Baptism of Estefany Merleny

I had the great pleasure of being asked to be the godmother (madrina) of a baby I have taken care of a few times over the last 3 months at the hospital. I was really flattered to be asked by her parents, Ana and Byron, but wasn't sure I should accept since I'm not Catholic and I will only be here for a year. But they were sure they wanted to go ahead with it and I got the blessing of Father Greg, so I accepted.

They had explained to Father Rich, whom they had asked to be the godfather, that they felt the baby had been so sick so much of her life that they should bring health and God together with a doctor as the madrina and a priest as the padrino. Estefany is now healthy and so hopefully their worries are behind them.

Today was the ceremony and it was a nice experience. It will take some creativity for me to figure out how to support and impact Estefany over the years from a distance but I'm determined to do as good a job as I can. Ana is only 21-years-old and Byron is 24. They have three children, 3 years, 1.5 years, and 4 months (Estefany). They all share one room with two beds in a home of 18 people. Ana's mom (Estefany's grandmother) has 11 children, the youngest being just 1-year-old. Ana and Byron are hoping to not have any more kids for the time being but they aren't comfortable with birth control, for religious and social reasons. I can see a struggle ahead of them.