Family Christmas 2012

Today was SUCH a wonderful day! Let me show you.

 How do you serve soup for 40+ people? In mugs, of course! 

 Jennifer and Brandon

 David and Farren 

 Everyone getting their food. 

 So excited to be with family! 

 The Patriarch: Big Daddy with his wife, Elsie 

 Eating on the back patio

 The cows coming over to check us out.

 I think we had enough wood to burn. 

 The menfolk firing a potato gun. I did not even know such a thing existed. 

 Daisy girl had a big day! 

 Baby Bowen! One of our newest additions! 

 Adam getting ready to fire. 

 Lots of cousins! 

 Me with a potato gun. Are you impressed? Don't be.

 I just held it. Lee pulled the trigger. 

 Cousin Jennifer, me and Daisy girl 

 Cousin Royce with Adam

 Yancey and Holden heading out on the four-wheeler.

 The cows did not like having us all up in their space. 

 Somehow Yancey talked his mom, our Aunt Jean, into taking a spin on the dirt bike. 

 About to head out on the hay ride with my bird. 

 Here we go! 

 Farren, David and Aunt Jean rockin' some good looking shirts!

 Adam was brave enough to feed the long horn. 

I stayed on the trailer. 

 She is pretty, but...

 Look at this sweet family supporting us as we work to bring our babe home for good. I know a lot of people out there struggle with their in-laws. Please allow me to say that I am not one of those people. I married into an incredible family. These beautiful people have loved and supported us while we were dating, through our engagement, into our marriage and on this adoption journey. The Lord has blessed us with such an incredible family, and we cannot wait to welcome Baby Knott into this crazy bunch. 

 And here are all the ladies who have made me feel like part of the family from day one. Thank you all so much for being such a positive force in my life. You have shown me what it means to be a Godly woman and wife. I will be calling on you for advice once we get the little munchkin home! 

 Adam talking with Uncle Ken. 

 My fantastic in-laws! 

 Dessert over at Big Daddy's old house in Deatsville. This is where all the Cox kids grew up. 

 Lots of tasty treats to choose from. 

 Aunt Dawn hung up pictures of Cox Family Christmas get-togethers through the years. So much fun looking back through time. 

 Everyone loved it! 

 The three sisters: My mother-in-law, JoAnne, Aunt Jean and Aunt Joyce. 

 Such a sweet and special lady! 

 I inherited 5 nephews when JoAnne and Mike got married. They are each so precious. 

 Big Daddy and Elsie 

 OK. This is too sweet. These are Adam's old baby clothes. One of his cousins, Jennifer, used them for her son, McCoy. But he has since grown out of them, so she returned them for us to use if we get matched with a son. All of the boys in this family have worn these clothes, and now ours will, too. Well, if we have a boy...

 And then another one of our cousins, Piper, gave us these adorable pants for our Little Bird! Throughout this whole process, I have been so overwhelmed by people's loving thoughtfulness. 

And finally, here is my birthday present from Mike and JoAnne. An ornament with our very first waiting list number on it. Hopefully we will be done with numbers by next Christmas and will be posting pictures of the Bird instead!! 

Well, I am worn out and off to bed. Merry Christmas! 

Love, 

Baylor 

The Circle Maker-Part 4: Dream Big (Final Section of Chapter 4)

OK. Can I just say that God's perfect timing and obvious deep and personal knowledge of my heart and soul never cease to amaze me? I have been meaning to write about the second part of chapter four of The Circle Maker for about a week, but this past week has been crazy. Really and truly (more on that later). So I am just now getting around to writing this, and I absolutely needed to hear what this portion of the book has to say. We are still in chapter four, and the final section is entitled, "The First Circle: Dream Big." Well, I like the sound of that.

In this section, Batterson focuses on the fact that as time passes and we age, we tend to trade in faith and our dreams for logic and things we can actually explain. I supposed we become jaded by the world and our life experiences and the realm of what seems "possible" begins to shrink. We start to base our "faith" on what we can see. This is terribly ironic. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." So really, if our "faith" is only based on what we can see, then it is not really faith. If we truly have deep faith in the Lord, then the opposite should take place. Batterson puts it this way.

"One litmus test of spiritual maturity is whether you dreams are getting bigger or smaller. The older you get, the more faith you should have because you've experienced more of God's faithfulness. And it is God's faithfulness that increases our faith and enlarges our dreams."

He makes a really valid point. God has been acting in our best interests since before we were born. When we look back at our lives, we should be able to trace the hand of God's faithfulness. Adam and I talk about this all the time. Even when we just look back at the almost six years we have been married, God's hand can be so clearly seen. This is true about where we live now (both the city and precise location within that city), the church we attend, the small group we are involved in, Adam's schooling and current job and even our adoption. Each of these happened in such a way as to lead to where we are now. God is writing a beautiful story in our life, and that should grow our faith in Him. And as our faith grows, our prayer life should deepen.

