the baby wasn't coming down. after waiting for what seemed like an eternity my dad came into the waiting room crying and unable to talk and said "he wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating and that baby we saw being rushed out of the delivery room and into the nicu."

as i sat there in stunned silence i'll i could think about was why. what we learned was brendan went without oxygen for five minutes or so and they had to perform cpr to get him really going. he peaked up pretty good but he's on a ventilator right now and will be for some time. that is when the gauntlet fell and the nicu doc told us that "sometime" in these types of cases babies will develop cerebral palsy and that brendan now runs this risk. he also went on to explain that u of m is one of the best in the country at a newer procedure that will lower the babies body temp and allow the brain to heal itself. brendan only met one of the four criteria to get into this program which is a good thing since that means that more isn't wrong with him.

so tonight or early this morning he was airlifted with a group of strangers to ann arbor where i know he'll receive the best care possible but it's still heart breaking. his daddy (my brother and hero) just picked my dad up for the drive down to be with his boy. the doctors seem to be happy with his progress as of now so we all have more hope.

i can't believe how much i love him already. sue did such a good job i've never been more proud of her in my life. together sue and tony have a story to tell about the goodness of god and all that he has brought them through and i believe that this is part of their store. and part of god's goodness. when you think about it please pray for brendan and for them. together our family will fight back what the devil is trying to do but god and god alone will carry us through.

i now proudly introduce you to brendan cole hinojosa
born on 9/19/2007
8:10 pm
8 lbs and 7 ounces
21.7 inches long

brendan cole hinojosa

my sister in-law went into the hospital tonight to begin her induction. so if everything goes smoothly we should all meet the newest member of our family "brendan cole hinojosa". this is a child we have prayed endlessly for and i for one can't wait to meet him.

see ya soon brendan.

life change

so much has happened since my last post. i did indeed buy a house and a little over one week after i closed i found out that i was losing my job. my job that was with a christian publisher, my job that i dreaded nearly 40 hours a week for almost six years, my job that was with a company that i've questioned their integrity for almost two years. it was gone a week later and for the last month i've tried to fill my time with everything possible.

what i wasn't expecting was the fact that i wouldn't be overly bitter, that i wouldn't miss it at all (although i miss the people terribly), and that god was using this to move me forward.

for the first time in years i feel like i have possibilities and hope. i've been interviewing for a ministry position with a very large church in the chicago area over the last few weeks. this is what i've prayed for although i'm not sure about the timing of it all (seriously i just paid my first mortgage payment), but it's an honor that they came to me and think i'm worth talking to. i've said for years that i want to be in ministry but believe had i not lost my job in the way that i did i would have never left.

life is good, i'm living life, and seeking god!