WEBVTT
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Thanks for listening.
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Let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
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Welcome.
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I'm your host, Tim DeChristie.
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Thanks for taking a moment to listen.
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One of the blessings of being a part of a church family for many years is getting to watch God write a story over time.
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What begins as individual journeys of faith often become a story of relationships, service, and unexpected opportunities to impact the lives of others.
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Today's guests have been part of the Unity family for many years, and along the way, God brought them together, strengthened their faith, and eventually led them into a journey that would change not only their lives, but the lives of two children as well.
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Today we'll hear about their faith journey, how unity became home, and how God led them into the beautiful calling of adoption.
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So I'm happy to welcome Todd and Celeste Harris.
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Thank you for being with us today.
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Tim, it is a pleasure to be here.
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As I told you all fair, I've really enjoyed the podcast, so it's kind of cool to get to sit here in front of the mic and talk to you.
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I've known you for a lot of years and uh looking forward to sharing our story.
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Yeah, I've known you as long as I've been at Unity.
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So it's a good 31 years at least.
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I've been here 35 years, so uh beginning to feel a little old.
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Okay, so now we need to uh welcome the newcomer and uh see what she has to say.
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Thank you, Tim.
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So uh we're glad to have you, Celeste.
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Thanks.
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Are we gonna let you start?
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Yes.
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You just tell us a little bit about yourself.
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Um I was born and raised in Florence, South Carolina.
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I was born in a Christian home with mom and dad who were very involved in church.
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Um mom sang in the choir, dad was the deacon.
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Um we were in church every time the doors were open, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
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Um, just raised, um, believing just in the word of God.
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I can remember my mom and dad studying the Bible, um, had us in scripture, um, just praying as a family, um, just um living out the word.
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They were the hands and feet of Jesus.
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They believed in working in the church, serving in the church.
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They were always serving, doing what the Lord wanted them to do.
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So um my interests and hobbies are just being with family, living um with our three boys, doing what they like to do.
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We don't um if life is busy um with sports and band concerts and um just busy, busy, busy.
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So you s you said you had three boys.
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Who are they?
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I Emory is 25, Izzy is 13, and Adrian is 11.
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Emory is 25.
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Wow.
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Yes.
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That boy grew up fast.
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He did.
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Uh all right.
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Well, Todd, uh, what about your what's your background?
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Well, I could almost hit rewind and uh say a lot of the same things.
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Uh we grew up in a Baptist church uh in Elon, a couple of miles from the church there, but um uh same parents serving in the church, moms in choir, uh again, very similar.
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Dad's a deacon, he's uh teaching Sunday school, things of that nature.
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I'm real involved in RAs growing up.
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We we had the royal ambassadors uh really involved in my youth group.
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Uh e even at a young age, took uh leadership roles.
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Um we did not have a youth pastor.
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Uh it was a smaller church, we had maybe a couple hundred folks, but we had a uh pastor and a uh music director, and our pastor did a lot with the youth, and our parents were our Sunday school teachers, and uh we did a lot of activities.
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Uh it was maybe 20 of us, but uh was real involved with those things.
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But have very vivid memories of my parents serving, in particular, like my dad.
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I can remember him sitting over his recliner.
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Uh this is way before computers and handwriting out his Sunday school lessons and just studying and seeing that and uh you know being a great role model.
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So um very similar upbringing and uh I admire what Celeste said is in terms of interest.
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Really it's it's just about family.
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Those are the it's very simple things that we enjoy doing and um uh kind of like she said with whatever the kids are doing, uh at this a lot of times people don't people will have a season of life and we we've I've kind of gone or we've both gone through this season of life uh twice.
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And you know, with Emory growing up and him being twenty five, and then I know we'll talk more talk more of the adoption process, but uh there was a gap there, you know, by the time he's grown.
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Uh so we we kinda start into uh family number two in in some regards.
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So uh that's kind of where we're at today.
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So you uh both uh were saved early on.
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Is that what I'm taking?
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Yes.
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I was uh uh as an eight-year-old at vacation bible school, and uh uh have very distinct memories of that.
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Um Todd, you said you know you've been going to Unity 35 years, so you're not quite a charter member, but you're pretty close.
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Tell us a little bit about what brought you to unity.
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Well, I had uh I've been here uh uh about a year less than Pastor Jeff.
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Um uh when I was I jumped around a couple of churches when I was in college.
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Uh wasn't really consistent.
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Uh when I was in grad school, I found a church uh that I liked and got plugged into and uh did a lot of the same things, was uh heavily in music ministry and playing the trumpet and uh things of that nature, and uh went to this uh church here in Greenville uh uh for about five years and a series of circumstances happened where uh a good number of people, it was a church split, and um I waited uh it was about a month.
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Uh a large group left and uh several of them had come to unity, so I had decided I'm gonna start looking around and had made the decision I'll just visit various churches and um came here one Sunday and uh a very young man by the name of Jeffrey Alton Manning.
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He loves when you call him Alton, not really.
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Uh, but he was our Sunday school teacher.
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He was kind of the college and career uh at the time and uh really enjoyed his teaching, go into uh worship service, he's the pastor, really enjoyed it, and uh just it felt very comfortable.
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Uh so I decided instead of the next week I didn't look around.
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I came back.
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And I came back a third time and a fourth time and really within a month I I joined the church fairly quickly and um almost right out of the gate got involved in some ministry things.
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I can remember, I don't even think I had been going here four or five weeks that I had the Sunday school class over to my town home at the time and um I don't know, just kind of hit the ground running right out of the gate, never went anywhere else.
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And uh that was back in 1991, and I've uh been faithfully here and faithfully serving since that time.
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Since the 1900s, wow.
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Yes, way back in the covered wagon days.
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So Celeste, that wasn't uh you didn't quite find your way to Unity that way.
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Why don't you tell us a little bit about um how you made it here to unity?
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I made it to here to unity through Todd.
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Um we met well, Brian Floyd and Layla Floyd set us up on a blind date, if you want to call it, back in 2003.
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And you have to um Brian is your first cousin.
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You have to clarify that because there's so many New people.
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Well, no, there's so many people that are related to each other in the church.
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So you kind of want to know who's related to who, because when you want to talk, you know, if I want to talk to Brian about Celeste, I may not have known.
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Man, that was his first cousin.
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So anyway, Brian is my first cousin.
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Our mothers were sisters, and um, Brian and Layla set us up on a blind date in 2003.
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I came up to Greenville to visit, and Layla was pumping Todd up.
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Oh, he's this wonderful guy, um, nice Christian.
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He's wonderful, he's such a great guy.
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And I was like, you can if you want to, but I mean, he, you know, he lives three and a half hours away.
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That's too far from my mom, and he's 11 years older than me.
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He's a little too old, but I mean, that's fine.
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So we met, and I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, but again, it didn't change the fact that he was too old and he lived too far from my mom.
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So I went back to Florence, and um a year later I came back to Greenville.
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I don't know why, I came back to visit, and Layla said, Do you mind if I invite Todd over to eat?
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And I said, Layla, you can do whatever you want to.
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And so Todd came over to eat, and um we all discovered that we were all gonna be in Myrtle Beach at the same time.
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His family, my family, and Brian and Layla.
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So we decided we were gonna go and get something to eat or whatever, and Brian and Layla left, and then Todd and I spent some time together that week that we were in Myrtle Beach, and then he asked me out on a date in July.
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He was gonna he was going to Charleston.
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This was in 2004.
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He was going to Charleston to visit a friend of his and he was gonna be passing through Florence, and he asked me out on a date.
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So we went out on a date, and he was a very nice guy, and um the rest is history.
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So um we got engaged in November of 2004, and we were married in April of 2005, and that's when I started coming to unity, was in April of 2000.
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Well, I was visiting when I came to visit, but I joined the church in probably April or May of 2005 after we got married.
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And so at that time you were you had Emory.
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I did have Emory.
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Um he was four and a half at the time, and after we got married, he was four and a half, and um so we had a ready-made family after we got married.
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Okay, so how did you handle that, Todd?
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You know, through that process knowing it was a ready-made family.
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Tim, I don't know if you remember this.
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Uh I already know what you're gonna say, yes, I remember it.
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But go ahead.
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I called Tim.
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Uh we didn't talk about this ahead of the recording of the podcast, but I actually called Tim because he had lived through a similar situation.
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And um I don't remember if I was engaged or thinking about getting engaged when I called you, but we we talked a long time and just I I kind of leaned on Tim for uh wisdom and insight.
