A Miracle in the Making

First off, I want to thank everyone who has been praying for the Glaub family. I know they will continue to need your prayers for a long time.

Second, I want to tell you all what an amazing person my former boss is. She is truly inspiring. She ("T") has an amazing gift of helping people, and the story I am about to post is an awesome example of how God has used her to potentially save the life of a child. Please be aware that the pictures below are graphic:











T has a friend who is originally from the Birmingham area, but moved with her family to become missionaries in Mexico. She recently wrote about a 4 month old baby girl named Esmerlada Domingues de Luna. This little girl is in serious need of our prayers. Her friend wrote this:

"They need money or someone who can do the surgery to fix her mouth. As I was watching her mother feed her, the very first thing she did was to put a plate in her mouth so that she could take her bottle. If she doesn't get the surgery I do not know how long she will make it. imagine growing up in poverty and still be disfigured for life. So I ask that you pray and let God lead your hearts."

After T read the story, she immediately went into action and began doing online research. She began emailing people and was amazed when people began responding so quickly. Within a few hours, an organization made contact with a doctor in Texas that specializes in the particular surgery that baby Esmie will need. T got a very exciting email today from the doctor who has agreed to do the surgeries for Esmerlada!! This is what it said:

It was wonderful to briefly speak with you today about Esmerlada, the Mexican child with the bilateral cleft lip and palate. I am glad to help in any way to bring her to Corpus Christi to repair her lip and palate. Just to re-confirm what we spoke about:Please forward pertinent data such as date of birth, full name, height and weight, parents’ names and recent length and weight.(any other known medical problems? – heart? etc)As I stated, I would lean toward a 2-stage repair of her lip (doing one side first, then the other in 6-8 weeks) and then the palate before she is a year old. She needs to weigh at least 10 pounds before we consider operating on her – just a good judge of her overall physical condition.She also needs to have a hemoglobin concentration of at least 10 gm/dL – this should be checked rather soon because she may need to have iron supplement with her feeding. About her feeding – I will send you several Haberman bottles ( and a couple of Ross nipples as well) which have a little wider and softer nipple to help in the feedings – The child should be held upright in your arms when feeding, and not flat. It is not unusual to spill some formula on the sides because of the clefts – don’t be alarmed by this – you don’t want her to be choking on her feeds though – and this is avoided by positioning her body. She needs to be feeding at least 2-3 oz every 3-4 hours. If she is only breast feeding, sometimes this takes so much work that they get too tired to finish the meal before it’s time for the next feeding – these Haberman nipples make it easier to direct flow into the mouth with a whole lot less work. I will send you several pamphlets on the management of cleft lips and palates – in Spanish and in English. I will see if we can get some free formula sent to you from Mead Johnson. I will be glad to do the surgery for free. With health care costs skyrocketing, the problem is that our hospital will most likely want some reimbursement for the surgery – I will try to get an estimate of what they require and also try to find some local donors – any ideas from your end would be helpful. We should be able to provide a free place to stay once they arrive in Corpus Christi. You stated that you can work on getting the child and her mother papers/visa to come to the US. If there is a problem with the parent’s papers, maybe there is a family friend or relative who is legal and can get power of attorney to accompany the child. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on this and get her here within a 4-8 weeks.


I was so stunned to find out that within such a short period of time, T was able to get in touch with the people that are so willing to help baby Esmie. The fact that she has found this doctor/organization that want to help this baby is such an amazing accomplishment. T has helped save this baby's life, and I cannot imagine what that must feel like. She has a 4 month old daughter herself, so this situation was very close to her heart.

I am asking that you all please pray for this baby and the doctor that is willing to do her surgeries. What an amazing human being this doctor is, as well as my friend T. Please pray that all stays on the right path and that the baby meets all of the necessary medical requirements needed to proceed with the surgery. Pray that there are no problems getting the baby and her mother papers/Visas to come to the US to have the surgery. This process is a true miracle in the making and I am so proud to know that my friend has put this together out of the goodness of her heart. Thank you all for reading......God is so good.

