EP015 - This Is What It Truly Means To Walk By Faith. Incredible Pro Life Testimony.

They are Pro Life

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

All right. Thank you very much for being here. Um today we have two very special guests, our friends, our uh friends in Christ, Serge and Luz. What's up, guys? How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Hey guys, good to see you guys finally.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Thank you for being on our podcast. This means a lot to us.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Oh, with uh with pleasure. We've been planning it for a while, right?

SPEAKER_04 0:33

Yeah, it's been actually a few months. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Well, I'm pretty proud of us because you guys have three kids, we have five, so this is like a mission right now.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

And during the holidays, it was it was really the holidays, I think, that was was tough. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yeah. We were just talking about that last week. That it's it's nice to like start the year, but like let's just we bought this huge calendar to and we put it on the wall, and we're like, okay, like how are we gonna handle the year? Like, we just got out of this Christmas and New Year's, like let's put on the schedule slow days, like let's you know, because it's like we put on the schedule like so many things that are for others, but like what about us?

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think with the with the holidays, it's one of those things that I'm happy when they come and I'm happy when they go, kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just there's just a lot, a little overwhelming. So, anyways, so thank you guys. I know this is not easy, but um, you know, I I think both of us have little ticking bombs over there, you know. So we better get to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

How long how long are your your um your sessions usually your episodes?

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Uh usually like 30 minutes, yeah. About 30 minutes 40 minutes, 40 five minutes.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

You need a timer because sometimes I I get too many ideas.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Hey, we can let the Holy Spirit go. Yeah, well, but like I said, as if the ticking the ticking bomb wakes up.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

You have to ask their guardian angels to sing them lullabies.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yes, for sure. But anyway, guys, so what what we were we wanted to hear about you guys, like if we have um we have families and marriages listening in. Like, tell us about your marriage, tell us about your family. How did this journey start for you guys in faith?

SPEAKER_04 2:38

And and before you guys start, sorry, I wanted to add one of the reasons that we're um we asked you guys to come on the on the podcast is because we have noticed that you know a lot of people are afraid of bringing kids to the world for many different reasons. And um, as I talk to uh people that are my age, I I see that they're wanting to get dogs instead. And uh, you know, there's many reasons as to why, but I think um one that I would understand and I I could relate to is fear, it's fear of bringing someone to the world that uh that might suffer, right? Um, or that you may be a lot a lot more vulnerable than you are now because when you don't have kids, you can couch surf literally, right? Things so when you have kids, when you have a wife, when you have kids, is different. So um there's many things as to why people don't want to get into the commitment of marriage and having kids. So I know that uh with you guys knowing you guys, I know that you guys could share something with us and and whoever is listening, something that can really touch our hearts.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, certainly. Well, uh, for the people that don't know us, uh, this is my beautiful wife Luce, and um, she's older than me. She's uh this year and a half older than me, but uh we're in our late 30s, right? Almost 40. Um, we have three beautiful kids. Um, we've been actually together this year. Um, I just realized we're this is gonna be our 20th year together. Uh we've been married 13 years, but we've been together uh almost 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Well, look at you.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

And wow and yeah, it's uh and you know we live in uh a nice town in in Wellington, which I think that that's um I think that's a that's also like uh it's been an important part for us. It's uh living in a family type of town, family-oriented town. Um, you could see there's a lot of schools here, a lot of uh families, a lot of people, you know, uh our age or older, you know, with kids, and and so uh, you know, I think that that's a beautiful part of the community we live in. Um but um but yeah, that's uh that's just a little bit about us. What do you do you want to add anything?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Not for now. He's that's some part of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, I mean, and uh I mean we we have a I mean I mean you you can imagine in 13 years of being married and 20 being together, we have tons of stories. Um, and they all bring us, I guess, back to our relationship with God and and and Christ. And you know, it's unbelievable what He's put us through, and it's unbelievable um the sacrifices that we've had to make, and the effort and blood and sweat and tears that life is sometimes to have something that you know on Instagram, for example, as you would say, looks looks beautiful, looks um, you know, which is the fruit of having a family, right? Uh, there's a deep, deep, deep, deep, deep like um, you know, uh difficulty at times, right? Because uh life isn't easy and it's like, you know, I can go on and on about it, but this is like my number one business, is you know, if I were to world view it as that in that way, in those terms, um my main business is being a family man, you know, and and you have to plan it out, you have to go through the the waves on the highs and the lows, and you have to plan it out together. You both are the CEO and the and the co-CEO, and and you have to learn how to deal with uh everything that gets thrown your way, but um, you know, we we'll talk, I guess, in a few, like how how God really makes all that possible.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