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But um, you know, she left out some of the details, but d the first summer she came in, the second summer uh we both I think liked each other, but we just were not looking for uh a relationship.
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Yes, uh there was an age difference.
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Yes, there was a uh a distance of three and a half hours um down I-95.
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And um it just was, you know, looking back now, it was God's doing that we were kind of all she was at the beach with her family.
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I was with my family, and Brian and Layla were there uh for a short period of time.
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And you know, it was spending some time with each other down there that week, really just as friends, that's when we I kind of realized I kinda like this girl.
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But um, you know, once uh I realized uh God had put me with and in front of this uh young lady.
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And as I got to know her and um realized the character, uh how family focused she was, how much she loved on her child, Emery, uh how much she loved the Lord.
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It you know, some of those the distance things and the age differences and that that kind of thing just seemed to be less important.
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It was really about the character.
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And um, you know, uh quite frankly, uh at the time I'm you know, when we're dating, I'm 39 years old at this point.
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I wasn't really looking for that ready-made family.
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That that wasn't the route I had envisioned for myself.
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But I began to realize, man, there is something really special.
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And things moved progressed pretty quickly because uh, you know, the old once you know, you know.
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And uh it was just she was different.
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She was different.
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Uh she called my eye with her beauty, but it was really her her just love for Jesus and her Christian character that this is the kind of person I want to be with.
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And uh Yeah, I don't you you said, you know, you called me.
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Uh it must have been sound advice because uh you all have been married for a long time.
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Some of the good stuff.
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I remember us sitting in the choir loft and it was between songs and you asking me, you know, because you're just collecting information.
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Well, let me just see how, you know, what he thinks about this.
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You know, I'm thinking about Celeste, you know, she's got Emory.
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How do you handle, you know, being a stepdad in that situation?
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And you know, and I gave you some ideas of what I thought were good, what some red flags you might want, not necessarily red flags.
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Make sure you guys talk about these things first and get it resolved, you know, before you get into it, because they there are things that can trip you up.
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I remembered I was talking about I don't know why I remember this, but uh discipline issues and things like of that nature and the challenges that you know when you you come in and you're marrying uh someone who has a at the time four-year-old child, how you handle discipline and how that's gonna, you know, uh I mean you're you're just you're stepping into a a role as stepfather and his biological dad was pretty absent uh at the time and Emery would see him occasionally, but it it just wasn't a strong relationship at the time.
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And uh, you know, to step into that role, I knew that there would be challenges, and there were, uh, but God saw through it the whole time.
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Yeah, I think the advice was uh just make sure you're on the same page.
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We did, and you know, that's one thing.
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We've always been able to communicate about things and kind of talk through things, and and Celeste, to her credit, um from day one, uh, she has let me be the uh allowed me as as God intended to be the uh head of the household, the leader, and uh I mean we're equal in every way, but uh certain decisions and and things, she she looks to me, and it's our marriage is I like to think, the way that God had plans for marriage to be.
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And uh, you know, it's been great.
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I mean, wouldn't change a thing.
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So you have your ready-made family, and then along comes two more via adoption.
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But before we get into that adoption process, Celeste, I want you to talk to me about how your work environment got you maybe in that um open that door for that.
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Well, I worked for the Pitt County District Attorney's Office at the time I was working there.
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And um we were at that point we were going through some infertility issues.
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Um we were on the meds and going through procedures and seeing doctors and all the things that that you undergo when infertility is at play and um lots of tears and asking God why this was happening and just um not getting the results that we had so desired.
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And um there was a girl that worked downstairs for family court and she was up in our office.
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She never came to our office.
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I don't know why she was up there to this day.
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I still don't know why she was up there, but she was up there and she stopped by my office and we were just t chatting.
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I mean I would see her every now and then, but we were just chatting, and she commented on Emory and how big he was getting, or he was about twelve at that point, and how big he was getting, and I was we were just talking about kids or whatever, and she mentioned that she was fostering.
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And I said, Oh, you were fostering, and she said, Yeah, I've and I mentioned that we were trying to get pregnant and that it just wasn't going the way that we wanted, and that um the um we had looked into adoption, but it was just so expensive and um international and and domestic and she said, Well, you should look into fostering.
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And um I said, I hadn't even thought about that.
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And she said, Yeah, I'm fostering through Pitt County DSS.
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And I thought was like, Well, I hadn't I don't know anything about it.
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And she said, Yeah, you become a licensed foster parent.
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Now you may get multiple placements, but I've got my daughter and I've had her for however long she had had her, I don't remember, and I'm in the process of adopting her.
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You know, it's a long process, but um we're in the termination phase right now, and we're um gonna adopt her, and I've had multiple placements of children that I'm not gonna adopt, but we've given them a home and in in that season of what they needed at the time, but they've gone back to parents or they've gone back to family or or whatever they needed.
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But for my child that I have now, we are adopting her.
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So we I ta came home and I mentioned it to Todd.
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To say that he was a little reluctant would be uh I pr I probably didn't even share it as much at the time.
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Uh, you know, at this point we've been married I don't know, seven years or so.
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I'm I'm getting in my late forties and I'm I'm thinking um the natural child route is not happening and uh wasn't really thinking about fostering.
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It had never crossed my mind.
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And uh but you know, quote unquote being the good husband, I um decided, well let's go talk to the ladies at DSS.
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And uh we proceeded to talk to them maybe for an hour and a half, decided to move forward with what they call map classes.
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Uh it's uh like a parenting, it's a 10-week program.
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Uh we went on Saturday mornings, I think like for three hours.
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So it's about a 30-hour class, and they just walk you through every conceivable situation, process, things that you need to do in your home, uh, what it's like to foster.
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And um uh she's right, I was a bit reluctant, um, but I will say on about week number three, um I became I bought in.
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Uh I really God started changing my heart.
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You start hearing the stories and you realize how many children need to be loved on, how many uh unfortunate situations they would talk about.
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Um you know, situations of children coming into homes with literally a trash bag uh with their clothes and like that is their life contents in a garbage bag and uh we actually saw that in a placement uh uh firsthand but I I just I began to realize I I want to do this and uh we we proceeded on and um it was uh kind of fast forward to the tenth and final week they they have a we moved it from a Saturday morning it was a night during the week uh I I didn't remember this part but les had said it was on a Thursday night and um I'll kind of let her share uh this part so it's it's uh uh on a Thursday night we have like a dinner kind of the final night and I'll let her kind of pick up the story from here.
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We were sitting there and um this was real world how DSS works they had taken custody of a little boy he was about 18 months old and they um brought him in the intern who was working had brought him in and they were trying to find placement for him they didn't have a foster home for him they were trying to find placement for him and she said can you hold him and I was like sure yeah okay so he sits in my lap so this little boy sits in my lap for about an hour and I looked at Todd who's the cutest little thing and I looked at Todd and I said I'd take him home tonight if I could and um so he sits there just as content as he could be um he just sits there just pretty stoic stoic little boy just taking it all in I guess I mean I at that point I I didn't know what he had been through.
00:23:46.640 --> 00:29:10.400
I mean who knows what the little boy had been through um what he had seen I mean you just don't know what these children have undergone until you're in it um and um so we continue with the rest of the class and the dinner and so then they take the little boy on to his placement I guess and then um this is it this is in May uh so we finish up the class we go to get license it's a long process you have to do things in your home uh just having your getting your home ready from whether it's a pet locks on doors just certain certain hoops um paperwork background checks um criminal checks and you know with DSS sometimes things don't move as fast as you would like so we're all the way into December we finally six seven months later we're licensed uh Christmas is coming we're a week or so out we get a phone call uh and we'll circle back to the the little boy that's it's kind of an interesting part of the story but uh we're we're about a week or so before Christmas we get a phone call what would have been our first placement and they they said hey there's a situation there's a uh child uh that's going to be taken into custody with DSS mom's pregnant mom's been doing um drugs and the baby's going to be addicted to is it heroin heroin and uh the the it was the the projected birth uh date was like December 22nd if I remember right and we talked about it and we said this is just not a good first placement for us we were literally we were going to be out of town for a week at Christmas we were going to both our parents who you know families and we were going to be gone we just knew that we said thanks but no thanks we are fostering but the this can't be our first placement it's just not the right time so fast forward we we do have a uh little girl who came to stay with us a couple of days temporary situation and then we get into the latter part of uh January and we get a phone call and we have a situation where Izzy comes he he was really our um first extended um foster situation our second child who'd come to the house and uh the situation was supposed he was supposed to be with us about two weeks and uh he thrived he uh really uh did excellent with us and they decided he had been with another foster family for about six months six or seven months and he was just he had just turned two in December so he was uh two years in a month and he was with us and um fast forward um you know he's staying with us he's doing great he's learning how to talk he's calling us uh mommy and daddy and um you know fast forward to April we get a call one afternoon and the call is well Celeste gets the call I'll let you tell this part I get the call at three o'clock and at three o'clock they say um we are taking custody of Izzy's little brother Adrian mom has been um arrested for driving while in beared with Adrian in the car and I said okay and we want to know if you'll take um Adrian and I said well I'll have to call Todd to make sure and in my mind I'm thinking oh goodness I do not have anything for a baby I mean he's four months old at this time and so I called Todd and Todd said well they're gonna want to keep the boys together so yeah I mean we'll we'll we'll take them so I called him back and I said yeah we'll take them and so her question was well when can you come pick him up so I said well I'll have to come after I get off of work so at five o'clock I go pick up a five a four month old baby I have nothing I mean I have it's literally nothing I do not have a crib I do not have bottles I do not have formula I got a baby I got a baby and I have a car seat so thankfully we put some s word out on social media and thankfully to John and Lola Locklear brought us a crib and some friends got us some bottles and we got some somebody brought a pack and play somebody brought a plaque pack and play and we got some clothes and I can remember sitting on the couch and all this fury of activity in my house and I'm just holding this four month old underpound this seven and a half pound baby because he was failure to thrive because they weren't feeding him properly and there was Izzy and Emery who were with their lips poked out because there was a baby in the house.
