Happy New Year!

Here is our Christmas letter that was so late, it turned into our New Year letter that I will hopefully send out soon!

What a year 2007 has been for the Baggett family! As each of you likely know, we are adopting internationally, and are in the final stages of our journey [we pray!], and we hope to have two new little Baggetts by the spring. However, the big change came about 9 months ago when we decided to withdraw our Dossier [official application packet] from China. The reasons for our decision are many; however, one of the most practical reasons was because the Chinese government has significantly increased the wait-time required to adopt a child from their country. Although our official Dossier was received in Beijing last January, [had we remained in the program] our wait-time today would still be at least three years. Further-more, due to the large number of females leaving the country through international adoption, rumors are now spreading that the government will soon end all international adoptions.

Therefore, through a great deal of prayer and counsel, we have chosen to switch countries to Ethiopia. In fact, we have now applied for a sibling pair, possibly twins, that are three years or younger, but requested as young as possible! This has come as a great surprise to many; yet, we are confident that our decision is within God’s revealed will. In our decision to adopt from Ethiopia, two basic truths weighed on our hearts: God loves adoptions and God loves the nations. Our Dossier for Ethiopia was officially completed October 26, 2007, and since the wait-time for a referral is 3-5 months, we are quickly approaching the window for a referral soon! We anxiously await new additions to the Baggett family in the year 2008 and we are filled with gratitude for the Lord’s continuous provision on this journey! We cannot wait to share our little ones with our friends and family alike! You can follow our journey and receive more information about our adoption at: http://ourfamilytapestry.blogspot.com/ . Please continue to pray for us as we enter into this exciting, new chapter of our lives!

Kimberly is homeschooling both Isabella & Elijah. Isabella (5) is in Kindergarten and Elijah (4) is in pre-K. They are very competitive, yet, they daily encourage one another and are brilliant little “sponges”! Elijah demonstrated his progress in letter writing by proudly writing the entire alphabet on Isabella’s walls in red pencil! And Isabella demonstrated her “cut and pasting” skills by gluing her art pieces on her bedroom door! Needless to say, we have now discovered Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser and are currently trying to buy stock in it! Both of them share a love of music, with Elijah “sing-songing” all day long and Isabella starting violin lessons on the tiniest little violin ever! Isabella has especially developed a love and aptitude for art as our home has quickly turned into her own little “art museum”. We concluded our scripture memory for the year with Luke 2 since Isabella was asked recite it in the Christmas program where Brad teaches. We were so proud of her and Elijah for memorizing such a long passage! They are truly the sweetest blessings and bring infectious joy to us both. They love Jesus with such passion and pray diligently for “our brother and sister in Africa!” It is currently our plan to take them with us when we travel to get our children, and they cannot wait!

Kimberly remains busy as she continues to help coordinate & teach within Grace Reformed Baptist Church’s [GRBC] Children Ministry. Much of the past several months, however, has been dedicated to completing more adoption paperwork, as well as sewing & embroidering burp cloths & blankets in order to help cover the necessary adoption expenses. Yet, her main focus continues to be what she does & loves best: teaching & raising our two precious children, Isabella and Elijah. Her heart remains anxious for our newest children to be revealed as she loves them deeply already!

Brad continues to serve as Pastor-Teacher at GRBC. He can honestly say that he absolutely loves his job and is so thankful to serve at a church where the people love the LORD which such deep conviction! He also continues to teach at Northeast Christian Academy, where he is an Instructor for Systematic Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and Government and Politics. Needless to say, he remains incredibly busy and tries to spend as much time as he can with his family!

2007, like 2006, has been a time of change for us as a family but we are so grateful that the Lord is unchanging and remains the only constant in our lives! He continues to humble us with the outpouring of gracious blessings that we do not deserve. We anxiously look forward to what 2008 has in store, hoping we will bring glory to His name and be ever mindful of how we can serve him and further His kingdom. Our prayer is that each of you truly know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, not only this Season, but throughout the coming year.

We love each of you and are thankful for the special place you have in our lives.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Brad, Kimberly, Isabella, and Elijah