Avery's eating!

I'm feeding Avery her first bottle.

Noel feeding Lily her first bottle

Our girls are 16 days old today. They also drank their first bottles. It was amazing to see both girls take to them so naturally. The doctors and nurses had prepared us for the possibility that the girls might not be able to do it yet. They might choke, sputter, or just not know what to do at all. Not the case with the Villarreal Twins! Avery cheerfully sucked down her entire bottle in twenty minutes. Lily took to hers very well; but after eating half of it, she fell so sound asleep that she didn’t finish the rest! The good thing is that they both still have their feeding tubes, so she got the rest of her feeding that way. Tomorrow we’ll give them one bottle again. Gradually the doctor will replace more tube feedings with bottle feedings. Both babies are just a smidge under 4 lbs.

This week I’ve been thinking of Matthew 6:11 over and over again, one of the most famous scriptures in the Bible: “Give us this day our daily bread.” God will give us exactly what we need for each day. There’s no need to worry, because tomorrow He will give you what you need for tomorrow. When the Israelites were wandering in the desert for forty years, God gave them manna every morning with the instruction of taking only what they needed for that day. In other words, don’t try to store up the manna for tomorrow. They had to trust God, relying on Him for each day’s nourishment.

Many of you who know me also know that I have sort of a “steam roller” personality. When I’m being more complimentary, I call myself goal-oriented. Once I set my sights on an objective, there’s very little that will stop me from its pursuit. There have been times when this trait is an asset, but I’m learning more and more that I need to temper it with patience. I would love it if there were something I could do to bring my babies home faster, but there’s just not. Noel and I jump in the car every morning and get to the hospital as early as we can, brimming with excitement. We hold our babies; we rock them; we cuddle them; we give them every ounce of love we have. That’s really all we can do. We’re relying on God to give us and our babies exactly what we need for today. We can’t worry about tomorrow or next week or what date exactly our daughters will be discharged, but we can rest assured that God will provide what is needed for this day.