News Story

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:

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/12/reeces_rainbow_international_d.html

(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.

God is SO good!

Trenton

Leeza

Igor

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; 

My God turns their darkness into light"

Psalm 18:28

Christmas card 2010

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.

Love, The Haglers

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lukey!

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!" :)

December 2008

December 2009

December 2010

Waiting for friends!

Lunch

PIE!!!!

Happy Birthday, sweet Luke!!!

Grandma and Papa

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.

Thanks for a great week, Grandma and Papa!!!

WZZK

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.

Christmas Parade!

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). 

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference

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?

Don't forget...

NON-RAFFLE IS HAPPENING NOW 

There are nearly $800 worth of prizes!!! 

• 8 personal training sessions from the owner of Fitworks
  
• a professional photo shoot courtesy of Beth Hontzas Photography
  
• a leather-bound Life-Application Study Bible, personalized free
  

Don't be left out...$10/entry TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!!!

Just make your donation here, e-mail me at glhagler@yahoo.com and let me know how much you donated.

Help us save this sweetie AND earn a chance to win a great prize...truly a win/win :)

Drawing will be Saturday, December 18th

Thanksgiving and Baby Ethan...I know this is late :)

Peace. Quiet. It often takes a week away from home for me to use these words in conjunction with my life as normal. Vacations are nice, but when your kids are little, they are stressful. Aside from the worry that Luke was going to tumble down the stairs, Trey was going to have a meltdown from his late bedtimes, and having so much we wanted to do in so little time, we had a great time visiting family in Michigan. 

We were lucky because we not only got to celebrate Thanksgiving, but also the birth of sweet baby Ethan. Ethan is our boys' 9th cousin. He is also one of the reasons we are adopting Sasha. If my sister-in-law had not discovered that she was pregnant with him, she and her husband would have stepped up to adopt Sasha first. Ethan was born on November 23rd. He weighed 8lbs 8oz. He is mostly healthy, but he has an enlarged kidney from what seems to be a blockage. Doctors have known about it since the 20 week ultrasound, and they have monitored it, but there was nothing that could be done until he was born. He is going to have lots of doctor visits and a barage of tests, but we are praying for his health and we know that God is in this.

Our boys had so much fun playing with their cousins. Trey and Emily were inseparable, and Luke surprised me by not acting jealous at all while I held Ethan. 

Luke really took to Aunt Sara...either it was all of those pregnancy hormones she was putting out there or he's trying to replace me :)

This is how you will find us for the next week, hunkered down.

Igor and a new family tradition

I am praying right now that God is going to give me the words for this. 

This is Igor. 

Igor, like Sasha lives in an orphanage (in fact, he is in Sasha's orphanage). He is three years old and has Down syndrome. Like Sasha, he wants, no NEEDS a family to show him what love is. I can only imagine that he longs to be hugged, kissed, cuddled, and have a mommy and daddy to meet his needs out of love not obligation. Like Sasha, Igor is rapidly approaching four, the age of institutionalization. Unlike Sasha, Igor has no committed family. Gary and I have considered bringing Igor home with Sasha. How do you turn your back on a child who needs rescuing? But we have prayed for weeks without finding God's peace. Igor has a family somewhere. I don't know who they are, but God does. 

I know that this is the time of year when many families are looking for something charitable to do, well you found it! Click here to contribute to Igor's Angel Tree fund, and for a $35 or more donation you can get a beautiful ornament for your tree. Start a new family tradition of helping orphans for Christmas. Each year you can add an ornament to your tree, help boost an orphan's grant fund so they will find a family, and share family prayer time for a special child. 

Whatever you decide to do, please pray for Igor and his family. March is rapidly approaching, and unfortunately for Igor that is when he will learn what the inside of an institution looks like. Please, don't let that happen! 

Non-raffle is here!!!

Here's how it works: 

Make a donation to our family grant fund by clicking on Sasha's picture at the left or here. The donation can be a mailed check or done by using PayPal. REMEMBER: this is a tax deductible donation :) For every $10 you donate, you will receive one entry in the raffle ($10=1 entry, $50=5 entries, etc.). 

You must e-mail me to let me know how much you donated, so that I give you the proper number of entries. My e-mail address is glhagler@yahoo.com (you can find it at the top of the blog as well). Please include your phone number in your e-mail.

