Birthdays

Jordan's birthday is November 8 and my birthday is November 9. So, we have been partying for the past week. Eating way too many sweets! Below is a picture of Jordan's birthday cake and the flowers I got at school from Joey.

Update

So, I have been a very bad blogger lately. Our fundraiser at Jim N Nicks went great. The silent auction was a huge success. Thanks so much to Jim N Nicks for allowing us their restaurant and helping us out with our adoption. I kinda hit shutdown when that was over. We worked so hard on it, that I couldn't think of anything else for so long.

For the past month we have been celebrating birthdays, Halloween, and preparing for the Holidays. I have been running a lot and have completed two 5 K's. These are my first ever, so a milestone for me. I have graduated from my No Boundaries running group and am now training on my own. I want to train for a 1/2 marathon, so we will see how that goes:)

The boys are both in basketball now. Jordan is in the training league and Dawson is playing junior pro. We will be in the gym a lot. Joey has started his season. So, for the next 5 months we are a basketball family. If you want us go to the gym:)

Thanks for all your prayers and contributions. We love you all.

Come on Out and Eat

Come to Jim N Nicks in Mufreesboro tonight from 4-9 pm. This is our big night with our adoption dinner and silent auction. 10% of each ticket turned in will go directly to us for adoption costs. The silent auction will be in the front room and I can tell you there are some really great items. Get some Christmas shopping done.

Don't worry men, we have stuff for you too. We have a Nike golf package that is amazing. There is also a UT baseball basket and plenty of food giftcards!

Women check out the OPI nail polish bag, jewelry, gift certificates, bunco basket, and all kinds of great items.

Hope to see you there!

Fall Break

During fall break we traveled to Georgia. We went to see Gran, Big Daddy, Uncle Matt, Aunt Keisha, Broughton, McKenna, and Faith. We had a great time on the farm. The boys picked cotton with Big Daddy and then we showed them how to pack cotton with the module builder. I think they may have a future in cotton if need be:)

Dawson, Broughton and Uncle Matt went squirrel hunting. After three days of hunting, the only kill was a bird with a bb gun.

On the way home we stopped by Big Pie in the Sky pizza in Kennesaw, GA. This place was on Man Vs Food. They did the carnivore challenge. We only got one slice each and it was gigantic. Enjoy the pics.

Adoption Fundraiser

Don't forget Tuesday October 12 from 4-9 pm at Jim-N-Nicks here in Murfreesboro is our adoption fundraiser and silent auction. 10% of each ticket turned in goes directly towards our adoption costs. You can also do drive thru and carryout. Just make sure to tell them to put it in Joey and Meg Reed's adoption bucket. Hope to see you there!!

Joey

So, Meg is always doing a great job on the blog, but I never say much. When the adoption process started, everyone told us it was a roller coaster ride and I believed them. I never wanted to get too excited about it all because I was afraid the roller coaster would be too much for me to handle. But, at this time of year I am always excited. It is fall and basketball season is right around the corner. As I think about the next six months I can see even more things to be excited about.

Friday we actually get to do some paperwork towards our adoption. We will start on the home study process. Then we can start the wait for God to put the baby he has chosen for us in our lives. I am so excited for our family. I see how Meg's eyes light up when she talks about a baby. I see the excitement Dawson and Jordan have when we talk about adding to our family. As I prepare myself for the next six months I see that I have many blessings and many opportunities to be excited about. I love to coach basketball and share the game with the great players that I have. But, I also see how much I love my family and love that we are adding to the great life that Meg and I have. I will try to not put the blogging burden solely on Meg. I will not blog as much as she does, but I will contribute from time to time.

-Joey

Adoption Update

Wow! It is getting close to time for our fundrasier. I can't believe it. This Friday we will be in Bowling Green, Kentucky for our orientation with Bethany Christian. We will receive our home study paperwork and hopefully by the end of October we will have that completed. We have already done all the training sessions with Bethany, so that is out of the way.

