hacked

Sorry guys but some how my blog email got hacked and it sent out a blog post and all sorts of crazy links from me. Please dont open them, I didnt sent them.
 Sorry
Tracy

School has started for Luke

Well I am QUITE late on Luke's back to school update! Whew! Sorry for the delay! Luke went back to school in the end of August and the rest of us went back after Labor Day! Luke is back and in school and back to his old yipper skipper Life is perfect attitude! That boy LOVES LOVES LOVES structure!  He LOVES school and LOVES learning!!! He did very well this summer without his beloved strict structure like school time. Last summer we hit some tough times without school daily for Luke. He still wasnt as happy as he is during the school year but the change between last summer and this summer was beyond impressive!

                            This pic is from when we first met Luke in January 2011    

This pic was in March 2011 when Luke went to a mainstream deaf ed program 3 months (his first time in school ever in his 10 1/2 year old life!

                                     This was Luke's first day of school last year!

                          This is Luke's first day of school this year 2012-2013 school year...

                                                               What a difference!

Just to show you how much Luke has changed since he was home we have made progress in ASL videos and they are pretty interesting to see the shift and change in Luke and his signing. He still has away to go as starting out your first language at 10 1/2 is tough but he is beyond amazing!!!! He still doesnt sign the way he always does at home the minute the video is on he tries so hard to sign "perfect" that is gets slower and has more processing time. He is impressing us daily!!!

This video was done in the end of February Luke had been here about a month or less 2/2011

This video was done in April of 2011

This was Nov 11th 2011 after Luke started at the school for the Deaf. 

This is March 2012 Luke was reviewing some old vocabulary

This video was done just this week Sept 12, 2012 What a difference in his face.. his signing everything. Luke was asked to describe part of his day to his mom for his journal homework

For social skills class Luke had to describe his perfect day! (it would be mine too :)

As you can see Luke has grown in Leaps and bounds, he continues to amaze us daily! He is a boy that has amazed us all and has a heart so big it seems impossible! God has great plans for this boy!!!! 

18 months

                              EIGHTEEN MONTHS WOW HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????


July 17th 2012 means 18 months ago we had our Gotcha Day with Luke! It is crazy crazy to think about it. When we look at Luke and look at his Gotcha Day photos it is hard to believe he is the same boy! He often will look at the pics of Gotcha day and say (is that me? ) We both laugh at just how much this boy has changed and blossomed! Look for yourself!

Our very first glimpse of our Luke

He was SO skinny

This is our Luke now!!! 

Our Happy Happy Boy!

Life with Luke has surely been a life changing adventure! We are so greatful to God for placing this little boy (now a young man) in our lives! We are so happy that we obeyed His call and adopted. It is a leap of Faith and a journey of a lifetime. We are at the point now and have been for awhile where it is hard to imagine what life was like before Luke came, it surely seems like he has been here always. (although there are days he will do something or moments that he does something that makes you go.. hmm  you have been home WAY too long for that to be happening hahah).

We are looking forward to another 18 months, 18 years, 38 years and the list goes on with Luke. Thank you  Lord for our precious gift that we were given.. The gift of Adoption!

                                Here are some pictures of Our Family enjoying being a family:

Getting Ready for 4th of July (everyone except for Aaron)

Luke at his very first Shadow Interpreted play (WOW did he LOVE IT!!!)

Typical Luke loving and enjoying life the the fullest!

Luke, Momma and Paige

Getting Ready to serve the Lord at the 4th of July parade

Luke and I at our favorite place (Brigantine Beach)

Me and my boy

Our handsome boy

Yea we just like being silly.. Our "pout faces"

Daddy and Luke (the 2 awesome Deafies of our gang)

Luke, Me and Paige

Momma and Son

A fast catch up blog post

It has been a little while since I posted and A LOT has gone on since then. My last post was that Mothers Day was coming and Luke was SO excited to celebrate. Well as Luck would have it, Tommy ended up having surgery on Mothers Day morning. His appendix. The poor guy! Tommy was a trooper. The doc told Tommy "dont you know this is a lousy Mothers Day gift!". I told Tommy no more body parts in a jar for Mothers day and that a hand made card would rock my world! So we truly didnt celebrate Mothers Day until about a week later. I was fine with that as Tommy was more important on that day then me celebrating a day about well me..  and Luke handled it well, but he was disappointed. The kids all made me amazing cards and Luke was SO proud to give me his! He is so happy to have a mommy to call his own and it blesses me that God chose me! Thank you Lord!

