just another day...

i realize that i haven't written in awhile, but things have been kinda crazy around here. we had a unexpected visit this past weekend from tim's brother paul. he is the one who made it through katrina in new orleans. he came late friday night and stayed until tuesday. we had a great visit and enjoyed his famous black beans and rice... yum.
anyway, i had a shocker this morning from my two older children. they had secretly asked their father to wake them up when he left for work at 5 AM, and they completed all their school for the day, before i even woke up! i came downstairs as they were starting to watch a movie and was very close to getting on their case, when they started giggling and admitted their scheme...
i was quite flabbergasted. so here we sit, watching "the incredibles" at 10:30 in the morning!
pretty funny movie for any who haven't seen it...
tim has been working like crazy on our upstairs re-construction project...
we are trying to finish out our walk-in attic to make another bedroom... we have all been sharing rooms for too long...and with the new one coming in december, we REALLY need some space!
we are aiming to be done by the end of october...we'll see...
anyway, all is well around here...hope you all are blessed and healthy and happy...

mom's appointment with dr. hudson...

we got some great news today!
mom had gone earlier in the week for current CAT and PET scans to check on the cancerous activity that we have been treating with mild chemo for about a year now.
doc walked in and said that they were both clear!
she shows no tumors on the CAT and no "activity" (as they call it) on the PET...
she couldn't stop smiling all day...
thank you for praying, those of you that have been... :)
keep it up...

WE FOUND THEM!!!

Tonight, as I once again dialed Chuck's cell phone, as I have done probably a hundred times over the past week, a man's voice answered!
I was stunned, and said "WHO IS THIS?"
He answered, "This is Chuck, WHO is THIS?"
I then proceeded to burst into tears and could hardly get the words out to say that it was me and that we have been so worried!
He and Flora were diverted in their evacuation attempt and made it to a hotel in Hattiesburg and got the LAST room...
They have been without power until last night, and phone until today.
They are making plans to head to Texas to temporarily stay with Chuck's sisters in Dallas and Austin...
They want to stay on the west side of LA so that they can head back when possible to retrieve belongings and check on job situation.
According to Chuck, though, they are not particularly interested in staying in New Orleans after that... go figure... :)
That's all we know for now...
Thank you all for your prayers, and just so you know...
I love each and every one of you with all my heart and I am so glad that you are part of our lives!
(unless of course, you are just some random person that I've never met that stumbled upon my blog... ha, ha)

Missing family members in LA

Well, I haven't written anything lately because we have been very involved with trying to locate Tim's sister Flora and her husband Chuck...
They live in New Orleans, but as of last Sunday, were evacuating to Mississippi, where Chuck's mother has a home. We have not heard from them at all, and are very worried... The area that they went to was devastated...
Many family members and friends of the family are scouring the internet "lists" of survivors, but we have not had any luck...
We have filed missing persons reports with the Coast Guard, Red Cross, Salvation Army and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Please pray for their safety and for us, the whole Bailey clan, to have wisdom on how to proceed...
The Bell south phone system is completely out of commission in that particular area code, and the cell towers are not working either, evidently...
We are praying about when it would be prudent, if at all, to just head down there and check hospitals and shelters ourselves... although, just the sheer cost, considering the gas prices, is insane...
The waiting has been very difficult... but,
We know that they are in the Lord's hands regardless...
Thank you so much for your prayers and support...

my back...

please pray for me...
I was stretching the other day and evidently yanked my sacrum (upper part of tailbone, in the middle of pelvis) out of it's place. It has been quite painful. I have been to two different chiropractors and have not found permanent relief yet. I am still functioning fairly normal, just trying to ignore the pain, except when I move in certain ways, then it pinches the sciatic nerve, which is excruciating for that moment.
thanks for your prayers...
jen

School starts today!

As I sit here typing, Timmy is "attempting" to write out his vocab words...He just gets distracted so easily... Nicole is almost done with hers...and Chloe has colored and traced on her little worksheets, and got tired of all that coloring real quick... I am looking forward to including her in our unit studies for history, science, geography and bible...
We went to the "big" library in Athens on Friday and got a massive amount of books to be used for the unit studies...We are going to be working on U.S. History, starting with the Founding Fathers in History, Oceans and Hurricanes and so forth with Science, U.S. Geography and then World in Geography, and we will chronologically work our way through the Old Testament for Bible...
We have a membership to an online DVD rental thing that is like Netflix, but more educationally oriented...It is called "Family Pass". We have gotten some really neat DVD's through them.
It really works well as a supplement to the unit studies, and also the curriculum-based subjects... Here's the website if anyone cares....http://www.familypass.com
Anyway, I'm going to try to scan one of Chloe's pages now...
Gotta go....

baby bailey first photo!

is this cool or what?
thought you would all enjoy seeing this...
this was the 3-D picture...
so cute...

well, we made a decision...

We have decided to have a home birth with this little one... We have prayed much, researched much, thought much, and finally decided.
We met with the midwife (whom I have known for about 2 years) on Saturday, and hired her...
one of our concerns had been financial, because a homebirth is not covered on insurance or medicaid here in Georgia. So, we would be paying out of pocket for this decision.
Well, God blessed us again....she (the midwife) knows how much I love to paint and so she offered to barter the cost of the birth for me doing some traditional and decorative painting in her home! Is that awesome or what??? Between that and all the other blessings that are pouring our way, God is just blowing our minds... It is truly amazing what happens when you are obedient to what He has said...
Anyway, I have posted a link to a really neat article about homebirth for any who would have questions... It is very informative, but also a neat story... I will put it here:
http://www.spiritofchange.org/fa050604c.shtml
and also put it in my links section to the right...
For the record, I am not actually familiar with the magazine that this article came from, it was photocopied into the homebirth planner that the midwife gave us...so I guess I should have a disclaimer stating that the views (other than this particular article, of course) expressed at "spirit of change magazine" do not neccessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Bailey's... :)
We are very excited about this decision and are feverishly working on the house and all of it's projects, to be ready for December.
We will keep everyone updated on the progress, maybe even some before and after photos...maybe....
Well, better go.... time for feeding at the "zoo"...

And next up to bat....

Timmy played on the Yankees this year and then was chosen for the
ALL-STARS team, which basically means he was in the top twelve of the league. I will have some pictures of the ALL-STARS game later when I develop the film...
Anyway, He loves baseball and is really, really good at it...(I'm not biased, really, really...)

School is near...

It has been a long week....
We are trying to get ready to start the school year...
I attended a homeschool expo in Atlanta with a friend on Saturday, and because of another financial gift last week, was able to purchase some of the kids supplies and books for this year. That was a tremendous blessing. I am really looking forward to this school year with them. I think I am really starting to see their individual learning styles more clearly and I am really going to encourage them to pursue the things that they enjoy and are good at...
Timmy is so good at math... He really loves the challenge and is such a spatial thinker. I wonder if he will end up in some type of architecture or engineering work...
Nicole on the other hand is totally the opposite... She hates math, but loves to write, draw, sing, paint, etc... I am going to push her into the creative arts...although she doesn't need much pushing... :)
I am interested to see what direction Chloe will go. She seems to be a mixture of both... She is extremely artistic..I am hoping to scan some of her drawings soon, and post them. They are very interesting...some impressionistic and some abstract, and some quite real...
Anyway, that's all about school and kids for now...
Love to all.