faith – Our Special Kind of Life

Gracie’s Coming Home, Tell The World I’m Coming Home! 3/17/2015!

Posted on March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 by Rick Garcia

Happy Tuesday everybody! I hope you are all doing well and doing your best to keep your social distancing. The quicker we all do our part the quicker we all rage. I’ll leave it at that as I’m not going to let what’s going on in the world impact today!

Today and every 3/17 we celebrate Gracie girl coming home after ~4 months in the NICU. She came home 1 day before her original due date of 3/18. Think about that, she was supposed to be born on 3/18/2015 but was almost 4 months old when she came home, crazy, a miracle baby. It was a bitter sweet day back in 2015! After 107 days in the NICU, one of our prayers were answered and we were able to bring home one of our baby girls, Gracie. She has some Irish in her so may the luck of the Irish be with her on St.Patricks day and forever. However, it was a bitter sweet day, since we didn’t get to leave with Olivia and the girls were separated for the first time in their life. Talk about mixed emotions, I get teary eyed just thinking about it. On one hand we got to take home Gracie but on the other hand we were leaving Olivia behind. That was tough, we were almost complete. When we got home, we made sure Gracie was situated and introduced her to Bossman our family pitty. After a few hours of loving on Gracie, Meggy went back to the NICU that night to spend time with Olivia, tough!

I still remember that morning of pickup like it was yesterday. We didn’t believe it until we actually got her in the car as we were told a handful of times leading up to that day that today is the day, only to be told sorry she had a bad day or something came up and she can’t go home with us. Talk about gut punches and pure disappointment. I remember we were cautiously optimistic she would come home that day. It was a chilly, overcast day but it was such a beautiful day as one of our girls was coming HOME! We even laid out her outfit the night before, which I’m sure Meg went back and forth to make sure her girl looked good!

We had Gracie girls outfit ready to go! We had it all covered as we dreamed of this day and it was finally happening!

You can imagine the pure joy we felt when they said it is really happening, let’s get ready to discharge her! We didn’t taker her home right away as we wanted to spend some time with Olivia as well and then we went over all the paper work and what she was coming home with. She came home with some medicine, a feeding tube and she needed to see the audiologist again soon but we are blessed and grateful to have one of our nuggets home as we patiently waited for our family and household to be complete. These are some pics of the pickup.

That’s why Meghan and I love St Patrick’s Day, it’s a day we celebrate Gracie. Here are some pics of my Gracie girl! She is full of life! She is like daddy and is always looking for the party and planning the next one even during the current fiesta! Gracie, I fell in love with you at first sight, you were the cutest lil peanut I have ever seen. I was soooo scared for you but look at you now, you are going to pre-k, you are playing soccer, playing t-ball, making new friends, running, laughing, smiling, and just living! You bring so much joy, love and your personality fits just right in with all of us and our crazy and goofy home. Gracie you are so smart, so funny, so silly, so athletic, so beautiful, so perfect! Every day is a great day and I love how you wake up every day with a huge smile and I then thank God for that moment I have with you every morning. We love you more than you’ll ever know and we are so proud of how far you have come. Love you Gracie girl!

I challenge whoever reads this to never give up hope, we can all do our part to get through what is going on in the world. It will get better, keep the faith, be a good person and good things will happen. This helped us 5 years ago and I hope it helps you today. Be a good neighbor, I had a buddy yesterday text me and he said hey I’m going to the store do you need anything? I said, actually I do. He got me some stuff I needed and I really appreciated it. He knows about Olivia and how concerned we are and how serious we are taking social distancing, it was such a nice gesture. Even better, I sent him money and he said “I’m not taking your money, bro!” How about that? I won’t forget that and that is a good example of helping each other out during these weird times. Check on your friends and family, grab your kids, give them a hug, laugh, cry and enjoy today! May God Bless you and your family.

Cheers,

Rick

Ash Wednesday

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Rick Garcia

As I mentioned in a previous post, faith is a big part of me and my family. Both Meghan and I are Catholic and are raising our children to be Catholic as well. Being Catholic in Austin is pretty uncommon, we only have a few friends that are Catholic, which is very different for us. In a few months, Ricky will have his First Communion, which we are all excited for him. That will be a big day.