Since then Luke finished school for the year and much to his dismay now has to deal with the life of summer. He much more prefers school and the schedule that comes with it. ME.... I LIVE For summer! SO Luke and I are trying to find a common ground there! Luke qualified for ESY services and that was a 2 month fight to get Luke where he belong as my school district and I didnt see eye to eye, BUT we worked it out in the end. (after I filed for Due Process). But all is good and Luke started last week and the day he started his behavior went back to normal and he is a HAPPPPPPPPPY boy!

Luke is changing in ways that is is just insane for me to look at him now and still remember he was that little boy from a year and a half ago. Amazing how much he has changed. He has grown 7 inches and gained 33 lbs in that time frame. He looks amazing!!!! He is getting some nice muscles on his arms too and he is very very proud of them bad boys, he worked hard on them! He can do a good number of push ups and sit ups now and FINALLY can do a pull up too! He and I have been working on swimming more this week in the pool. He learned last year but it has never been pretty to look it, but he doesnt drown so it worked. This year we are trying to make it not look like he is a fish out of water while he is in the water. We have worked and he is already improving from just a few times of us working together. It really helps to hold him and then I work his arms and legs for him to let him feel how it should feel like to swim right and that really seemed to help! He is doing the American crawl and he looks pretty darn good now.

 What a difference God, Love, Family, Language and Education make in ones life! Luke blesses all that meet him. God shines through him. What an amazing child he is!

Mommys day!

  I just wanted to post a little something...

Luke has been in anticipation for about 3 weeks now! Constantly telling me that MY special day is coming.. NO no, not HIS.... Mine (me, Mommy!)  I know Luke was home last year for mothers day but he really didnt have a ton of language in May of last year and even though he made me a gorgeous card and made a big deal out of me.. he doesnt really remember it and didnt really understand what Mothers day was all about...... He NOW knows what it means to have a MOM and just how important this is in his life. I dont need it to be Mothers day to know how much this little boy loves me. It is so obvious on his face every single day that he has been here and even more so as we have progressed through the past year. Luke is 100% a momma's boy and 100% a daddys boy and 100% a brother and 100%  a Grandmom and Grandpops boy and 100% and Aunt and Uncles Boy!!!!! Luke LOVES having a family and he doesnt hesitate to let us all know just how special a family is and just how long he waited to have this special gift called a family in his life. It is times like this as I watch Luke just ready to implode with excitement over the fact that Mothers Day is coming that it reminds me just how important it is to have a family. I pray for the millions of orphans in the US and Abroad that have no Mommy and No daddy, no family whatsoever to be there for them. No one to tell them just how special they are and that they are loved..... I pray that those that see our story might be touched and take the plunge into the adventure of adoption or find another way to be so involved in the life of a child that longs for that special gift of a family!!!!!!!

Our first picture together as Mother and Son

Our second picture together as Mother and Son

       Happy " I  FINALLY HAVE A MOTHER DAY TO YOU LUKE!!!!" :) Mommy loves you and your brothers and sister more then it seems humanly possible!!!!

Me and my Pal

Luke and his mommy!

I dont know if you can see it, but I can.. I see Love in his eyes!

We love taking pics together

Kiss Face

Yup we are goofy too!

May you always stay as sweet and funny and precious as you are!

Luke and his MOMMY!

My 4 precious gifts from God! 

A Special note to my Mommy. I love you Mom and wouldnt be on this Earth without you . I am so thankful for the precious childhood that you gave me and the love that you instilled in my heart. This love you gave me has allowed me to become the mommy that I am. I LOVE Being a mommy!!!!  Mom, I am forever grateful to you for that gift that you gave me.. the gift of the Love of a Mother!!!

My Mommy and Daddy and My children!

Fundraiser Blitz Starts TODAY 1,2,3 ready set shop NOW!!!!

SHOPPING FOR THIS FAST AND FURIOUS FUNDRAISER STARTS TODAY AT 9:00am
(Wed April 18th) We are starting a brief, fast and furious fundraiser! We have been blessed by an amazing opportunity! 