"The more you pray, the bigger your dreams will become. And the bigger your dreams become, the more you will pray. In that process of drawing ever-enlarging prayer circles, the sphere of God's glory is expanded."

So the result of more prayer is bigger dreams. And bigger dreams lead to more prayer. And so on and so on. The more we pray for big things, the more opportunities God has to showcase his glory, and the more He does that, the more our faith will increase. I can give you a very specific example of this in my life.

In January of this year, I had what I count as the worst experience of my entire life. The afternoon of January 26, I got a call from my dad that my mom had collapsed at work and was being rushed tot he hospital. Her heart had stopped and she was unresponsive. My parents live in South Florida. We live in Birmingham. There was absolutely nothing I could do. I have never been so scared in my entire life. I felt completely helpless. Fortunately, that is where the Lord stepped in. We started praying. Praying like I had never prayed before in my life. I knew I was asking God for a miracle. The doctors were telling my dad and sister that Mom would not make it. They kept telling us to prepare for the worst. I got to Florida the next morning. I had been praying virtually nonstop for over twelve hours by the time I arrived at the airport. More praying. Praying alone. Praying with others. Getting emails from some of my best friends telling me that they they were praying. The doctors were still telling us that we needed to prepare ourselves. Eight days later, my mother, who had been on a ventilator and completely unresponsive, walked out of the cardiovascular ICU on her own two feet. A miracle. We prayed. God did the impossible. He healed her. He healed her when the doctors said there was no hope. Hopeless situations give God the opportunity to rock our worlds. If we let Him.

My mom's recovery makes no sense. Countless doctors and medical professionals have told us so. They don't know how it happened. But I do. God is not limited by what our logical minds can comprehend. He operates outside logic.

"When imagination is sacrificed on the altar of logic, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to him."

So I want to encourage you to dream BIG. Ask God for BIG things. BIG things that honor Him. Not the kinds of things our modern society tells us to seek after. Bigger house. Nicer car. Higher salary. Those things are puny. God is bigger. What is God calling you to do? What has He asked of you that you feel ill-equipped for? Those are the things we need to draw prayer circles around. I know it can be exhausting to keep praying, especially when it feels like the Lord is loooooong in answering. He has not abandoned us. He is building our faith. Drawing us closer to Him.

"We lose faith in the God who gave us the big dream and settle for a small dream that we can accomplish without His help. We go after dreams that don't require divine intervention. We go after dreams that don't require prayer."

So we don't need to give up. We need to stay on our knees before His throne. That is where He wants us.

"Nothing is better for our spiritual development than a big dream because it keeps us on our knees in raw dependence on God."

When everything else falls away, we are left with the Lord. And He is the only one we can truly rely upon. When He takes a long time to answer our prayers, I really think that is what He is trying to teach us. He slowly (or quickly) strips away everything else we depend on, and we are left with one option. Cry out to Him. He will answer. Always. That is where I am right now. There is not a human on the face of this earth who can bring my baby home to me faster, who can send me a May 2013 referral. Only God can do that. So I am talking to Him, leaning on Him, asking Him, depending on Him.

Focus Questions for Today:

1. What is a time in your life where you can look back and see God's faithfulness?

2. When God is long in answering a prayer, do you tend to give up or pray harder? Why?

3. What are some things you could do to stay focused on the Lord while you pray instead of staying focused on the fact that you are waiting?

I am asking myself these questions right alongside you. Self-reflection is always a good thing. So let me encourage you (and myself) to seek God's face all the more. I pray that you know Him more as a result of the BIG prayers you are praying. That is a big part of what I think God is doing in my life right now. Just drawing me closer to Him, showing me that He is in control.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season. Adam and I are down on the farm for his family Christmas get-together tomorrow. Pictures to follow!

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

Love,
Baylor

**All italicized passages have been taken from Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker.

A Little Ethiopia in Our House!

I got some more treasures in the mail this week! Yesterday was not a good day; I had to leave work early because I was feeling so sick, and the timing was super bad, because my kiddos were turning in their rough drafts for their research essays in class yesterday. Not the best day to be out. All my teachers out there will understand this: It is almost NEVER worth it to miss school. The sub plans and the catching up when you get back. Yikes. So anyway, I was nervous about walking into my room this morning, as teenagers tend to become exponentially more messy when their teacher is out. I stopped by the mailroom on my way in and found two little packages in my mailbox. Instant smile! Mainly, because I knew exactly what they were.

Last week, I ordered some Christmas ornaments on Etsy (my new favorite place to shop). We, (ok, maybe I) had been wanting some Ethiopia ornaments for our Christmas tree, so I started snooping around online. I found a store that is sponsored by a family adopting from Ethiopia, and they are selling Christmas ornaments to fundraise for their adoption. Check it out here. Perfection! That was the first package.