The prizes are as follows:

• 8 personal training sessions from Jon Reinicke, owner of  Fitworks ($500 value!) Think how awesome this would be for after the holidays :) Jon will personally call the winner to arrange your sessions. Read reviews of Jon's training sessions here.
• A professional photography sitting with Southern Living Magazine's Beth Hontzas (over $200 value). She does amazing photos! Check her website here to see. 
  
• A beautiful leather-bound Life Application Study Bible (NIV), which can be personalized by Family Christian Store for free for the winner.
  

If you think that this raffle is not for you, because you do not live locally to take advantage of the prizes, think again. If a winner of one of the first two prizes should be from somewhere outside the Birmingham metro area, I will send you a Visa gift card worth $100.

The drawing will be held on Saturday December 18th. I will e-mail or call the winners on this day. 

You want me to abandon myself?

There is a war being waged in my mind right now. I wonder...just how tightly am I holding onto my life? My family? If God asked me to jump off a cliff, would I trust him to catch me? I would like to answer yes, but is that the truth? I am being painfully honest right now. The Bible is riddled with people who trusted God in a way that I dream I would (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Daniel, just to name a few). What if God asked me to do something that required great sacrifices from our whole family? 

Am I a person who claims the grace and beauty of the Gospel for myself, but ignores the whole "cross-bearing, die-to-yourself" thing? Have I added "The American Dream" to the Gospel even after God says specifically not to add to His word?

How about you? Am I alone?

***Just want to clarify, this is not about Sasha! I have NO doubts about him being our child.***

He makes all things new!

Uncle Scott and Aunt Melina, 

We are so proud of you! Thank you for letting us be a part of this.

Pennies from Heaven...our newest fundraising effort

The birth of a new idea:

Trey wanted to buy a Veggie Tales watch, so I was helping him count out his change (so graciously donated by Grandma :). I naturally started with the quarters, moved on to dimes, and then nickles. I didn't feel like counting the pennies, and I knew he didn't need them. Plus, I figured the cashier would be relatively upset if we paid with pennies. As I cast them aside, I thought to myself, "I wonder if pennies had feelings if they would feel like Sasha." As strange as this thought might be, the paralells are too great to ignore: we toss our pennies aside as if they are worthless, just like Sasha has been labeled; pennies are easily distinguished from other coins because of their color, they are the "outcasts" of the change purse. Right now, our baby is an outcast in his country. But we want to restore him to his original shine, and show him his God given worth.

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, they took little food with them and were soon in need of something to eat. And we all know that God rained down manna from Heaven to fulfill their need. A tiny, snowflake-like bread was sent to silence the hunger of hundreds of thousands of people. Wouldn't it be neat to see just how much money we could raise with pennies? To watch our need be met with the smallest of coins?

We are asking you to send us your "pennies from Heaven". This can be done in any form. You can add them up and make that tax-deductible donation to our family grant fund, you can take them to the coin star machine in the grocery store, or if you live nearby feel free to drop off a bag of pennies and let us do the work :) 

I really want to see what God will do with pennies, and then maybe we can start to change our thought process and turn back to the Almighty God instead of the "almighty dollar". Please consider joining our efforts, pass this along, and for all of my bloggers/facebookers, please keep our links on your pages, and help us to spread the word. And be sure to keep checking the blog for an upcoming non-raffle (raffles are illegal :)! We already have some great prizes!

One other quick request: I learned today that Sasha's country is in the process of possibly changing their adoption procedures. This spells trouble, but we simply cannot worry about it. Instead we are asking you to help us by praying about it. The real trouble seems that in order to change things, the country would have to close its doors to international adoptees for a few months. If and when they will do this all remains to be seen, but the way it would affect us is that it would nullify all of our paperwork. We would essentially have to begin compilling our dossier from scratch, because the dates must not be any older than 5 months. We refuse to panic, and we have already seen the power of your faithful prayers! Thank you!!!

"the process"

I know that many of you want to know where we are in "the process," and probably even more of you want to know what the process IS. I am becoming highly educated on the international adoption process, and I'm sporting a whole new vocab to prove it, using words like "dossier" (pronounced doss-ee-ay) and "apostilled" in my everyday conversations. Below is a basic breakdown of how the process works (believe me, this is VERY basic compared to actually living it out):

1. Homestudy - this is where a social worker compiles every tid-bit of your life and puts it on paper. It takes awhile (several months) to complete and includes things like writing an autobiography, criminal background checks, physicals, written references, financial forms, information about your house, documentation from an 11 year old speeding ticket (yes, I am still bitter about that), and home visits where the social worker interviews you and looks at your house, etc.