Don't forget October 12 from 4-9 pm at Jim N Nicks here in Murfreesboro is our silent auction and fundraiser dinner. 10% of all tickets turned in goes towards our adoption costs. You can also do carry out or drive thru. Just tell them to put it in our bucket. We will also be selling shirts that I can hopefully reveal the design of real soon.

Here are a few hints of silent auction items: Fleet Feet Sports basket, Race tickets, Kettlebell training for a month, Haircuts, Sounds basket, Country Ham basket, and the list goes on. See you there!!

On another note, I am halfway through my training for my 5k in November. It is for SIDS. I am feeling great and starting to really enjoy running. Hopefully I can continue this and do the 10k training program. We will see. Everyone have a great week.

Kindergarteners

Just have to share this because it was so funny. Yesterday we were playing a game with our kindergarten for P.E. This game had characters from the movie Batman. If they were tagged with a noodle by one of the villains (Joker, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, and Penguin), they were supposed to crawl on all fours like a kitty cat. They had to continue this until Batman or Robin set them free.

The first round we crawled like cats. The second round they were supposed to freeze if they were tagged by a villain. Well, I looked out there and what did I see? A bunch of frozen cats. Instead of freezing standing up, they were freezing in the cat position. This was absolutely one of the funniest moments in our class. I guess I will be a little more clear in my directions next time!!

Sounds and Crowns

So, I sent in a request form to the Nashville Sounds for a donation for our silent auction. I really didn't think that they would consider our event. However, they suprisingly did and are donating a fan pack for the silent auction. How great is that!! Praise be to God. So, if you are not a fan of the Sounds you should be because they are helping out the community. Even the common folks like us:)

Also, I got to meet Mrs. USA today and she is going to be donating something as well. She may even get to come and eat that night depending on her schedule as we know she is super busy. She is from Sumner County and is a P.E. teacher like me. So, we got to compare notes today. Beautiful person both inside and out. We will keep our fingers crossed she can make it.

Adoption Conference

This past weekend we went to an Empowered to Connect conference in Nashville. The speaker was Dr. Karen Purvis who wrote "The Connected Child." This conference was put on with Shoshana's Hope which is Steven Curtis Chapman's adoption foundation. The conference was for adoptive families and those going through the process.

My brother, Matt, and sister-in-law, Keisha, came up to take us to this conference. They have and adopted child, Faith, from China. We all really received a blessing out of the material that was covered. Not sure about some of the research reports they went over though:)

The biggest blessing for us was hearing Regie Hamm speak. He was amazing! He has an adopted child from China that has Angelman's Syndrome. His testimony is about his ups and downs in his personal life as well as dealing with a child with disabilities. Check out his website. He wrote the song "Time of Your Life" that David Cooke sang.

http://www.regiehamm.com

Jim N Nicks

So, we officially have a date set for our adoption fundraiser at Jim N Nicks. It is going to be on Tuesday October 12 from 4-9 pm. 10% of each ticket that is turned in will be given towards our adoption costs. You may also go through the drive thru or do call in orders. We will also have a silent auction that night at Jim N Nicks where you can bid on items.

We really need more items for our silent auction. Please! Some ideas would be football tickets, giftcards, artwork, signed memorabilia. How about going in with some friends and doing a themed gift basket. Great themes could be: UT, Titans, movies, spa, music, bbq grilling, fastfood giftcards, plants, etc. Just think if you and four other people gave $10 each that would be a great gift basket. You can go in with co-workers, businesses, grade levels, church groups, sports teams, friends, neigbors, and the list goes on and on.

Just let either Joey or myself know if you would be willing to donate to help bring a baby in our family. You can email us or leave a message on this blog. Thanks for all that you do.

Titan

Oh yeah! Forgot to mention in the middle of all that, Titan came to visit. Titan is our niece Alayna's dog. He and Lucy had the biggest time playing all weekend. He looks ferocious in this picture, but is a very sweet dog.

