It’s been a rough week.

First I came down with a nasty stomach virus last Saturday night.  This was the virus that just wouldn’t quit.  When I thought I was feeling better, I’d eat a little something and be back in the bathroom within 30 minutes.

My sweet Papa, my last living grandparent, passed away last Monday.  I boarded a plane for Little Rock Wednesday morning.  I prayed that my stomach bug was gone….it wasn’t.  I wasn’t able to eat normally until Thursday!  Papa’s was the first military funeral I’d ever attended.  What an honorable celebration of life.  I am so blessed and thankful to have been able to attend.  I have pictures and video of my trip that I will share soon.  Ashley was scheduled to be induced Thursday morning.  I’ve had the privilege of attending all of her other births and I was heart-broken that I wouldn’t be able to attend the grand finale. However, thanks to modern technology, I was able to attend the delivery afterall!  Stephen (Ashley’s husband) called me on Face Time (like Skype) about thirty minutes before Natalie’s birth and I was able to “be there” for the final minutes of labor and the delivery.  It was such a special time and I am thrilled that I didn’t miss Natalie’s birth just because 700 miles separated us.  Stephen propped me up near the TV in the delivery room, where I listened, watched, and waved to the nurses.

What a fun story that will make one day.  Natalie Praise Bailey was born at 11:44am, weighing 8lbs. 9oz.  She looks exactly like her oldest brother and sister.  Absolutely precious!

I’m home now and it was wonderful to be greeted by Josh, my sweet boys, and a really clean house!  I missed them so very much but I knew they were in great hands with my dear friends Sharon, Ali, and Kelli.  Thank you ladies again for all of your love and support while I was away.  You are truly a gift to me!

One last update:

The boys’ video and $1 Challenge has raised almost $600 in the past six weeks.  But we can’t stop now.  We’re so close to the finish line!  The race is in two weeks.  We are hoping it will be our final big fundraiser before we bring Zoe home.  We have about $13,000 left in fees.  Once the race is over I will begin applying for adoption grants.  Most of them take 6-8 weeks to process.  If we don’t have any hang-ups in our paperwork, we’re hoping to get our dossier in the mail by February!  Once that is sent, we’ll be finished!  I’m praying we have a referral by my THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY:  May 25.  As I boarded the final plane yesterday, my eyes filled with tears and butterflies filled my stomach:  The next time I board a plane, it will be bound for Ethiopia….and ZOE!

I imagined what it will feel like finally holding her in my arms on the flight home.  This is the year!  Zoe is coming home!  Will you help share our video if you haven’t already?

Bringing Home Baby Zoe

~audrey

It’s here! It’s time! The Trot-to-Adopt is three weeks from Saturday! The shirts are awesome but you have to register by January 20th in order to guarantee you’ll get one on race day, January 28th. But there’s more….if you don’t live in the Augusta area but would still like to participate, you can register for the race online, raise sponsors right where you are, and we’ll mail you your shirt! Please help us spread the word and if you’re already registered, start asking all your friends, family, and neighbors to sponsor you as you run for a precious little girl in Ethiopia! When we ran last year for the Digsby family, I was able to raise $100 one Wednesday night at church! We are praying that God would use this race to spread awareness about adoption and help us raise the rest of the money we need to bring our sweet baby girl home.

SponsorshipForm

Thank you for all of your love and support!  I hope to see you ALL on Saturday, January 28th!

~audrey

Christmas is upon us and as we decorate the tree and spend time with family, we can’t help but long for next Christmas when our sweet Zoe Ameris will be here with us.  By this time next year, we won’t be able to remember life without her.  But for now, we’re still waiting.  We’ll be sending our dossier to Ethiopia in January and hope to have our referral by spring.  Our final fundraiser is the Trot-to-Adopt 5k and 1 mile Family Fun Run on January 28, 2012.  We still need about $15,000 before we can board the plane to our daughter.  The boys started thinking about how hard it would be to save $15,000 in a short period of time apart from a miracle.  Then one of them said, “This sure would be easier if instead we could get 15,000 people to sponsor us $1 as we run for Zoe!”

The video was birthed from there.

Will you watch our video and consider sharing it with your friends and family.  It’s amazing to think that $1 from many people could change our daughter’s life forever.

Thank you for watching! If you’d like to sponsor our boys as they run to raise money to bring home their baby sister, you can click the donate button to the right of the screen. If you want to help but would rather mail your support, please contact me:   audrey@madetoorganize.com.

If you live in the Augusta area and would like to participate in the Trot-to-Adopt, you can find out more information and register here.

Bless you!

audrey

We have s-l-0-w-e-d down around here.  Our days are nice, our screens are off, and our time is well-spent.

Not every day, but most days.

I’ve made time for things that have made my life easier.  I made homemade laundry soap; $3 for 5 gallons that should last us several months.  I bought all of our meat for the month, cooked it, canned or froze it and it has transformed dinner time for me.  I washed, peeled, and chopped ten pounds of potatoes and canned or froze them:  soups, casseroles, side dishes, or breakfast; they’re ready to be used.

We went to the library last week.  I usually only let the boys get three books each…for fear of losing them and therefore defeating the purpose of the library being free!  However, I was feeling brave.  We usually set our books down on a certain round table between the children’s books and the juvenile books.  This also happens to be where all of the really great educational books are.  Everything from geography and history to cooking and camping.  The boys were like kids in a candy store and each started a really great stack of books.  I looked through each of the piles and by the end of our self-check-out we had over 30 books.  I really should have thought about how we would walk back to the car with 20 pounds worth of books, but we made it work with nothing but our biceps.  Sometimes they check out three books each and never really look at the books once we get home.  This time is different.  We spend a minimum of thirty minutes each day reading our library books.

With a slower pace here at Wilkerson Academy, I’ve been able to get a little more creative.  We’ve done word searches that I created online and consist of words from our weekly memory work, we’ve worked through our US map puzzle many times, trying to remember where each state belongs, and we put things back where they belong as soon as we’re finished using them.  This has helped us keep a much tidier house.

With no where to go, I haven’t felt rushed.  When I don’t feel rushed, I’m more patient and have a better chance of cultivating a meek and quiet spirit in our home.  We aren’t busy, so I start to think about dinner around 4:30 and by 5:00, it’s on the stove or in the oven.

We’re not out and about as often as we have been the past couple of months so I’m only filling up my gas tank about once every ten days.  This will save us about $70/month.  When we’re home, we don’t spend money on fast food.  Our Kay Arthur Bible study for kids has been a top priority each morning and no one can discount the importance of starting your day, as a family, in God’s word.

With so many people having constant connection to the internet at their fingertips (literally), we’ve become so accustomed to posting our every thought on the internet through outlets like Twitter and Facebook.  It’s so easy to compare yourself, your possessions, or your life to what everyone else has.  This creates such a spirit of discontentment.  The desire to have the constant approval of others or to have others affirm your every decision is poisonous.

His approval is it. It should be all we strive for and find contentment in.

Every. Single. Time. it comes back to taking our focus off of our heavenly Father.  When I fix my eyes on Him, I am fulfilled; I am satisfied.

So for now, I will remain off-line.  It took me three days to finish this post because I’d start it and realize I needed to be doing something else.

Do what you know is God’s best for you.  Encourage others in His word, with things that actually matter.  Make time for friends and family who are like minded and build you up in your faith.  Cultivate a love for learning in your children, whether they be at home or at school.  Work to make home a sanctuary so your children and your husband can’t wait to get home at the end of each day.

Peace.

Joy.

Love.

A good-smellin’ kitchen. (I just had to throw that in there! )

Blessings,

~audrey