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:48.799
The interesting part of this and um I I didn't touch on it to backing up a little bit uh when Izzy comes in January we look back and we get his records and we realize this is this is God in on this that child that sat at that last class in her lap that was Izzy we did not know that at the time we didn't know him as Izzy he had been in the foster care system for about seven months and came that child that she sat there and I could take this little boy home tonight.
00:29:48.960 --> 00:32:30.079
Now we were not licensed so we were not able to but God looking back in that moment getting emotional thinking about it he knew that where Izzy was going to be for the rest of his life and he was just planting that seed another twist that I love to share that is a just it's a God thing is the the baby at Christmas that we said no to the little brother that was Adrian we said no time's not right but God four months later said oh but wait uh during the whole process of getting to be foster parents they had asked us multiple times would you be open to two no we would not we're we're looking to foster one we literally we went into it hoping to possibly adopt maybe and we they were like would you like to have two no one's great uh we we just we weren't ready for two it was Izzy being in our home and us falling in love with him for four months that when we got that call on a April afternoon at around three o'clock that our decision was very easy we're like we got to keep them together yes you know but hey we we said we're only licensed for one we'll change our license and and and you know literally two hours later we've got a four month old baby in the house and you know it just that would have never happened without God he was planting those seeds and he was doing things in his time and like we didn't know his timing but looking back he knew a hundred percent what he was doing we would have never had two children right out of the gate like that we we just were not uh I mean you know I'm 50 years old at this time that this was not in our plans uh but he did it in his plans and he it just he knew when to change our heart when to mold our heart when to make us ready and uh you know so the boys are in our home for about a year at this point moving forward and uh biological mom and dad were not doing the things that they needed to do.
00:32:30.319 --> 00:35:27.280
Mom was continuing to have dependencies with alcohol and drugs and dad was he had uh a history of domestic violence and um alcohol abuse and um so they start talking to us about the possibility of adoption and relinquishing uh parental rights and so we were like yes we would be that's how we found out that they were available for adoption and uh we we said we're interested in that and uh uh eventually mom moves away she just she leaves the state uh go goes back home up in Pennsylvania so when the court date rolls around uh for uh relinquishing uh parental termination is what they call it um she's not even around she doesn't show up for court I don't even know that she even realizes that she's about to lose her children and um we're in court it was a two-day deal it was kind of an afternoon and the morning and we begin in that process we sensed that the the judge was going to side with uh the father the father had was in a new relationship um and um the the the lady that he was with the the attorney was his attorney was just propping her up like she was had helped him corrected him had him on the right path all these things and uh the judge was buying into it and we really were sensing a we are about to lose these children after being in our home for a couple of years maybe and um and it was very worrisome uh very scary um we come in the next day the next morning and just kind of out of the blue the judge I call it a pop I have to interject though I have to interject though I I that afternoon I don't even know that Todd knows this that afternoon after court I can remember talking to Connie Elks and the possibility of losing the children and I said I don't know what I will do and she said you have to pray and I will pray and I will pray for that judge and I can remember her going down to that courtroom and she prayed over those chairs and she prayed over that bench and she prayed for that judge I can remember her doing that and she prayed and that is a praying woman and Connie Elkes prayed for that judge and she prayed with me and she prayed for us and I know that the Lord heard those prayers for those boys.
00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:27.920
Okay.
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.840
Get your tears together.
00:35:32.079 --> 00:37:39.360
Um so they basically the judge uh decided to do a pop drug screen they leave the room comes back there is so much talking and whispering and and just things going on between their attorney our attorney's going back and forth they're up at the bench they're talking and we're like something's going on well dad came back clean the new relationship he was married I think had gotten married during this time she tested positive for cocaine and marijuana so immediately the the whole mood of the court switched we were uh the rights were terminated and that's when the I guess I it went from being foster parents to uh adoption proceedings kind of took place or or not took place but started moving forward and it was about a year later um that we were able to adopt both of them uh and at that point they had probably been in our home for two and a half years or so I don't know what the appropriate response you know I want to say oh well praise the Lord but then it's oh praise the Lord she tested positive you know like but that's amazing how that just worked out it it was literally in the midst of we felt like they were going to lose and or lose the boys and and like you said with with Connie's prayers and our prayers and other people I mean at this point we are very vested we've been in the church people knew our boys they had loved on them they they were you know in the nursery and things in and um preschool age at this time and um anyway it was just so let me ask timing let me ask you this so between the afternoon and the morning you have all night I'm sure you contacted you know friends to hey pray for this Connie's prayed and all that uh how did you sleep that night?
00:37:39.679 --> 00:38:20.719
I didn't you didn't i it was a nervous time it was a nervous time uh you know that's that's been uh ten years ago now so I I don't remember specifically but I I just remember being very very anxious and it it was one of those you know where you say we just got to put it in God's hands and it's easier said than done and sometimes that's when you have people come along beside you that encourage you that lift you up that pick you up that pray on your behalf and again you know that's part of being one in a wonderful church family.
00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:27.039
You knew that people were were lifting us up and uh we had been very transparent the entire time.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:54.159
So people knew our story they knew our situation they knew what we were going through and and uh that that was just a a a different twist that we did not see coming and um you know like I said we we sensed that the judge was going to rule and and not relinquish and and let the father s start getting custody again and um and then that happened.
00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:57.840
So and you then you said it was a whole nother year?
00:38:58.159 --> 00:38:58.800
Yes.
00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:10.559
So when the decision that morning from the judge is um terminating Dad's rights and mom's rights even though she was gone absent.
00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:27.119
So at any point during that year could there have been an opportunity to say hey now they can go back to dad or once you move towards adoption it was pretty I'm not gonna say a clear road but it was his rights were extinguished forever.
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:27.679
Okay.
00:39:27.920 --> 00:40:17.840
Yeah and it was just it it was a little bit of a process um mom passed away during that time she she passed away of a drug overdose uh had multiple drugs in her system she had moved away and was actually uh pregnant uh during her passing uh Izzy and Adrian have uh I guess a brother and or two sisters two sisters um uh the this their biological mom had had four children uh different men was pregnant with a fifth um so you know it's just part of the process of boy you just don't know what their life could have looked like on a different path.
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:28.079
Uh and Celeste remind me during that time you well it would be both of you but um you did let the mom see them.
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:29.840
Am I remembering that correctly?
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:59.039
Yes she had visitation um she had visit the court ordered visitation when she was and we did shared parenting I mean she had my phone number and she would call and um not that the boys would talk but she would see how they were doing and that sort of thing and as but it she just didn't she was very sporadic.
00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:01.920
She was very she just couldn't stay clean.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:20.880
She just couldn't as time went on her her calls would become less frequent or um you know she would have a period of time where she was doing a little better and it would go from a visit at the DSS office to maybe she they would take her and meet up the boys somewhere for four hours.
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:38.639
They were trying to work their way up to like a weekend visit and then she would backslide and you know it it just it was a very up and down yo-yo time period up until she moved away and then she was just totally out of their lives at that point.
