Aunt Sandy's Girl...

She will ALWAYS be my baby girl.

When she came into our home/foster care,

she was only 4 days old.

She is now 4 years old.

It's been four fun years.

She has brought so much

 joy & love to our WHOLE family.

When my mom & mom-in-love

count their grandchildren,

they count Bailey too.

I don't think I could love her anymore,

even if she had been my own.

She will always be OUR baby girl.

It's like we have shared custody.

We pick her up every other weekend

and we are soooooo thankful

for every minute we have with her.

She's precious.

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

We Are On The Fence!

 

I love this kid!

*B*A*I*L*E*Y*

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

We Are On The Fence!

 

Sweet Bailey...

Sweet Bailey

Uncle Brent & Aunt Sandy

       love you oh so much!

~~~~~~~~~~

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

New Pics Of Bailey...

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Happy 3rd Birthday Bailey!

Today we celebrated the birthday of a

precious little girl.

Happy 3rd Birthday Bailey!

Uncle Brent & Aunt Sandy

Love you sooooo very much!

(You can click on pic to enlarge)
~~~~~~~~
Bailey celebrated her birthday with a Dora the Explorer
pool party, surrounded by family & friends.
She was so excited and so precious.
It was just a wonderful way to spend the day.

Why Uncle Brent and Aunt sandy???

Someone asked me why we refer to ourselves as Uncle Brent and Aunt Sandy to Bailey, when Bailey is not our niece?

You are right. Actually Bailey is no relation to us at all. She was our sweet foster baby that we had for over a year before she went home. Bailey came to us straight from the hospital at birth. She remained with us for her first year and yes we grew VERY attached to this sweet lil girl...who wouldn't? Well Bailey like most babies said her first baby words while she was living here and yes they were "Da-Da" and "Ma Ma" after all that is what our birth kids call us... So she didn't know anything else.

We did not know until the end that Bailey was going to be returned to her family. So up until then we just treated Bailey and LOVED Bailey like we did our own babies.

But when the day came for her to go home, it was a little confusing for her because now she had 2 moms and 2 dads. Her mom asked us to remain in her life and she asked if we cared if Bailey called us Uncle Brent & Aunt Sandy and of course we were thrilled. We didn't care what she called us. We were just so thankful that we could still see and spend time with this sweet lil girl we had fallen in love with. Well, since then we've been Bailey's "un-ka Bent" and "Aunt Sanee" as she calls us.

We've also referred to ourselves with our last fosters (Trinton, Amberly and their lil brother Devon) as Aunt Sandy and Uncle Brent too. They too are still in our lives and actually we get them a couple of days a week because their family moved 4 minutes from us...so it's close.

We usually get Bailey about every other weekend and sometimes during the week or on special occasions too,because she lives about 20 minutes away,so not to far.

I love how things have worked out in our last foster placements and I love that our birth parents have become like family to us. It's been amazing and truly a blessing! Fostering took on a different meaning after Bailey's birth and our lives have forever changed thanks to one very special little girl...Bailey Alyssa.

News Pics I took of Bailey

Bailey and I played with the camera today:) If you would like to see more pics I took
of the Sweet Pea "Bailey" click on her name.
to visit my photo blog!

A few pics from today:)

I spent my day with Bailey:)
My big (lil) helper she loved watering the grass best:)
My sweet lil Bay

The sleepy heads(Corey & Anna)
They came to visit and fell asleep:)

I'll be adding more shortly over at "My Picture Blog", so stop by there soon:)

Meet My Family- 2009

Well, I thought it was time for an updated version of
"Meet My Family"
So Here is my 2009 version:)
1.On the right is me, "Sandy" I'm the lady behind this blog.2. On the Left is the "Hubby" on my blog. His name is Brent. We've been married since 1989 and If I counted that correctly we've been married right at 20 years now. We married VERY young at age 16 & 18,but we've made it! 3. The girl in this picture is one of the most amazing girls you could ever meet. She is the sweetheart of the family. This is my oldest bio daughter "Anna" with her hubby "Corey". They married in June 2008 and are one of the funniest couples ever...they keep me laughing or should I say rolling...lol

Corey & Anna are expecting their first baby & my first grandchild!
Little Baby Wesson should arrive sometime around Feb 1st!!!! Next...
4. This beautiful girl is my second born daughter "Katie".
She is the out spoken "Princess" of the family. She is my girly girl through and through:) And loves photography just like her Mom! Now, Meet The Twins!!!!!!!
5. Meet my baby girl "Ashley". She is the one that is the most like me. She and I are like peanut butter & jelly...we stick together. She is for sure 100% a Mama's girl.

