blessings.

so.. i was just reading over my blog for the first time in a very very long time. so much time has passed, so many things have changed, so many blessings we have received. for a very long time i have wanted to just sit down and write, even though i'm pretty sure i'm the only one that reads this :) even so, i will try my hardest to hit all the high points of our last year for you/me. here it goes.

our BIGGEST change this last year is the size of our family. once just the two of us... and sanford.. has turned into four! never would i have imagined that as i was typing my last post over a year ago. i would love to go into every single detail about our journey from sept 2008 until now. for now i will summarize this long road. a road with broken hearts (as i'm sure you can read in the last post), to a road of anger and not understanding why this would happen and why God allows things like the miscarriges, to a road of putting full faith in God and giving up trying to find the answers, to being blessed by God showing us that no matter good or bad that we go through on this earth, things that take place can be used for His glory. i believe He did get glory from trials we faced and i believe He will continue to get glory in ways we will never know.

Our year and a half in a timeline:

September 08- a new year begins at school. i started teaching a new class at school called the k-1 transition class. loved it! soon after school started we had our second miscarriage. we were completely devastated and not sure where to go from here.

October 08- get away with the family to a razorback game. (much needed) woo pig!

us at the game (notice the razorback tattoo on the cheek. yep. those wipe off tattoos are the way to go. :) i know... i'm a weenie.)

mom and dad. sorry jay and jenny.. can't find a pic of you. love you though! :)

November 08- we lost one of our very dear friends, brian stallings, to cystic fibrosis. the monday before he passed away, he prayed that God would put air in his lungs as long as He wanted him to live. brian knew that his life, no matter if God chose to heal him or not, would be for the Glory of God. the end. no questions. we learned so much through brian's life and we miss him more than i can ever explain in words.

for thanksgiving, we decided to get away so we spent the holiday in california with our friends stephen and robin. it was a great place to get away and rest our spirits.

aaron and i on the beach at coronado island. cheesy i know, but i was trying to be creative for the christmas cards. :)

stephen and robin

we love them!

(crossing our fingers that they will make it back to arkansas one day)

December 08-decided once again to look at adoption. this is something God has placed on both of our hearts.

January 09- glad to see a new year begin, hoping for a better one. not getting many answers from adoption agencies and unsure what to do.

March 09- everywhere i looked i was hit in the face with the same message of "glory to God". pretty sure He was trying to tell me something. during the months of march and april, i was able to let go of the anger and begin to give God the glory no matter what. we also decided this month to go back to a promise God had given us on children and we decided to put away the adoption papers, believing God would show us when He was ready for us to start again.

God also led aaron and i to go on the college spring break trip with our church to chicago. we led a team that was able to go door to door inviting people to a new church in the area while also asking for prayer requests and praying right there at the doorstep. amazing how God worked that week. we were also able to really bond with the students which we love!

group pic

us :)

some of our kiddos that we love so much!

May 09- found out that we were expecting. very nervous.

we were also extremely blessed to lead a journey group of college students for the summer. they met at our house every sunday night.. and sometimes throughout the week for our usual cookouts!

here is a pic of the majority of our group. we had amazing discussion, fellowship, and fun. they love God with everything they have and they live to do what will bring him glory. they inspire me! they are truly like our children.. except of course they couldn't be because we are so not old. :) right guys?

June 09- 1st ultrasound. two babies!!! started getting sick... but loved it!

August 09- summer vacation with brad and jennilee!

we went to orange beach and had a wonderful time! then back home to start a new year at school.

jennilee and brad at the condo

me and aaron

(of course we played putt putt. you have to when you go to florida!) :)

September 09- lindsey gets home from YWAM!

October 09- baby showers begin! and i celebrated my 28th birthday with my best gifts in my belly.

November 09- put on bedrest for high blood pressure and swelling.

December 09- the girls made an early entrance into the world on December 19th!

Londyn Joy was born at 2:37pm - 4lbs 6oz and 17 1/2 in

Berkley Kate was born at 2:38pm - 3lbs 9oz and 16 1/2 in

we spent the rest of december in the NICU in jonesboro growing and gaining strength.

January 10- Londyn was air lifted to children's hospital in little rock for breathing issues. Berkley was ready to come home, but had to wait on mom, dad, and londyn for a little while longer. After 2 1/2 weeks in little rock, londyn was released to come home! on january 28th, we brought londyn and berkley home for good! praise God!

February 10- learning how to juggle two beautiful babies.

thank you to our families for all of the help! we COULD NOT have done it without you.