00:41:38.960 --> 00:42:17.119
So where um you I know you told us when you first um you know they came as a baby you reached out lock learns brought you a crib and you know all that where where else have you seen the church support you know with with both boys from then until now well I think from a um teaching standpoint I mean the support has been incredible uh you know uh teaching from the Miss Diana's to Miss uh Jennifer and Miss Kim and and so many others.
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:59.679
Miss Nelda Miss Nelda oh yes I mean they the both boys have come up now you know come up through kids men with with Ty and Izzy's now in the second year in his youth group and Adrian will be uh going in the youth group this fall but just um I mean just everything from uh I can remember uh I mean I can think of somebody like a Sheila Justice calling and I mean she had her boys and I mean they were growing out of the house and Kevin and Sheila have always been extremely special friends uh with us more than just pastor and the pastor's wife they're they're close friends and the boys were very comfortable around them.
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:02.960
Sheila would call and say y'all go on a date.
00:43:03.039 --> 00:44:05.840
I want to babysit the boys and uh you know sometimes Lauren would would be our babysitter but a lot of times it was just Sheila giving us a date night um uh you know it was I can remember um other uh people in the church uh Sammy uh star uh you know babysitting uh and Penny Warren just I mean loving on us just to give us time um but spending time with the boys I I think um there were there were some other folks who uh in the church um uh went adoptive routes and would ask us questions uh people outside the church so uh we've always been a very open book we've always encouraged it we would talk about the adoption process the fostering process it it was a path that we didn't know would happen we didn't know what the end results would be uh but God did and uh But there's just been uh so much love um from the church.
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:20.159
Uh particularly, you know, this wasn't so much to the boys, but uh along the way, I mean I've had some surgeries where Celeste always jokes uh that when I when I do something I can do it in a big way.
00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:33.440
I mean I've had a situation where uh of all places up here at the church, uh we were doing a babysitting one night about ten years ago, and Amory and I are horsing around on the basketball court before everybody gets here.
00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:39.039
I fall backwards, catch myself, I break both wrists at the same time, shattered my wrist.
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:41.360
Um I'm in two casts.
00:44:41.599 --> 00:45:06.000
People, they fed us for uh uh weeks, uh, just loving on us because they knew, my goodness, Celeste has got two babies essentially, uh uh a teen in the house and a husband who can't drive, has two broken wrists, uh for a couple weeks, literally could not even feed myself.
00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:08.159
I could not even hold a spoon or a fork.
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:09.920
She was feeding me like a child.
00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:14.000
O church family came along.
00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:30.960
Uh and there have been other times with in uh health needs or or surgeries and things like that where they've come along and and ministered and loved on us and uh not just with the boys but just I mean just for our family.
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:40.079
And you know, we we've given the love and and we've reciprocated uh or we we're giving back the love.
00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:52.800
Um and it's just been a phenomenal uh not just adoptive experience, but just being a part of a church who where you're plugged in and you're loving on people and they're loving on you right back.
00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:56.639
Well let me ask you this, how did Emery handle all this?
00:45:57.360 --> 00:46:00.320
Emory handled it very well.
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:06.639
When we had the first placement of the little girl, he did not handle it very well.
00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:11.679
She was older, she was ten, eight or eight or ten.
00:46:12.320 --> 00:46:13.760
He didn't handle that one very well.
00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:25.920
Funny part, Emory said he he's maybe thirteen or so he says, I know I said I was on board, but I'm not on board with this.
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:30.719
So funny story, when Izzy came, he was good.
00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:32.159
He was real good.
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.039
He and Izzy bonded very quickly.
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:37.039
I mean, he he loved Izzy.
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:43.039
When Adrian came that first night, he and Izzy were pouting.
00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:44.639
They were pouting.
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:52.000
And that next morning when I was taking Emery to school, he asked me, he said, Does Adrian have to stay?
00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:57.280
And I said, Well, honey, they're gonna want to keep the brothers together.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:02.000
And he said, Well, I don't want Izzy to go anywhere, but does Adrian have to stay?
00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:07.199
And I said, Well, he said, Can you call the social worker?
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:12.480
And I said, Well, I can call her and ask her, but I mean she's gonna want the boys to stay together.
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:14.239
Well, can you at least call her and ask her?
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:15.199
And I said, Okay.
00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:20.639
So I called the social worker and she said, Yeah, we're gonna want to keep the boys together.
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:22.559
And I said, Okay, I knew that.
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:24.320
And she says, Is it a problem?
00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:25.280
And I said, No.
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:27.119
I just told Emory I would ask.
00:47:27.199 --> 00:47:28.960
I don't think it's gonna be a problem.
00:47:29.119 --> 00:47:38.320
I'm just I I just want this to work for our family, and I'm sure it will, but if it if it doesn't, then I will I will let you know.
00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:41.920
To this day they have a so credible relationship.
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:46.559
I pick up Emery from school that day, and he said, Did you talk to the social worker?
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:48.320
And I said, Yeah, I did.
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:52.480
And I said, She's gonna want to keep the boys together, they're gonna but stay in the same home.
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:54.880
And he said, Well, welcome home, Adrian.
00:47:55.119 --> 00:47:59.679
So, I mean, it was Izzy Izzy and Adrian weren't going anywhere.
00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:06.719
And to the and and like Todd said, they they think Emery hung the moon, and Emory is a good big brother.
00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:29.280
He he really is, and he um he he he takes time with them and he he and Adrian are a little closer than he and Izzy just because Izzy's at that awkward age, you know, that 13-year-old and Adrian likes sports and you know, but they they're close.
00:48:29.440 --> 00:48:33.760
They're really close and when they were young uh they could not say Emery.
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:35.280
They would they said Emmy.
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:38.320
And to this day at 25, he's still Emmy.
00:48:38.559 --> 00:48:44.079
They they still call him Emmy, but they well he hung uh he hung the moon as far as they're concerned.
00:48:44.320 --> 00:49:10.480
They are when he comes over or uh sometimes he'll he'll take them out or I mean I'll I'll say here, you know, once in a while we'll go out and uh they can kind of say by theirself now, but um, you know, Emory might come over and watch them and I'd give them my I said just take them out to eat or something, and you know, they'll spend time together and do things together, and um but uh they absolutely love Emery for sure, and he loves them.
00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:16.960
Well that's a that's a wonderful story, and I'm glad it's you know, right now have happy ending and all that.
00:49:17.039 --> 00:49:17.599
That's great.
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:18.800
Let's close with this.
00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:22.719
What has this journey taught you about God?
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:27.119
That everything is in his timing.
00:49:27.199 --> 00:49:31.519
It's not our timing, it's his timing.
00:49:32.480 --> 00:49:48.800
Um, and I honestly believe that those boys that God that he put those boys, those are our boys.
00:49:49.280 --> 00:49:51.760
They were created for us.
00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:56.800
And I am thankful to their mother.
00:49:57.199 --> 00:49:57.679
I am.
00:49:57.760 --> 00:50:00.320
I'm thankful to their mother that she chose life.
00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:07.360
I mean, she could have very easily gone and chose not life for them.
00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:10.960
I mean, she could have taken the easy way out, but she didn't.
00:50:11.199 --> 00:50:14.079
She chose life, and I'm thankful to her for that.
00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:26.239
But that God chose those boys for us, and He um and He continues to bless us with them.
00:50:26.800 --> 00:50:30.639
And um that's what I'm truly thankful for.
00:50:31.199 --> 00:50:32.639
I would echo that.
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:35.920
Um, you know, He has blessed us with them.
00:50:36.159 --> 00:50:49.199
People uh would often say, particularly early in the process, of you know, they would pat our back, so to speak, and and say what good things and what we had done for the boys and how we had changed their lives.
00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:54.320
And I will always quickly say they changed our life.
00:50:54.480 --> 00:51:01.199
And uh they made us or me and I think Celeste would agree better people, better parents.
00:51:01.280 --> 00:51:06.559
I feel like I'm a much better parent second go-round uh than I was with Emory, not that I was a bad parent.
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:09.599
I just he's he taught me patience.
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:17.519
Um I mean, um I'm as of this recording, I'm 62 years old with uh uh 11 and a 13 year old.
00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:23.119
I mean, I I tell people I'm old enough to be their granddad, but it's kept me younger.
00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:27.039
Uh it it's I've just enjoyed the process.
00:51:27.199 --> 00:51:34.320
It is it is a joy and a blessing, but um I think the verse that kind of comes to mind is you know, Psalm 37, 4.
