It's a GIRL!!!

Today was a day our family was really looking forward to... the day of the 20 week scan! There was a build-up of excitement in the air for the whole week. 

The appointments were running late as usual, hospital waiting rooms can be quite dull and intimidating, but eventually we were called in. My heart was pounding and a mix of fear and excitement took over. Pierpaolo was calm as usual. I laid down on the bed, the cold gel was applied and there the baby was... the head, the brain, we saw the eyes, and the lips opening and closing! The hands with five tiny fingers. Then the heart and the spine, lovely legs and cute little feet. We have had enough scans with our other children to be able to spot the sex of the baby before we are told by the doctor. The umbilical cord created a brief moment of doubt but, as I said, only for a second.

" Everything appears to fine, at the moment", the doctor said, " and it's a GIRL!"... Yep! We already knew that!

Another girl? Very happy, of course... but I couldn't help thinking of our two boys and Lucia who had been praying very hard, first for twins and then for a brother...

"But how is it possible that out of over 30 cousins, only 9 are boys?" I said to myself, "I thought the Church needed priests, so why does God keep sending us all these girls?".

That is a question I often asked myself. An important lesson had to be taught to the children: We can pray for what we want, but we have to accept and trust that the Lord will give us what is needed. 

And that was the simple answer to my question too.

What is it that God wants from us? 

Christian Women and Christian Mothers. In a world where femininity is rejected, where motherhood has become a burden, where man has been trampled on and ridiculed, where the woman is under constant attack... God is calling our family to bring up young Christian Women.

Where the woman is under attack, Life itself is under treat. It is the Woman at the heart of the house 'A good wife who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels.' (Prov 31:10) It is the woman that makes of a man a father, who allows him to be the head of the family. Her obedience and submission to her husband is where the children learn obedience and love for the father, and it is through their earthly father that the Love of the Heavenly One becomes real. Mary was a woman, and what a woman she was! 

Looking at her will always help us when we are unsure of our role! May she always be near us in the task with which our family, and all of us Christian parents of girls, have been entrusted. 

"We are the salt of the Earth"... our surname won't be known through the generations to come but our fruits will live forever and will be there at the end of time.

My girls!