Just a little dribble.

Gabriel never fails to inspire me.
Wednesday night after Bible study I checked my phone and found a video message from Matt.
And my heart burst. 

Seriously, the sky is the limit for our sweet one.

Beaming with pride I shared it with my friend Leanne and she was too impressed; that this little boy who took his first steps on June 20 is playing soccer.

Gabe is a force to be reckoned with.
He is determined, motivated and willing to try and try again until he is able to accomplish something.
And accomplish it, he does.  


 

Never, never, never give up.

-Winston Churchill

Popular

Our Chrome Buffalo fundraiser is over!!!   

Check out the page here.

I love seeing that "Drive Successful" stamp. 

Probably a little too much.  

Intuitively I know God will fund what He favors.  

And we know how much He favors adoption!  

But my soul just brims with hope I saw how many people joined with us. 

I hope y'all love your shirts. 

When you were your shirt feel confident knowing you helped bring our little one home.  

Out of an orphanage and into a family. 

You indeed changed a life. 

And now onto the dancing.  

You didn't think it was going to be me did you?

But surely this sweet boy won't disappoint you. 

Gabe is quite certain your new shirt is going to make you POPULAR!  (wink, wink)

Gabe dancing to Popular from Meredith LaGorga on Vimeo.

Time? It's running out!

You know that moment when you're at the store, see something you want 

but for one reason or another you don't buy it?  

You go home, think about what you passed up and decide you'll go back the next day to get it.  

Arrive at the store the next day, go to the proper aisle... and it's gone!  

This happens to me all too often at Anthropoligie's sale rack or Barnes and Noble's children's books sales bins.
It irritates me every time.
One day I'll learn my lesson.

Don't let this happen to you!
There are just 3 days left to buy our Chrome Buffalo "Hope" shirts!

Click here to buy a shirt!
Get one while you can because once they're gone, they're gone! 

Children's Museum - Cleveland Style

For Christmas Gabe and I received a membership pass to the Children's Museum of Cleveland.  We made our first visit a few weeks ago and while it was not the Children's Museum of Houston (they're ranked number for a reason!), Gabe had a great time.  It took our sweet boy a little while to get used to the messiness of the room full of sand and his favorite activity far and wide was playing in the water; fishing, learning about locks and racing boats. 

Gabe thought the weather screen was pretty cool.  But I'm pretty sure he mostly liked to see himself on the television [smile].

This bridge was also a highlight.  It shakes when you walk across it... just like on Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Obviously I missed the show with the moving bridge but Gabe, who forgets nothing, surely remembered!

Chrome Buffalo.... Launched!

A few months ago we heard about Chrome Buffalo and became excited.  It seemed a little too good to be true.  An organization that has good quality, non sweatshop t-shirts that they sell for us? Surely too good to be true.  But it wasn't!  We contacted Chrome Buffalo and waited for the perfect day to launch our drive (Chrome Buffalo terms for starting our fundraiser)

That perfect day was yesterday!  For every t-shirt sale we receive $11 towards our adoption fund!
Just yesterday we sold 20 t-shirts in the first day!   We had set a goal of 50.  It seemed so lofty but we still do have some funds we need to save/raise and this seemed like a good and easy opportunity.  Now though... I'm thinking we can surpass our goal.

Of course, that can only happen with your help!  There's a saying I read recently.. (Thanks Casey!)

"It may take a village to raise a child but  an army to free one."  

We are so thankful for the army that has rallied around us as we have made our way through this crazy thing called adoption.  You have held us up, picked us up when we were down and rallied around us when the worst we could imagine happened.  Twice.

Blessed.  Thankful.  Hopeful.  That's where we are right now.

As well as selling shirts!  We are so grateful to have the opportunity to sell these shirts:

I love these shirts.  The anchor along with Hebrews 6:19 has become such an important part of our
adoption journey.

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain," Hebrews 6:19

Thank you for joining our army and hoping with us while we wait.

XO

Buy shirts here!

28 months

Yesterday marked 28 months waiting.  

28 months hoping.

28 months praying.

28 months loving a face we've yet to see.

28 months. 

Today we are choosing...

 Choosing joy while we wait.

Choosing hope our wait will be over soon.

Choosing peace that we are exactly where we're supposed to be.

Choosing to believe we will see his (or her/their) face soon...

Please, please, please

Sunday we went to "The World's Greatest Hobby Show" at the IX Center.  The world's greatest hobby is obviously model trains and wow, a model train hobby is a pricey pastime!  And we thought Thomas the Train was expensive - ha! 

Gabe was in little boy heaven.  I mean, this child loves trains.  There were at least a dozen  model trains set up and Gabe went from train to train intently watching each engine, caboose and car that went by, memorizing the landscapes, the color of cars and which engines blew steam.  I thought we'd never get him to leave. It took a few hours but eventually we did convince him to leave. 

While I was trying to take pictures (of course I forgot my camera and only had my phone), I couldn't help but feel someone was missing.  My heart is desperate for the picture that holds Gabe's sweet face with the face of his sibling.  As time goes by it becomes more and more apparent that we're missing someone; a second (or third) sweet little face smooshed next to Gabriel's in pictures, another glass of milk at the table, another hand to hold and forehead to kiss goodnight.  

Someone is missing and every day that goes by we miss them a little more. 

How do you love someone you've never seen before?  Ask any of my adoptive mama friends and their answer is the same; it's possible, it's deep and in the recesses of your soul you are fighting to bring them home every second of the day. 

Our prayers are the same every day, some days the prayer is filled with a little more desperation and other days a little more hope. 

But yesterday and today the ache has been the same; my heart brimming with hope and longing, my soul whispering "please, please, please Lord, let us be a family of four before the next model train show"

This is the confidence that we have in Him, 

that if we ask anything according to Your will, You will hear us. 

1 John 5:14

.It's here.

I had been waiting for it, 

longingly thinking about it 

and it finally came.  

2014 is here!  

I'm generally not someone who looks forward to rushing through time.  

Life is precious, Gabe is growing quickly and I want to enjoy every moment of it but 2013, well it was rough.

 It was hard.  

It was ugly.  

Sure there was much beauty seeped into the pain but I was ready...

Ready for last year to be the past...

Ready to leave the many losses we and our friends encountered behind us...

The pain, the lessons, the growth, the love... we'll carry that we with us.

But it was a much needed flip of the calendar this December 31st.

We are moving forward into 2014 with high hopes, full hearts and a spirit of anticipation.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; don't you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43:18-19

Praying that streams, no rivers of God's goodness pour into the wasteland that last year left behind.  That you my friends who languished in the trials of last year will be overcome with a wellspring of good news.  You are loved.  By us.  By Him.  And we are ready for a year of rejoicing.  

This spoons for you (y'all know who you are!): 

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