Moving On

I hope everyone has had a blessed Christmas. Adelle and I have had a eventful past few months. I really dont know all the reasons why God brought us to Chattanooga, but it is for a reason. Our adoption process is moving along well. The Lord has led us to adopt domestic. We are working with Bethany and they are wonderful. We will have an update to our homestudy in a few weeks. After that our profile will be made available to view by mothers placing their child up for adoption. We both truly feel called to adoption and believe God is going to use us far beyond adopting a child. Their is so much that can be done people do not even realize. It truly is every Christians responsibility. If only 7% of Christians would care for one child, orphanages would be empty. That leaves 93% of Christians available to support the 7% prayerfully, financially, and emotionally. These things are so vital. People always want to talk about the negative. People worry about things such as race, the childs past, bi-polar, ADD, and on and on. An adoption is no fairy tale. Raising a child is no fairy tale. I quit believing this myth after my first child was born. Raising a child is a commitment and a chioce to love. Society today places so many labels on children. I personally do not believe in bi-polar. I think many "labeled" mental problems are issues within the spirit that we do not want to address for what it is. I do believe in generational curses. I do believe that when a child is truly adopted, they are given new identity and generational curses are broken in the name of Jesus. There are two couples that stand out so much to me for having the spirit of adoption. Both families have adopted a child of different race and background. When you look at these families the child being different does not even exist. They just fit. Its just seems to be something in the spirit that comes over a family. Adoption is not charity work. Its about more than taking in a child. It is a calling and a point of surrender. When we surrender our agenda to God and allow him to work through us. James talks about true religion being taking care of widows and orphans. If we want to be at the heart of our Father, we must be where He is. I truly believe the heart of our Father is with the orphans. He not only hears their cries, He weeps with them. God has called us to this and He will make the way.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins for Halloween this weekend here are a few pictures. We had a blast. I tried to make each pumpkin look likes it owner. Ha ! Do you see the resemblance ? Take notice of the crazy tooth on Analisese's

Jason's Update

I have not written a blog post in a while. I am settled in my job now and I am really enjoying the shift rotation we work. I went through that three week stage where I wondered if I did the right thing, but I am over that now. I really enjoy the job. I will take my NERC exam in December for system operator certification, so I am a little nervous about that. Adelle and I are slowly and steadily proceeding with our adoption process and God is dealing with us as we move along. It’s amazing how we think we have the answers and have things together and God puts His finger on something and you realize you were way off in left field. We are coming to a sobering realization that if we are to walk in our destiny, we must become less so that He can become more. There is integrity in realness and sincerity and that’s how we want to strive to live our lives. So many times we find ourselves in a constant run to make hockey practice, swimming lessons, or all the other things we are involved in. Adelle said to me the other night, “Sometimes I fell like we are running to do all these things and just playing Christian.” She is right! So many times we fail to slow down and just spend some time with God. Obedience starts with small things. We realize that the things we think are just us are in actuality the Holy Spirit speaking to us and we need to slow down and listen…….and obey. My wife is a woman of God and I am blessed to have her. For some time now I have felt led to write a book. I have a rough draft complete and hope to have it completed by father’s day. I will have it available through this blog for those who are interested. All proceeds will go to financially support our adoption. I would like to say thank you to all of our family and friends. You are such an important part of our lives. It is an honor to open up and let you be a part of our lives. May the Lord bless you this weekend and as Alabama plays Tennessee Saturday I would like to say……..Roll Tide!!!

Finally Settled

We are finally getting settled here in Chattanooga. God is so good. The kids have made great friends who live across the street from us. All our neighbors are just great.

The kids are getting adjusted to school and seem to be enjoying it. There is a trail from our neighborhood to the school , so we have been taking the trail to school as often as we can.

Ashton has started playing upward football and I am signing Analiese up for swimming lessons in a few weeks. She is a little fish. I think she may have found her thing, we have tried gymnastics, ballet and wasn't really interested. Audralyn is a little lost when the kids are at school. She follows me around the house all day long. We are enjoying our morning walks together around the neighborhood. We were in Alabama she was completely potty trained, now that we are here in the new house she has been having a lot of accidents. I think it could be do to the big change in our lives. who knows!

I am really enjoying Jason's shift He is home so much more with us. Last week we ate with the kids at school and he is with us most times when we drop them off and pick them up from school. They love to be with their Daddy.

Our adoption process is SLOWLY moving forward. We are having a agency here come out and do a update on our homestudy to meet the Tennessee requirements. I have sent about 8 applications for adoption grants and waiting to here from those.

Now that we are settled I am hoping to blog more about our lives in general so family and friends can keep up with what The Baggett Family is up to .

Here are a few pictures of the kids first day of school

Chattanooga Here we Come !

Wow, these past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Jason received a job offer in Chattanooga and accepted. We put our home for sale and headed to Chattanooga to house hunt. The kids only stipulation on the new house is that it should have stairs. Ha! We have found a house we really like and it does have plenty of stairs. Please agree with us in prayer that our home in Alabama sells quickly.

Our adoption is still on track our homestudy is officially approved and we are still waiting for our CIS Fingerprinting appointment in Birmingham. I have also started to apply for grants.

I will try and keep the blog updated as often as I can. Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to Gulf Shores.

A Father's Heart

If you would have told me eight years nine years ago when my first child was born,” you will adopt”, I would have thought you were crazy. It’s amazing how our walk with the Lord is so progressional throughout our whole life. He is never through with us and no matter how many times we fail Him, He is faithful. In all my short comings, if I can grasp a fraction of that with my children, I know God will use it to launch them into their purpose and destiny. So many days, I feel like I don’t have control….I do not know what to do. The fact of the matter is it is a lack of surrender on my part. When I surrender myself as a father then my Father in Heaven can flow through me into my children.

Any call of God comes with trials and this journey for us has been no exception. We have faced controversy from many standpoints. In the realm of the purpose this is all irrelevant. With this said, I want to touch on one point of controversy. I have been told, “you will never love this child like your own…….its impossible”. First and foremost we are adopted as God’s own children. We are joint heirs with Christ. God has withheld nothing from His children. He found us as orphans, accepted us as we were and gave us a new life.

I have experienced this from another perspective as well. My mother remarried a man named Steve. He was a good man and was married to my mother for twelve years before they divorced. I was age fourteen. Steve always treated me as his own. He never mentioned me in any other term than as his son. Even after he and my mother divorced he still spent time with me, took me places, and played a father role in my life. He came to all my children’s functions and holidays. He encouraged me to go to college and to always strive for improvement. He always supported me even if he did not necessarily agree and encouraged me to do the right thing. Steve passed away last year at age 47. He left me an inheritance. I am not referencing financial inheritance. Because of Steve, I know I will love an adopted child as my own. Thank you Steve……you made a difference.

Please remember us in your prayers as we journey through this. We want you to know our heart and that Christ is the center of this. We are not doing this for any reason but to fulfill God’s purpose for us. We desire to please Him. At the end of the day when we lay our head down, nothing else matters. All other things will be ashes, but the works of God and the fruits of His spirit manifested in us will be the standing treasure with all the glory going to the Father. Thanks you for visiting our blog and I pray God plants a seed in your heart that you may fulfill your destiny. Be blessed.

Jason B

Once Upon a Time

We are beginning this blog to keep our families and friends updated on our journey to adopt a sweet baby boy or girl from Taiwan. We are so excited and happy you have decided to join us on this journey. Please keep us in your prayers. In the future we will be posting information on how you can help us raise money for our adoption, so keep watching......