Daddy's little girl

I told you all she loves her daddy! Good night everyone.

My turn to post

Hello to all our dear friends and family! Tom and I want to thank you for surrounding us the past few days with your prayers, congratulations, and well wishes. I'm convinced that it's what got me through labor. : )

I had to put a little something in here about how great Tom was during labor. He was so supportive and was right there holding my hand (literally) the whole time, looking at the flow chart of the intensity of my contractions (some contraption they had me hooked up to) and telling me when I had made it through the worst part of each one. He has jumped in to his role as Daddy so quickly and with such ease -- I think he was meant to do it! Clare is so taken with him; it's beautiful to see her turn her head when she hears his voice or calm down immediately when he holds her after the nurses got done poking at her while we were in the hospital.

This whole experience, as Tom said earlier, has been just incredible. And I have a feeling that it's only going to get better and better from here on out! Again, thank you all for your prayers and support.

Love in Christ,
Carrie

Clare Marie Herring

Welcome to everyone visiting our family blog - first timers as well as our regulars!

So by now you've probably heard the wonderful news that Clare Marie was born on Thursday, September 6th at 5:40 A.M. (As an aside, this also happens to be the date predicted by Clare's parents some nine months ago. The doctors, uninterested in Natural Family Planning, were off by a week.)

Clare weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 1 ounce, measuring (to everyone's surprise) only 20.3 inches. She has a beautiful close-up photo posted on the hospital's website, which you can access here. Baby and Mom are doing just fine.

At about 2 P.M. Wednesday Carrie's water broke. Although she was having no contractions, the hospital recommended she come in to be checked. Upon arrival at 3 P.M. our doctor decided it best to induce labor, by starting her on a mild dose of pitocin. Over a period of several hours, the dose was increased as the smaller amounts were having no real effect on Carrie. Around midnight, our impatience subsided as the intensity and frequency of Carrie's contractions rapidly increased. The hardest part was not knowing how the present level of pain compared to what was coming. At around 2 A.M. Thursday morning, the nurse decided to check Carrie's cervix for the second time since admittance.

She had dilated from three to six centimeters.

After only two hours she was at 9 cm, and the nurse was on the phone with our doctor, who happened to be on call that night for deliveries. The doctor made it to our room just as Clare's head was crowning. Within minutes, she was in our arms.

Through it all, Carrie was simply amazing. No wailing. No writhing. No complaining.

Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. This has been a beautiful experience for us, and it is such a blessing to share our joy with you. The three of us are back at home now, figuring out a new rhythm of day-to-day life in Port Orchard -- something that, for the first time, includes cleaning poopy diapers ;-).

Enjoy the pictures. We promise there will be more to come in the weeks ahead. And feel free to stop by and say hello to Clare and Family in person. Know that our door is always open.

Love,

Tom, Carrie and Clare Marie

p.s. That photo above is, of course, Clare with her new Grandma Herring. ;-)
p.p.s. If you're wondering about our baby's namesake, you can read about it here.

School Prayer

Here is a story that I found uplifting. It's nice to hear every once in a while of something good happening out there. The following is an email that a friend sent to me:

"This is a statement that was read over the PA system at the football game at Roane County High School, Kingston, Tennessee by school Principal Jody McLoud, on September 1, 2000. I thought it was worth sharing with the world, and hope you will forward it to all your friends. It clearly shows just how far this country has gone in the wrong direction.

It has always been the custom at Roane County High School football games to say a prayer and play the National Anthem to honor God and Country.

Due to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, I am told that saying a prayer is a violation of Federal Case Law.

As I understand the law at this time, I can use this public facility to approve of sexual perversion and call it an alternate lifestyle, and if someone is offended, that's OK.

I can use it to condone sexual promiscuity by dispensing condoms and calling it safe sex. If someone is offended, that's OK.

I can even use this public facility to present the merits of killing an unborn baby as a viable means of birth control. If someone is offended, it�s no problem.

I can designate a school day as earth day and involve students in activities to religiously worship and praise the goddess, mother earth, and call it ecology.

I can use literature, videos and presentations in the classroom that depict people with strong, traditional, Christian convictions as simple minded and ignorant and call it enlightenment.

However, if anyone uses this facility to honor God and ask Him to bless this event with safety and good sportsmanship, Federal Case Law is violated.

This appears to be inconsistent at best, and at worst, diabolical.

Apparently, we are to be tolerant of everything and anyone except God and His Commandments.

Nevertheless, as a school principal, I frequently ask staff and students to abide by rules that they do not necessarily agree. For me to do otherwise would be inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocritical. I suffer from that affliction enough unintentionally. I certainly do not need to add an intentional transgression.

For this reason, I shall render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and refrain from praying at this time. However, if you feel inspired to honor, praise and thank God, and ask Him in the name of Jesus to bless this event, please feel free to do so. As far as I know, that's not against the law — yet.

