We're Welcoming Michael (Mikey) Robert Zientara IV!
In the last few weeks we have been struck again by how lucky we are to have you all as family, friends, and partners in mission. We’ve been so grateful for the gifts, cards, meals, and visits we’ve received from many of you. We’re particularly grateful for both of our Moms who have each spent a week with us to help us get settled into our new season. We firmly believe in the “it takes a village” mentality to raising kids, and we have been reminded again that Mikey is blessed with quite the village to help raise him. Even as we were in the hospital we were struck by how many of you said you were praying for us as we started this new season in life. Thank you so much for being a way that God has revealed his love to us.
We’re excited as we start this season as a family of three! In the immediate, Mike has pryed himself away from Mikey long enough to get to back to work. Annie will be on maternity leave until the new year, and will return to work part-time at that point. Please pray for us as we continue to figure out our new patterns of life and sleep [or lack of sleep more accurately].
One quick story that has stood out to Mike in the midst of the last few weeks. On the first night at the hospital that Mikey was in the room with us, there was point where Mikey was fussing. Mike went over and picked him up, rocked with him, walked around the room, and nothing was calming him down. Then Mike said, “Hey buddy, can I tell you a story about our friend Jesus?” and as soon as he said Jesus Mikey stopped fussing. Then it was Mike’s turn to cry as he told Mikey the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. What a powerful reminder of the power of the name of Jesus. As Mikey continues to get his days and nights backwards, both Annie and Mike have spent time telling Mikey stories about Jesus, reading scripture, singing to him and praying together. We can only hope that Mikey will know Jesus as his friend early in his life. As we both think about how much we love Mikey we can’t fathom the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.