00:51:34.400 --> 00:51:38.239
It says, you know, take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:47.679
And I don't think my heart's desire at the time was to uh have two adopted sons.
00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:49.519
I had really not thought about that.
00:51:49.679 --> 00:52:04.880
But what the verse really is talking about is uh God aligning his desires or li uh excuse me, with God our desires get aligned with his.
00:52:05.599 --> 00:52:17.840
And it's he he shows up and just begins to work and to mold and to change our hearts and um just uh uh find obedience.
00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:29.440
And uh I would echo what Celeste said is that um God walks with you in step in so many ways that you don't even realize it.
00:52:29.679 --> 00:52:40.079
And I I can look back through the the fostering and the adoption process in hindsight on the back side of things, and you're like, that's what he was doing.
00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:42.079
I didn't realize it at the time.
00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:46.800
And he was planting seeds and getting you ready for the next step.
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:54.000
And he's just we made ourselves available and he gave us the desires of our heart.
00:52:54.159 --> 00:52:58.159
He gave us two wonderful young boys, and they are really good boys.
00:52:58.320 --> 00:53:06.880
I mean, we're we're um uh you know, biased because we're their parents, but uh both boys have thrived.
00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:10.400
They uh uh in in so many ways.
00:53:10.559 --> 00:53:12.239
Their path could have been so different.
00:53:12.400 --> 00:53:14.559
Our path would have been very different.
00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:27.360
And um I just I I I thank God for uh choosing us to be their parents and uh allowing us to be a part of their journey.
00:53:27.599 --> 00:53:34.400
And uh He is good, He is gracious, and He is ever present even when we don't see it and realize it.
00:53:34.800 --> 00:53:46.880
Well, it's an incredible story, and I appreciate you both uh sharing, taking the time to to share that story and how God has worked in your lives, worked in your children's lives, and you know, brought you all together.
00:53:46.960 --> 00:53:49.920
Uh it's really uh a wonderful story.
00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:56.800
And before you go, I just want to pray with you all and uh thank you for all that God is doing in your lives.
00:53:57.039 --> 00:54:04.800
So, dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for um for Todd and Celeste and for the story that we heard today.
00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:13.199
Thank you for your faithfulness in every season of life and for the ways you call ordinary people to trust you in extraordinary circumstances.
00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:21.360
Thank you for the gift of family, for the blessings of community, and for the opportunity to reflect on your love to others.
00:54:21.840 --> 00:54:28.960
I just want to pray for Todd and Celeste and for their family and for the continued work that you will continue to do in their lives.
00:54:29.119 --> 00:54:35.280
Give them wisdom, strength, patience, and joy as they continue to follow you.
00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:47.679
Help us all to trust you more deeply when you call us to take steps of faith, knowing that you are always faithful to lead and provide for us, Lord.
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:52.079
Uh you're such a wonderful God, and uh we just thank you for all that you do for us.
00:54:52.159 --> 00:54:54.079
And in thy name I pray, amen.
00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:56.960
So thank you both for sharing your story.
00:54:57.199 --> 00:54:57.840
Thank you, Tim.
00:54:58.000 --> 00:54:58.480
It's been a pleasure.
00:54:58.800 --> 00:54:59.280
Thanks, Tim.
00:54:59.599 --> 00:55:03.280
All right, and for everybody else listening, I hope this story has blessed you.
00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:09.360
And uh, you know, if you're interested in adoption or fostering, here's two people that you can talk to.
00:55:09.440 --> 00:55:17.840
And I hope today's episode reminds you that some of God's greatest work happens when ordinary people simply say yes to his leading.
00:55:18.159 --> 00:55:21.840
And as God is writing the story in your life, go and tell.
00:55:25.599 --> 00:55:28.719
Thanks so much for listening to the Unity Community Podcast.
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:34.480
If today's conversation encouraged you, we'd love for you to take one or more next step.
00:55:34.960 --> 00:55:41.840
Join us this Monday morning for worshiping the number 1030 to get connected to a live room and or fundamental link to the book.
00:55:42.400 --> 00:55:47.119
You can learn more about Unity and how to give one the end about listening to me in the children.
00:55:47.760 --> 00:55:52.639
So when you go next time, let's go closer to the board and we go closer to the monitor.
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Thanks for listening.
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Let's grow closer to the Lord as we grow closer one to another.
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Welcome.
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I'm your host, Tim DeChristie.
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Thanks for taking a moment to listen.
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One of the blessings of being a part of a church family for many years is getting to watch God write a story over time.
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What begins as individual journeys of faith often become a story of relationships, service, and unexpected opportunities to impact the lives of others.
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Today's guests have been part of the Unity family for many years, and along the way, God brought them together, strengthened their faith, and eventually led them into a journey that would change not only their lives, but the lives of two children as well.
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Today we'll hear about their faith journey, how unity became home, and how God led them into the beautiful calling of adoption.
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So I'm happy to welcome Todd and Celeste Harris.
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Thank you for being with us today.
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Tim, it is a pleasure to be here.
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As I told you all fair, I've really enjoyed the podcast, so it's kind of cool to get to sit here in front of the mic and talk to you.
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I've known you for a lot of years and uh looking forward to sharing our story.
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Yeah, I've known you as long as I've been at Unity.
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So it's a good 31 years at least.
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I've been here 35 years, so uh beginning to feel a little old.
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Okay, so now we need to uh welcome the newcomer and uh see what she has to say.
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Thank you, Tim.
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So uh we're glad to have you, Celeste.
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Thanks.
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Are we gonna let you start?
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Yes.
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You just tell us a little bit about yourself.
00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.719
Um I was born and raised in Florence, South Carolina.
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I was born in a Christian home with mom and dad who were very involved in church.
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Um mom sang in the choir, dad was the deacon.
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Um we were in church every time the doors were open, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
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Um, just raised, um, believing just in the word of God.
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I can remember my mom and dad studying the Bible, um, had us in scripture, um, just praying as a family, um, just um living out the word.
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They were the hands and feet of Jesus.
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They believed in working in the church, serving in the church.
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They were always serving, doing what the Lord wanted them to do.
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So um my interests and hobbies are just being with family, living um with our three boys, doing what they like to do.
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We don't um if life is busy um with sports and band concerts and um just busy, busy, busy.
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So you s you said you had three boys.
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Who are they?
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I Emory is 25, Izzy is 13, and Adrian is 11.
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Emory is 25.
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Wow.
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Yes.
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That boy grew up fast.
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He did.
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Uh all right.
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Well, Todd, uh, what about your what's your background?
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Well, I could almost hit rewind and uh say a lot of the same things.
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Uh we grew up in a Baptist church uh in Elon, a couple of miles from the church there, but um uh same parents serving in the church, moms in choir, uh again, very similar.
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Dad's a deacon, he's uh teaching Sunday school, things of that nature.
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I'm real involved in RAs growing up.
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We we had the royal ambassadors uh really involved in my youth group.
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Uh e even at a young age, took uh leadership roles.
00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.680
Um we did not have a youth pastor.
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Uh it was a smaller church, we had maybe a couple hundred folks, but we had a uh pastor and a uh music director, and our pastor did a lot with the youth, and our parents were our Sunday school teachers, and uh we did a lot of activities.
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Uh it was maybe 20 of us, but uh was real involved with those things.
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But have very vivid memories of my parents serving, in particular, like my dad.
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I can remember him sitting over his recliner.
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Uh this is way before computers and handwriting out his Sunday school lessons and just studying and seeing that and uh you know being a great role model.
00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:07.759
So um very similar upbringing and uh I admire what Celeste said is in terms of interest.
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Really it's it's just about family.
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Those are the it's very simple things that we enjoy doing and um uh kind of like she said with whatever the kids are doing, uh at this a lot of times people don't people will have a season of life and we we've I've kind of gone or we've both gone through this season of life uh twice.
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And you know, with Emory growing up and him being twenty five, and then I know we'll talk more talk more of the adoption process, but uh there was a gap there, you know, by the time he's grown.
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Uh so we we kinda start into uh family number two in in some regards.
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So uh that's kind of where we're at today.
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So you uh both uh were saved early on.
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Is that what I'm taking?
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Yes.
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I was uh uh as an eight-year-old at vacation bible school, and uh uh have very distinct memories of that.
00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:14.240
Um Todd, you said you know you've been going to Unity 35 years, so you're not quite a charter member, but you're pretty close.
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.800
Tell us a little bit about what brought you to unity.
00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:22.879
Well, I had uh I've been here uh uh about a year less than Pastor Jeff.
00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:28.959
Um uh when I was I jumped around a couple of churches when I was in college.
