Southern Belle Farms

This fall we (actually I thought and Todd just went along for the ride) it would be fun to visit a pumpkin farm. So,realizing that our boys are still too young to truly appreciate it, we took a beautiful Saturday afternoon and visited Southern Belle Farms in McDonough. They had some farm animals that J-man loved. We rode in the little cow train, and just enjoyed being together as a family.

I can't believe he's already 2 . . .

Yes, it is hard for me to believe that Jeremiah is 2!! Some days he has those terrible temper tantrums that very much remind me that he is 2, but my oh my, how time has flown. I can still remember when we first met him - he was so short and soooo chubby. I don't think chubby even begins to describe him. He has grown and changed tremendously. Now he looks like a little boy. Here are a few pics of his birthday. Nothing fancy - just good times with family and a Thomas the Train cake for J-man.

It's been a while. . .

I've been wanting to blog again for a while, but it just hasn't happened. I've been wanting to get pictures uploaded from Jeremiah's birthday . . . but that hasn't happened either. They are coming though . . .

Otherwise . . . things going on:
We went to the Dr. for check ups for the boys a couple of weeks ago. Big news . . . Jeremiah is now on the growth chart - wahoo!!!! This is quite an accomplishment for this little guy who has never been on the growth chart. Both height and weight are on the chart - we knew he had grown, just not that much. Excited for the little guy :)
Joshua is now crawling. Of course, every parent is so excited when their child begins crawling. So we are excited . . . but I realize JUST how much more I have to chase him. He is enjoying his new mobility and exploring the house. Already I've noticed that I am able to get less done on my days at home. Oh well . . . it's fun watching him crawl around (even though part of me still wants him to be my baby and not grow up)!
The Slades are now running. Todd has participated in 2 5K's over the past week. And to my amazement his time isn't too bad! It might be scary what he could do if he actually trained for them :) I am scheduled to run in a half marathon next Sat (Nov. 5th). I just got sick with I think strep today, but hoping I feel better soon and will be good for next weekend. I must admit I'm excited and think that it will be lots of fun . . . but am ready for it to be over. Ready to not be training for it . . . I may enter my winter hibernation soon :)
The Lord continues to teach us. I truly am blessed. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, 2 little blessings (our boys), and 2 furry blessings!! These are just who is in my household and doesn't include all of our family and friends. I live in a country where I am free to worship and have whatever physical needs (and plenty of wants) met easily. I am a member of a church body where the Word is preached and I am always being taught truth - so thankful that I have a pastor that I truly learn from and am fed by. I am blessed with good health (and the ability to actually possibly run 13.1 miles)! I serve a God who is Holy, Righteous, Loving and Sovereign. He continues to teach me that He is Sovereign and to trust HIM . . . In knowing that I can be content in all things, wherever He has me. To be anxious or frustrated is sin . . . not trusting HIm and His Sovereignty!! He is also teaching me just what a wretch I am and how much I need a Savior. How grateful this makes me for His grace!!! I do not deserve it, but He has given it to me! May God continue to teach me to be godly - to keep HIs glory in my thoughts and actions ALL the time!

Sent from my iPad

A family of four . . .

So, I was having trouble finding pics of the four of us and I wasn't very happy about that. I was excited to find a few of when we welcomed Joshua into the Slade family. It amazes me at just how much my sweet boys have changed in such a short time!

Joshua Daniel Slade

On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, Jeremiah and I were at home playing. We were semi-snowed in. It had snowed 2-3 Sunday night, which for Griffin, is only a little shy of a blizzard! Todd came home sometime that afternoon ( a little earlier than normal) and walked up to Jeremiah and asked if he was ready for a little hispanic brother. I questioned, "Why would you ask that?" He went on to tell me that his dad had called him earlier that day and said he had received a call from the hospital in Rome wanting to know if he wanted to handle an adoption of a hispanic baby that had been born on Sunday. I will mention that I had said I wanted a hispanic little girl next (so he wasn't a girl, but I decided I could let that slide:) Oh, and we had talked about having more children, but weren't exactly seeking at this point - again the Lord blessed us in ways we did not expect or deserve. He was a healthy 2 day old baby whose mother wanted to give him up for adoption. After and couple of previous situations that fell through, his dad didn't even want to tell us about this baby until he had him and felt confident about the situation. So, he and Todd's mom dug their way out of their driveway (they had gotten more snow that us and were actually snowed in) and headed off to the hospital, hoping to make it through the snow to meet what they hoped would be their next grandchild. Todd actually called his mom while they were at the hospital and found out then, but still didn't tell me. Todd's dad talked with the birthmother and she said that she was certain she wanted to give him up for adoption. She signed the papers to legally give him up but still had 10 days to change her mind. So, Todd's parents brought him home from the hospital and he spent his first night with Mimi and Papa!! I called my boss and informed him of what was going on and that I would like to be off the next couple of months - nothing like short notice!! Fortunately, he and others that I work with were very excited and very gracious to work with me to allow that to happen. So, Wed right after lunch we headed up to Rome. Now you would think that in a large city like Atlanta the roads would have been clear from the snow storm the previous Sunday night - I mean, it had been 3 days! But, they were not. We were able to make it through but I felt like I held my breath and onto the seat as tight as I could most of the way there. We finally got there and got to see our 3 day old baby boy!! He was beautiful. We spent the night in Rome (had to get up 2 or 3 times since he was a newborn - we had missed this stage with Jeremiah) and then headed back on Thursday. My parents came down the following Saturday to meet him. We were a little anxious for the first 10 days to make sure his birthmother did not change her mind . . . and she didn't!! We decided to hold off a couple of months and adopt both boys together on the same day. So . . . on June 15, 2011, he OFFICIALLY became Joshua Daniel Slade!!