And and have you guys always had a close relationship to God, or is that something that you guys have acquired uh in marriage? Or where did you guys meet at a youth group or anything like that? Or how did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Well, we did meet in a youth group. I feel that you know, like you have you get you go into a process, right? When you're young, uh you live your I don't know, you're living in faith, but you're not actually living it. I don't know, like you believe, but you're actually not following God as He would like you to follow Him, at least for us. Yeah, you're on the path, like you're getting to know Him, and I feel that for us. Yeah, and it feels like it's been like stops, like you know, like you got your down, and then you meet Him again, and then He brings you up, and then without you knowing, it's like, oh, I haven't met you completely, so you're like in those little stops that you're getting to know Him more and growing more in faith. So I feel that for us, it has been like that, it's just a little process, like a slow roller coaster, like going up and down. So it's been it's been like that since we have known each other. Yeah, but yeah, we meet uh we met in uh in a youth group. Um and then we got married, we moved to New York, we tried to follow our faith there too. Like we always felt pulled by God. Like I feel that He always was was telling us to follow Him. So when we moved to New York, we're still like trying to go to Mass, trying to live a faithful life, but not as not now. We realized that it wasn't as he was calling us to. Then of course, that we came in uh our firstborn, he came as a as a thunderstorm because he was born at 25 weeks. So that was our first, that was our first challenge. I feel that as a marriage, that's when we're like, wow, we didn't know what was a challenge, this is it. So that was like a big, big part of like that growth. Like we had to we literally put our faith in in God and trusting him on his plans and be like the his he's yours, and it's up to you if he won if you want him to stay or not, and we're grateful for his life. But he's here almost eight years later, he's good, he's a big boy. So yeah, I've seen him basketball.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

He was our basketball practice today.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

That's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 9:29

Now, and and uh listening to you guys, I was about to ask you, you know, I think in our in our in our journey of faith, we have our ups and downs, but I think that there is a point in our faith where we have this radical change where yes, we're still gonna have our up and up and downs, but it's different now. We we have this commitment, like we've we've encountered God through a situation, and we are no longer who we were before, and there's no way I can go back. I like I said, yes, um it doesn't mean that I've that I know Jesus uh a hundred percent, or it doesn't mean that I'm not gonna sin anymore, but things are just different. I uh there is a point where your family starts looking at you weird, like alright, what happened to these people? You know, like you know, they used to they used to get drunk with us. Why are they not doing that anymore? You know, or or they you know there is a point, and and you just mentioned about about your your firstborn that he was born in 25 weeks, and I mean I I could only imagine how vulnerable you guys felt at that point because in in in our experience, you know, we've Helpless. Exactly, exactly. And in our experience, we've never really had anything like that happen to us, but um in one of our I think in in in our fourth one, uh there was like a minor, minor complication where they were, you know, kind of trying to trying to figure out what was going on with his heart because they they they couldn't uh they couldn't hear it through the the things that they put in in in mommy's belly. So they had to do something else. And just in that time that they just couldn't find it, I just felt you know I like I couldn't do anything and I wanted to do so much, but I couldn't.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

You know, I I just felt like it feels like when you get when you get punched in the stomach and you kind of like you get feel sick, and you can't do anything about it, it hurts, you lose your breath, you know.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

Yeah, so and I'm and I'm I'm assuming that that uh was a point in you guys' lives where you know faith just started being something way different than it was before.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Yeah, there's always like that moment that brings you to your knees, right? And you're like, okay, like I have to do this because it's the only choice. Like you, you know, in a situation like that, I can't even imagine. Like I admire you so much, Luz, because as a mother, like you know, a mother's heart, you know, you're you know, I just I would be like on my knees like every night, like I wouldn't be able to like step be like calm, you know, but only God can bring us that peace and the patience to wait. And from 25 until weeks until the your baby boy was all good to go, that's a lot of patience and waiting, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, that was like learning to wait patiently, but of course, through those times, you like Lucho said, you have your ups and downs still. But I feel that that's when we realized that having got by our side, it was like the only way that we were gonna make it out. And I feel that after that, like a lot of things open up, and then we move back to Florida, and we're like, okay, we really need to get back to this. That was our like that shook us off because that makes us realize that we need the faith, but we literally don't have it in a way. Like we're not where you know God wanted us to be. So we're like, no, we need to keep going. Like it's like we were down here when that happened, and that show us that we really needed to wake up and know that if we wanted us to be okay, we needed to be with him. Like we really needed to come together as a couple. Because I think we both of us have had our encounters personally with God, but as a couple, that was our wake-up point. Yeah, that if we were, if we if we didn't have him in our lives, we wouldn't be here. Yeah, like after we moved to Florida, we're like, what's going on? Like it was like Sergio was over there, and I'm here, and we're like, what's going on with our marriage? And that's when we started like seeking truly, you know, like trying to commit ourselves to our faith. That was like the wake-up point. One of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Yeah, because you can you can you can easily drift in a marriage um when a lot of things get in the way uh and a lot of temptations can get in the way. And um, you know, we we have we've always had, I think, a strong, strong faith that we want to follow. We want to be good, you know. And I would always say, hey, I'm a good, I'm a good guy, you know, but you start finding out like, hmm, uh I'm not really good at being a husband. You know, I don't know how to be a husband. Like, I'm learning. Uh unfortunately, like I don't think I had a great ex greatest example growing up, and you know, I can't blame my father uh either because uh my father didn't have a great example growing up. So I'm like learning, and Jesus teaches teaches you that. Um you know, and and you don't realize when you're young that it has to happen sometimes in the most unexpected ways through pain, through tears. Um but uh actually the one of the biggest biggest moments uh for us was going to the retreat uh down in Miami uh with Joshua. That was um one of the turning points, I would say. Because we came it's like we we came back needing that, and that's where God wanted us at that moment in time. Um and that that for me was that got us started on a new path, I think, as a couple, not as an individual, as a couple, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