Our Fundraiser is the Famous Thirty One Blowout Closeout Outlet sale! This sale is HUGELY discounted prices and the items go FASTTT! We have a unique opportunity to scoop up the Commission from our Thirty One reps closeout sale! The sale includes retired prints and styles from past catalogs at DEEPLY discounted prices!!

The sale is Wednesday, April 18, through Friday, April 20 - or WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. This sale is EXTREMELY popular so you must shop early and get everything you want then. Shipping costs play in your favor to buy as much as you can in one shot! :) Read below shipping is CHEAP! The more you buy the cheaper it is, down to FREE shipping for orders over $100! :))))))

I have a hostess exclusive Double Zip Cosmetic Bag that we will be giving away to one of our shoppers! YOU MUST LET ME KNOW YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING FROM THE SALE! The last sale I was notified every time someone bought something, I WILL not be this time. If you want your name entered in the drawing for the cosmetic bag you MUST LET ME KNOW YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING!!!!

This is the bag you will be entered to win!!!!!

A very nice bag. Just email me that you shopped and you will be entered to win this bag!

 http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/ on April 18, and you will see an OUTLET SALE link. Click on that to shop!


For this Outlet Sale, there will be a tiered pricing strategy for shipping charges for the Continental U.S.:

$8 shipping charge for orders up to $49

$4 shipping charge for orders between $50-$99

FREE shipping for orders over $100

The only exception to this tiered pricing strategy will be for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico, which will have a flat shipping charge of $25.

Orders will arrive in-home within 2-4 weeks of purchase.

This is an amazing opportunity for some crazy blow out Outlet prices on great quality items and a HUGE blessing for us as all commission will go straight to bring Elias home! We just got our Thirty One items a few weeks ago and are BEYOND thrilled with the quality of the items we received. We cant wait to see what the Outlet sale will have, I know I am excited and hope you are too!!! 

So 1,2,3  GO ON GET OUT OF HERE AND GET SHOPPING!!!!

http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/

Remember while you are shopping you are helping this beautiful little face come home to his family:

                         

Fundraiser Blitz.. 1,2,3 Hurry GO!!!

We are starting a brief, fast and furious fundraiser!          We have been blessed by an amazing opportunity! 

Our Fundraiser is the Famous Thirty One Blowout Closeout Outlet sale! This sale is HUGELY discounted prices and the items go FASTTT! We have a unique opportunity to scoop up the Commission from our Thirty One reps closeout sale! The sale includes retired prints and styles from past catalogs at DEEPLY discounted prices!!

The sale is Wednesday, April 18, through Friday, April 20 - or WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. This sale is EXTREMELY popular so you must shop early and get everything you want then. Shipping costs play in your favor to buy as much as you can in one shot! :) Read below shipping is CHEAP! The more you buy the cheaper it is, down to FREE shipping for orders over $100! :))))))

 I have a hostess exclusive Double Zip Cosmetic Bag that we will be giving away to one of our shoppers! YOU MUST LET ME KNOW YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING FROM THE SALE! The last sale I was notified every time someone bought something, I WILL not be this time. If you want your name entered in the drawing for the cosmetic bag you MUST LET ME KNOW YOU BOUGHT SOMETHING!!!!

This is the bag you will be entered to win!

Just email me that you bought something and you will be entered to win this bag!!!!

 http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/ on April 18, and you will see an OUTLET SALE link. Click on that to shop!

For this Outlet Sale, there will be a tiered pricing strategy for shipping charges for the Continental U.S.:

$8 shipping charge for orders up to $49

$4 shipping charge for orders between $50-$99

FREE shipping for orders over $100

The only exception to this tiered pricing strategy will be for Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico, which will have a flat shipping charge of $25.

Orders will arrive in-home within 2-4 weeks of purchase.

This is an amazing opportunity for some crazy blow out Outlet prices on great quality items and a HUGE blessing for us as all commission will go straight to bring Elias home! We just got our Thirty One items a few weeks ago and are BEYOND thrilled with the quality of the items we received. We cant wait to see what the Outlet sale will have, I know I am excited and hope you are too!!! 

So 1,2,3  GO ON GET OUT OF HERE AND GET SHOPPING!!!!

http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/

Remember while you are shopping you are helping this beautiful little face come home to his family: