The Bailey Brag

Just thought some of you may like to know that this family is home with their three boys! Love it! If you assisted them in any way with their adoption….thank you!

I have recently heard of this family who were working on an international adoption but who after taking a giant leap of faith by pursuing a domestic situation was chosen by their adoption agency to add three young boys to the seven children they already have. Wow! I remember just a few short months ago when Jason and I decided we would quit foster care and pursue an international adoption we received a phone call and were offered pre-adoptive newborn twins (an offer God knew I wouldn’t refuse). God is pretty amazing like that. When you know, you just KNOW. This family is experiencing the same type of revelation and I am asking for your help. We all can’t adopt, I truly get that. But we can all do our part to not only help others to adopt who are able and willing but also to obey God’s request that we “look after orphans and widows in their distress”. This family has a lot of money to raise in a very short period of time and it would mean the world to them if you were able to help in any way. Would you consider skipping your daily or weekly trip to Starbucks? Would you consider staying at home one night this weekend and eating PBJ’s instead of going out to eat and donating that money to this family? Every little bit helps. Please help! You’ll be SO blessed!!

To help this family, simply click on their Donate tab on their right side bar and it will take you to their PayPal.

(all my littles are in disguise)…

She won’t be able to tell you who Justin Bieber is

but she’ll be able to tell you what an Argentine Tegu eats for breakfast.

A good friend of ours happens to be the Creative Director at our church and he asked if he could borrow a couple of my boys for a little Mother’s Day tribute he was cooking up to show in church on Mother’s Day. Lets just say that our boys had a little too much fun with this and it is all I can do to keep my middle child from waltzing out of the house wearing a “wife beater” and a fedora. Oh my…

It’s been too long since I’ve posted. However, I’ve had a really good excuse. Grab a cup of coffee and relax….this’ll be a long post.

Allow me to back up a bit. Exactly 3 months ago today on Valentine’s Day an event took place that rocked my world. It has happened before but never to this extent. I was shaken physically and emotionally and 3 months later am still battling a lot within myself as a result. I know things happen for a reason, that God’s plan is sovereign, and that I have to “Be Still and know that He is God” but I am also human. Very human. I love the way God works.

Fast forward a month to March 14 and if you had fancy goggles that allowed you to view events of the past you would see us bringing home premature twins from the hospital exactly one month from the day my home was knocked of it’s foundation, so to speak. Some criticized, due to the fact that our home was a bit unstable at the time, but I knew this was a God thing. In fact, for many, many months even before the new year I had been praying for a distraction in the form of a new DCS placement (preferrably newborn(s) to take my mind off the roller coaster ride of turmoil and emotions we’d been dealing with in regards to JJ. This was an answer to that prayer as well as many others. When we got the call about the twins I immediately knew we would say yes. In fact, my very good friend who is a foster parent got the call about them first but had to say ‘no’. She told them to call me (just another little neat event that occurred) and she sent me a text message begging me to say ‘yes’. She among only a few individuals knew we had silently quit fostering. I had officially resigned knowing we would remain open until our JJ was either reunified or adopted. I felt like it was what we were supposed to do at the time but obviously God had other plans for us. He knew I wouldn’t be able to say no to not only one baby but two babies. They were meant for us. To mend our brokenness. To breathe fresh air into our lives. To get my mind off the unsettling feelings I had about my life. The weekend prior to us bringing the babies home so many things fell into place so perfectly that it could have only been God’s perfect plan. Jason happened to be off work on Friday and had he not been there when we got the call we likely wouldn’t have said yes. We happened to have a rental car that weekend because Jason’s truck was broken again and had we not already had that car we wouldn’t have been able to pull off everything we did that weekend in preparation. Friends came to our aide to help us with the four boys in order for us to obtain all the necessary training required to be discharged from the NICU where the twins had been living for 5 weeks. So many more little things took place that made it possible and so easy. I love the way God works.

Days after we brought home the twins things began to go down hill for our JJ. Things that would have likely made me crumble into pieces had I not been so distracted by having two tiny creatures that depended on me to not only thrive but live. One newborn would have kept me busy, no doubt, but I manage things much better when I have more. Two newborns would have had me spinning for sure but I would have just been in my happy place and perfectly comfortable. It had to be two premature, medically fragile babies who needed a lot more care than typical newborns. I know this.  Perhaps certain people at DCS thought that since I was so distracted that I would let things slide. They don’t know me very well. I had been fighting tooth and nail for this child for a year already and wasn’t about to give up just because my plate was full. My JJ is worth it to me. I love the way God works.