In your marriage, in our marriage, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

In our marriage.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Well, I love what you said at the beginning, like that you're now feel like your biggest investment or your business is your family, you know? I like that. And I think I like what you're saying, all you guys are saying also about like the sacrifices also bring you know, with along with Jesus, help us grow in his love. Because with the sacrifices, I feel like we learn, we seek, and we heal, right? And I don't know how Serge says, like I also didn't have like it's not our parents' fault, but the best uh image in the sense of parenting and marriage. Um, my parents did the best they could, but it's just like it comes with generations, right? And then now as we learn and we see Christ, I feel like it's the opportunity for us to heal and like pass on something different to our children, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

That's the blessing of finding Christ.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah, and I think he always finds the way to show you what you need to be healing at that time. Like at that time, we needed to heal that relationship as a couple with God, and then from there, like a lot of things happened that you know, we needed to talk, that we needed to work on, and that helped us grow so much that I feel that after a while, then we got pregnant again, and then uh we miscarried the baby when she was 18 weeks. And that was I also saw another wake-up call because it's like, oh wow, like that was like we really need to hold on tight. Like, because I told her just like if it wasn't if it wasn't because I had God at that moment, how we were close to him, I wouldn't be here. Because going through that suffering, it's not easy. It's not easy no matter the stage of your baby. I feel that if you lose a baby, no matter the stage, it's always hard. And at that moment, it's like you have a future plan, and then that didn't happen, that crushes your dreams in a way. So it's just healing all that, right? You're healing all that process, and I feel that that's not possible without God. And because you easily can fall into depression. And there were moments that I felt it like that, and I feel that Sergio did too. And so again, like God is little by little show us what we needed to heal, what we needed to process to get closer as a couple, as parents. He give us giving us the wake-up call that our kids are not ours, that are his. And that whenever he plans to take them back, then he will take them back. And in a way, we have to be okay with that. And he teaches us to go through that process too, right? But it's only when you're open, open to it. And I feel that like every like every pregnancy, at least for us as a family, every pregnancy has been that healing. And I told Sergio, and I think we have seen that through our time together in as a couple, that when you don't start a marriage properly, because we didn't wait until marriage, so you know, like things don't progress properly either in your marriage, because you put a priority, you know, like your intimacy, you put it as a priority as a as a couple, and you forgot to know each other, right? Get to know each other. So when we had when we got pregnant with Jana, that was the moment that we got to know each other. It's like, okay, we got away, we gotta take care of our baby. So it's like that time of healing. We say that is the purification of our marriage in a way, because it was that waiting for that baby. We need to wait so he she's okay, you know, like that way she can make it until the 40 week. And that's when we realized it's like we didn't know each other. Like we really need didn't know each other as a as a as a person. And that's when you're like, okay, we need that time. We need that time to learn about each other. And I think that's why it's so important to wait. That's why I think the the sacrament is so beautiful because of that, because that time before you decide to get married with that person is that time to get to know each other, be friends, you know, get get close in that way that you're gonna be okay with that person no matter how they are, because you already know them completely, you know, like not sexually, but you know, as a person. So I feel that every pregnancy has been that healing of not waiting in a sense. So I feel that we have seen it like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's where the sacrament is really beautiful. Um, I know not, you know, not everybody may understand uh like wanting to have kids, or not everybody like of my friends, you know, understands that not every one of my friends understands getting married, right? Or being with one just one person, you know, or um uh or like you know, we were talking about earlier, like I'm just happy with a dog or a cat, you know. And um, you know, it's uh it's all these little things that God puts in into the sacrament, right? Like what is a sacrament? The sacrament is is is uh is almost like a challenge for us. It's it's uh but it's some it's a challenge put in front of us so we can grow closer to Him, go closer to God, and you don't realize it until you're in it, because it's harder to like read about it. Like you can read about it, uh, what is a sacrament, you know, like we did in in uh first communion school or you know, confirmation school. But when you're living a sacrament and you're practicing it, even though like when we got married, you know, we were still like You know, young and and not fully understanding that, but a sacrament, um it was a design by God. You don't realize it until you're in it. You know, we I realize it because how else, you know, when two people meet, become one, one flesh, right? Like you can read, you can read that, it sounds old school, right? Like it sounds like, yeah, it's from like an old text in the Bible. But what's the alternative of that? Well, if I'm not dedicating my life to one person in flesh, then and I'm open to dedicate to you know another person or one other person, and you see across like societies like that that allow that, right? You know, some Muslim communities, some old Mormon communities, or even in the by in the old testament, where Abraham and you know, and um uh some of these old testament prophets that were allowed to have multiple wives, right? It didn't work out. It didn't work out for their kids, for their wives. There was jealousy, there was um uh a lot of torn uh societies, a lot of depression, and just like the decide the societies fall apart. So you start realizing like this structural unit in society of and this sacrament is sacred. It but it's sacred because it it works, and it's sacred because God designed it, but it only works then. You realize it only works when you have God by your side, because by our will, we're not capable of doing it. If it was just by my will, I would have given up, or she would have given up before me, probably. But long time ago, and um the sacrament is so beautiful, but you have to go into it. Always, always there's a little fear, I I think. You know, people that live in fear of this or that, or having you know, the sacrament of of being married also comes with having kids. Like that's that's our calling. Like, that's not just a suggestion. It's like, no, this is you're supposed to do that. You're supposed to have kids because that's part of your calling in the sacrament, because that's what happens when you guys unite, right? When you guys um come together and and share your love, and that's what happens, you know. And then if you're interfering with that, you're not really going, you know, fulfilling that full purpose. And we I mean, there's still a lot we have to work on because we but we understand it more and more. But um I think though all those all those uh you know the the the the troubled birth birth with uh Luce, the miscarriage where we lost our baby at 18 weeks, she had a stroke or mini strokes after that. Um and then we had you know, she she tore her like ligaments in her knees, she had to get knee surgery for that, and it was always like obstacle after obstacle, and all these things just kept pulling us closer and closer, but we saw it as tragic tragedies at some points, and it was really um it was really God shaping us for that sacrament, you know, where you guys really have to look at each other and and um and come together as one, you know, and so that's the way we learn, I guess. That's beautiful to to live, to live and understand a sacrament.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

