Circle of life

         I’ve been meaning to update our blog for some time now.  But when you feel like your life has been ripped from underneath you, you are just reminding yourself to breathe.  Since my brother Tony’s tragic death I have experienced tremendous sadness.  Actually the kind of sadness you don’t have words for.  One of the hardest parts is watching all my people that I love so much hurt so bad.  It’s heartbreaking watching your parents crumble to the floor.  It’s heartbreaking to look into your brother’s eyes when he is simply wondering how he is going to do life without his brother.  It’s heartbreaking to tuck your kids into bed at night when they look up at you with tears in their eyes because they simply don’t understand why "bad" things happen. 

       When I got up to speak at Tony’s funeral, I remember thinking that I didn’t want his death to be for nothing.  I insisted that something good come from it, because I do believe that good comes from everything, even the darkest of storms.  It is with complete joy and happiness that I get to announce that we are FINALLY getting our baby!!  We got the call today and we will be getting our baby boy in just 4-weeks!  Yes, you read that correctly  4-weeks!  Words cannot begin to tell you how happy we are.  And, to be honest, we just needed some happy.  I have experienced some amazing God moments since the night my brother died until we got the “yes” call today from our adoption agency.  Today, I kept thinking about the circle of life and in the midst of our sadness and pain from death, comes the greatest joy ever, from birth.  We will forever miss Tony and we know that our baby boy will always have a special guardian angel looking over him.  Because just as Tony entered the gates of heaven, the plan was being laid out to present us with our baby.  A baby we have dreamt about for years.

 

         As you can imagine, we are all in a bit of shock and not sure how we are going to do everything that needs to be done in less than a month.  But we are also holding strongly to our motto that we have had since day one….”Faith is when you close your eyes and open your heart”  We opened our hearts and cannot wait to meet our son.  We are trusting in God’s plan.  We are keeping the faith.  And while we continue to mourn, we will also rejoice.  A new life, a little hope and a lot of happy.  Here we go….

live simply. give more. expect less.

 

 

live simply.  give more.  expect less.

 Three simple phrases, not so simple to always live by. 

I want to do a better job of doing these three things. 

I want to model this for my kids. 

 

                      Kids love unconditionally.  I love their hearts. 

           They really can live simply.

 

 I love looking at their faces when they are loving one another.  They give more. 

 

 Our hearts have grown because of our foster babies. We expected nothing in return. 

 

We want to live (and love) simply, we want to give more and it's hard to do sometimes, but we want to expect less.  These pictures are reminders as to why I know our family is called to adopt.  We have the heart and desire and we want to make this dream come true... 

 

Thank you to all of you that have supported our adoption through your donations and words of encouragement.  We have a ways to go but we appreciate you more than you will ever know. 

 

 

 

 

 







 



 

a memory becomes a treasure

Sam saying good bye to Shea (2.2.12)

            A year ago today we said goodbye to our sweet baby Shea.  We loved her with all that we are and losing her was one of the hardest things our family has had to go through.  Shea changed our lives and she made us better.  She touched our hearts and we will never be the same.  We took care of her, loved her and gave her a safe and secure home when she needed one.  She became a part of our family the second she entered it.  We cherished our time with her, but 7-months was not nearly enough.  We wanted her forever but the system does not make sense.  We will never forget her sweet smile, soft skin, adorable laugh, funny noises and cuddly hugs and kisses. 

a simply adorable baby girl

I loved her the second she was handed to me...

A friend gave me a pillow that reads “When someone you love becomes a memory….that memory becomes a treasure.”  Shea is definitely a treasure to each of us.  We love and miss her each and every day and will continue to pray for our sweet and precious baby girl…

Shea changed our hearts forever...she is one of the main reasons my family decided to adopt (for more detail see our adoption posts :)

Some of our favorite times with Shea were at bedtime.  Annie and Shea fell asleep together and this will always be one of my favorite photos.  LOVE.

 

all he needed was love

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of our sweet babies that we had the privilege to foster.  This weekend, our sweet Baby J will celebrate his first birthday.  My prayer for him is that he is loved, taken care of and celebrating with a family that loves him as much as we did.  We were handed this baby in the middle of the night and fell in love with him in about 1.2 seconds.  He was truly one of the most beautiful babies I had ever seen.  His tiny little body had not been held near enough, all he needed was hugs.  His soft skin and curly hair had not be cleaned and cared for, all he needed was a warm bath and clean clothes.  His tummy was so tiny and empty, all he needed was a bottle.  He was an itty bitty baby that just needed to be taken care of, all he needed was love.   We were given the opportunity to do just that, so we did.  We loved him and he loved us.  We will always think about him, worry about him and miss him.  But we will always cherish our time together and will pray for this adorable baby the rest of our lives.  Happy Birthday, precious Baby J…

 

Baby J probably got a million kisses while he was with us!

Sam loved having a baby brother around...

Sam, anxiously awaiting for the baby's arrival...

You can tell from his smile that we was a happy baby

I will never forget the way his tiny hand was always gripping me.  It was as if he was saying, "never let go"..if he only knew how hard it was for me to let him go...this picture was taken an hour before he left....simply heartbreaking.

sweet boys, sweet smiles

smiling at annie, even while he drank his bottle :)

 

 

even miracles take a little time

 

It is with a blessed heart that I am launching the Blair Crew blog today. I love to take photographs. I love to journal. So I decided to combine those two and tell a story through my pictures and words. I am beyond thrilled to announce our exciting news….we are adopting!

A dear friend gave me a sign that read "Even miracles take a little time"  Yes, they do :)

This journey has not been an easy one. This journey has had many twists, turns and even halts. Our two precious foster babies definitely paved the way for this journey. A quote from Helen Keller comes to mind: “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.  All that we love becomes a part of us.”

This journey has brought about a variety of emotions--pure joy, heartache, anxiety, doubt, contentment, love, anger and determination.  Most of all, our adoption journey has taught us what it means to have faith.  God has led us where we are today and our faith and trust in Him is how we will continue this difficult but ultimately, very rewarding journey.  While we are a bit nervous, we cannot wait to see what lies next for our family….

 

For more information about our adoption journey...please click on the Adoption button at the top of our blog.  Many of you have asked how you can help.  Please see our Adoption page of our blog.  We are extremely blessed with all of your love and support.  We can't do this without you....