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Uh wasn't really consistent.
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Uh when I was in grad school, I found a church uh that I liked and got plugged into and uh did a lot of the same things, was uh heavily in music ministry and playing the trumpet and uh things of that nature, and uh went to this uh church here in Greenville uh uh for about five years and a series of circumstances happened where uh a good number of people, it was a church split, and um I waited uh it was about a month.
00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:19.759
Uh a large group left and uh several of them had come to unity, so I had decided I'm gonna start looking around and had made the decision I'll just visit various churches and um came here one Sunday and uh a very young man by the name of Jeffrey Alton Manning.
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He loves when you call him Alton, not really.
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Uh, but he was our Sunday school teacher.
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He was kind of the college and career uh at the time and uh really enjoyed his teaching, go into uh worship service, he's the pastor, really enjoyed it, and uh just it felt very comfortable.
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Uh so I decided instead of the next week I didn't look around.
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I came back.
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And I came back a third time and a fourth time and really within a month I I joined the church fairly quickly and um almost right out of the gate got involved in some ministry things.
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I can remember, I don't even think I had been going here four or five weeks that I had the Sunday school class over to my town home at the time and um I don't know, just kind of hit the ground running right out of the gate, never went anywhere else.
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And uh that was back in 1991, and I've uh been faithfully here and faithfully serving since that time.
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Since the 1900s, wow.
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Yes, way back in the covered wagon days.
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So Celeste, that wasn't uh you didn't quite find your way to Unity that way.
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Why don't you tell us a little bit about um how you made it here to unity?
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I made it to here to unity through Todd.
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Um we met well, Brian Floyd and Layla Floyd set us up on a blind date, if you want to call it, back in 2003.
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And you have to um Brian is your first cousin.
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You have to clarify that because there's so many New people.
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Well, no, there's so many people that are related to each other in the church.
00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:10.399
So you kind of want to know who's related to who, because when you want to talk, you know, if I want to talk to Brian about Celeste, I may not have known.
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Man, that was his first cousin.
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So anyway, Brian is my first cousin.
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Our mothers were sisters, and um, Brian and Layla set us up on a blind date in 2003.
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I came up to Greenville to visit, and Layla was pumping Todd up.
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Oh, he's this wonderful guy, um, nice Christian.
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He's wonderful, he's such a great guy.
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And I was like, you can if you want to, but I mean, he, you know, he lives three and a half hours away.
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That's too far from my mom, and he's 11 years older than me.
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He's a little too old, but I mean, that's fine.
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So we met, and I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, but again, it didn't change the fact that he was too old and he lived too far from my mom.
00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:15.200
So I went back to Florence, and um a year later I came back to Greenville.
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I don't know why, I came back to visit, and Layla said, Do you mind if I invite Todd over to eat?
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And I said, Layla, you can do whatever you want to.
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And so Todd came over to eat, and um we all discovered that we were all gonna be in Myrtle Beach at the same time.
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His family, my family, and Brian and Layla.
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So we decided we were gonna go and get something to eat or whatever, and Brian and Layla left, and then Todd and I spent some time together that week that we were in Myrtle Beach, and then he asked me out on a date in July.
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He was gonna he was going to Charleston.
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This was in 2004.
00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:09.919
He was going to Charleston to visit a friend of his and he was gonna be passing through Florence, and he asked me out on a date.
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So we went out on a date, and he was a very nice guy, and um the rest is history.
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So um we got engaged in November of 2004, and we were married in April of 2005, and that's when I started coming to unity, was in April of 2000.
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Well, I was visiting when I came to visit, but I joined the church in probably April or May of 2005 after we got married.
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And so at that time you were you had Emory.
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I did have Emory.
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Um he was four and a half at the time, and after we got married, he was four and a half, and um so we had a ready-made family after we got married.
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Okay, so how did you handle that, Todd?
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You know, through that process knowing it was a ready-made family.
00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:06.159
Tim, I don't know if you remember this.
00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:08.639
Uh I already know what you're gonna say, yes, I remember it.
00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:09.120
But go ahead.
00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.399
I called Tim.
00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:19.360
Uh we didn't talk about this ahead of the recording of the podcast, but I actually called Tim because he had lived through a similar situation.
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And um I don't remember if I was engaged or thinking about getting engaged when I called you, but we we talked a long time and just I I kind of leaned on Tim for uh wisdom and insight.
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But um, you know, she left out some of the details, but d the first summer she came in, the second summer uh we both I think liked each other, but we just were not looking for uh a relationship.
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Yes, uh there was an age difference.
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Yes, there was a uh a distance of three and a half hours um down I-95.
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And um it just was, you know, looking back now, it was God's doing that we were kind of all she was at the beach with her family.
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I was with my family, and Brian and Layla were there uh for a short period of time.
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And you know, it was spending some time with each other down there that week, really just as friends, that's when we I kind of realized I kinda like this girl.
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But um, you know, once uh I realized uh God had put me with and in front of this uh young lady.
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And as I got to know her and um realized the character, uh how family focused she was, how much she loved on her child, Emery, uh how much she loved the Lord.
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It you know, some of those the distance things and the age differences and that that kind of thing just seemed to be less important.
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It was really about the character.
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And um, you know, uh quite frankly, uh at the time I'm you know, when we're dating, I'm 39 years old at this point.
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I wasn't really looking for that ready-made family.
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That that wasn't the route I had envisioned for myself.
00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:10.080
But I began to realize, man, there is something really special.
00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:16.559
And things moved progressed pretty quickly because uh, you know, the old once you know, you know.
00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:19.440
And uh it was just she was different.
00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:20.480
She was different.
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Uh she called my eye with her beauty, but it was really her her just love for Jesus and her Christian character that this is the kind of person I want to be with.
00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:35.759
And uh Yeah, I don't you you said, you know, you called me.
00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.519
Uh it must have been sound advice because uh you all have been married for a long time.
00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:41.360
Some of the good stuff.
00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:48.480
I remember us sitting in the choir loft and it was between songs and you asking me, you know, because you're just collecting information.
00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:52.080
Well, let me just see how, you know, what he thinks about this.
00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:54.879
You know, I'm thinking about Celeste, you know, she's got Emory.
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How do you handle, you know, being a stepdad in that situation?
00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:08.240
And you know, and I gave you some ideas of what I thought were good, what some red flags you might want, not necessarily red flags.
00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:15.759
Make sure you guys talk about these things first and get it resolved, you know, before you get into it, because they there are things that can trip you up.
00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:51.039
I remembered I was talking about I don't know why I remember this, but uh discipline issues and things like of that nature and the challenges that you know when you you come in and you're marrying uh someone who has a at the time four-year-old child, how you handle discipline and how that's gonna, you know, uh I mean you're you're just you're stepping into a a role as stepfather and his biological dad was pretty absent uh at the time and Emery would see him occasionally, but it it just wasn't a strong relationship at the time.
00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:59.200
And uh, you know, to step into that role, I knew that there would be challenges, and there were, uh, but God saw through it the whole time.
00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:02.720
Yeah, I think the advice was uh just make sure you're on the same page.
00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.360
We did, and you know, that's one thing.
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:40.480
We've always been able to communicate about things and kind of talk through things, and and Celeste, to her credit, um from day one, uh, she has let me be the uh allowed me as as God intended to be the uh head of the household, the leader, and uh I mean we're equal in every way, but uh certain decisions and and things, she she looks to me, and it's our marriage is I like to think, the way that God had plans for marriage to be.
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.240
And uh, you know, it's been great.
00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:46.080
I mean, wouldn't change a thing.
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:54.720
So you have your ready-made family, and then along comes two more via adoption.
00:16:54.879 --> 00:17:09.279
But before we get into that adoption process, Celeste, I want you to talk to me about how your work environment got you maybe in that um open that door for that.
00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:17.839
Well, I worked for the Pitt County District Attorney's Office at the time I was working there.
00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:25.279
And um we were at that point we were going through some infertility issues.
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:48.079
Um we were on the meds and going through procedures and seeing doctors and all the things that that you undergo when infertility is at play and um lots of tears and asking God why this was happening and just um not getting the results that we had so desired.
00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:58.960
And um there was a girl that worked downstairs for family court and she was up in our office.
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:00.319
She never came to our office.
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:02.960
I don't know why she was up there to this day.
00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:09.119
I still don't know why she was up there, but she was up there and she stopped by my office and we were just t chatting.
