Three Loads a Day

I really wasn't being overly lazy. These things just catch up with you. My excuses were- Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, sick children- blah blah blah-
Whatever the reasons, I contiued to throw laundry in the washer and dryer, but I had let it pile up clean on the basement floor. So, I am estimating about 5-7 days of laundry that hadn't been folded. I didn't count the dryer sheets, but I was folding for about 2 hours. (and I am lightning quick)
That is about 12 loads of laundry- some drawers were pretty close to empty. Poor Lincoln was wearing tight, short, dated Levi's.
The pictures chronical the process- Isaac took one, and Nathanael the other. I bet you can't guess who took what!

Henry is Coming Home

I am so very excited to share the news about my newest newphew. My sister and brother-in-law have been in the adoption process and just found out they will be traveling to Guatemala to pick up Henry. He will be five months old and I can honestly say he is one of the most adorable baby's I have ever seen. He will be home for Christmas, and we are all praising God.

Welcome Herbie!

I would like to invite you, family and friends, in welcoming our newest member to the Bailey Brood! No, the adoption of our little girl is not completed, but we have adopted a long haired white and orange kitty. He is absolutely adorable and very tolerant. The children
are in love with him already. Isaac is actually very gentle with him, and the other boys are learning quickly. Herbie and mommy are excellent teachers!

Why?

Well, some will call us crazy, but I was feeling our house was a bit empty and needed some more commotion. Actually, we have quite a mouse problem here, and after trying deal with it our way, I thought maybe we could try natures way. So, we turned him loose in the basement. He must have stirred something up down there, because I just noticed fresh mouse in a trap! Yeah Herbie!

The Wait has begun!

Well, we are officially waiting for our precious baby girl. We decided to start this blog to keep family and friends up to date on the process of our adoption. Here is where we are... (and what we have done to get to this point)

• For the last 3 years we have been thinking about adoption. After three difficult and dangerous pregnancies, we excitedly looked more into adoption.
• In July of 2006, we filled out our application for Children's Home Sociecty and Family Services.
• August - we attended Pre-adoption classes and decided officially on international adoption from Ethiopia
• September- Our hometudy and completion of dossier
• October 10- our dossier was accepted, and we officially began waiting for our referral

Where do we go from here-

• We understand the next phase is the hardest!! WE WAIT!!! The wait for a referral of a 0-12 month girl is 4-6 months (lately most referrals are around 6 months)
• Then we frantically get ready to travel and bring home our new baby- the wait to travel is 1-2 months.
• The plane ride to Ethiopia is a full day long expedition
• We are in Ethiopia for about 1 week

Why Ethiopia?

Good question. We had narrowed down our country options, and began to talk and pray about each one. We felt drawn to Ethiopia because Nathanael Grandma (HI NORMA- hope your reading this) was a missionary there for over 40 years.

I hope you enjoy this journey! Let us know if you have visited and write us a quick comment!!