The second package was from my new friend, Amy. She and her husband are also adopting from Ethiopia. Somehow, Amy stumbled onto our blog one day; we made a connection and have been chatting back and forth ever since. It is so cool how the Lord will bring people into our lives at exactly the right time. Both our families are very close together in the adoption process, and it has been so nice to have someone right there with me. So grateful for you, Amy! She is a fancy crafter (the opposite of me) and decided, out of pure sweetness, to make me an Ethiopia ornament and mail it to me. Thank you! Amy also has a shop on Etsy called The Turquoise Pear. She is a sewing machine (ha!), so please check out her stuff!

Here are the ornaments! 

Sitting happily on my desk!

 This one is from Amy. I love it! Thank you! 

 A wreath around the continent of Africa painted like the Ethiopian flag

 LOVE!

Merry Christmas (in Amharic, of course)!

I was so excited to get all of these in the mail today (so much so that I didn't even mind the overturned desk and the snow shower of index cards on the floor of my classroom)! Naturally, I love anything and everything that reminds me of our little bird. 

One more thing. Our baby has been heavy on my mind lately, and I am trying so hard to just keep lifting this little one up in prayer. All of the unknowns are weighing on me. So I am praying for my heart, too. There are days when this adoption business tough stuff, days when I think my life is just going to be sitting in one big waiting room from now until forever. Praise the Lord, I know that is not true. I know that there will come a day when I get to hold my baby and bring him/her home. Oh, how I look forward to that day. I cry just sitting here thinking about it. 

So if you have a minute, please pray for our child, for his/her birth mom. I can only attempt to imagine what she must be going through and what she will have to go through in order for this miracle of adoption to come to fruition. We just need God's hand on everything. On every little thing. 

But let's praise Him, too. He is already all over this, and He brought a little Ethiopia into our house today. Thank you, Jesus. 

And thank you for your prayers. 

Love, 

Baylor 

Weekend Reunion

I just wanted to write a quick post about our fantastic weekend. This not really adoption related, but I do want to share God's goodness in our lives even as we are in the process of waiting.

Adam and I headed over to Atlanta this weekend for me to attend a baby shower. The mom-to-be is one of my closest friends, Angela. She and I were roommates during our freshman year of college and have remained close over the (almost ten!) years since. She has been such a constant source of love and friendship in my life and is one of the few people in the world I can confide in completely without fear of judgment. Fortunately, our husbands have also become great friends, so Adam was able to hang out with Patrick while we were off showering Angela with gifts. :) Here is a quick pre-shower picture.

Isn't she lovely?? 

Patrick and Angela's sweet Baby Faith will be here soon, and I am so, so excited! It is really something else to be entering the stage of life where people you have known for years are becoming parents. These two will be great ones! 

The shower was hosted at the home of another one of my closest college friends, Ashlyn. She and I were sorority sisters at Auburn, and she actually introduced me to my husband. So, needless to say, I love Ashlyn and WHOLE lot. :) She was pretty much my saving grace in college and really helped teach me that it is possible to be a Godly woman no matter the circumstance you happen to find yourself in. I spent a lot of my free time with this pretty lady. 

So very good to see her! 

Both of these lovely ladies were in our wedding and are so, so important to me. Love you both! 

This weekend also happened to be my birthday. I am now a dusty old woman of 28. To celebrate, my husband took me out to my current favorite Birmingham restaurant, Chez Lulu, for dinner. It was a wonderful night. We were able to enjoy good food and each other's company. If I haven't said it lately, I am so very blessed to be married to this man. 

And, no, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is a glass of milk you see in front of my husband. He ordered it to accompany his creme brûlée, of course. 

Not a whole lot of news on the adoption front these days. I only know of one referral that has gone out for the month of December. We are still praying to be number 63 on January 1, and we would love for you to join us. 

I know I said it before, but the next part of The Circle Maker is coming soon. Promise! 

Love, 

Baylor 

Looking for a good Christmas gift?

It can be so difficult to find Christmas gifts for everyone on your list. Perhaps we can help you with that. We have partnered with Just Love Coffee Roasters to provide friends, family and strangers with a way to purchase delicious fair trade coffee and coffee accessories (mugs, t-shirts, etc.) while simultaneously supporting our adoption.

By clicking on the Just Love icon on the left hand side of this page (right underneath the Verse of the Day), you can access the Just Love website through our storefront. A portion of the cost of your purchase (around $5 per item) will go directly toward our adoption. We are in the home stretch for fundraising and would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have everything fully funded before we get our referral (still praying for May 2013).

Everyone who has purchased coffee with us has absolutely loved it, especially the Ethiopian blends! Here are some (only a few!) of the items available for purchase.