AND . . . one by one, the people in the stands bowed their heads, held hands with one another, and began to pray. They prayed in the stands. They prayed in the team huddles. They pray at the concession stand. And they prayed in the announcer's box. The only place they didn't pray was in the Supreme Court of the United State's of America - the seat of "justice" in the one nation under God.

Somehow, Kingston, Tennessee, remembered what so many have forgotten . . . we are given the Freedom OF Religion, not the Freedom FROM Religion.

Praise God that His remnant remains!"

T -9 Days (supposedly)

Well, we're officially in the true home stretch of this first adventure with pregnancy and will soon be parents!

I am officially due the 13th, but at my appointment today my OB said to "make your appointment for next week, but I don't think we're going to need it." She said that I'm 2/3 effaced and dilated to 2 cm...for those of you out there who don't know what this means, I'll let you look it up and spare you all the definition in this post.

It's crazy to think that (in all likelihood) Tom and I will be parents in less than a week. Of course, we already consider ourselves parents, and have since the day we knew we had conceived, but it's *almost* official now. :) At this point, I'm still feeling good, but definitely ready to have this baby.

Thank you all for your prayers and support; keep 'em up! Our Lady is going to get us through this delivery, I'm sure. Please ask St. Gerard for his intercession for a healthy delivery. Here is a beautiful prayer:

O Great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted Child of the Mother of God: enkindle within my heart one spark of that heavenly fire of charity which glowed in your heart and made you an angel of love. O glorious Saint Gerard, because when falsely accused of crime, you did bear, like your Divine master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, you have been raised up by God as the Patron and Protector of expectant mothers. Preserve me from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which I now carry, that it may see the light of day and receive the lustral waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We'll update you all as soon as we have more exciting news!

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I've got to hand it to the media: they can take even the story of a modern-day saint and twist it in to an opportunity to smear Our Lord and His Church. Here is a story that I received from a friend in an email about the recent attempts by well-known media sources to discredit the holy life of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Sometimes I just have to wonder how we have gotten this far away from the Truth. Tom and I are reading together An Exorcist Tells His Story and I'm beginning to think that the visions of Leo XIII (story below) can give us insight in to the darkness we see all around us.

Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord:
"I can destroy your Church."

The gentle voice of Our Lord:
"You can? Then go ahead and do so."

Satan:
"To do so, I need more time and more power."

Our Lord:
"How much time? How much power?

Satan:
"75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those
who will give themselves over to my service."

Our Lord:
"You have the time, you will have the power.
Do with them what you will."

Now this is not Our Lord giving up on His beloved humanity. But what we do need to take from this is that spiritual warfare is real. There is a true battle being waged out there in the world - a battle for souls. What am I doing every day to work toward my salvation? Am I also trying to bring as many people with me to Christ as I can? We are all links in this chain of salvation, and I need to make sure that the souls depending on my fidelity and my prayers do not fall through the cracks because of my complacency.

The story above mentioned the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. I'll leave you all with that, since it is a beautiful prayer.

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Long time, no post

I realized the other day that it's been a while since we've posted something on here. Everything is going well...only 3 1/2 or so weeks to go until, as Tom says, "we'll have a little squishy kid rolling around here." Rolling probably won't happen for a while. But it still sounds funny. I'm still feeling great - can't really complain that much. I feel so spoiled.

My friend Nichole hosted a baby shower for me last weekend at my mom's house in Olympia, and it was great to have family and friends together in one place! Thank you to all who helped and attended. It really meant a lot to me. So, we have a great start on baby gear; the room is coming together nicely, and now all we're missing is the baby! We're both getting antsy to be able to see and hold our baby as well as nervous for the big day. God's grace will get us through it, though.

We have our "Birth Basics" class on Saturday - an all-day event in which we learn what to expect when I go in to labor...more than likely unexpectedly. Then we have our pre-admission appointment at the hospital so that when we show up they know who we are and we know where to go. Pretty smart idea, if you ask me.

The baby's feet aren't constantly in my rib cage anymore, as things are slowly starting to move downward I think. All I know is that I can take a deep breath comfortably now, and it's really nice.

Tim & Theresa are leaving this weekend for Rhode Island, where they'll get to see both Monique and Madeline! Madeline is over there at the girls' school for the summer, and she loves it so much that she has decided to stay for the school year. This really is huge for her, so I ask you to continue your prayers for her. Monique, a consecrated woman in Regnum Christi, is making her Solemn Renewal of her promises of poverty, chastity, and obedience on Saturday. I'm so glad that Tim & Theresa get to be there for it; it's where she'll receive her wedding ring, symbolic of her marriage to Our Lord. What an example for all of us. Keep her and all the other consecrated women in your prayers this weekend!

Other than that, not much going on. Just same ol'...but all that will change soon enough! :)