2. Submitting paperwork to USCIS - This includes our petition to adopt, our homestudy, and some VERY costly fingerprints. Once everything is submitted and approved they will give us another form to submit to Sasha's country with our dossier.

3. Dossier - I think this is French for MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PAPERWORK.  If the homestudy is your life on paper, the dossier is your life on notarized, apostilled paper. Here is the comedy in all of this (okay, really it is not funny at all, but all I can do is laugh) the homestudy gets included as part of the dossier paperwork, but we still have to collect the same documents over again and include them as well! For instance, I am in the process of collecting proof of home ownership. Even though the home study verifies that we do own our home and gives a detailed description, I still have to trudge downtown to the courthouse and get tossed around like a ragdoll from office to office trying to find someone who will type up a 3-sentence letter on county letterhead that says that we own our home. And then I have to get them to sign it in the presence of a notary. Once all the paperwork is filled out, following all 72 rules for each document, then we mail it off to our capital to have them apostille each of them. This is a fancy way of saying that they attach a piece of paper with one of those official-looking gold seals (read: sticker). And because we know that nothing in life is free, each one of those stickers will cost us $5. That doesn't seem like a lot until you see how many papers need stickers :)

4. Travel- Once our dossier is sent to Sasha's country, our facilitator will translate it and submit it for us. Once it's reviewed and hopefully accepted, we will receive travel dates. Things get a little fuzzy for me from this point on. I know that there are several official appointments (SDA, court, etc.) before Sasha is officially a Hagler. We will most likely have 2 trips. Each will be an estimated 2-3 weeks. In the first trip, the adoption becomes legal, but there is a 10 day wait period, which allows for the ruling to be overturned. It is in this time that we plan to come back to the States. The second trip is not as easy as pick him up and fly back. There will be a lot of legalities to take care of (obtaining a visa, medical exams, etc.), which is why the second trip is quite long as well.

Okay, so down to the nitty-gritty of where we are in all of this mess. I feel like a sprinter running a marathon! I'm doubled over with cramps and am panting heavily :) Our homestudy should be completed very soon. We are done with our parts, we are waiting on the report to be completed, signed, notarized and handed over. We have submitted our petition for adoption to USCIS, but they still need our homestudy. We are gathering all of our paperwork for the dossier as diligently as we can, but obtaining even one paper is never as easy as just asking for it and receiving it. Sasha's country will only accept dossiers this year until November 26th. We will not make that deadline, so we will have to submit when they re-open after the winter break in February. If all goes as as planned, we think our travel should come sometime in early April. 

I know that this post has gotten out-of-control-long, but I also want to address one more thing: I have been asked by many people, "why does it cost so much?" My answer: the process! We are doing our adoption independently, which means there are no agency fees. Reece's Rainbow is not an agency and the only money we have paid to them were a small application fee and a love offering. The homestudy, obtaining documents, and USCIS account for a decent chunk of change, but the biggest expenses come from travel and paying the facilitator in country (who does work hard for the money). There is no pork here. 

We are chugging along with the fundraising and should have new fundraisers up and running in the near future. Thanks for standing with us through the stress and the chaos. 

Real Life...Interrupted

We were blessed to have a short trip to the beach last week. I feel like I have to justify the trip to everyone, because we are trying to raise money for our adoption...and then we went to the beach. The trip was planned long before we committed to adopt Sasha, and it was very cheap. Gary travels so much for work, and I always say that the ONLY benefit is that sometimes we get to tag along. Poor Gary had to work the whole time, but the rest of us (including my mom) enjoyed a much needed break. Now, I'm back and ready for more fundraising, more paperwork, and more stress :)

Grandma and the boys checking out Biscayne Bay

Sand...

...And more sand!

Luke really enjoyed throwing fistfulls of sand into the Ocean (very fruitful labor :)

My kiddos are growing and changing every day! Trey is reading; it might not be much, but he can sound out some words, and it seems like a lot to me. He is showing us a much deeper thought process lately. He is able to take things from one setting and apply them to another. He recently learned the term "body of Christ," and one day he said to me, "Mom, doctors are the hands". Today we cooked the seeds from our pumpkin. I offered one to Trey, and he said (I am NOT making this up), "no, but since I don't want one of those can I have brussel sprouts?" 