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:27.039
I mean I would see her every now and then, but we were just chatting, and she commented on Emory and how big he was getting, or he was about twelve at that point, and how big he was getting, and I was we were just talking about kids or whatever, and she mentioned that she was fostering.
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:55.680
And I said, Oh, you were fostering, and she said, Yeah, I've and I mentioned that we were trying to get pregnant and that it just wasn't going the way that we wanted, and that um the um we had looked into adoption, but it was just so expensive and um international and and domestic and she said, Well, you should look into fostering.
00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.960
And um I said, I hadn't even thought about that.
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.400
And she said, Yeah, I'm fostering through Pitt County DSS.
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:10.240
And I thought was like, Well, I hadn't I don't know anything about it.
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.200
And she said, Yeah, you become a licensed foster parent.
00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:25.599
Now you may get multiple placements, but I've got my daughter and I've had her for however long she had had her, I don't remember, and I'm in the process of adopting her.
00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:58.319
You know, it's a long process, but um we're in the termination phase right now, and we're um gonna adopt her, and I've had multiple placements of children that I'm not gonna adopt, but we've given them a home and in in that season of what they needed at the time, but they've gone back to parents or they've gone back to family or or whatever they needed.
00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:04.079
But for my child that I have now, we are adopting her.
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:10.079
So we I ta came home and I mentioned it to Todd.
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:23.680
To say that he was a little reluctant would be uh I pr I probably didn't even share it as much at the time.
00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:28.559
Uh, you know, at this point we've been married I don't know, seven years or so.
00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:43.680
I'm I'm getting in my late forties and I'm I'm thinking um the natural child route is not happening and uh wasn't really thinking about fostering.
00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:45.599
It had never crossed my mind.
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:56.480
And uh but you know, quote unquote being the good husband, I um decided, well let's go talk to the ladies at DSS.
00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:05.200
And uh we proceeded to talk to them maybe for an hour and a half, decided to move forward with what they call map classes.
00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.160
Uh it's uh like a parenting, it's a 10-week program.
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:11.759
Uh we went on Saturday mornings, I think like for three hours.
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:25.519
So it's about a 30-hour class, and they just walk you through every conceivable situation, process, things that you need to do in your home, uh, what it's like to foster.
00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:40.480
And um uh she's right, I was a bit reluctant, um, but I will say on about week number three, um I became I bought in.
00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:43.200
Uh I really God started changing my heart.
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:54.480
You start hearing the stories and you realize how many children need to be loved on, how many uh unfortunate situations they would talk about.
00:21:54.720 --> 00:22:46.720
Um you know, situations of children coming into homes with literally a trash bag uh with their clothes and like that is their life contents in a garbage bag and uh we actually saw that in a placement uh uh firsthand but I I just I began to realize I I want to do this and uh we we proceeded on and um it was uh kind of fast forward to the tenth and final week they they have a we moved it from a Saturday morning it was a night during the week uh I I didn't remember this part but les had said it was on a Thursday night and um I'll kind of let her share uh this part so it's it's uh uh on a Thursday night we have like a dinner kind of the final night and I'll let her kind of pick up the story from here.
00:22:47.279 --> 00:23:46.559
We were sitting there and um this was real world how DSS works they had taken custody of a little boy he was about 18 months old and they um brought him in the intern who was working had brought him in and they were trying to find placement for him they didn't have a foster home for him they were trying to find placement for him and she said can you hold him and I was like sure yeah okay so he sits in my lap so this little boy sits in my lap for about an hour and I looked at Todd who's the cutest little thing and I looked at Todd and I said I'd take him home tonight if I could and um so he sits there just as content as he could be um he just sits there just pretty stoic stoic little boy just taking it all in I guess I mean I at that point I I didn't know what he had been through.
00:23:46.640 --> 00:29:10.400
I mean who knows what the little boy had been through um what he had seen I mean you just don't know what these children have undergone until you're in it um and um so we continue with the rest of the class and the dinner and so then they take the little boy on to his placement I guess and then um this is it this is in May uh so we finish up the class we go to get license it's a long process you have to do things in your home uh just having your getting your home ready from whether it's a pet locks on doors just certain certain hoops um paperwork background checks um criminal checks and you know with DSS sometimes things don't move as fast as you would like so we're all the way into December we finally six seven months later we're licensed uh Christmas is coming we're a week or so out we get a phone call uh and we'll circle back to the the little boy that's it's kind of an interesting part of the story but uh we're we're about a week or so before Christmas we get a phone call what would have been our first placement and they they said hey there's a situation there's a uh child uh that's going to be taken into custody with DSS mom's pregnant mom's been doing um drugs and the baby's going to be addicted to is it heroin heroin and uh the the it was the the projected birth uh date was like December 22nd if I remember right and we talked about it and we said this is just not a good first placement for us we were literally we were going to be out of town for a week at Christmas we were going to both our parents who you know families and we were going to be gone we just knew that we said thanks but no thanks we are fostering but the this can't be our first placement it's just not the right time so fast forward we we do have a uh little girl who came to stay with us a couple of days temporary situation and then we get into the latter part of uh January and we get a phone call and we have a situation where Izzy comes he he was really our um first extended um foster situation our second child who'd come to the house and uh the situation was supposed he was supposed to be with us about two weeks and uh he thrived he uh really uh did excellent with us and they decided he had been with another foster family for about six months six or seven months and he was just he had just turned two in December so he was uh two years in a month and he was with us and um fast forward um you know he's staying with us he's doing great he's learning how to talk he's calling us uh mommy and daddy and um you know fast forward to April we get a call one afternoon and the call is well Celeste gets the call I'll let you tell this part I get the call at three o'clock and at three o'clock they say um we are taking custody of Izzy's little brother Adrian mom has been um arrested for driving while in beared with Adrian in the car and I said okay and we want to know if you'll take um Adrian and I said well I'll have to call Todd to make sure and in my mind I'm thinking oh goodness I do not have anything for a baby I mean he's four months old at this time and so I called Todd and Todd said well they're gonna want to keep the boys together so yeah I mean we'll we'll we'll take them so I called him back and I said yeah we'll take them and so her question was well when can you come pick him up so I said well I'll have to come after I get off of work so at five o'clock I go pick up a five a four month old baby I have nothing I mean I have it's literally nothing I do not have a crib I do not have bottles I do not have formula I got a baby I got a baby and I have a car seat so thankfully we put some s word out on social media and thankfully to John and Lola Locklear brought us a crib and some friends got us some bottles and we got some somebody brought a pack and play somebody brought a plaque pack and play and we got some clothes and I can remember sitting on the couch and all this fury of activity in my house and I'm just holding this four month old underpound this seven and a half pound baby because he was failure to thrive because they weren't feeding him properly and there was Izzy and Emery who were with their lips poked out because there was a baby in the house.
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:48.799
The interesting part of this and um I I didn't touch on it to backing up a little bit uh when Izzy comes in January we look back and we get his records and we realize this is this is God in on this that child that sat at that last class in her lap that was Izzy we did not know that at the time we didn't know him as Izzy he had been in the foster care system for about seven months and came that child that she sat there and I could take this little boy home tonight.
00:29:48.960 --> 00:32:30.079
Now we were not licensed so we were not able to but God looking back in that moment getting emotional thinking about it he knew that where Izzy was going to be for the rest of his life and he was just planting that seed another twist that I love to share that is a just it's a God thing is the the baby at Christmas that we said no to the little brother that was Adrian we said no time's not right but God four months later said oh but wait uh during the whole process of getting to be foster parents they had asked us multiple times would you be open to two no we would not we're we're looking to foster one we literally we went into it hoping to possibly adopt maybe and we they were like would you like to have two no one's great uh we we just we weren't ready for two it was Izzy being in our home and us falling in love with him for four months that when we got that call on a April afternoon at around three o'clock that our decision was very easy we're like we got to keep them together yes you know but hey we we said we're only licensed for one we'll change our license and and and you know literally two hours later we've got a four month old baby in the house and you know it just that would have never happened without God he was planting those seeds and he was doing things in his time and like we didn't know his timing but looking back he knew a hundred percent what he was doing we would have never had two children right out of the gate like that we we just were not uh I mean you know I'm 50 years old at this time that this was not in our plans uh but he did it in his plans and he it just he knew when to change our heart when to mold our heart when to make us ready and uh you know so the boys are in our home for about a year at this point moving forward and uh biological mom and dad were not doing the things that they needed to do.
