It finally hit me...

Until a few days ago, it hadn't really hit me that Christmas was soon. We had our Christmas tree up...our front porch was decorated...the Christmas musical at our church was coming up soon. But I really wasn't in the Christmas spirit...which is very odd for me. It probably didn't help that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it was 60 degrees...it was kinda hard to believe it was Christmas time when it was that warm outside.

On Thursday night, getting ready for dress rehearsal for our Christmas musical, William was on the phone, mom was fixing my hair, and we were running around getting ready to leave. And it hit me. Not because our live was crazy...not because we have presents under our tree...I'm not really sure what it was...but it hit me, "It's really Christmas time."

Last night we had a special performance of our musical, invitation only, it was for people who had visited our food pantry in the past year, and ladies from the battered women's shelter. We had about 125 people show up, and we fed them all a sit down dinner of steak, baked-potatoes, and salad. The tables were set up, and we had gift bags with apples, oranges, mints and chocolate in them. As the adult, youth and children's choir were all singing, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", and all of the people watching us...it was Christmas, right then and there...it really felt like Christmas. When we walked out, waiting in the lobby for people to exit, we continued to sing, "Peace on earth, peace on earth, peace on earth, goodwill to men." When they walked out, their faces were cheerful, and they looked so happy to have someone caring about them. And that right there was like giving a Christmas gift. To see them that happy...that's what all of our hard work in practices was for, to touch someones life with the love of Jesus Christ.

Last night, it hit me, that was what Christmas was supposed to be. Sharing God's love by caring for people, telling them the story of Jesus Christ. That's what Christmas is supposed to be about...

Sharing the joy of Christ's birth that we have through this season to those who don't know.

That's Christmas.

~Bailey

The Reason Why...

I get very excited about Christmas. Okay let me rephrase that- I get extremely excited about Christmas. On November 25th(every year) Christmas music is put back on my playlist and the Christmas piano books come out of hibernation. I put a countdown on my blog many days before that...which by the way is now down to two weeks and 6 days...yay!

Most of the time I find myself guessing at what presents are under the tree...thinking of what I am going to buy for friends and family...what I want to be under the tree Christmas morning. I'm pretty sure it would be safe to say we all do it if we are honest.

I have caught myself many times this Christmas season thinking about lights, and the tree, and what I want...not "Wow. God sent His only son to earth as a baby to save us from our sins. To suffer for us, to go through life as a human for us. Thanks God."

I have had to stop and think to myself that presents and trees and lights don't really matter...having an outfit to wear to the Christmas Eve service- it doesn't really matter. It's just something that the world has made important. And showing myself this- is most definitely a work in progress.

Please don't get me wrong- like I have already said, I LOVE Christmas. A lot. But like my dad said yesterday in his sermon, it's frustrating to see what Christmas has turned into- what WE have turned Christmas into.

I love exchanging presents and being with my family but...

This Christmas season I challenge you- along with myself to remember WHY we are celebrating Christmas.

It will be hard with all of the distractions of the world- but I bet it will be rewarding...

Would you join me?

~Bailey

Family Tree 2011...

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P.S. Go visit Anna Gray's blog by using the button on the side, she's having a Christmas giveaway! yay!

Our Sonia Grace...

We all hopped out of the van and onto the red dirt at the orphanage, after a 18 hour long flight- all the day after Thanksgiving. We were getting ready to meet our Sonia Grace for the first time. I had butterflies in my stomach, we were getting ready to meet the little girl I had prayed for such a long time. They walked into the room with Sonia, Cooper, and Grace, and mom immediately teared up and dad got out the camera. They handed Sonia to dad, and she had a look of fear and wonder on her face.





The little girl we met two years ago is not the same little girl who has been playing with her "little people" nativity set today while we put up Christmas decorations(pics coming later). She is now one of the cutest, funniest three year olds you will ever meet. I love this little girl deeply, this little girl from "her wanda"(Rwanda). It's hard to believe that two years ago we met her, two years ago I held her little self for the first time. Many people say that we blessed her, but really, she has blessed us so very much. And we are so thankful for her, so, so thankful for our Sonia Grace.

~Bailey

This Thanksgiving...

I'm thankful for my family...and the joy, the struggles they bring.


She's just so beautiful...


Aren't they so handsome?


I'm thankful for my friends....the cherished memories we have together.


Oh yeah...Taylor Swift with my bestie...can't get better!


Love these girls!

I'm thankful for those older than me, who have corrected me, loved on me, been loyal to me, and helped me become who I am today.







And most of all I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ...I'm thankful for being free. I'm thankful for having someone who loves me every day...no matter what I do.

I'm thankful today for all of these things. But most of all I'm thankful I can be free because I have a savior who loves me!

What are you thankful for today?