6. Finally a boy! That is what I said the day we were blessed with our first son "Jonathan" but better known on my blog as "Jon". He is Ashley's twin!!!! He is one strong & hard working boy. He is a mini of his Dad.
7. And this is the baby boy of the family "Jacob". He came exactly 8 years after the twins:) He is all boy and always up to something. His siblings say he is spoiled rotten, but I can't imagine why they would say such a thing about such a darling boy *wink*.
8. Next,I would like to introduce you to the oldest of our children(I know you are a bit confused now). But this is actually the oldest kid. We added "Samantha" to our family through foster care in 2003. She is one beautiful & bright girl or should I say woman ,because she is 20 now. People seem to think she favors me more than my own do.


Now, I bet you thought we were done?!? Well, we aren't. Through fostering we have had 16 other children to come in and go from our lives. Each child left their marks behind. Some left roots that run so deep that they are 4-ever connected to us...just like Samantha above.

9. Another of those kids is "Bailey". If you've spent anytime here on my blog, then I know you've seen her name come up over and over. Sometimes we call her Bailey ,but mostly we call her "Bay". She is and will always be "Our Baby Girl". She came into our life through foster care at birth and remained with us for her first year. However, after she went home we remained an active part of her life(I thank her family for that). Only now we are playing the part as "Uncle Brent & Aunt Sandy" in her world and she plays the part of "Sunshine" in ours:) ~Touching the future...one child at a time~ Matthew 18:5 And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me.
~~~~~~
With each child that we foster, we do our best to continue having a relationship with them. Some families want that and others just want to move on and forget their past...I can't say I blame them. However, these kids were a part of our family and will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Below are some of my other fosters that are still very much a part of our family... Trinton & Amberly with their sweet baby brother Devon.

She is a great big sister!!!! ~~~~~~~~
At the moment we have no fosters in our home. But,at any moment the phone may ring and we will add another branch or two or three... to the family tree:)
~~~~~~~~
I am one VERY blessed lady!!!!!
God has been so good to me!!!!!!
~A Quote I Really Like and often think on when dealing with families in foster care~
~~~
There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing...when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning -- because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in himself 'cause the world done whipped him so. When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is." – Raisin in the Sun

Updates from the beach:)

Just wanted to stop in and say hello! We made it down here safely. The weather has been beautiful and my feet love the sand:) I think I could just stay here forever:)

Yesterday, Brent spent half the day fishing and the other half of of the day playing with Jacob & Bailey on the beach:)

The girls (Katie, Ashley, Mechelle, and Tiffany) have been swimming, tanning, taking pictures, and of course they've been keeping me laughing:)
I miss Anna, Samantha, and Jon...they aren't with us:( This is my first family vacation without having all my kids with me...it's not the same.

I have spent most of my time playing with the kids and working on getting my lighting just right on my camera. I used my quick shot for most of the pics yesterday (while we played on the beach)because I was so scared the heat might damage my new camera, but I'm hoping today I can use it more.

Jacob's favorite place down here is the hot tub. He has always loved the hot tub best. He likes the ocean and pool too, but he would be content if we just set in the hot tub all day:)

This is Bailey's 1st time to see the ocean/beach .She didn't like it at first. She didn't understand the ocean coming in splashing on her feet and she hated the sand on her hands...she kept saying. "Dirty". However half way through the day she started liking it:) By last night she loved it!
Well that's it for now. It's 7:00 am and I'm ready to get busy:) I hope you all have a wonderful day! I'll be adding new pictures from our trip soon!

A few cute pics of Bay!

I love this kid so very much!
Katie & Bailey

She takes over my desk chair:)

We bought her this little hat to wear on the beach in florida ,when we go this spring. She loved it and wore it almost all day Saturday:)

She always gives kisses when she wants something...lol

Eskimo kisses for Katie

Who would have ever thought one little foster baby would change our lives so much and add so much joy to our lives?:) I am just so thankful that her mom has continued to share her with our family. She is a blessing to all of us. Bailey is a gift from God.