I believe in like the moments that we have had like sufferings is when we've prayed the most as a marriage. I don't know for you guys, is that how you feel? Because sometimes we forget, right? And like you said, we fall again on the you know, like you know, when we're going through the suffering, we're like, okay, we we're gonna see Christ, you know, and then we tend to get comfortable again. It's just the human we're humanity, right? Yeah, and then we're like we were reflecting the other day, like, how is it possible that we were suffering like this? We were praying in the morning, we were praying at lunchtime, we were praying at dinner. It didn't matter like what was going on. No, we have to do the prayer, we have to do the prayer, right? And then, like, you know what I mean? Like, when we're suffering, and as you guys are sharing this, it's it's so true. Like, I don't know. I think God must I know we feel like we're not worthy and we're still on the journey with God, and obviously, until we get to heaven, but God must be so proud of you guys.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Yeah, because that's such a lot of people. And on that subject of getting closer to God when we're going through something, um, we can't really fall into temptation of thinking that he is upset at us because of that. And the reason why I say that is because uh a couple of years ago, or no, a couple of yeah, maybe maybe a year ago or so, one of our kids was really scared of catching a virus, right? Because we all we all had it here, you know, at the house, and and you know, some of us were like really sick, and she just didn't take that very well. She she was really scared, uh and like to the point where she would like really like freak out, right? And she didn't want to get it. And I remember because she would seek me so much, uh, like she wanted to uh sleep next to me. Um when we woke up in the morning, she would just you know run uh to where I was and she would like hug me and and cuddle next to me. And I could tell that she just wanted to find security next to me. Like she just wanted to be next to me uh all the time, and she didn't you didn't have the virus, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

I didn't have it, right?

SPEAKER_04 28:03

So but she just really she didn't want to be on her own, she wanted to be next to me, she she wanted to find security in me. And thinking about that is you know, it's the same thing with our father. Uh you know, he desires that for us, he doesn't want us suffering. But but hey, if it happens, you know, good thing that you're gonna seek me because I want to be next to you, I want to provide that security that you're looking for. And if things go sideways again, I'm here for you because I desire that those moments that you have with me. You know, my my daughter, she's she's not looking for me all the time, you know. Rarely will she like you know, hang on to my or hug me and won't let me go. She will rarely do that, but during that time, she will do it all the time, you know. And it was it, it was I felt bad for her for what she was feeling, but I I was enjoying that so much. I loved being there for her, I loved providing that security that she needed. And you know, same thing with with God, you know, if even if we are only going after him in those ways when we're suffering, it's not that he's upset. Actually, he's really happy that he's able to provide that security for us. So, yes, I agree. When we suffer, we seek God in ways that we uh that we never that we never usually do. And um but suffering, I think going back to why people don't want to have kids, you know, or get married, but especially have kids, is because we want to avoid suffering. And uh we're just setting ourselves up for disappointment because we're always, always going to suffer uh here in this life. You know, it's just it's part of our lives, and suffering can uh like you know, listening to you guys, and I know with our story, suffering has a way of teaching us things that once we're on the other side, as bad as it was, but we're uh we're better. You know, and we look back and we're like, hey, you know, I I can't say I wish that didn't happen. You know, and I I can I just can't say it because of uh what it did for me, what it did inside of me, the person that I became because of that. I can't say that I didn't wish it didn't happen. I got closer to God, I can't say that I wish it didn't happen. You know, so suffering has a way of transforming our lives in in a better you know, in for the better.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