To make a long story brief, over the last two months our JJ’s future has been appearing very grim. I had decided in my own heart that the twins were here to make it easier for us to deal with losing JJ. I was quickly reminded by a friend not to decide such things and she was right. Every time, just when  we would find ourselves with no hope at all, God would show up. I fought hard all along the way, too. After almost 13 months of foster care, JJ was awarded a new case manager. This was a God send. Literally. One of the biggest problems to date was the lack of effort his old case manager was putting forth on his behalf. During the week of May 2 when we learned of the transition of case managers, things immediately began to get better and our hope was restored. Perhaps one day I will be able to write about some of these things. The following week was the true test and one that I believe was the most pivotal moment. On Wednesday, we stepped out in faith and purchased a 12 passenger van in the hopes that the little family we have right now would remain our little family forever. The same day we bought the van I went to a special prayer service for adoptive families at our church. I have been to this prayer and worship service a lot in the past but I had not been since we brought home the twins. Toward the end of the service we were all asked to bring all our little ones up on the steps of the stage where the elders and other members of our church were laying hands and praying over all our little people. The following morning, I learned that at that very moment something was happening that would change the course of our battle for JJ to our advantage. It was and is the best feeling ever…to know and be reassured that God’s hand IS in fact in everything and that even though it doesn’t always work to our advantage there is always a reason. I know we would not have seen God as we do now had this case been any easier or gone any differently. Our faith has been tested and our faith has been restored as a result.  I love the way God works and I can’t wait to see what happens next. We give all the glory to Him.

Here are just a few pics from recent months…

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…a simple Post-It note reminder (or a hundred) isn’t enough…

“Be Still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10

…because once a week you get to do fun things like this! Today was our last swim day with a local homeschool co-op. Soon we’ll be hittin’ the outdoor pool with the real sunshine. At least we hope. My JJ had a make-up class today with his developmental program so I was able to actually take my camera to the pool for the first time. I love taking pictures of soaking wet faces. Obviously. They were all so cold they couldn’t muster up a smile. Still so cute.

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I do believe this is a hopeless cause. At least right now it is. Yes he just turned two on Christmas Eve but I have had boys potty trained before their 2nd birthday (especially those who were cloth diapered like this one) so why not at least begin introducing it, right? Of course, those early trainers of mine were not exposed to drugs in utero so they didn’t have the same challenges as this one. My JJ has sensory issues. Big time. He is terrified of everything. I’ve sat him on one of those fun little cushioned Diego potty inserts (that’s all my boys ever used….we never did the separate tiny little potty on the floor beside the real potty deal) and he freaked out so badly, dug his fingernails into my back, and I thought I may have done permanent damage to his heart and lungs from the intense palpitations and screaming.

So my sweet friend who happens to also be parenting drug babies suggested I buy one of these dreaded potty things that you have to clean out after each use. Gross. I have bought one before. It was my car potty but I always lined it with a plastic Wal*Mart bag or something with a folded up paper towl in the bottom (to absorb Le pee pee) so I could easily toss the contents and never had to clean it out. It is ugly and boring and was only used when my 20 month old River decided he needed to use the potty full time and so I bought an ugly $8 potty from Target to keep in my SUV so when he yelled “Pee Pee” every 10 minutes or when his potty watched beeped alarming him it was time to have a pee even if we were on the go we could easily “go” without me having to drag three little boys into a nasty public restroom somewhere. Yes, this was the best idea I ever had and maybe it wasn’t even my idea but I am claiming it as one of the highlights of my toddler parenting era.

So that ugly, boring potty is down in the garage somewhere and  I was eyeballing a real fancy potty at Target the other day, one that I was sure that if I owned then my 2 year old would definitely pee and poo in without any trouble just because it was so fancy but that fanciness came with a $30 price tag. The only problem was that I couldn’t find anywhere on that thing the hidden plumbing that surely came along with a piece of plastic that cost $30 that a baby poops in that is nothing more than a luxurious plastic bowl you’d otherwise eat popcorn out of. I passed.

A few days later I was in Wal*Mart again and a little unsupervised child had taken every single one of these froggy potties and had lined them up on the floor b*utt to n*ut (can I say that on my blog?) like a giant caterpillar made out of frogs and was jumping over them while his mother was two isles down looking at diapers or something. I thought those froggy potties were cute, too, but still didn’t want to even pay $15 for a piece of plastic that my baby would poo in.

I promise I am getting to my point here…

So the boys and I were out running a few errands yesterday and one was to Good*will (because Habitat for Humanity is closed on Wednesdays) and I had the entire back of my large SUV packed full of junk to give away. So we stopped by Good*will to drop off all my junk and I decided to pull around the front and pop in the store for just a second (which I NEVER do) and whaddya know….right there in the children’s section was a froggy potty which looked brand new like it never saw a drop of pee. I am sure it did but you know that nine times out of ten people buy those things and then never use them. That’s what I have always thought anyway which is why I never used them with my boys and only bought the little insert to prevent their tiny little buns from being flushed until their tiny buns got a little bigger. So I paid $3 and walked out of that store with a like-new froggy potty which will very likely never see a drop of pee but it is so incredibly cute to see my naked JJ sitting on it with those froggy eyes glaring out between his knees (that is once you get past the creepiness of those froggy eyes glaring out between his knees which I had to do). So what do you do with a potty that you bought second hand that may or may not have ever seen a drop of pee or poo? Why you run it through the high temp wash, tough scrub, sanitize, heated dry cycle in your dishwasher, that’s what!

I got a brand new lens for my camera and had to take it for a spin today after church with the boys. I am a little disappointed but I know I have a lot yet to learn. I need my bro.

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