Today is the one year anniversary of Athanasius being diagnosed with a tumor.  I've been thinking about him a lot this past couple of weeks as pictures of him have been showing up in my Amazon Photos daily memories app from when he and his parents came to visit us during their spring break last year.  This morning when I looked at the app the first pictures of Athanasius in a hospital room appeared.  I am sure that I will never forget the phone call from Lisa and Christian informing me of the situation and letting me know they were driving to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.  They were soon covered in prayers of support from too many people to count.  Although the end of the journey for Athanasius was not what they had hoped for, they all received many blessings along the way.  Athanasius' life was an incredible gift from God for which we will be eternally grateful.

Just the other day, Lisa and Christian shared with me a picture book they have put together entitled: Big Brother Athanasius.  It's an amazing tribute to Athanasius intended just for Bellamarie and any other future siblings.  It shows just how much Baby A was loved and how much he loved his parents in return.  He will always be present in their lives.

Anyway, the thought occurred to me that today would be good opportunity to to give an update on Bellamarie.  In short, she is doing very well and you wouldn't be able to guess that she arrived almost 10 weeks early and spent months in the hospital.  We were blessed to finally meet her in January when she and Lisa spent two weeks with us in Virginia.  Bellamarie wasn't quite ready to meet all of her adoring fans in public just then, so I am sorry that we couldn't offer everyone here a chance to say hello.  The best I can do for you now is to share a few recent pictures of her as a small thank you for all the support given to Christian, Lisa, and Athanasius last year.

I wish you all a wonderful Lenten season and a blessed Easter!  God Bless.