R.I.P. Geoffrey Glaub May 24, 1999 - August 16, 2008

Little Geoffrey passed away peacefully yesterday morning, with his parents at his side. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and sadness that comes with the loss of a child. Although I only had the pleasure of meeting him once, it is clear in reading his journal how loved Geoffrey was. He had a true love for music, Star Wars and reading, and was an incredibly smart 9 year old. The picture above is of him at City Stages...his parents stated this was the highlight of their year. It was at this time that his parents began to realize that something was wrong, thus beginning the horrific journey that has lead them to this. He will truly be missed. Please keep his parents, family and friends in your prayers.

Urgent Prayer is Needed!!

I've been asking for prayer for Geoffrey Glaub for a few weeks now, and things have apparently taken a turn for the worse in the last 24 hours......his Caring Bridge site only says this:

Geoffrey was taken to the Pediatric ICU this morning around 8:30 a.m. Your prayers are needed more than ever.

Please say an urgent prayer for him.

Where Does the Time Go?

It hit me today that it seems its been forever since I updated my blog! When I signed on I couldn't believe that the last time I wrote was in July!! It's amazing how fast time goes by. Isn't it funny that when you're young, you never really understand the concept of time? You just do your thing and listen to the "grown ups" talk about how time flies, and before you know it, you're one of those grown ups talking about how time flies. I can remember thinking in elementary school that every year of my life seems to go by faster than the last. The same still holds true, only they're going by way too fast for my liking!!! Sometimes I wish life had a pause button...just to give yourself enough time to soak in those precious moments, or to give your memory everything it needs to remember something exactly as it was so that you'll never forget it. There have been many moments in my life that I would have loved to hit the pause button....awesome Alabama football games, concerts, special moments with my husband or family, my dad's funeral, a fun night out with friends....the list could really go on and on. But unfortunately, that pause button does not exist and we have to rely on our memory to keep those moments locked in tight. I'm always scared my memory is going to crack open and leak some things out, never to be retrieved again. I hope I am years and years away from that happening because I have a lot of special memories in there that I never want to let go of!!

Things have been pretty quiet lately....Justin has finally finished his summer work which means he's not out of town all the time! We enjoyed our first full weekend together this past weekend, and it was awesome! We spent most of the weekend watching the Olympics, and ventured out to the movies on Sunday. I have to say that this year's Olympics have got me pulled in completely! I made sure to stay awake last night to watch Michael Phelps swim and win his 2nd gold!! I'm totally obsessed with him right now! I'm hoping that he breaks the record for most golds because he is an amazing athlete and I believe he deserves every gold he goes after. He is truly gifted, and the way our American team handled the French comments that were made about them just goes to show you how much class our athletes have. I think Michael Phelps is right there at the top of those classy athletes. I hope you all were able to catch the opening ceremonies...they were outstanding! I wish I had counted how many times my mouth just dropped wide open!! The creator of that show deserves a gold himself! How one creates a spectacle like that is beyond me....I would love to sit down and pick his brain to see where in the world he came up with his ideas!! To have an imagination like that is a true gift as well.

I have been dealing with some family issues lately, but at this point, all I can do is pray about them, and ask you to pray for them as well. My job is still fantastic! I continue to learn new things all the time and do not have one complaint!! It is now 19 days till Alabama kicks off against Clemson at the Georgia Dome!!! I am so excited about this season!! I wish we had tickets to this game, but I will be just as happy spending all day on my couch eating good food and watching good football all day! My only complaint is that we play late, so I have to spend all day anxious in anticipation waiting for our kickoff!! At least there will be plenty of good games on to pass the time (here I am wanting the time to go by fast....makes no sense huh?). We are also planning a fun October full of Panic shows - some in New Orleans for Halloween and some in Atlanta!! This is the first year they have played this venue in New Orleans since 2003 and I am so happy about going back! We have so much going on in the next few months with football games, concerts, traveling to visit friends/family....I'm really looking forward to it! Nothing beats Alabama football, good music and good company!! I'll just have to do my best at savoring the moments to come because life has no pause button.......

In closing, please continue to pray for Joe, Geoffrey and Nikki. I think these are three people that could really use a pause button right now, and could probably teach us all a lesson in the concept of time.