Introducing Teresa Marie Liberto...

Our daughter, Teresa Marie Liberto, was born this past Saturday, Valentine's Day, at 4:33 pm, weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces. She’s 20 inches long, successfully breastfeeding, and displays a wide repertoire of facial expressions.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers as we really needed them on Saturday. God provided strength to Frances through 14 hours of hard labor, 3 hours of pushing, and choosing not to use pain medications. It was only by God's grace and His amazing gift to women to bear children that our daughter was born without complications. Praise be to the Lord.

Videos and pics will follow. Frances will return to posting soon. Peace be with you.

Frances with a Big Belly

At Shannon's request, here's a recent belly shot:

I'm loving this fuzzy sweater I found half price at Target last week.

Frances as a Baby

I asked my mom to scan some pictures of me as a baby so I have them ready for a side-by-side comparison with Teresa. Unfortunately, she didn't find too many and they're a little dark. But there are some cute ones!

25 Things about Frances

Writing 25 random factoids about oneself is all the rage on Facebook right now. I posted my own list there yesterday and thought I'd share it here as well...

1. I like grammar. I edit everything I read and love finding typos. I even edit others’ speech when they are talking . . . but I usually keep corrections to myself (unless it’s my husband – I edited his speech during our very first phone conversation).

2. For my high school career project I gave a speech about being a book editor.Ten years later I became a book editor (technically, an Associate Editor for a Catholic book publishing company). It was pretty cool.

3. For my high school's senior superlatives, I was voted “Most Likely to be Found in the Library” (tells you what my peers thought of me: ultimate nerd). Funny how I worked in my college library for two years (as a writing tutor in the Writers’ Workshop) and in a public library for another two (as an Administrative Support Coordinator).

4. I will always try to respond honestly to any question I’m asked, although I do believe withholding information is sometimes appropriate.

5. On the flip side of the same coin, I am extremely gullible – I usually believe people are telling the truth and find it difficult to discern when someone is being sarcastic.

6. I am (overly) analytical. If you propose something to me, I will consider every reason NOT to do it (or why it won’t work) before I agree/approve. Just ask my husband.

7. I believe that “reduce, reuse, and recycle” and striving to live in a way that has the least negative impact on the environment are all part of good stewardship of the resources God gives us. I recycle everything I can, I love to acquire needed items secondhand, and I try to get by with less.

8. I use handkerchiefs all year long, clean with washcloths and rags, and plan to cloth diaper our children as much as possible.

9. I’m allergic to fresh pineapple. If I eat it or anything it touches my mouth tingles and my tongue swells up. But I can eat most canned pineapple – something about the canning process must neutralize whatever triggers my reaction.

10. I still sleep with a stuffed raccoon puppet named Ginger. My excuse for keeping her with me in the bed is that she holds useful things inside: handkerchief, eye mask, earplugs, etc.

11. I have lived in 7 states and England. I like North Carolina the best of them all and am very grateful that God led David and me to Charlotte (half way between where we were living when we met online: me in NJ and him in FL).

12. Soft, fuzzy things make me happy, so I’m having a heyday with these baby blankets and toys.

13. I discerned my vocation to marriage and motherhood at a young age (late teens). I had to wait a long time to find my husband, but God’s timing is perfect and I am now eagerly anticipating being a mom to Teresa and any more children God blesses us with.

14. I really like my curly hair. When I’ve straightened it in the past I didn’t feel like myself.

15. Singing is one of my favorite ways to pray.

16. My favorite chore is putting away clean dishes.

17. I really enjoy word games like Boggle and Balderdash. I am not very good at Scrabble, though.

18. I use a Palm Pilot to keep track of my calendar, contacts, and lists.

19. When I lived in a Benedictine monastery for 7 months, I loved the daily flow of prayer and work. I wonder if my life as a stay-at-home mom will be anything like that.

20. I love to lector at Mass. There’s nothing better than asking the Holy Spirit to come and help you proclaim God’s love letter to His children.

21. My husband had “Peace be with you” inscribed in my wedding band. Sometimes just remembering that helps me calm down.

22. I like chocolate, and I think it tastes good with most anything. Chocolate, caramel, and nuts (turtles). Mint chocolate brownies. Chocolate liqueur. Chocolate chip pancakes. Mmmm.

23. I bribe and reward myself with food – at school, at work, at home . . . “you can have a cupcake after you wash all the dishes” etc.

24. I can sing “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” in 3 languages (English, French, and Japanese).

25. I can make the dimple on my chin go in and out by flaring my nostrils. My other weird human trick is tucking and releasing my lips in a wave – you have to see it to know what I mean. :)

PS Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy - I scanned it from my high school yearbook. Now it occurs to me that "I went by Frankie for 11 years (ages 13 to 24)" would have been a good item to include on the list for anyone who came into my life after that time.

Oops!

Note to self: after enjoying the deliciously vanilla-scented candle your sister made for you, do not blow it out quite so vigorously...


Now I am well-practiced in the art of ironing up wax spills through paper - the residue wouldn't come off of our textured countertop otherwise.

Credit card humor

First, the background:

We have three primary credit cards we use for almost all chargeable expenses (and pay off in full each month). I'm big on responsible credit card use because they help build credit history, are incomparably convenient, and offer some great rewards programs. I used to charge everything I could to the Discover because it had the most robust rewards program, but I've been disappointed by their Cash Back Bonus reward offerings lately. It turns out my Mastercard's rewards program has improved considerably. So I determine which cards we should use for which purchases each quarter in order to maximize our rewards and write it out on post-it notes for our wallets.

Here's what they look like:



Now, the story:

This past Saturday David and I stopped in Office Depot to pick up a new battery for his old coaching stopwatch - he wants to use it to time my contractions. As he read his post-it to determine which credit card to offer the cashier, he said, "for everything else, use Mastercard."

The cashier burst out laughing.

David started to explain why he had to deliberate over the cards and the cashier stopped him to let him know that he'd almost quoted the Mastercard slogan: "For everything else, there's Mastercard." The fact that we watch next to no television and are pleasantly unaware of current commercials added to our own amusement at this coincidence. As we put the Mastercard into action the cashier assured David that he'd provided her amusement for the day.

We aim to please, right? :)

A Positive Life Message for Inauguration Day

The beautiful theme for Mr. Obama's Presidential Inauguration, "A New Birth of Freedom," is taken from Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had some very compelling things to say about freedom:

"Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought. Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

He also said: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

The freedom to live is the most fundamental freedom, without which we could have no other freedoms. And thus a new birth of freedom in our country needs to be broad enough to include and protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us; most notably the disabled, the elderly, and the unborn.

Please join us in celebrating this year's beautiful inaugural theme in this more complete way. On Inauguration Day, January 20th, please use these images to encourage others to remember the important connections between life and freedom. Images can be used to replace profile pictures (on Facebook, etc.) or to highlight the theme on your blog via post, sidebar picture, or background image. Please pass it along by linking back to this page.

"Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them." - Susan B. Anthony

Read more and pick up images here.

Solidarity & our daily bread

"Give us this day our daily bread..." we pray in the Our Father. And God provides...through the work of countless people we will never know.

I was reminded of this truth this evening as I read the Fall/Winter 2008 issue of Sacred Ground, the magazine of Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA). I've written about CFCA and my sponsorship of a young Filipino named Manuelito before, and I continue to encourage anyone interested in sponsoring a poor child (or aging person) to consider CFCA because it is a stellar organization founded on Catholic principles.

For example, solidarity is part of the CFCA mission statement because it is an essential part of Catholic social teaching. I think this story, shared in the article "Solidarity: A Walk of Love," illustrates solidarity well:

"Every morning when CFCA sponsor and board chairman Scott Wasserman gets dressed, he checks his shirt label to see where his garment was made. He then spends a moment thinking of the person who made it, most likely a woman.

