Hal's Pals

08/21/2026

We have some BIG news to share about sweet Thea! 💛

Thea, a precious little girl currently living in Vietnam, has been matched with a family! And this Sunday, they will begin their journey to Vietnam to meet her and bring her home. 🥹🏡

Because of the incredible generosity of our Hal’s Pals community, we were able to give this family $10,000 toward Thea’s adoption.

This is exactly why Hal’s Pals exists. So many people gave, shared Thea’s story, prayed, and helped us get to this moment—and now a little girl halfway around the world is about to meet her family. ❤️

We are beyond excited for Thea and her family as they begin this next chapter together. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they travel to Vietnam and prepare to bring Thea home forever!

Thank you to every single person who helped make this possible. You are Hal’s Pal. 💙💛

Welcome Collecting donations for:TheaMeet Thea! She is 1 year old, has Down Syndrome and was born May of 2022 in Vietnam. Thea likes to be held, soothed, cuddled, and talked to by her caregivers. When she is talked to, she will look at you and smile. Thea responds when her name is called. When she i...

12/19/2024

Thea Update: Still Waiting for Her Forever Family

Thea is a sweet little girl who continues to wait for her forever family. We are excited to share an update about her progress, along with some adorable new photos and videos!

Thea is showing incredible growth and development. She can now roll over, crawl both forward and backward, and even sit while leaning on both arms for up to 5 seconds. She loves to babble and can follow two-word commands. Thea also has great eye contact, enjoys interacting with other children, and cooperates well with her caregiver.

Thea has Down Syndrome and has been diagnosed with mitral stenosis and ear canal stenosis. She will need a family ready to provide lifelong care and educational support to help her thrive and reach her full potential.

While she waits, we’re committed to advocating for her and supporting her future family through fundraising efforts. Every donation helps us get closer to giving Thea the loving home she deserves.

If you or someone you know might be interested in learning more about Thea, please email: [email protected]

Or, help assist financially with her adoption through a donation at iamhalspal.org

Let’s rally together to make a difference in Thea’s life! 💜

05/11/2024

🍋👫 Today in Baton Rouge, Hal's cousin and her friend have set up a lemonade stand to raise funds for Hal's Pals! If you're in the area, swing by to support this wonderful cause and share in Hal's memory. Thank you, ladies, for your kindness and generosity! 🍋👫

04/12/2024

We are so grateful for organizations like The Miracle League of Santa Rosa County that provide inclusive and adaptive opportunities in the community!

04/11/2024

Hal was always willing to help clean up afterwards though. He loved to spray down surfaces with cleaner and was especially fond of cleaning the barn door in the kitchen and a single black shelf in the family room. He happily helped put food in the pantry, drop trash in the bin, and put dishes away from the dishwasher. We have no doubt that any missing dish or utensil was covertly diverted to the trash can - not to mention all the other items that were fished out of the trash: keys, shoes, books, and even beloved toys.

After everything was cleaned up, Hal felt a deep urgency to re-dirty the house, which earned him the nickname Destructo. One of his favorite remedies was getting into our closet and pulling each of Mark’s ties off the rack and dropping them on the floor.

03/21/2024

Today, on World Down Syndrome Day, we celebrate not only our incredible boys, but all those that have Down Syndrome. We celebrate their unique gifts and talents, as well as the joy, love, and light they bring into our lives every single day.

We are beyond grateful to be the parents to Quinn and Hal! Let's spread awareness, understanding, and acceptance, not just today, but every day.

💙💛

03/13/2024

For Hal, food was not just for eating - it was his medium of choice and his canvas was everything and everywhere. His masterpieces thoroughly covered his hair, clothes, and body. He could masterfully leave yogurted lip prints on the couch, or convert yogurt to figure paintings on the windows. He planted tortilla chip gardens on area rugs and one of his most common and practiced works started as regular chocolate smoothies that were, in seemingly Jackson Po***ck fashion, dripped on the floors, carpents, up the beds, and even splashed on the walls and ceiling.

Help us honor Hal by sharing our mission or donating to Hal’s Pals! Link in bio

02/28/2024

Hal was steadily progressing in his ability to chew and we spent a lot of time following Occupational Therapy orders to get his mouth strong enough to do it. This work mainly consisted of putting our fingers in his mouth to stretch out his cheeks. We all knew it was weird, though it did seem to be effective. When it was time to eat, Hal would once again follow Quinn’s example. After Quinn took a bite, Hal took a bite. Sometimes Hal would clench his lips and teeth to get away from a bite of food, but as soon as he was secure in his booster chair, he would switch gears and try whatever we offered.

Hal was an unofficial, unpaid, and unassociated ambassador. His love of yogurt was rivaled only by his love of soft serve vanilla ice cream. His expression when eating an icecream cone was the physical embodiment of pure joy. He was just really good at eating ice cream. He had recently expanded his palette to mac and cheese, which he would happily hard swallow. If there was a food he wasn’t particularly fond of, Hal remedied the meal by covering it with applesauce.

He announced the completion of each meal by hurling a spoon towards the nearby sliding glass door, or one of our heads - this would sometimes happen before he even took a single bite of food. He gained a lot of motivation to stick with a meal when we, as a family, cheered him on. An arched back was his signature move if we prevented him from opening the refrigerator or from eating yet ANOTHER yogurt or applesauce.