~Bailey

A Journey...part 1(of 4)

Two years ago yesterday, my mom was asking two of her closest friends to pray that we would be able to get plane tickets for Rwanda. We had just been called and asked if we would like to travel FRIDAY to pick up Sonia. It was Tuesday. That's three days, and most places were closed on Thursday because of Thanksgiving. By Tuesday night we had gotten plane tickets, and our house was a disaster. I can see it- Sonia's suitcase on the table with sippy cups and clothes and bibs and diapers and snacks. The boys and I had just gotten down our boxes of summer clothes, we would be needing them in the warm weather of Rwanda. My mom was making a list of the things we would need to do in order to leave- run to Wal-mart, go to the bank, go to the drs, and of course pack for two weeks away from home.

The next two days were spent in packing, franticly running errands...and well, everything else that comes with leaving the country for two weeks. And that Friday morning we boarded a plane in Raliegh NC, at 6:30 am, with our stomachs in knots, we took off for a journey that no one was prepared for, because it would be the best and hardest two weeks we would have ever experienced.

To be continued....

~Bailey

Yes, Lord.

~Disclaimer: this is really long...like really really long. Make sure you have some time to read it before you sit down.~

"It is not about God making my dreams come true, but about God changing my dreams into His dreams for my life."*

Katie Davis is 22 years old. She moved to Uganda when she was 18 years old, and fell in love with the country and it's people.

"I thought of how, after a long, hard day in my preivous life, I would have crashed on the couch with a pint of ice cream, a good sappy movie and my closest girl friends. Here, at the end of a long, hard day, there was nothing to do but cry out to Jesus for the strength to go on."*

At that point she was 18 years old, teaching kindergarten to over one hundred student daily- not knowing their language.

"I can enter into someone's pain and sit with them and know. This is Jesus. Not that He apologizes for the hard and the hurt, but that He enters in, He comes with us to the hard places. And so I continue to enter."*

Yet, in the middle of these circumstances she praises God for His example to us of how to care for the least of these.

"I am common and simple, with nothing special about me. Nothing special except I choose to say "yes" to the things God asks of me and "yes" to the people He places in front of me. You can too. I am just an ordinary person. And ordinary person serving and extraordinary God."*

Even on bad, hard days, she continues to say "yes". "Yes" to the man across the street who hasn't eaten in days, "yes" to the baby boy whose stepmother won't care for him. "Yes" to the ones no one will care for, everyone knows "Aunty Katie" will say, "yes."

"I can say "yes" to Him, or I can say no. I can go to the hard places or I can remain comfortable. And if I remain comfortable, God who loved us unconditionally will continue to love me anyway. I may still see His glory revealed in my life and recognize His blessings, but not like I could have. I can miss the will of God."*

"I wrapped him in a towel and, as my friend held him tightly, I began to cut away the dead skin that hung from his heels and the insides of his feet...He didn't scream or cry; he simply sat there in what must have been excruciating pain as tears rolled down his expressionless face. I, on the other hand, ran out of the room and threw up."*

She cares for the least of these, she has adopted fourteen girls, she runs a make-do medical clinic, she helps helpless ladies make a living. And you know what started it all? "Yes", she simply said, "Yes". "Yes" to God, "yes" to wherever He was going to take her, "yes" to the plan He had for her.

She is 22. 22 years old, 14 daughters, a medical clinic, homeschooling her children, managing a sponsorship program for hundreds of children- not to mention caring for those who just look like they could need some love.

"My heart was being broken. The situations with Michael and Patricia and so many other children were breaking it every day. While i never lost my love of compassion for the children, I did sometimes lose my patience with the circumstances they were living."*

All it took was, "Yes God. Yes, I will do what you are asking." Isn't that what so many of us, including me, aren't doing?

As I read Katie's book, it opened my eyes to the situations out there. And at many times I said to myself, "Okay God, maybe this isn't as easy as I wanted it to be. Maybe I'm not called to Uganda." It's not easy. Caring for people with third degree burns, gashes in their feet, and people who are so hungry they can't move- it's not easy. But every day Katie keeps moving- she keeps saying, "yes" to what God puts in front of her.

She doesn't do it for herself- but for God. For God's glory...so that in heaven every people from every tribe and nation will bow praising God.

I hope, that through God's strength, wherever He plans to take me- that I can say "yes" for God's glory.

"We know you are here. Let us bring all our wounds and brokenness to You expectantly, without a doubt. Remind that all the children we touch, and all the children we don't, are Yours. Your in this broken life, and Yours in eternity. Come, Lord Jesus. We wait in hope."*

Thank you, God, for those who are saying "yes". Thank you for Katie. Thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for saving us. Thank you for what you have done and will continue to do in Katie's ministry. We wait in hope to see what you will do- one child- one person at a time.

Yes, Lord. We wait in hope.

*All quotes are from Katie's book, Kisses from Katie, you can read more of Katie's story at kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com. Thank you.