Big Daddy's Birthday

This past weekend my parents came up from Georgia. It was Big Daddy's birthday on Sunday September 5. We had so much fun with them up here. We finally got Big Daddy some new tennis shoes. I don't know if he would have gotten them if they hadn't been UGA colors. That's right. Go Dawgs!!

Saturday was jam packed with the farmer's market, shopping, soccer, and grilling out for Big Daddy's birthday. Joey grilled two racks of ribs, one wet and one dry. He is getting pretty good at it. I made chocolate cake and Gran made homemade potatoe salad.

Sunday was another busy day. We went to church then Miller's Grocery for lunch. After that we drove to Shelbyville to look at the horse show and then a quick trip through Bell Buckle on the way home for some shopping. The boys got ice cream. Or should I say their clothes got ice cream and RC Cola.:)

It is always sad to see them go. We miss them and love having them up! Enjoy the pictures.

Silent Auction

For all of you people that want to help us out with adoption, I have the opportunity for you. We will be doing an adoption dinner at Jim N Nicks at the beginning of October. I will post the exact date later. 10% of all the sales will go straight to us. So, we need you to come when that is.

We will also be doing a silent auction that night. I need items for the silent auction. Please, please, please donate something or ask someone to donate something. Gift cards, restaurant cards, football/basketball tickets, time shares, etc. If you would consider doing this email me and we will get it worked out. Thanks for everything.

joeyandmegreed@gmail.com

Soccer

We had our first soccer game this Saturday. Our team name is the Flash. We are light blue and white. We have coed 4-5 yr. olds. The first game is always a learning experience, but the kids did awesome. It was really hot and they were such troopers. It always amazes me how much they can do when they get out there at this age.

Joey and I both coach with the help of Keith Wiemann who we coached with last year. We have a good time together. I don't know who is more tired after the games on Saturdays; us or the kids:) Enjoy the pictures and Go Flash!!

Stressed

So,
I have become very overwhelmed with the reality that October is quickly approaching. This is when we will start our home study process. This is also when about $5,000 is due to our agency. I am completely stressed and worried where this money is going to come from. I know we have to trust God, but I need some ideas for fund raising. If anyone has any please let me know.

I would love to be able to adopt a child without having to take out a loan. There are several grants we can apply for, but not until we have our home study completed. But, you have to pay money before you can have the home study done. Vicious cycle. If you would like to make a contribution as a tax write off just let me know:) Please continue to pray for us and the child that is waiting on us.

Meg

Fire!!

So, we came home today to a yard full of smoke and ash, not to mention the smoke smell in our house. So, if we smell like a campfire for the next few days you know why. They are building houses beside us and they were burning trees today. I didn't know they could do that in a residential neighborhood! They supposedly have a permit. I would like to petition that there should be no burning in residential neighborhoods. Haul it off!! Also, why are you burning when it is 100 degrees outside and dry as the Sahara?

I was sitting here reading a book with my feet propped up when the firetruck whizzed by. I jumped up and ran outside. Thankfully the fire had not spread. A neighbor called and complained about the smoke and ash. Apparently if they have a permit, they can burn until someone complains. Once someone complains they have to put it out. There has been much excitement on the Cornerstone Drive today. Two police cars and the firetruck.

What's Up

Well, Joey and I are both back at work. It has been a nice two months off. Summer was full of fun activities such as the beach, the TN Renaissance Fair, and Holiday World. The beginning of school is always an exciting, fun, and anxious time for us teachers. Joey gets kids for a half day on Wednesday and I get them on Friday for a half day.

Dawson will be in the 5th grade this year and Jordan is going to Kindergarten. Wow, I remember when Dawson was in Kindergarten. Now Dawson has a cell phone. Oh goodness!They will both be going to Eagleville with Joey. Such a blessing for them to be where he is.

We have our first One Goal soccer meeting tomorrow night. We will be starting practice in two weeks. Here we go team Flash. 4-5 year old coed soccer is way fun. Playing and coaching for the glory of God. Love the example that One Goal sets for these little ones. Well, everyone have a great week and remember we are all blessed!

