Gabe's Friends

When we announced in January of this year that we were adopting another child, I think we had lots of people shaking their heads. It was a shock to some of our own family members too! But for the most part, we did have support. We had old friends, new friends, and then friends we didn't even know we had, and still have never met, that helped us love our boy home. Some gave money, some gave hugs, some gave time and energy, some gave words of encouragement, some gave uplifting prayers....... and ALL GAVE HEART. How blessed we felt then and how blessed we still feel  for having these friends in our lives.

I'd like to re-introduce you to one of them.

Back in July I told you in this post about a little girl named Alyssa. Well, we finally got to meet her and her brother Lendon and actually it was quite by chance! Orrrrrr maybe not. You see, her grandma and I both thought it was actually one of those "God moments". See, we were going to eat in town that day and decided on the DQ but then changed to Madi's and then at the last minute changed our minds again and went ahead to the DQ. I wasn't paying attention to who was coming in and out but thank goodness Rick was. He was like " hey....isn't that the little girl who raised money for Gabe???" By now she had her back to us and I couldn't see her face. Rick kept saying "I know thats her!" (he had only seen that one picture and post I had done back in July so I wasn't really thinking he knew!) Anyway, she turned around and we were pretty sure. I went up to her and asked if her name was Ali. She looked at me like I was a total stranger (which I was!!)and quietly said, "yyyeeess." Bless her heart, I then told her who I was and that Gabe was right over there and wanted to meet her. Her little eyes lit up and a big smile came across her face. So.....Ali and her brother Lendon, who by the way helped her with her "Gabe project!", got to meet Gabe with his mouth full of chicken tenders and fries! Best of all, we got to meet this young girl and boy whose hearts lead them to take action, and become the hands and feet of Jesus. Ali and Lendon, thank you again for helping us love Gabe home. Hope to see you at the DQ sometime soon!!!

The next little friend I want you to meet is Kayton Shahan.

Kayton's mom and I grew up in the same town and then we ended up some years later in the same town again just 20 miles or so down the road! Anyway, while we were in the process of trying to bring Gabe home, this little guy told his mom he wanted to give his $20 to help Love Gabe Home. How bout that!! Well, we kept missing each other and then before we knew it we were off to Russia without giving Kayton the chance to give this special gift to us. But he held onto it and when we ran into him at the circus in town, guess what I got??!! Thank you Kayton for having love in your heart and helping us love Gabe home.

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."

John 1:16