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.