Luke is talking SO much. I like to ask him, "who loves you?" He always says, "Mama, Daddy, Beans (this is Trey), Papa, Nana, Pa (Grandpa), Ma (Grandma), Aunt EEE (Aunt Melina), Deesus (Jesus)". He loves his stuffed animals and babies. He cannot walk by a stroller without yelling, "baby!" He also really enjoys trucks, planes, boats, anything that goes (just like every little boy). He keeps us busy by throwing stuff in the toilet, taking his socks and shoes off EVERY chance he gets (I picked him up from the church nursery yesterday...barefoot! That is not how I sent him in!), and falling off things. He behaves like Pavlov's dog when the phone rings. He runs to the kitchen, grabs a chair and pushes it to the sink to play in the water. He thinks he can get away with it because I'm on the phone. 

So, yes, we do have our hands full...but we wouldn't have it any other way :)

Money?

I just want to say that I am overwhelmed right now. Money is coming from places that I cannot figure out...SERIOUSLY!!! We were out of town this week, and our grant fund has jumped $1150 from when we left. I don't know where any of it came from. Anyone want to claim all or some part of $1150? 

Please, vote Melanie Hollis!

Many of you who read my blog have children; many have special needs children. Here's what you probably don't know: across the country, children with special needs are legally allowed to be restrained in "time-out" type rooms. These children are locked away IN SCHOOL with no way out, and NO SUPERVISION!!! Many of these children have health concerns that make that very unsafe, not to mention the fact that it is legalized torture. Imagine your child. You send them to school to receive an education, to grow emotionally and intellectually. Now picture your child locked in a room all alone, nobody caring that they might be screaming for help, nobody to know if they are having a seizure, they might even be forgotten and left there all day. Is that what you would want for your child (special needs or not!)? 

Melanie Hollis is running as a WRITE-IN candidate for Tennessee state senate (District 23), because she WILL NOT STAND for this type of legalized abuse. Melanie is the mother of 5 children (2 DS and 1 FAS). She has a humungous heart, and I promise you she has the ability to do the people justice as senator (after all she relies entirely on God, and let's face it there is nothing too hard for Him). I don't live in Tennessee, so I can't vote for her (promise, I would if I could, Melanie :). But if you do, or know someone who does, PLEASE WRITE IN MELANIE HOLLIS on November 2nd.

Below are a few links to some of her YouTube clips (2-5 minutes a piece...really worth your time) and a link for her blog.

Melanie's Blog

Read THIS if you want to see an interview with a mother whose daughter was restrained this way.

Read THIS and THIS to know more about why Melanie is running (and about the proposed bill for this method of restraint)

You need to know this!

Want to know why Sasha needs saving?

Read This.

Don't you just love her already?

This is Nicole. She is 2 1/2, and she needs your help. Nicole is in an orphanage in Russia. She was born with dwarfism. Nicole's family had to back out of their adoption. I saw her face 100 times as I continually checked for our family's FSP page on the RR site. I smiled every time I saw her, because she is so darn cute! And I knew she had a family here waiting for her and loving her. Now, I am deeply saddened for her. You cannot look at her and tell me that she isn't adorable. Want to help Nicole? You don't have to adopt her. Click here and you can donate toward her grant fund to make it easier for someone else to adopt her. There are so many families who are willing to help these sweet children, but money is usually the biggest obstacle. Please help Nicole by helping her family...whoever they are. You should know that any thing you donate to Nicole's grant fund STAYS with her. If another family should back out of adopting her, the money you donate stays with Nicole. This is the case for all RR children.

Buddy Walk Weekend

We had a VERY tiring, but super exciting weekend. Saturday was our MONSTER yard sale. All of our mommy group friends were so wonderful and contributed sacrificially to the sale. Many people donated items for us to sell, and several also donated their time. We have a lot of individual thank you's to be sending out. We really could not have done it without all of your support. Special thanks to:

Shey: for allowing us to use her house, take up her entire garage for 2 weeks, helping me haul stuff up her steep drive-way at 5am, and working like a dog all day :)

Stephanie: The whole idea was hers (not to mention some larger items :), she also helped me sort and tag stuff one day, and spent a good deal of the day working the sale with us

Angela: Who set up and ran "Sasha's Cafe" (her idea), where she sold coffee, mocha, lattes, hot chocolate, homemade pumpkin spice muffins, and donuts. And she came very early to help haul stuff up the giant hill.