You know, so something that I wanted to mention and I admire a lot about you guys is that the first time you guys went through that suffering with um your son, and then later on again with the miscarriages, and then still saying yes to life, you know, like we know marriages that would be like no, we're gonna operate and like we're not gonna go through this again. We're gonna, you know, there's no way like you know, we're gonna put ourselves through like this risk again, and having that faith and trust is just so admirable, you know, and only comes from God.

SPEAKER_01 31:28

It does come from God, and you know, I think you have to put a lot in prayer. Number one, and second is when you you know when you receive like the answer to these things, it's like um I always see myself, you know, as the man of the family, that I have to try to set the tone for or try to set the tone, right, for for many things, um big decisions and things like that. And you know, if if I'm closing myself to God's um, you know, God's request, right, or or God's like uh wishes also for us to have a family, and I'm closing myself for that. And I'm not putting myself in a position where I make um I encourage my wife or I motivate my wife in a sense, or uh I go into prayer with her about it, right? And I listen to her and I hear her, but I also want to give her the comfort that I'm here for her and and I'll back you up no matter what. And you know, I I'm also being sensitive at the time, right? You know, that it's very tough, much tougher for her to say yes to that than than me, because she had to go through procedures and they weren't fun at all. They were actually very painful to try to get pregnant again. They were very painful, and when we lost the baby that we were trying to get, you know, our second baby, this the emotional pain with that, right? And then against once more, just trying to um restart all that and try it again for the third time. Again, it's like I remember we got home after after we we lost Gabriela, that's the name we gave her. Um she's our little saint in heaven. But she when we got home, um the first thing we noticed when we got home is that we smelled roses, and there was none, there was none in the house.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Oh wow, and that is painful.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

And I was like, you know, how could we not like believe that that there is a that you know there there's there's God here with us, right? Like you said, Lucho, um that we're in, we're in his arms, we're in his care, right? And I, you know, that that that again that just kind of said, you know what, we gotta keep trying. And we had doctors that told us, especially specifically one doctor that told her she came out of that appointment almost crying when we try to get pregnant for the third time that told her she shouldn't be getting pregnant.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

She should you're crazy.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

She's like, Yeah, basically you're crazy. And and again, and I could, I could, I could, you know, again just say, well, you know, maybe he's right. You know, maybe we're crazy and we we gotta put a stop to this, right? But uh, but I said, no, we're gonna call, we're gonna talk to people, you know. Who do I know? Who can I like, you know.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

Um I'm sorry, and this was this was for your third.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

This was for the third, yeah, after we lost the second and had the issues with the first, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

We wanted to know what happened in a sense. So we didn't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Yeah, we're like every doctor's like, we don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

We don't know what happened. So when I went to the appointment, I told the doctor, I was like, okay, um, you know, like if we're planning to have more kids or like will this happen again? And he was like, Well, you're thinking about having more kids, you're crazy. Why you're not using anti comms, uh, how do you say that? Anti-comps, anti comms of people, like why you're not preventing, and I'm like birth control, yes. I'm like, what what do you mean? Like, I don't use that, and he's like, No, you should. You should be on it. And I'm like, I don't want to, like, I don't use that. I like we use NFP, and he's like, like, natural planning. He's like, No, I don't think you should be doing that. And I was like, All right, never mind. Then I left and I when I went to the car, I called Sergio, like, what's going on? This is crazy. But it was like that. Like, we started asking questions, but then uh Sergio like got connection through another doctor, and then she gave us the like her opinion. Especially, not just a doctor, it was like a no first it was your front, the front oh yeah, and then we went to the specialist, and she's like ultimately led us to like a like a hybrid specialist, and she's like, I'm not gonna say that we're gonna, you're not gonna lose the baby if you get pregnant again, but we're gonna do everything possible in our hands to help you out. So it was medication, uh procedure to keep the cervix closed, all these things. And I'm like, all right, we're in in for it, but again, putting everything in God's hand, and we're like, okay, we're we're open to have another baby, everything's in your hands, and we hope that we're able to have the baby, but we understand like you know, like we're open to that. We knew that it can go both ways, right? So we were open to that moment, and well, he he kept her until 40 weeks that they had to induce me.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Oh wow, praise God!