Adoption Bill of Rights

A Transracially Adopted Child’s Bill of Rights

*Every child is entitled to love and full membership in her family.
*Every child is entitled to have his heritage embraced and valued.
*Every child is entitled to parents who are not adopting to save the world.
*Every child is entitled to parents who know she will experience life differently than they do.
*Every child is entitled to parents who know that transracial adoption changes the family forever.
*Every child is entitled to parents who know if they are white, they benefit from racism.
*Every child is entitled to ongoing opportunities to connect with people of his or her race.

This is taken from our last session for adoption. We had two more sessions than normal b/c we are looking at bi-racial or transracial adoption. My prayer is that we can give a child all of this and more!

Lucy

Meet Lucy! Lucy is our two year old minature schnauzer. She has one flop ear and one straight ear. She doesn't normally have blue eyes, the camera just made them look that way.

Lucy's hobbies include playing fetch, barking at people walking outside, and singing. She loves to howl whenever you howl. She is a very fun and energetic dog. She brings such joy to our home and we love her.

Adoption Update

Several people have asked me what the latest is with our adoption process. We are now on training sesison seven with Bethany Christian Services. We have one more to go and all our training will be done. However we have to wait until October for an orientation class and our home study. As soon as our home study is done it will be and estimated 6-12 months from that time.
It may be shorter, it may be longer. We are doing bi-racial, domestic and we want a baby girl. We are praying hard and trusting God through this. It is a huge leap of faith both spiritually, emotionally, and financially. Thanks to everyone for your support.

Meg and Joey

Holiday World

Yesterday we journeyed to Santa Claus, IN to Holiday World. We went last year and had the best time. Holiday World has an amusement park and a waterpark all in one. The waterpark is the best one I have ever been to. We also took our nephew Jay with us.

Splashin Safari (waterpark) has a new ride called the Wildebeest. It is a water roller coaster and it is awesome. However we had to wait over an hour to ride it. We stayed all day and then went and rode rides in the amusement park after the water rides closed for the day. Dawson and Jay managed to ride all the roller coasters and even the Midnight Ride that makes the rest of us sick.

It was a great day, but a long day. We are all still trying to get over being up for twenty hours. Enjoy a few pictures of the day. I don't have waterpark pics b/c I didn't want to get the camera wet.

Watermelon Salsa

Some of you may have seen my facebook post about watermelon salsa. Joey and I ventured to the farmer's market on the square here in Murfreesboro. It was fabulous. We got a lot of good treats. My favorite was the watermelon salsa. Yum, Yum! Sweet with a little bit of spice. We also got whole wheat pork rhindes. The entire bag only had one gram of fat and they were smoky bacon flavored. Can't beat that. So, all you Murfreesboro people check out the farmer's market.

Also, if you buy Just Love Coffee at the farmer's market, that is the same coffee that we are selling for our adoption fundraiser. Please order online at our store to help us out. www.justlovecoffee.com/joeyandmegreed

Uh Oh!

Well, after a wonderful day of baseball camp and Pawbowski's this past Thursday we went swimming at a friends. Upon leaving I decided to back into a guidewire that comes down from the telephone pole. I didn't think it could do that much damage. My bumber got caught on the bolt and just ripped it to pieces. So, there is another insurance claim.

God teaches us so many lessons in life. In April, Joey accidentally hit a hole in my car and the front bumper got ripped off. I was really upset about it. When I did this on Thursday he was at a teaching conference in Louisville. Man, how I didn't want to make that call. But, he just said "things happen, it's ok." Which is true! I don't know if I was more upset about my car or that I did it and had given him a hard time previously. So: my lesson of the week is that "we all make mistakes and it is ok. Don't get so upset about the small things, especially when they are fixable. "

Baseball Camp

Well, the boys spent this past week at FCA baseball power camp. It was at our church (New Vision Baptist). Dawson went everyday from 8:30-4 and Jordan went till 12:30. They really enjoyed the camp and on the last day, they got to play water balloon baseball. Jordan came back soaked, but Dawson didn't. I still don't know how he avoided getting wet:)

Both boys came home with Bibles, posters, medals, and t-shirts. What a blessing for these young ones to be able to be poured into by such Godly role models. Thanks FCA!