 So cute! Great teacher gift! 

 A little Christmas music with your coffee??

 Great stocking stuffer! 

 Perfect holiday gift! So festive! 

 This shirt is a tribute to Ethiopia and the orphans of the world! Love it! 

Coffee blends from around the world. 

 This is a beautiful gift. I want one! 

Everybody needs a cup of love! 

Please consider supporting us as we work to bring our little one home.

Love,
Baylor

P.S. Please make sure you go through our storefront by clicking the link on your left. That ensures that our adoption is credited for your purchase!

Can we talk for just a sec...

About how God is oh so good? Allow me to share.

So I had this very serious and somber blog post in the works for you, because, honestly, that last few days have been verrrrry difficult on me. I am not sure why or what triggered it. This just happens sometimes. I get bogged down in the waiting, and I start feeling like our little bird in a million years away. It is not a pretty place to be. In the spirit of honesty and transparency, I have been trying to share the good with you, as well as the not so good. The last few days have undoubtedly fallen into the "not so good" category, and I was prepared to share it with all of you (and I still plan to) when the Lord, as He usually does, met me right where I was and gave me a gift, something to lift my spirits and remind me that He truly knows me and hears my heart.

Let me back it up to a few days ago. Earlier this week, I received a Facebook message from a high school friend of mine, Danielle. She was messaging me to get our address. Now, Danielle and I have not talked in several years (though I do follow her marathon blog and aspire to one day be as fabulous of a runner as she is), but she told me that she has been following along with our adoption story, and while she was in New Orleans for a marathon (the woman is a machine!), she saw something that reminded her of us and our adoption and so she bought it for us and wanted to mail it. Let me pause here to say that this humbled me like I cannot explain. That Danielle saw something that reminded her of our adoption and our little Ethiopian bird so much that she was compelled to buy it for someone she has not talked to in years touched my heart more than I can tell you. Thank you, Danielle. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I had been waiting to get it in the mail all week, anxious to see what it was. The suspense was very dramatic. So, do you want to see what it was?

 You are my little bird! 

Right there with our current number! 

Danielle, I am not sure if you know this (maybe I have done it somewhere on this blog), but Adam and I call each other birds, and we call our little babe a bird. So this is absolutely perfect. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. I was actually in a meeting in my classroom today when I got an email from our registrar/receptionist that some packages had arrived for me in the front office. I raced down there and just about started crying in the lobby when I opened this one. This will be prominently displayed in our nursery. 

Thank you, Danielle, for being part of this incredible story God is writing in our lives. The Lord used you to bless my life today. I had been in tears over the some of the difficulties that accompany adoption just last night and was still not 100% over it today, but then this arrived and turned me right back around. Thank you for reminding me who we are waiting for. 

Now some of you might be thinking, she said "packages" arrived in the front office. As in multiple. And you would be correct. But I cannot tell you what was in the other one yet! It contained gifts for two of the people I love most in the world, and if I write about it, the surprise will be ruined. But stay tuned. :)

I do still want to share with you what God is teaching me during the low times (like the last few days), but I will save that for later this week. Right now, I want to think about my little bird over in Ethiopia and about how the Lord is truly the Divine Conductor of every tiny detail for our lives (even something as seemingly small as when the mail arrives!).

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me; You will stretch our Your hand against the wrath of my enemies. And Your right hand will save me." Psalm 138:7

Love,
Baylor

Hello, December!

Sooo glad it is December! This is one of my favorite months of the year. There is Christmas, no school, and many moons ago (8 years ago, to be precise) in December, my darling husband asked me to be his lady. Here are some quick pictures of some of today's festivities.

 Mostly complete tree. Just waiting on my Ethiopia ornaments! 

 Love this guy. This is our NINTH Christmas together and our SIXTH as man and wife. Goodness gracious, I am a blessed woman to have such a man. 

And, of course, we had to get Daisy in on the fun. Too bad she isn't very keen on being photographed.

The last two are not super clear. We took them with our computer, and apparently I am not yet an expert in Photo Booth. But, you get the idea.

We put up and decorated the tree after we got home from church this evening, and the afternoon was spent helping one of our sweet neighbors and her two daughters put up their outdoor Christmas and raking up some of the leaves in their yard. The raking quickly gave way to leaf throwing, and even Daisy the Pup joined in. Today was what you call a good day.

Church this evening was also exceptionally good. We are in the middle of a series on prayer. And I am starting to think God is trying to tell me something. We are studying prayer at church and in our Monday night ladies' Bible study, and I am reading The Circle Maker, which, as you know, is all about prayer. Notice a common thread? Hmmmm. I guess I will have to pray MORE to see what He is seeing from me.

The next part of The Circle Maker is coming soon!

"For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given." Isaiah 9:6

Love,
Baylor