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Praise God, so they had to induce me, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:50

And then remember, oh, continue, continue.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Oh no, like they just had to induce me, and then um then the third one, the full the fourth pregnancy came on, and it was a total surprise. So it was like God telling us is like we're not stopping here. So it's like keeping our mind open, and it's like that was the sweetest pregnancy for her.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

It was the easiest, the most normal.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

It was it that one was like the cherry on top.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Yes, yes, yeah, it really was.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Yeah, that's the way to put it. And when when I had her, I'm like, this is like again, every process, every everything got leads you to somewhere. And I feel that that that pregnancy, and when I had Eva, I was like, this is God healing everything through my other pregnancies, every pain, every suffering that I went through uh with the first one, with the second one, even the third one, that it wasn't easy. Eva was like, I told I I I always I always have felt that that she was that healing, that that closer, the closure of all that pain through pregnancies. Like God telling me is like, okay, here she is. And through her, I'm healing you, I'm healing your pain, I'm healing everything that you have felt through your pregnancies. So for me, I I I had her, and I'm like, if every pregnancy is gonna be like this, I'll have another one after I had her. So let's see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

And I think that you guys probably experience life in such a different way than not that other families don't value life, but I think you guys going through these sufferings to see to make to see if your baby's gonna be okay, if your baby's gonna make it, you guys must value life in such a way that is so different in that experience than the regular family, you know. I I think because you know how much it means for your child to grow to that point.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, because I feel that for every like in when I got pregnant, you know, like you had in mind, I feel every woman has in mind something, right? A beautiful pregnancy, beautiful pictures. If you like exercise and exercising through pregnancy, all these things. And when that falls apart, you're like, well, then you get scared, you know, like then that's where like fear comes in, and you're like, oh, this is what it is. But then again, like that's part of life. And I feel that a lot of women tend to block the part that that comes with bringing life, that anything can happen through a pregnancy. It's not like everyone pictures it that it's that picture perfect and that beautiful, you know, smooth and everything, it's beautiful. No, like anything can happen. And I like that's my saying. I feel like I always tell sort of like anything can happen. Because that's why I mean I feel that that's what God wants to teach us through live, is that we gotta leave the moment and then we have to enjoy the moment and appreciate the people around us every day and every time that we have with them. Because, you know, with everything that we have gone through, it's like maybe there's no like there's no two more. We don't have it granted. So it's like appreciating that that moment. And yeah, sometimes you forget because you get mad because you got those fights, the usual, right? Yeah, but it's going back to that, it's like, how am I ending the night? You know, like knowing that the person that is right next to me, or the people that are around me know that I love them, that you know, like that we're doing what God has calling us to do, right? That it's to live in love and share love with the people that are around us, and that we, you know, like we did what we could in this life to evangelize and work, you know, do his work. And we only do that through our family, because that those are the they're our first church, so it's like we gotta do it through them.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

I remember um one time I saw Luce at our friend's baby shower, uh, Kathy. And I I think I don't know if it was with Ava you were with there.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