Allison and Jason: Who gave us a larger table (in order to accommodate our growing family), donated some great items to the sale, and helped set up early in the morning

Alyssa: Who despite being pregnant and having a husband with a crazy schedule managed to find time to come just as the sun was peeking over the horizon to help set up

Melina and Scott: For overnighting me boxes of stuff to sell

Carlyn, Jessica, Sara, The Dillon Family, & Ms. Georgia: Who all donated SO much!

EVERYONE WHO PRAYED FOR THE SUCCESS OF THIS SALE!!!!

We made $1150!

Eating some early morning Banana Bread on Ms. Shey's porch

Our next exciting venture was our very first Buddy Walk. This is a walk sponsored by PADS (Parent Advocates Down Syndrome). It is an annual event held in various venues around the nation. Birmingham's happened to be this weekend, and we were fortunate enough to go and get connected with other Reece's Rainbow families. We met up with some amazing people, one of whom happened to be Andrea, the founder of Reece's Rainbow. She really is a beautiful woman with a shining spirit. The kids had fun, too (in bounce houses, eating suckers and getting tattooed :)

 

Obedience

In the past few weeks, I have heard a lot of things from a lot of people. These things range from, "I don't think you understand the impact this is going to have on your family" (true) to "Wow, you guys are amazing. I am so blessed to know you" (not true). Please, don't take this personally if you are one of the above (if you made either comment, you are not the only one), but both of those things make me cringe a little on the inside. The first just makes me want to scream, "really, don't you think that we KNOW that we DON'T KNOW what we are getting into?" But then I might sound crazy :) The second comment sort of makes me sick to my stomach. Many of you know that I read Katie Davis' blog, and that I think she is amazing, but it dawned on me one day that she is just a normal person being obedient to God and allowing Him to use her (don't stone me Katie followers :)

Here is the truth. I am scared as all get out to adopt Sasha. BUT I also have peace about the decision. The truth is that we are not amazing people. We are average, everyday, ordinary people. We are slaves by choice. And the God we serve is capable of all things. It is clear to me that Sasha is meant to be a part of our family. The decision to adopt him was not a quick decision without any forethought. But it was an decision to be obedient. 

Here is the bottom line: 

My sweet friend told me the other day, "Lindsay, you can NOT do this. But God can, and that is how He will be glorified." (I know, she's smart isn't she?) My honest prayer is that people will see our actions, but not see us. They will perceive us as mere instruments being used by the LORD. I know that God is asking us to do this, and I cannot stand before Him one day and pretend I had no idea. 

If you want to help us, pray. Pray that God would get ALL of the glory. Pray that our marriage would withstand all of Hell as it is thrown at us, and that our family will emerge strong and grounded in the Word of God.

"Slide-head"

A bad hair morning

Walking across the "balance beam"

Momma's Boys

Cuddling and watching a "moomoo" (movie)

Non-profit up and running!

YEA! You can now click on Sasha's picture and make an electronic, tax deductible donation toward our adoption costs. 100% of the donations will go toward our costs (minus PayPal fees if you choose that method). Check it out! I'm not cool enough to know how to create a button yet, but I'm getting there. Hopefully, I will figure it out soon and then you can all grab it and post it on your blogs :)

National DS Awareness Month

October is National Down syndrome awareness month. I certainly do not have a wealth of knowledge to spread on the topic, but I am learning so that I can be the best possible mommy for Sasha. I would like to share some of what I have learned:

1. Down syndrome is named after the Dr. who discovered it (Dr. Down).

"I think it's time for everyone to start thinking "UP" instead of "Down." I wish the name of the doctor who discovered Down syndrome was Dr. Up instead of Dr. Down. Then maybe people would start with a better attitude toward us than they do now. Maybe they would understand what we are all about and what we are capable of doing." 

-Ann M. Forts (member of the Board of Directors of the National Down Syndrome Congress, Editor-in-Chief of Down Syndrome Headline News, motivational speaker, "Self Empowerment Award" winner, and an individual living with Down syndrome)

2. People with Down syndrome have a third copy of the 21st chromosome, which is why you will hear the term Down syndrome interchanged with Trisomy-21 at times. These children are "chromosomally enhanced"!

