ARCHDIOCESE — The birth of baby is always a blessed event and a new book — I Know I Am Loved — honors the occasion as parents experience the precious gift of new life.

Author Dolores Mize and her husband, Brian, members of St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, are the parents of "four amazing treasures" — Anthony, Joseph, Maggie and Johnny.

COURTESY PHOTO

Dolores Mize

She calls her inspiration for I Know I Am Loved "an honest-to-goodness God thing," explaining that she felt a passion to write a book focusing on the miracle of birth and the magnificent gift of life that comes from God.

Mize recalls "weeping as I felt the words come into my heart from a child’s point of few. I just grabbed a pen and wrote and wrote. The words kept coming."

A friend then introduced Mize to local photographer Angela Talentino. Together they worked to match Talentino’s black and white photographs of newborn babies with Mize’s prose, resulting in what the author describes as "a perfect match."

I Know I Am Loved has been published by Life Cycle Books of Toronto, Canada.

The book, Mize says, captures the love and wonder felt by both infant and parents when they meet outside the womb for the first time. She hopes it will become a cherished keepsake for families as they remember those special moments. With pages in the back of the book for parents to personalize, write love letters to their child or add photos, I Know I Am Loved is an appropriate gift for new and expectant parents and occasions such as Mother’s Day, baby showers, birthdays and baptisms.

Mize hopes the love reflected on each page of the book will help readers to "embrace, celebrate and love their children" as the true gifts from God that they are.

"How can people not see the reflection of God in the beauty of children?" she asked.

"I also hope it keeps someone from making a horrible mistake," Mize added. "The bottom line is to save a baby’s life."

Writing I Know I Am Loved was very personal for Mize. "With every page, it just brought back the beauty of each birth I’ve experienced," she said. "Every birth is different, yet there are also similarities. When I go back and read the book it makes me cry."

Response to the book has been positive, said Mize, recalling a phone call from one reader who has been devastated by her inability to have children and has now decided to adopt. "I’m so grateful that God gave me a voice and enabled me to share how beautiful the gift of life is," Mize said.

Locally I Know I Am Loved is available from Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati by visiting their website at www.affirminglife.org or calling 513-721-7870. The book is also being carried at St. Francis Bookshop, 8621 Winton Rd., Cincinnati, and other area bookstores.

In addition, it will be available at the 26th annual Run for Life scheduled for May 10 at Winton Woods. Interested readers may also visit www.iknowi Amloved.com.

Mize’s second book, Embraced by Love, which celebrates the journey of discovery, belonging and adoption, is due out in the fall.