No, Gigi with Gianna.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Okay, well you were said something that I like it stuck in my head, and I was like, oh my god, that was so beautiful. You said, I feel like my last baby sent me this baby. Yeah, like it was a gift from God. I don't know, Gianna. And I remember that stuck in my head. I was like, that's so beautiful, like you know. And um, I was like, I wish like we thought like like you know, we saw that that the children like that, like more people saw children like that, you know, the gift of of God. And obviously, we know that in marriage and in children, there's it's challenging. Like, we're going through a hard season right now because it's our fifth, and we're like, oh my goodness, like it's it's hard and it's beautiful and it's lovely, but it's crazy, and there's sacrifices that need to be made, but then it's where you say, like, okay, like where are we? Yeah, let's join forces. We're not we're on the same team.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Everything everything good comes from a struggle, you know, and and we have to struggle through life to get um to experience wholeness, and that's what I experienced with my family. You know, I have we have goals, we have goals, you know, left and right, you know, but I've already experienced the best part of life, which is like you said, lose you know, going to bed, knowing that those around you know that you love them with all your heart. And you know, what you shared is the kind of wisdom that I that I always look for. You know, those are the wisdom nuggets that I'm always chasing because at night um we could think about again goals or things that we want to do, but uh that would be a very um safe thing to do is to just say, hey, person next to me and my kids in the other room, do they know uh that I love them? And you know, if the answer is no, you know, it's a good is a good time to pray to God to give you another day because you want them to know that you love them. And maybe you've had a couple bad days, or it's been a bad week, a bad month, and you haven't expressed to them how much you love them. And you didn't do it intentionally, it's just been a hard time. You know, you're going through something. But uh thinking that at night or just reflecting on that. Can really change everything for you because the next day won't be like today, the next day won't be like the past week. And I am a firm believer that you should never let what you can't do interfere with what you can do. Right? So I can't change what happened today. You know, I I got upset at them, uh, I sent them to bed, I didn't say goodnight. I I can't change that. And and I can't, there's nothing I can do, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from having a beautiful day with them tomorrow. You know, in the morning I'll make them the breakfast that they like, and you know, and at night I'll make sure that I read them an extra story and you know, things like that, because ultimately that's one way that you can tell them that you tell your kids that you love them is by spending time with them doing the things that they like to do. Right? The words I love you, you know, they don't they don't mean much, you know. They they tend to forget words like that, but they know that they love you or or they know that we love them because of the time that we spend with them, the experiences that we share with them. They don't even know that they that we love them because of the gifts, uh you know, it's not even because of that. You know, the biggest gift is spending time with them in the backyard. That's the biggest gift you can you can give to your to your kid. Just like with your spouse. I mean, what's the best gift you can give them is listening to them. You know, for us man, it's like, hey, listen, you know, they want to talk, listen, you know, and you know, it doesn't matter what I do, but my way of telling her that I love her is let me spend time with her, you know, and it doesn't have to be anything fancy. We do dates here all the time at home, and they're they're tiny dates, you know, but they're huge to our marriage, you know, it's spending time and and like you said, you know, going to bed with the peace in your heart that you know whatever's happening around you, you know, those around me know that I love them. And if it's my time to go tonight, they will not tomorrow they're not gonna wonder whether or not I love them. You know, they they know.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Well, that's a good way to transition, transition into our next question that we wanted to ask you guys, and it's like we obviously um our faith is very important to us in our family, and it be has become the center. Um, what ways now were you in in the journey that you guys have been on? What things are you guys doing now, like as a family with your children? Because it becomes really important the desire to pour into our children God, right? Because of what we experience and we realize how important it is and what a value it has for them that we can pass on our faith and have hopefully bless them by not maybe avoid not going, they're gonna go through suffering, but maybe we can avoid them a lot more pain if they're suffering with Christ.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I'd say the first and most important is um lead by example. Um, and you want to leave not only in your in your pious life, right? Uh with just prayer and pulling out your rosary or pulling out your um Catholic podcast or your Catholic book or um, but it's uh also with the actions that we take, you know, like what Lucho said is really important and it really just it really sums it up. Like, you know, if if I go tonight, you know, how will they remember me? And um, you know, I hope you don't go tonight, but but that's the case, Rick. If that's the case, then um you would have left an imprint, right, of faith too, right? Because what led my father to love me, what led my father to be the way he was with me was faith. And that's gonna want that, that's gonna draw them to faith, right? Because you know, you heard stories of people that grew up in religious houses, you know, very strict religious houses, and and they didn't receive that. They didn't receive that grace, they didn't receive um, and you know, you hear it all, but they grew up in a Christian home, you know. Well what happened? Well, I think a lot could happen wrong when you're not setting a good example as a parent, you know, and and um, and also you know, making good decisions, you know, also at you know, who your kids hang out with and stuff, but that's another conversation.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

Part two.

SPEAKER_01 49:00

Part yeah. But um, but I think, yeah, leading by example. I have um what one of my closest friends who uh you guys may heard this story, maybe this story had reached you uh about five years ago. He passed away. He did actually the retreat that I was talking to you guys about earlier, just show he did it with me, and he he died uh during the whole pandemic because of a heart attack. And um, you know, he left three kids behind uh three kids, he left um four kids behind. And the oldest right now, uh he's named after his father, who's one of my best friends at the time. His name's Victor. And I I have a close relationship with Victor, the oldest kid now, right? I see him a lot. And one of the things, you know, one of the things that now I'm talking to him, and um he he's this 18-year-old kid, and one of the biggest things he remember about his father is how much his father loved him, right? His father left. So we talk about it like it was in theory, but this is real reality. His father left. Um, and left at a crucial moment when he was, you know, 15, right? 14, 15. And I reminded him the other day, this was like back in November, because I knew confirmations were coming up. I'm like, this is his last chance to get a confirmation. He doesn't go to he doesn't go to the church or anything, but I reminded him, hey, your dad was a part of the church. You know, your dad won your dad wanted you to learn this stuff. Your dad wanted you to um to grow in in the faith. And and he did, you know, he does. He goes to different Christian churches and and tries to find you know his spirituality. But something really spoke to him about, wow, my father had a you know, had this path. You know, my father would have wanted me to get a confirmation, my my father would have wanted me to um kind of pursue this, and that's what's I think in the end is driving him to want to do his confirmation. So he signed up and and um he's gonna um go through the sacrament, you know, hopefully by um by May. But I think that you know, if if he would have remembered his dad, like, oh my dad was like my dad was troubled, my dad did nothing but give me problems, he wouldn't have wanted uh anything to do with faith, or at least faith in that way, right? Um, so as a parent, right? Because at the end, God has the final say. God, whether you have a good parent or not, God's always gonna knock on your door. But having a good parent, you know, is also um God's work, or being a good parent is God's work.