3. Children with Down syndrome can be just as healthy as other children, however, there seems to be some connection between the extra chromosome and certain health problems. Some of these include: congenital heart defects, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory problems (due to abnormal immune systems), low muscle tone, poor vision, poor hearing, and thyroid problems. This is a partial list, but it is very important to remember that not all children with DS will have all or even any of these issues. 

*For those who are wondering, Sasha has a large scar on his chest indicating he HAS had open heart surgery. Breaks my heart knowing what he went through and I wasn't there for him, but I'm so thankful he did have that surgery so he could be a part of our family.

4. Children with Down syndrome are all unique in their abilities, personalities, and gifts...just like every other child. Please do NOT generalize or stereotype a child based on what you have heard about "Down syndrome children". 

"He has developed exactly like a normal child. It's just that his pace is slower. He's just like any child-he disobeys like another child, and he wants all the things that other little children want"

-Anonoymous parent of a child with DS

I encourage all of you to take advantage of October. Feel the chill in the air and snuggle up with some hot cider and a good book about down syndrome :) (I am reading, Babies with Down Syndrome: A New Parents' Guide Edited by Karen Stray-Gundersen - slightly outdated, but what our library had :)

Speechless!

I found this in my e-mail today:

"My 11 year old Caroline is selling hair ribbons like this to her friends

to raise money for Sasha.

We will keep you posted on the results. May not raise a lot of money but

the message on the ribbon means more."

What do you say to the generosity and outpouring of love from an 11 year-old girl who does not even know our family? I'm still crying (and I got the e-mail 3 hours ago). 

If you do not believe that God exists...call me!

Please check this out: You know what breaks my heart?

This is the link to someone's family blog. Someone I have never met. Another amazing person who was touched by Sasha's story. This was blogged before we committed to adopt Sasha. My e-mail inbox and my blog have been filled with comments from people I have never met: people who love my son just as much as I do.

I wish I could tell you just how much I experience God everyday, but you would have to be with me day in and day out to hear all of my phone conversations and read all of my e-mails. 

Sasha's story is bigger than just a another child who needs a home. Someone asked me last night, "knowing what we now know, that you were always intended to be Sasha's family, why do you think that He had to endure so much in his little life? Why couldn't it just have been a smooth road for him from the beginning?"

* What many of you do not know is that there was not only one family before us, there were 2! Sasha lost two families on 3 occassions!

I don't actually have the real answer (God's answer), but I speculate that it is because he is special :) If the road was easy, Sasha never would have touched so many hearts. People would not have had the opportunity to dig deeper into their hearts and be changed (myself included). I can name several people who are different today because of Sasha. God always ordained for him to have this purpose. I am just thankful that He counts us worthy to be this amazing child's family.

Thank you, Jessie for sharing this blog post with us.

Conversations with a 4 year-old

1. "Mom, guess what I just figured out? I'm Buzz (Buzz Lightyear for those who don't get the

     reference), because I'm really strong. I can lift this toy bucket all by myself."

2. While playing store: "All this stuff is going to be expensive."

     "That's okay, I get money from work every day."

     "Where do you work?"

     "In Afghanistan. While people are fighting, I get money from their pockets."

     "You take money from people's pockets?" (Appalled!)

     "Yeah, that's how it works in Afghanistan." 

3. Still playing store. Trey bought a baby (he was pretending it was a real baby). We did have a

     conversation about how we cannot REALLY buy babies.

     "I want to return this stuff, because my baby is awful! He tries to bite me."

4. He was playing while I was cooking dinner one night, and he ran to me and said, "the soldiers

     are trying to hurt my children and put them on the cross. God told us to come here to hide

     from the soldiers." I'm so pleased he listens to AND obeys God.

Caution! God at work.

I feel like I cannot do justice to the miracles that are happening around us everyday, but I'm going to continue trying because the world needs to know. 

Last week, we were scheduled to have our homestudy visit from our APAC (DHR) social worker. We discovered just five minutes before she showed up at our door that our paperwork had been received and we were the committed family for Sasha. So this was about to be an awkward meeting. We invited her in and said that we had a story to share with her. We told her our story and apologized PROFUSELY!!! Surprisingly, she was really happy for us and very supportive. She even mentioned that APAC had a private sector. She put us in touch with their private social worker. DHR will hand our ENTIRE file over to her, meaning we do NOT have to start from scratch. PLUS, she is only going to charge us $1000 vs the $1800 that our other social worker was going to charge! This means that the last 3 months of classes and paperwork overload have not been for nothing. Again, God knew what He was doing (as if we could doubt).

