Lately, our story has caught some momentum, and we have been really blessed by some media stories done on our journey to save Sasha. I wanted to share the links for those of you who are not local.
Here is the link to our story in the Christmas Day edition of the Birmingham News:
(The story in the paper has a pic of Sasha and one of our family, as well as the Dahlen and Bedford Families whom we have been blessed to know. The pic in this link is of the Dahlen family.)
Also, I will be taking a short break from blogging, but I hope you will check back in about 3 weeks from now for all of our updates.
For those of you who have been following along with us for awhile, you will remember Igor. You will not, however, remember Trenton (or Leeza). I told myself that if either of these boys were still available after we got home with Sasha, we would go back for them. Gary admitted thinking the same thing. We have prayed for these boys. Luke chose Igor for his angel tree child. And we have advocated specifically for Igor as his time was running out. You will notice I said "was". Trenton, Igor, and Leeza (another sweet girl in the same orphanage, who my friend considered bringing home with her baby) ALL found families yesterday!!!! I have been in contact with a woman who wanted so badly to bring Igor home. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be, but she confessed to spending her nights awake praying for his family to find him. I sympathized with her, and COMPLETELY understood her feelings. I assured her though that God had not forgotten about Igor. He hasn't, and neither has the rest of the world. I am praying for his family and the families of Trenton and Leeza (although I have a sneaking suspicion it may be just one family adopting all 3!). I pray that their journey would be filled with triumph and blessing. That they would give praise to the Lord and that His purposes would be served through all of this.
"You, O LORD keep Igor, Trenton, and Leeza's lamps burning;
If we could give all of you one gift, it would be this, "a peace that transcends all understanding": the peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior. We pray that all of you come to know him even more intimately than you already do. We wish worry would be a thing of your past, peace would be your present and your future, and love would be your life's rule.
Stand out, be a light, and shine like you were born to do.
Merry Christmas and may God bless you in ways incomprehensible to the world.
I cannot believe that my baby is nearly 2. We celebrated today with some of our friends. Luke always loves having his friends over to play, and today was no exception. We had birthday pie (pumpkin), at the request of the birthday boy (I know, what kind of 2 year old picks pie over cake?) It is amazing to watch him grow up. I asked him if he had a good party. His response..."more pie!" I tried singing "Happy Birthday" to him before he went to bed tonight, and he said, "no, no, no!" So I asked him if he was happy or sad when everybody sang to him. "Sad." "Were you happy or sad when you were eating pie?" "HAPPY!" :)
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. We had so much fun! Trey cried for hours after they left, "I want Grandma!" And Luke woke up from his nap saying, "Papa. Papa." (that's what he calls Grandpa). Here a just a few of the many pictures I wanted to post.
We were absolutely blessed by an opportunity to do an interview with WZZK's Don Dailey. He heard our story through a mutual friend and was kind enough to allow us some air time to share it with others.
I want to say that we are so grateful for this opportunity, but you all should know that while our story is special to us, we realize that there are so many people God is utilizing in even bigger ways than us. We have been in contact with other families who have adopted multiple children with varying levels of disabilities. There is another family who is in this process after having lost a 2-year old child seven months ago. There are families who have made this their life's work adopting one, and then going back again, and again, and again, finishing one adoption only to begin another. These people are the ones that deserve recognition for what they are doing. We applaud all of them and are thankful that we call them friends.
As you listen, please ignore my many verbal pauses (guess my public speaking skills are a little rusty :) Enjoy the pics as well.
Locals, please pick up a copy of Birmingham Christian Family Magazine (free all over town), and read our story in this month's issue. :)
Sorry this has taken so long to post...I had one heck of a time getting this up. It is also butchered :( I had to cut a little from the beginning and the end in order to be able to upload it.
We took the boys to their first Christmas parade :) They loved it! There was candy, lots of lights and music, and if that wasn't enough Jim N' Nick's BBQ threw their famous cheddar corn muffins into the crowd. You might notice that Trey looks like he's wearing a pretty silly outfit...he is. Earlier that day, we received a package from Grandpa. He bought all three of the boys authentic soccer uniforms. They are all the same size...Trey's size :) He tried them all on, and then insisted he needed to wear one to the parade. Being the reasonable mom that I am, I told him he could as long as he wore sweats underneath (hence the goofy outfit).
The Reece's Rainbow Yahoo group has been raving about this video. I don't blame them. This is how I feel. Any parent can understand the way that Eric Ludy talks about his son and the lengths he would go to for him. Why do we have such a problem transposing that love and emotion? We struggle with how much God loves us, and how much he loves others. We forget that WE are the body. God cares for his children only through the body of Christ. If we are not doing it, who is?
I viewed this video because of a post by a woman in the group. After looking at the children on the Reece's Rainbow site, her daughter asked her, "if I was in an orphanage in Eastern Europe, would you adopt me?" WOW!!! An innocent question. A difficult answer.
When I saw Sasha's face for the first time, I saw my own children. I spent my nights awake, crying, picturing Trey and Luke stuck in a crib feeling so alone and unloved. I knew I could never completely put him out of my mind. I tried to console myself with thoughts like, "It's okay, God knows your heart." And the Spirit would prod me, "but how does that help Sasha?" I wondered if I would ever be able to put him out of my mind. I prayed every day for his family to find him. Someone please step forward, for him and for me. I knew that the only way I could ever return to life as normal was to find him a family. Deep down I knew he was mine, but it would be easier if someone else stepped up. I wanted him. I loved him from the first moment I "met" him, but what if God had something else for me to do and adopting him would interfere with that? The reality that finally hit me was God's truth. We all search for God's calling on our lives. But most of us are just letting the call go to voicemail when it does come. Life is complicated. Your life's calling is simple: "love your neighbor as yourself," "do to others as you would have them do to you".
If you were in an orphanage, would you want to be adopted?