March 10- praising God daily for his blessings in our life.

whew! now that we are caught up, i promise to be better at blogging. no more years going by without writing. i'm sure now i will have plenty to write about. :)

Glory to God.

loss.

dear friends and family,

i am sorry i have to write in mass this way and so very blunt. its just the only way i know how. i am pretty sure most, if not all of you, know that we were expecting a baby. this was our second pregnancy in the last four months. wednesday was out first ultrasound. i was expected to be 6 weeks, 5 days. this is early for a first ultrasound, but since the miscarriage in may, we wanted to make sure everything was going well. at the appointment, they were unable to find a sack, baby, heartbeat, anything. they originally thought that we had a later ovulation date than most people and that would push back our due date, therefore making me only 5 weeks and a few days. if this were the case, the ultrasound would be completely normal. the only thing left to be done was to check my hormone levels to make sure they were right under 2000, showing the doctors that i was for sure 5 weeks instead of 6. well, late wednesday night our doctor called and let us know my hormone level. it was 9. she said there was no explanation for it, no reason. we had these tests run about 2 weeks ago and my hormone levels were going up perfectly. i was even on medication to increase those levels helping support the pregnancy. she also said that my body would start the process if it had not already... and late wednesday night...it did.

we are with broken hearts to let you know that we are experiencing our second miscarriage.

we do not understand why this is Gods plan...we just know that it has to be.

we love all of you so much and know that you have been praying for us and this baby as much as we have. we thank you so much for that and ask that you continue in your prayers. please pray that God will allow the doctors to figure out what is going on in my body. i know God also works miracles, so pray for healing and repairing...of my body and our hearts.

we love you.

we thank you.

aaron and beth baker

road trip- round 2

bloomfield

there are very few times in your life when you find a friend that has the same taste in... everything, same views on... everything, and same sense of humor about... everything! haha. i was blessed to get to spend the second half of my road trip in bloomfield with that very person, my dear friend katy and her husband greg. :) thanks for such a wonderful trip guys! love you very much!

katy and i went to cape one day for some shopping.

cape has these paintings all along the mississippi.

very cool! katy and i took pics each pointing to our homes.

this is where katy lives.

... and this is where i live.

we're pretty sure thats too far apart.

we blame this on our husbands. :)

sooo.. i took guitar hero with me. little did i know how competitive the tarbutton family can be. this pic shows what we did the majority of the time. i'm thinking katy won this game. sorry greg. i'm sure you won the next one. oh wait... no i did. :)

road trip - round 1

russellville

round 1 - summer for teachers is .. well.. 

time for friends, fun, and road trips! this summer i was able to take a week  and do just that. aaron headed across the globe to africa (more on that story coming soon) so i decided to get away from jonesboro and catch up with old friends who i dearly miss!! my first excursion was to little rock. i took my friend laura beth and we headed to meet up with megon! (we were all good friends in college and the after years) after a day of shopping and eating we followed megon to russellville!

sidenote- did you know the streets in russellville are named A, B, C, etc.. then some are numbers. its awesome. very organized town and i give it two thumbs up!

ok, back to the trip. that night megon and her husband jason took us up to the top of mount nebo to watch the sunset. it was a perfect evening, then to top it all off, we ate at ihop for dinner and of course i had chocolate chip pancakes and 

flat eggs (that means over medium...i asked)

thank you megon for the great getaway! i just love good friends! wish i could make my own town and put all of those people in it.

me, megon, and laura

top of mount nebo.

climb it? you ask... of course we did! 

hahaha. not so much.

you think they're your friends.. then you get to the top of a mountain... and .....

good thing i know jujutsu

megon, laura, and me.

jumping for joy!

doesn't God make a beautiful sunset!

(thank you to jason for taking all of these pics with all of the specific directions,

even if it took five shots before you got one with me in the air. hahah)

fathers day cookout

we love our dad!

jay - lindsey - dad - me

(missing christy- wish you were here!)

with no camo for aaron to become invisible, he worked with nature and made his own. 

of course you can't have a picnic without bocce ball.

if you look closely, you can see how serious my family is about this sport.

family time.

we were so excited to find out that our cousins rented a house on the beach and that they had EXTRA ROOM! mom, linds, and i jumped at the chance to get out of jonesboro for a few days and spend some quality time with our family...on the beach. a few dozen oreos, some ipod sing-a-longs, and 12 hours later we made it to our destination and had a wonderful wonderful time.

i truly think heaven will have beaches, but no sharks of course.

the cousins

- spencer - stuart - lindsey - me - jacob - sarah -

me, mom, and lindsey

- one of these things if not like the others -

* linds used to tell me i looked like the mailman because i looked nothing like her and mom. actually i favor my dad...who is a very handsome fellow

sarah, me, and linds

- i can't explain how much i love these girls -

beautiful rosemary beach

life.

new to the world of blogging... i ventured out and decided to go for it. wanting to catch up with old friends, and keep them up to date with our exciting life... my idea was to tell everyone about wonderful, perfect things that were happening in the life of the bakers. well, as we discover in life, God has His timing that doesn't always go with "our plans."

here is our story.

the day before mothers day we found out we were expecting our first child. i can't explain our excitement due to the fact that we had wanted this for a very long while now. we thought it was finally God's perfect timing for us. at 6 1/2 weeks, He showed us otherwise. For some reason God wanted this baby in His hands instead of ours and so He did. dealing with this has and will be a long road.  so as for us, the bakers, we are trying to understand. honestly, i do not know why God has chosen this path for us, but i hope to one day see His plan. we are still asking questions and still depending on Him for direction. we do hope that one day God will decide it is time to add to our family. as for now, we wait on Him.

we want to thank all of our family and friends for everything, but most of all... the prayers.

also thank you katy for the beautiful flowers that reminded me of such a pure life. they were wonderful. i posted a picture.