I posted this on my personal Facebook page this morning, but wanted to post it here as well, for those of you who don’t follow me there.
From Facebook:
The Novena to St. Anne starts today and concludes on July 25, which is the day before the Feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim and the day that Toby is scheduled to arrive (via c-section). Chris and I will be praying this novena for his safe and healthy delivery, peace for his parents, and sanity for us (okay, really me, Chris is in no danger of losing his sanity). We would love for as many of our friends as possible to join us in this.
For those of you not familiar with St. Anne and St. Joachim, tradition tells us that these are the names of Mary’s parents (and Jesus’ grandparents). The couple struggled with infertility through the whole of their marriage, until finally, after many years of prayer, God blessed them in their old age with a very special daughter: Mary.
Knowing this, Chris and I have sought St. Anne’s special intercession since the beginning of our marriage. On our honeymoon, we made a pilgrimage to St. Anne’s beautiful shrine in Quebec, to pray for the gift of a child, and we have prayed this Novena together, for the same intention, many times. We also are blessed to have a small third-class relic of St. Anne (sent by a kind reader of the blog) next to our bedside, and a beautiful statue of her and the Blessed Mother in our bedroom. Both devotional items have brought me so much comfort over these past two years, perpetually reminding me that I have a friend in heaven who has walked this same, hard path. I believe St. Anne has been a faithful prayer warrior for us throughout our marriage, and I trust she’s going to keep up those prayers during these final days of waiting.
Thank you for all the prayers offered up on behalf of Toby, his parents, and us. I can’t even imagine where we would be without them.
Here is the link to the novena for those of you who missed it above: https://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-anne-novena
I will pray the novena for you, Emily. God bless you.
I will be praying with you.
Dear Chris, Emily and Toby,
I will be offering this Novena for you and for Toby’s birth parents. May our Lord continue to sustain you in this long and arduous journey of adoption.
St. Anne & St. Joachim please pray for Chris, Emily and Toby. Amen
Karen
Praying the Novena for all of you.
Linda
Hi Emily, thank you for sharing this with us. I will be praying this novena for your intentions.
I have been praying. As a non-Facebook person … I’m hoping for news here – soon!