GIANT step in faith

Well, after nearly two years of praying, thinking, wondering, learning, and talking, we are doing it! Marshall and I have decided to begin the journey to adoption! What happened to push us over the edge? Glad you asked! One Sunday a couple of weeks ago, one of our Elders said something from the pulpit that was like a bell ringing! He said that we as Christians should be actively seeking to fill our quivers. Marshall and I talked about it at lunch, and we decided there. Now, does "actively seeking" mean that God will grant us more children? No. And I'm OK with that. But He does require us to be obedient. Believers are called to care for widows and orphans. Slots have helped other adopting families by praying for them, helping with fund raising, and financially. But now it's time for Slots to help with actual hands and feet! When we told the kids, do you know what they had the nerve to do? They all said, "Oh, OK" with a shrug of shoulders and eyes on the Brady Bunch re-run they were watching! What?? When I kinda pressed them-well more than "kinda"-they said that it was about time! They had been ready long ago!

So, here is what we have done so far:

Talked to a bazillion friends who have adopted and gotten some great support. Our beloved church family at Grace Family Baptist Church is very supportive! So many brothers and sisters are praying for us. Something for which we are very thankful!

Decided to look at Chinese adoption. It seems that I am too old for most other foreign countries. And, bonus! I had already sent off for the application months ago so I had it handy to start filling out as soon as Marshall gave the OK-no way was I letting him re-think that one! ;)

A friend from church mentioned to me one Sunday that she had heard of an agency here in Texas. I sent an email that night and received a call on Monday morning. I was told that they have a process: they send questionnaire, we fill it out and send it back, they approve and send a longer application, we fill it out and send it back, they approve it and then invite us to the annual orientation. "BUT, the orientation is in 4 weeks" she tells me. OK, God's plan is fine with me, especially since it is my first time out there in all of this. I'm thinking that this is not what we need to do. Wait! She says to me, "So, what I'll do is send you everything and you can fill it out and send it back in" What?? God is so funny like that!

We attended an orientation for the agency here in Texas this weekend. We totally fell in love with the agency and the workers there and decided to go with that one. Yeah, OK, so we didn't really do a whole lotta looking around, but we really felt that God allowed this one to happen.

So, we will be filling out some paperwork to send in this week, and see about getting a home study. This part terrifies me, but I am praying that God will multiply my time and the work of my hands to get the house prepared for more children. (yes, I made that plural-just to freak Marshall out a bit)

OK, so, want to know the crazy part? As if it all isn't crazy enough, right? This is what has happened this weekend: I posted on Facebook that we were taking our giant step of faith and was totally blown away by the love and sweet words that were sent to us! On the drive, we listened to the audio CDs from Vision Forum's Baby Conference, we heard the orientation, at church on Sunday, the message was from Exodus 2:1-10 (Moses's adoption by Pharaoh's daughter), we listened to more Baby Conference, turned the radio on to hear a talk show about adoption, and got home to find a Facebook message from a friend about some adoption possibilities.

So, here is the beginning of our journey. We have no idea where it will take us or what we will learn, but I can guarantee that it will be a ride that we will never forget!

Please join us in prayer for the children that God has for us, out there somewhere-Texas, China, or maybe even both!

New Year's Day-after

The Slot Family has a fun New Year's Day tradition. We sit around, mostly in pajamas, and do three very important things to celebrate the new year. 1. Eat. 2. Play new games. 3. Watch new movies. Yep. That's all we do. It goes on all day. In no particular order. This year, since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday, when we spent the day worshipping with our amazing Grace family Baptist Church family, we had to postpone the festivities until the next day. Our family looks forward to this every year. This time we had MiMi with us-she just moved back from Utah and we were so happy to celebrate with her!

We had yummy brunch, with crock pot egg and sausage casserole, hot spiced fruit, and homemade cinnamon rolls (thanks to my new Christmas breadmaker)

Then we played our new favorite game Logo. What a blast we had! If you don't know about this game, look it up here!

We watched movies, played someWii, and then ate again. We don't really have a "lunch" or "dinner", but more of a "grazing all day long at the feeding trough" meal. This year's menu consisted of chips and cheese dip (of course), Aunt Jennifer's Herbed Crackers, spinach dip, make-your-own sandwiches, tuna salad, and bacon wrapped chicken bites. Yes, I know, but the spinach in the spinach dip counts as a veggie, right?

After more games, movies, and wii tournaments, came the most celebrated meal of the day. Dessert!! Yes, dessert counts as a meal when you do it like The Slots do! On the table this year, as always, the world famous chocolate chip cheese ball with graham crackers, my MeMaw's peanut clusters, homemade fudge, and making it's first appearance at our extravaganza, the chocolate chip cookie-oreo-brownie. Oh. My.

We did do other productive things, I played on my new Kindle Fire and washed mountains of dishes, Brianna worked on her itouch, Bryson investigated his new laptop, and Braden built one of the 13 Lego sets he received for Christmas. But, we started the year off right by making our family time together our priority.

Next year, remember, y'all are welcome to The Fourth Annual Slot Family New Year's Day Extravaganza! Just be sure to wear your pajamas so you won't feel overdressed!