Jeremiah Elijah Slade

One winter Monday evening Todd and I got a call from his brother, Donnie. He told us that he knew about a little boy in Rome that would be eligible for adoption. Now, we had heard this more than once, so we didn't necessarily think alot about it at first. He said that he had posted something on facebook about wanting to know how to adopt Haitian children after the earthquake. He didn't hear anything about that but someone did contact him about a family they knew who was helping foster a little boy. (We do laugh a little at the fact that we had stated that we did not plan to adopt domestically, especially through DFCS!) We called the family who was providing respite foster care for him. Leslie was the mom. She told us all about him. He was born 3 months premature, weighed 3 lbs 8 oz at birth, and had endured a few medical problems, but overall was a healthy growing baby who needed a home. What we did not know at the time was that the previous Sunday they had taken him to the alter and church and prayed over him that the Lord would provide an adoptive family for him if it was not to be them. Now that's a pretty quick answer!! So, the next day we contacted our local DFCS office and they said that we had to do IMPACT training classes first, but they were already 2 weeks into the current session. After Todd talked with her further, she said that if we had a specific child in mind they would go ahead and let us in, we would just have to make up the hours somehow. The Lord had removed the first obstacle. So, we began attending classes every Thursday night from when we got off work until 9PM. They were not fun, but we knew what was at the end so we endured. We managed to get all the paperwork, homestudies, fingerprints, etc done very quickly so that we could hopefully be approved soon after the classes ended and bring home what we hoped would be our sweet baby boy. During this time we were still pretty skeptical about it working out. DFCS had informed us of one of his biological family members wanting custody also - but the courts deemed that not a suitable situation. So, we plugged through trying not to let our hearts get too attached.

Finally, DFCS approved for us to go and meet him. So, one weekend we travelled up to Rome and got to go see this sweet little boy at his current foster home. We got to interact with him briefly, feed him, and then he fell asleep in my arms. Not too bad for our first meeting. Finally, on March 11, 2010 we travelled back to Rome to pick up Jeremiah for good . . . bringing him home with us. We went back to Todd's parents that night and spent the night. I think we only got up once during the night for a feeding - and we were ok with that. From there we went to Gainesville so that my parents could meet him. He was quite a little champ during all this travelling!! Finally, we made it home, back to Griffin. Over time we grew more and more attached, loving this sweet child the Lord had blessed us with. We had hoped to have the adoption finalized by August or September. October (by his first birthday) at the very latest. Well, those were great plans, but of course it did not work out quite like that. The Lord's timetable was not ours. Finally, June 15, 2011, he OFFICIALLY became Jeremiah Elijah Slade!!

Adoption?

Todd and I had known since shortly after we married that we wanted to adopt. The Lord had put that desire in both of our hearts. At our church in Louisville we were so blessed to be surrounded by MANY families who had and were in the process of adopting. This was encouraging to us and really helped show us how real it could be. We learned much about the process and the Lord also taught our hearts much about adoption . . . adoption of orphans, but also how we are truly orphans and God has adopted us into His family - as believers we are children of the most high God! Although we knew that we wanted to adopt we did not know when. We had no idea that after several years I would not get pregnant. Not so much in our plan, but how silly are we to plan when there is a Sovereign God that is Lord of our lives. Rather than pursuing infertility treatments to try and conceive we both felt that God was leading us to adopt. We did not know where from, how we would pay for it, when, or even really where to begin. We just knew that was where God was leading us. We sought out primarily international adoption at first, but door after door seemed to close. Through all of this there were many tears. Two or three roller coaster rides of finding out about children we thought we would be able to adopt but fell through. We did trust that God was sovereign through all of it . . . that was not always easy. And often I would get frustrated with myself for being so frustrated with everything. We watched as many friends got pregnant and had children, and were very excited for them, but still our hearts were broken as we longed for children of our own. Little did we know what little blessings the Lord had for us . . . .

Griffin: Here We Come!!

When Todd began the process of sending out resumes and seeking a youth ministry position we were certain that it would take a while. After all, in Baptist churches there about 38 committees to go through to do anything:) Much to our surprise God moved quickly. Before we had time to blink we were moving back to Georgia, closer to our families. The big city of Griffin! Neither of us knew where Griffin was prior to this, but we knew that the Lord had worked out so many details and it was so evident that He was moving us there. We were very excited and a little nervous too!

A Quick Summary of How it all Began

Todd and I met in Rome at West Rome Baptist. I won't go into the long story, but we met, began dating with our trusty chaperone Meredith a few months later, got engaged about 6 months after that and then married 6 months later. Only a few months after getting married our adventures truly began. We moved to New Orleans for Todd to begin seminary. Neither of us loved it there, but did not realized a major hurricane named Katrina would move us only 8 months later. We evacuated but did not go back to live there as the area we lived in was completely destroyed. As 2nd story apartment dwellers we salvaged some things, but not to reside there. In the mean time, we lived in Fernandina Beach, FL for about 3 months. Sounds dreamy, and it was for Todd working on a golf course with unlimited free golf, but I was working ridiculous hours and not so much a fan. From there we spent a little time with family in Georgia, then moved on to our fourth state to live in during our 1st 16 months of marriage. We decided after enduring that we could handle whatever came our way. So, we landed in Louisville, KY for Todd to finish seminary at Southern. Much more content there we lived there for 2 1/2 years until Todd was about to graduate. This is where our furry children entered the picture. First Dalton, and a couple of years later we welcomed Lucy. In July of 2008, after a quick interview process we found out we were moving to the big city of Griffin, GA!!

In the beginning . . .

So, I think that I may have tried this pretty unsuccessfully before, but we will see. Maybe at first I can get the story of our 2 precious little boys and how they came to be Slades up here soon . . . and then I'll go from there in keeping it update. Right now, it is time for bed.