'I pray for her and her family while I hold the shirt she made for me,' Wasserman said. 'The entire spiritual exercise takes only a few moments. But done consistently every day over the years, it leads to solidarity with the poor, and that leads to action such as sponsorship with CFCA.'"

As I pondered this idea my gaze fell to my dinner plate. Because David was at church training altar servers for the Latin Mass, I was reading Sacred Ground while enjoying the London broil he'd made in the crock pot, along with some sweet potato casserole. In times past I have tried to bring to mind and pray for many of the people involved in getting us the food we eat - to not take them and the hard work they do (or my dependence upon it) for granted. For example, I should thank the Lord for...

• The rancher that raised the cow
• The butcher that prepared the cut of meat
• The packager who wrapped it up
• The truck driver who transported it to my grocery store
• The farmer who cultivated and harvested those sweet potatoes
• The stocker who laid them out in the store
• The cashier who rang up my purchases (and all those coupons)
  
• The creative minds behind the development, packaging, and advertising of all the other ingredients we used in our meal
• The cooks who created the recipes we used (I really like MoneySavingMom's sweet potato casserole, with marshmallows for topping)
  
• The web gurus who keep sites like Allrecipes.com going so we can quickly find out how to make London broil (this was our first time)

I could go on, because the contributions don't end there. People all over the place had a hand in my meal. These are my brothers and sisters, doing their daily work, and I hope they know that someone appreciates their good service!

I pray that the Lord will help me to be even more mindful of how much I need others, far and near, to live as I am blessed to live. I am grateful for God's Providence - and for the role He allows me to play in providing for others.

I can only imagine how this insight will deepen when Teresa comes and I *get* to take care of her, with others' help. Already we have been so blessed by the generosity of friends and family - and those unknown people who donate used clothing and baby supplies to thrift stores. Deo gratias!

Thank you

I graduated from nursing school!!!

As Frances wrote earlier, I graduated on December 19th. I took two weeks to enjoy a trip to Virginia to see Frances’ sister Beth and our new niece, Arianna. I also enjoyed spending time with Frances over the Christmas Octave. Over the last week or so I’ve continued studying for the NCLEX, the National Council Licensure Examination. It’s the test I need to pass in order to get my license. Along with my graduating classmates, I’m waiting to receive permission to schedule my test from the NCBON, North Carolina Board of Nursing. Once it's received, I’ll schedule my test as soon as possible, but I’ve decided not to reveal the test date to minimize anxiety.

As for the NCLEX, it’s what I call a smart test. Basically, before you answer the first question, you are standing on the pass/fail line. If you answer 10 questions correctly, then you move 10 steps over to the pass side of the line. If you get a question wrong, then you move back towards the line. If you get a lot wrong then you move over to the failing side of the line. The minimum amount of questions is 75 and the max is 265. So, if you get a lot correct, then you can pass in 75 questions. If you get a few right and then a few wrong, you could hover over the line until 265. You could also fail in 75 questions. Bottom line here is that you don’t know how you did until you see the results.

It’s a computer test, so the majority of questions will be multiple choice, but they have at least four other types of question formats. If you’re really interested in seeing them, click here.

No matter what happens, first and foremost, I wouldn’t be here without our Lord. Through Holy Mother Church, God has been there every step. When I felt like the ground slipped away, He lifted me up so I wouldn’t fall. Yet, when I did fall, He waited for me to ask for help and then He always picked me up. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be highlighting specific stories of how He used others to guide, lift, nourish, support, and help me get through. (Yes, I will be saving the best for last, Frances.) Though I won’t be able to thank every single person by name, I am grateful for everyone who did help, especially those who have been praying for me. There were plenty of hard moments when I could even feel that grace.

Praise be to the Lord and stay tuned…

33/34 weeks

I realize I haven't posted in a while, so here's a recent belly shot to tide you over until I have something to share (and time to write about it). :)