SPEAKER_04 51:57

So it's it's our I I think it's uh our responsibility. I've you know, once you know Christ, you have the responsibility of passing down the faith because it has been done since the times of Abraham, you know, ever since. You know, faith, faith is is something you you know you pass down to to your kids and and then to your grandkids, right? And that's how you change generations. You know, no matter where I came from, again, I can't what I can't do, it's not gonna interfere with what I can do. You know, I don't matter where I came from, you know, my my parents might have been trouble. Um, but you know, I I encounter Christ, and because of that, I'm gonna make sure that my kids know that they have a father that loves them, you know, and I'm gonna make sure that they teach the same thing to their grandkids, and that's how we start changing generations, you know. So so that's and and um I my my son a couple of months ago said uh said to me that you know I asked him, or he said to me, hey, if you once you die, I'm gonna keep your truck. I'm like, yeah, that's cool, man. I love my truck, and I can see why you you think like that. And then he said, and then I but I asked him, I said, Well, but I mean that's okay, you can have all my stuff, but what are what are you gonna what are you gonna remember about me? He said, Well, all the things that you taught me, and I was like, Oh, that's pretty cool. What have I taught you? And he said, That Jesus loves me. So you know that to me meant so much, you know. Like I cried all night. Oh yeah, I cried, so but I think I think we need to wrap it up because one of our cameras is about to die, so okay.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Well, I wanted to share something really quick, okay, and I love what Serge said about like how they're gonna remember us, right? Because I can kind of relate to that with homeschool. You know, I'm a homeschool mother, and I was thinking just last week because you know, since I had the baby, I've been I had been really tired like the last few weeks, and I'm still kind of getting out of that. But I was like, okay, like I want their homeschool memory to be like, not like, oh, I hated homeschooling, you know, like so I have to recreate it and make it joyful, so it's not like sit down and learn, you know. No, it's like I have to be a peaceful mother, a joyful mother, and I have to get to that place me first again, to so that our learning environment can become that, and then learning just happens naturally, right? So I compare it to like okay, I feel like that'll be their memory if I can get to that place again, if I can return to that place, right? Which is I'm slowly returning, but it's not easy, right? To get to that place. And so thank you so much, guys. Like, honestly, thank you. This has been such a blessing, and and I really hope that marriages and families hear this testimony because I think it'll be very fruitful.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Well, you know, just one last point. Thank you. Thank you for having us. And I just wanted to share one last point that like um it's it's very I think it's very intricate the you know, having kids and families. And um, again, I I relate it to I was related to like uh have you know when you want to have structure, which I think structure is important, uh, in how you know what you're saying, how you're teaching your kids and um you how you discipline them, how you um, you know, reprimand them or things like that. You have to have like a methodology, right? And a structure. And it all stems from love and it all stems from God, but going into details and you know, reading, instructing yourselves, learning how you could do a better job every day. Like, again, it's like when you're running a business or you're running a company, like you're always gonna want to do every day better so the business can do better, right? You wanna you wanna consult with like the professionals that do this, you want to like hire the people that do that. And and sometimes, you know, I think it's doing that. It's like it's uh talking to do, you know, talking to the people that um that that have this, you know, this figured out or having or not ministers figured out, but know how to maybe handle this, know how to handle that uh in the simple things like, you know, from the the nutritional stuff to the emotional stuff, right? To the spiritual stuff. So it's like put passion behind your family, you know, is what I'm saying, because a lot of people put passion behind like their careers um or other jobs. And if you carry that same passion into your house, which it should be more in your house, I think, and then then you would bring all that, you know, you would bring like, you know, every little like this problem that we're having with this kid, like it's a project now for between me and my wife. Okay, it's a project. We have to try to figure out how do we like tackle this project together? Uh, what does God want from us, you know? And and so so anyways, bring passion, you know, into into what you're doing with your family and your kids. Uh just kind of for me sums it up with what you're passing down to them in faith as well.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

It's all it's always asking for grace, always asking for God's grace. And that's you know, you're gonna find your way. We'll, you know, he's gonna he's he gave us a calling no matter what it is, and he will guide us through it as long as we ask for that grace and we ask for that virtue that we really need to be able to complete that task that he gave us. So I feel that that's a lot to do with life, family, no matter where you're at in life. That's part of it.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Amen. Thank you guys so much. Thank you guys, thank you guys.

SPEAKER_04 58:14

You have to close it up because I'm my camera is dead.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

Okay, camera does thank you guys so much for joining us, and we hope to see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 58:24

Thank you, thank you guys.