EE Feast

We are so thankful to the Enskat family who hosted our family along with 4 others who are in process to adopt from a certain Eastern European country (you know which one I mean :)

The Enskat family brought home 3 beautiful babies last year (Nina, Varia, and Timofey, all adorable DS kiddos). They now have 6 children (4 with Downs) and a crazy, but happy life. They were so kind to open their home to us and to share their experiences with us, rejoice with us in our stories of blessings, and commiserate with us in our trials. They prepared an international feast, which was so YUMMY!!!! I have a strong feeling, though, that our food in-country won't be quite as tasty.

This is what the adoption process does; it doesn't just give an orphan a home, it also brings you into a family that you never might have imagined.

The couple with the 2 sweetheart standing behind us and to the right are going to the same orphanage we are at the same time we are. We are super excited to be able to share in their journey and make them a part of ours :)

Cucumber salad, cabbage rolls, garlicy pork skewers.........mmmmmmmm!

These are just a few of the angels found at the end of Reece's Rainbow. Aren't they precious?

Daddy got to work from home on a snowy day, and the boys decided to do some work too!

Roller skating for the first time...he really did enjoy it :)

Today was Pajama day at school. We sent him complete with robot P.J.s, Fuzzy orange monster slippers, and faux bed-head :)

Fully Funded?!!?!?!?!?

This was in my e-mail inbox early in December. I wanted to share it with you, because I want the world to know that if God calls you to do something, He will always provide what you need to do it.

Dear Lindsay-

I received your thank you note and picture of Sasha today. Thank you so much for your sweet words! I also just love the card of Sasha!

As you know, Sasha has had a special place in our hearts. [My husband] and I have been praying for him and even at one time considered adopting him. Because of this, we started praying recently if we should give more money to bring him home to his family (that's you :) ). The last two days I have been thinking about your family a lot and I felt like God gave me a peace about what to do. I thought it was really cool when my husband brought up during dinner tonight that he would like to talk about what to give to you all and that he had been thinking about your family today as well.

So let me explain what we would like to do. It looks like you have a big fundraising push with the raffle. We are thinking that most people will give before December 18th and then after the raffle donations may slow down. After your receive your total on December 18th, [my husband] and I would like to cover the remaining balance. For example, if you were to not raise anymore money then you have already raised then we would contribute $9,935.00. We would be absolutely honored to do this.

Are you crying yet? I cried so hard, I couldn't get the words out to tell my husband what I just read!

Want to know just how special kids with DS are?

Watch this video. It is a clip from Louie Giglio's famous "Laminin Sermon". It's been around for awhile, so you may have seen it already, but even if you have just watch again :)

Now, ponder this: as I was reading my book on DS, I came across a passage that noted, "Children with Down syndrome have an over expression of the cell adhesion molecule gene". Coincidence, I think not!

THIS BLOG IS GOING PRIVATE!

If you want an invite, I would be more than happy to send you one. Just e-mail me at glhagler@yahoo.com and let me know. We are doing this in anticipation of our upcoming travel to a certain Eastern European country :) Hope you will follow along. I will do my best to post updates as we travel, but internet time is on a paid basis (and I'm going to have to spend a lot of that time Skyping my babies back here), so I may not get around to posting too much until we return.

P.S. we are anticipating travel in late March, but of course we will let you know when we get firm dates. This blog will be private BEFORE Feb 10th (the date we plan on submitting our paper work to the EE government).

I'm baaaaack!

Okay, so for awhile there I dropped off the face of the blogosphere, and it was great! I know that sounds so silly, but sometimes this thing takes over my life. I get so caught up in posting updates and checking everyone else's blogs for new pics and stories that I leave more important things behind. God has taught me so many things in the past 3 weeks, and I am so grateful!

Here are some of the things that I am thankful for. Thank you God that:

Our family has experienced such tremendous spiritual growth over the last year that our lives are nearly unrecognizable.

I have a 4 year-old, who never being told to say so, says things like,

"No dad, I don't love you the most. I love God the most."

"I want to pray for all the orphans to have families."

"After we adopt Sasha, will there be more orphans for us to adopt?"

"Jesus, you are the only way. You have the power, the wisdom, and the stature." (this one he runs around the house singing/yelling)

I have a 2 year-old, who upon being asked what he wants me to sing to him, says,

"Jesus!" Okay, I think. So, I begin singing, "Jesus loves me". "NO! Jesus," he replies. I proceed to try EVERY song with "Jesus" in it I can think of. Then I realize, he wants me to just sing the sweet name of "Jesus" over and over again. So this is what we do each night.

My husband wants to abandon everything in our lives to live radically for the gospel. He understands that when God calls, we answer. No matter how challenging it may seem.

We have learned as a family not to see the mountains in front of us, but instead to keep our focus where it belongs: on Jesus Christ, on a God who is bigger than every one of those mountains, and the Holy Spirit whose power and guidance can make the insurmountable seem more than passable.