Yesterday, we also had friends step forward and donate $1000 toward bringing Sasha home. I had told her my homestudy story as a testimony to God's faithfulness. She never told her husband this story, but he knew of our journey with Sasha. He was apparently so touched by it, it kept him up in the middle of the night. He told his wife the next day, "I think we should give them $1000". She cried because she knew this was EXACTLY how much we needed for the homestudy. She is certain that God gave her husband this number as just another revelation of His hand in all of this. I think she's right. 

I just hope and pray that we do not get in the middle of His plans and mess them up by trying to control things.

 

Top 3...

...reasons NOT to adopt Sasha.

1. "Doesn't that cost a lot of money?"

• "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phillipians 4:19)
  
• "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" (1 John 3:17)
  

2. "What about Trey and Luke?"

• "Raise a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6)
  
• "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." (1 Peter 3:8)
  
• "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)
  
• "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17)

3. "Doesn't he have down syndrome?"

• "The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives" (Exodus 30:15) - EVERY life is worth the same to God.
  

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "but we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" (Proverbs 24:11,12)

We are called to love in ACTION and in truth. We hope you will stand with us.

Any other objections?

OUR Sasha!

If you are reading this, sit back relax and make sure you have some time. Here is the loooooooong version of what God is doing in our lives and in the life of Sasha.

Earlier this year (spring 2010) my sister-in-law told me about her friends who were adopting a little boy from Eastern Europe (Sasha). It was through their adoption experience that I was led to two blogs that have touched me and changed who I am (links below).

Hope

Katie

As I began a faith journey, my heart really began to long to help orphans. I knew that God would show me what to do. As many of you know, our house has been for sale way too long. We have continually said that it would sell according to God's timeline. I began to have a feeling that we were waiting for something. I told Gary one day, "I think we are waiting for a child".

July: Sara (sister-in-law) calls me to tell me that her friends had to back out of their adoption because of a cancer diagnosis. After much prayer and discussion, Gary and I decide to begin the adoption process for Sasha. Before we could schedule a homestudy, Sara's friends decide they want to try the adoption anyway. At this point I want everyone to know that I was hoping things would work out for them. I CANNOT imagine having to give up a child, especially a child who so desperately needs help. So, we decided to move on and begin the adoption process through Alabama DHR (APAC).

About halfway through our adoption process (August), I received a call from Sara. Sasha's family had to back out again once they fully realized the severity of the cancer. Gary and I talked about it, but were at odds. We decided to pray for Sasha and advocate for him, but continue on our path. 

One morning while praying with Trey, we prayed for Sasha. I explained that he needed a family to take him in and love him. Trey mumbled something that I failed to hear. I asked him to tell me what he said. "It's a secret," was his response. He sat in my lap and whispered in my ear, "we'll be his family". Yes, tears streamed down my face at that moment. All I could think was how we are supposed to come to the LORD as children. We are supposed to have unfailing faith and not overcomplicate things. The reality was simple: Sasha needed a family and we were a family looking to adopt. I began to pray feverishly that Gary and I would come to the same conclusion.

We did! We e-mailed many people trying to get information about Sasha and about the process. We have had tremendous resources, and are praising God for His unfailing love, His revelation of Himself in this process and His faithfulness. 

We love Sasha and cannot wait to bring him home to meet his family...you!

School...at home

The school year has kicked off for us. It was a bit strange for Trey to have school without leaving home. But, it has really gone well so far. Each morning we have "circle time" which consists of morning prayer, a memory verse, calendar, pledge of allegiance, weather, and on fridays we have show and tell (per Trey's request). The majority of our school work is done during Luke's nap. In the first two weeks we have learned about patterns, our bodies (internal organs and skeleton), we have started a letter book, worked on writing our letters, and began sounding out words. I'm very proud of Trey, he is working hard and learning so much. He is also very creative. These are some of his latest creations:

This is his control tower for the airport that he made.

 

This is a train (the wheelbarrow connected to the wagon) that is towing his firetruck.