Our Story

We are the Garst family. And as it seems Ru’s Roots is new, this vision was actually planted into my (Hanna) heart over a decade ago during 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. I won’t go into detail about that intimate moment between the Lord and me, but there in the stillness a seed was planted. I still have the prayer notebook I journaled in about this vision, and funny enough, I was also praying for my best pal Dallas. 

 

As the next few years passed, I married my best friend, and we started building a family together. We rarely talked about the mission God placed on my heart due to it never being the “right time.” Our family was growing fast. Bodhi (5) came first, Frankie (4) came second, and on June 14, 2023, our precious rainbow baby, Ruthie Marissa Garst, came last. Our family was complete and perfect… until it wasn’t. 

 

On July 17, 2023, our healthy baby girl had a cerebral hemorrhage, and we were life flighted to Children's Hospital in Birmingham. On July 21 we brought our family in to say goodbye and she was dedicated to the Lord. On July 23 she was pronounced deceased, and on July 26 she was taken away from us into an elevator, down to an OR to have her heart donated to another precious infant. On August 1, we buried our baby. Just like that, our perfect life was shattered.

 

Since then, everything has been a bit of a blur. Clearly marriage is tough after losing a child, and we were hanging on by a thread. My postpartum body and brain were confused, and Dallas was feeling lost. Thankfully, two of our very dear friends invited us to a couple’s retreat called “Marriage in Focus.” There, just a handful of months after losing Ru, the seed God planted over 10 years before started sprouting and working its way out of the soil for us to see. 

 

During the retreat, Dallas expressed to me that God had been giving him vision for my dream and said, “it’s time. It’s time to do it.” I was puzzled and had no clue what he was talking about. He proceeded to explain to me things God had been telling his heart, things that I’d heard too but that we’d never talked about. As we watered and cared for our marriage, God was sowing His seed to prepare us for the year ahead all while making it obvious that it was time for us to make moves. 

 

From then, God has made it clear that through our grief, we are still called. We’ll never know exactly what happened to our Ru or why, but what we do know is that we now have an opportunity to build a legacy for our girl. A legacy that will come through a vision given to her mama 11 years ago. 

 

It’s been so incredibly beautiful to look back and see all the people we’ve met in the last decade who will join us in serving our community through Ru’s Roots Foundation. Now with 20/20 vision, we can see how God has been laying bricks to pave the path we are supposed to take. The seed now has its roots.