Today is Ash Wednesday. For those who don’t know, Ash Wednesday is the start of the lenten season in the Catholic Church. Lent lasts 40 days up until Easter Sunday which is the day Jesus rises from the dead. It is a time to reflect, acknowledge our mortality, repent, and help others in need. We all just got home from receiving our Ashes just like millions of Catholics around the world. I am very proud of my children for not going kicking and screaming and for behaving themselves at Mass. Why Ashes? Like many symbols that represent lent (fish fry, color purple, reconciliation) ashes represents repentance. Getting ashes on Ash Wednesday is just a part of being Catholic. Many go to the actual masses but many just pop in to their local Church and get ashes on their lunch break, coffee break etc.. I remember getting Ashes during my workday in a random downtown Church in Chicago because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get home in time and make the evening service. I have vivid memories of getting ashes twice as a kid! Once during school and at night with my parents and now I go get them with my family which is pretty special.

On Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent we don’t eat meat. Most think that is weird and ask why no meat? Well, it’s just a small sacrifice to symbolize the ultimate sacrifice of when Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. You are also supposed to give up something you enjoy for 40 days. This year Meg will be giving up pop and I will be giving up cereal which I love. On top of that we plan on giving back to our community and help others in need throughout Lenten season.

I challenge all of our followers whether you are Catholic or not to take this time to reflect and over the next 40 days to pay it forward, be kind, and perform some random acts of kindness.

Gotta Have Faith!

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Rick Garcia

Happy Friday! Yesterday was a big day for Ricky Bear in the Catholic Church and for our family. In our blog, I will try to not talk too much about religion but I will from time to time as my Catholic faith plays a big part of my life and it has helped me a lot during the girl’s time in the NICU. However, we definitely will not be talking politics! Yesterday, Ricky received the Sacrament of Reconciliation and we were so proud of him! He’s been preparing for this and for his First Communion (coming this upcoming May) for 2 years now in Catholic Church school. For those not familiar with the Catholic Church, there are 7 sacraments and this is the second sacrament Ricky has completed. Baptism was the first. “The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of Catholicism. Jesus Christ, in His abundant love and mercy, established Sacrament of Confession, so that we as sinners can obtain forgiveness for our sins and reconcile with God and the Church. The sacrament “washes us clean,” and renews us in Christ. The kicker is you have to be truly sorry and remorseful. It was a great time for Ricky to reflect on what he is sorry for and how he can do better.

To quote scripture. “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21-23).

Before we talk about yesterday, let me take a step back and talk a little bit about my Catholic faith formation. Like most kids in Chicago, I went to a Catholic grade school and then to Catholic High School. I am first generation Mexican American, my parents came to the US and settled in Chicago at a young age and started working right away. They worked blue collar jobs, they worked long hours and very hard to give me and my brothers opportunities they never had. They worked hard and did not want to put us in public schools as most inner-city schools weren’t great and they wanted us to get the best education possible. In school, we had religion class every day but most of my faith formation came from our household. We went to church every Sunday, prayed the rosary, all this was supplemented by what I would learn in religion class. I had religion class from 1^st grade to my senior year in high school. My parents taught me the importance and power of prayer and being a good child of God. This foundation shaped my faith even when it was tested in the NICU. To this day, I pray every day and try to be the best person I can be. I want to pass that same Catholic foundation on to my kids. My wife also went to a Catholic grade school and high school. Being Catholic is a part of our family and that is why it was a big day for us! This is Ricky before basketball practice on Wednesday preparing for Reconciliation and writing down his sins that he got absolved.

Upon moving to Austin, I quickly realized that Catholicism isn’t really a thing here. Most Texans in the area are Christian but not Catholic and it’s been hard finding fellow Catholic friends. I found this odd coming from Chicago where all my friends and family for the most part were Catholic. I had to do a lot of research and get a game plan together so Ricky can get his sacraments. We looked for a parish and then when the time came I set Ricky up for church school, this was 2 years ago and yesterday he had his first reconciliation. We are so proud of him, he took his preparation very serious. He goes to church school every Sunday, loves it and especially looks forward to donuts after. We have weekly talks about what he learned in class and while we did our church homework. He took it serious, he prepared and he understood what was going on and why we were doing them. Afterwards, we let him pick anywhere he wanted to go out to eat and celebrate and at first, he said Chick Fil-A and I said pick something nicer so he picked his favorite food, gyros haha. I am proud of my son and I will be there to show by example and be there every step of the way in his Catholic spiritual journey. God Bless.