So, we went to Pawbowski's to celebrate afterwards. Love that place. We had one near our house when we lived on church street and then we moved. They have a new location on Memorial. So YAY!! Best Chicago Style Hotdogs anywhere.

Order a Shirt

I forgot to mention that anything you order from our Just Love Coffee website, half of the cost goes towards our adoption. So, you can order T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. on the website. I know some people are not big coffee drinkers especially since it is so hot outside. Much Love!

Just Love Coffee

So, we have set up our website with Just Love Coffee. This organization is local to Murfreesboro, TN where we live. They really have a heart for adoption as they have also adopted. They are great people who just want to help.

It is very overwhelming when you are looking at the total cost for adoption! Sometimes I wonder where the money will come from. Then, I just have to sit back and pray and give it to God.

Our online coffee store address is http://wwww.justlovecoffee.com/joeyandmegreed. There is also a link on the side and bottom of this page. $5.00 for every bag that is sold goes directly to us to help with adoption costs. If you would like to know the exact break down for the costs, just leave me a comment and I will get back to you.

If anyone just wants to give us a large amount of money that is welcome as well. LOL :) Have a blessed day!!

We're Back

We are back from vacation and working hard on all our adoption stuff. Boy, was that a long ride back. 9 hours. It is always more fun driving to vacation than returning. We had two bad rain days when we were at the beach. Most days were partly cloudy with scattered showers. So, back to the real world it is for us.

We have signed up to coach soccer again in the fall. 4 and 5 year olds. It is quite the experience. If we can get them to run in the correct direction, we have accomplished our goal:). They are so cute at that age and the game is so pure. Just fun and no pressure.

We will have a website with Just Love Coffee soon. Please check back. God Bless!

The Beach

So, we are here in Mexico Beach, FL. There is no oil at this time, but I'm sure it is headed this way. I would love to post pictures, but I have lost the cord that goes from my camera to the computer.

We are here with my family and having a blast. Getting to spend lots of time with our adopted niece, Faith. It has also been great to have my brother and sister-in-law here to ask all these adoption questions to. Look for a post in about a week about a coffee website that we will be joining. $5.00 from each coffee order goes straight to our adoption cost. They ship the coffee straight to you. So, it is a win win situation. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Meg

Training Session

Each week we do a training session with our agency. This past week, these two questions really stuck with me. The answers are so basic, but so true.

1: What is the primary task of a baby?
--To develop a sense of trust in the world

2: What is the foundation of your child's sense of trust?
---Forming an attachment to their caretakers (parents). How to do this: provide a consistenst nurturing and tension free environment.

Father's Day

Today we are thankful for our Father's. My dad is in Georgia and is one of the most wonderful men in the world. He has been such a great rold model throughout my life.

Joey is getting to spend the day with his boys which is always a treat. The Reed's will be headed to church and then to the pool. Joey cooked a Boston Butt on the grill for lunch today. I even made a caramel pie (Joey's favorite). Hopefully, I didn't mess it up this time.

Such a great day all around, there is just one thing missing. It will be so exciting when we have a baby to celebrate Father's Day with. Just think, it may be this time next year. I doubt it would be that quick but who knows. All you fathers have a great day!

Meg

First Post

Well, here it is. WE ARE ADOPTING. This blog will be our way of communicating God's blessings. We know there will be ups and downs and we would like to share them with our friends and family. First things first, we can use all the prayer you want to send our way.

We are using a great adoption agency called Bethany Christian Services. We have been through two training sessions and have about five more to go. We will go through their orientation in October and then start our home study. There is lots of paperwork that goes with that. This is a long process, but we know that it will be worth it in the end.

We can't wait to meet the precious baby that God has instore for us. It will be amazing when we meet that precious child.