00:32:30.319 --> 00:35:27.280
Mom was continuing to have dependencies with alcohol and drugs and dad was he had uh a history of domestic violence and um alcohol abuse and um so they start talking to us about the possibility of adoption and relinquishing uh parental rights and so we were like yes we would be that's how we found out that they were available for adoption and uh we we said we're interested in that and uh uh eventually mom moves away she just she leaves the state uh go goes back home up in Pennsylvania so when the court date rolls around uh for uh relinquishing uh parental termination is what they call it um she's not even around she doesn't show up for court I don't even know that she even realizes that she's about to lose her children and um we're in court it was a two-day deal it was kind of an afternoon and the morning and we begin in that process we sensed that the the judge was going to side with uh the father the father had was in a new relationship um and um the the the lady that he was with the the attorney was his attorney was just propping her up like she was had helped him corrected him had him on the right path all these things and uh the judge was buying into it and we really were sensing a we are about to lose these children after being in our home for a couple of years maybe and um and it was very worrisome uh very scary um we come in the next day the next morning and just kind of out of the blue the judge I call it a pop I have to interject though I have to interject though I I that afternoon I don't even know that Todd knows this that afternoon after court I can remember talking to Connie Elks and the possibility of losing the children and I said I don't know what I will do and she said you have to pray and I will pray and I will pray for that judge and I can remember her going down to that courtroom and she prayed over those chairs and she prayed over that bench and she prayed for that judge I can remember her doing that and she prayed and that is a praying woman and Connie Elkes prayed for that judge and she prayed with me and she prayed for us and I know that the Lord heard those prayers for those boys.
00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:27.920
Okay.
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.840
Get your tears together.
00:35:32.079 --> 00:37:39.360
Um so they basically the judge uh decided to do a pop drug screen they leave the room comes back there is so much talking and whispering and and just things going on between their attorney our attorney's going back and forth they're up at the bench they're talking and we're like something's going on well dad came back clean the new relationship he was married I think had gotten married during this time she tested positive for cocaine and marijuana so immediately the the whole mood of the court switched we were uh the rights were terminated and that's when the I guess I it went from being foster parents to uh adoption proceedings kind of took place or or not took place but started moving forward and it was about a year later um that we were able to adopt both of them uh and at that point they had probably been in our home for two and a half years or so I don't know what the appropriate response you know I want to say oh well praise the Lord but then it's oh praise the Lord she tested positive you know like but that's amazing how that just worked out it it was literally in the midst of we felt like they were going to lose and or lose the boys and and like you said with with Connie's prayers and our prayers and other people I mean at this point we are very vested we've been in the church people knew our boys they had loved on them they they were you know in the nursery and things in and um preschool age at this time and um anyway it was just so let me ask timing let me ask you this so between the afternoon and the morning you have all night I'm sure you contacted you know friends to hey pray for this Connie's prayed and all that uh how did you sleep that night?
00:37:39.679 --> 00:38:20.719
I didn't you didn't i it was a nervous time it was a nervous time uh you know that's that's been uh ten years ago now so I I don't remember specifically but I I just remember being very very anxious and it it was one of those you know where you say we just got to put it in God's hands and it's easier said than done and sometimes that's when you have people come along beside you that encourage you that lift you up that pick you up that pray on your behalf and again you know that's part of being one in a wonderful church family.
00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:27.039
You knew that people were were lifting us up and uh we had been very transparent the entire time.
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:54.159
So people knew our story they knew our situation they knew what we were going through and and uh that that was just a a a different twist that we did not see coming and um you know like I said we we sensed that the judge was going to rule and and not relinquish and and let the father s start getting custody again and um and then that happened.
00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:57.840
So and you then you said it was a whole nother year?
00:38:58.159 --> 00:38:58.800
Yes.
00:38:59.280 --> 00:39:10.559
So when the decision that morning from the judge is um terminating Dad's rights and mom's rights even though she was gone absent.
00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:27.119
So at any point during that year could there have been an opportunity to say hey now they can go back to dad or once you move towards adoption it was pretty I'm not gonna say a clear road but it was his rights were extinguished forever.
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:27.679
Okay.
00:39:27.920 --> 00:40:17.840
Yeah and it was just it it was a little bit of a process um mom passed away during that time she she passed away of a drug overdose uh had multiple drugs in her system she had moved away and was actually uh pregnant uh during her passing uh Izzy and Adrian have uh I guess a brother and or two sisters two sisters um uh the this their biological mom had had four children uh different men was pregnant with a fifth um so you know it's just part of the process of boy you just don't know what their life could have looked like on a different path.
00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:28.079
Uh and Celeste remind me during that time you well it would be both of you but um you did let the mom see them.
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:29.840
Am I remembering that correctly?
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:59.039
Yes she had visitation um she had visit the court ordered visitation when she was and we did shared parenting I mean she had my phone number and she would call and um not that the boys would talk but she would see how they were doing and that sort of thing and as but it she just didn't she was very sporadic.
00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:01.920
She was very she just couldn't stay clean.
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:20.880
She just couldn't as time went on her her calls would become less frequent or um you know she would have a period of time where she was doing a little better and it would go from a visit at the DSS office to maybe she they would take her and meet up the boys somewhere for four hours.
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:38.639
They were trying to work their way up to like a weekend visit and then she would backslide and you know it it just it was a very up and down yo-yo time period up until she moved away and then she was just totally out of their lives at that point.
00:41:38.960 --> 00:42:17.119
So where um you I know you told us when you first um you know they came as a baby you reached out lock learns brought you a crib and you know all that where where else have you seen the church support you know with with both boys from then until now well I think from a um teaching standpoint I mean the support has been incredible uh you know uh teaching from the Miss Diana's to Miss uh Jennifer and Miss Kim and and so many others.
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:59.679
Miss Nelda Miss Nelda oh yes I mean they the both boys have come up now you know come up through kids men with with Ty and Izzy's now in the second year in his youth group and Adrian will be uh going in the youth group this fall but just um I mean just everything from uh I can remember uh I mean I can think of somebody like a Sheila Justice calling and I mean she had her boys and I mean they were growing out of the house and Kevin and Sheila have always been extremely special friends uh with us more than just pastor and the pastor's wife they're they're close friends and the boys were very comfortable around them.
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:02.960
Sheila would call and say y'all go on a date.
00:43:03.039 --> 00:44:05.840
I want to babysit the boys and uh you know sometimes Lauren would would be our babysitter but a lot of times it was just Sheila giving us a date night um uh you know it was I can remember um other uh people in the church uh Sammy uh star uh you know babysitting uh and Penny Warren just I mean loving on us just to give us time um but spending time with the boys I I think um there were there were some other folks who uh in the church um uh went adoptive routes and would ask us questions uh people outside the church so uh we've always been a very open book we've always encouraged it we would talk about the adoption process the fostering process it it was a path that we didn't know would happen we didn't know what the end results would be uh but God did and uh But there's just been uh so much love um from the church.
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:20.159
Uh particularly, you know, this wasn't so much to the boys, but uh along the way, I mean I've had some surgeries where Celeste always jokes uh that when I when I do something I can do it in a big way.
00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:33.440
I mean I've had a situation where uh of all places up here at the church, uh we were doing a babysitting one night about ten years ago, and Amory and I are horsing around on the basketball court before everybody gets here.
00:44:33.599 --> 00:44:39.039
I fall backwards, catch myself, I break both wrists at the same time, shattered my wrist.
00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:41.360
Um I'm in two casts.
00:44:41.599 --> 00:45:06.000
People, they fed us for uh uh weeks, uh, just loving on us because they knew, my goodness, Celeste has got two babies essentially, uh uh a teen in the house and a husband who can't drive, has two broken wrists, uh for a couple weeks, literally could not even feed myself.
00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:08.159
I could not even hold a spoon or a fork.
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:09.920
She was feeding me like a child.
00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:14.000
O church family came along.
00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:30.960
Uh and there have been other times with in uh health needs or or surgeries and things like that where they've come along and and ministered and loved on us and uh not just with the boys but just I mean just for our family.
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:40.079
And you know, we we've given the love and and we've reciprocated uh or we we're giving back the love.
00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:52.800
Um and it's just been a phenomenal uh not just adoptive experience, but just being a part of a church who where you're plugged in and you're loving on people and they're loving on you right back.
00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:56.639
Well let me ask you this, how did Emery handle all this?
00:45:57.360 --> 00:46:00.320
Emory handled it very well.
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:06.639
When we had the first placement of the little girl, he did not handle it very well.
00:46:07.119 --> 00:46:11.679
She was older, she was ten, eight or eight or ten.
00:46:12.320 --> 00:46:13.760
He didn't handle that one very well.
00:46:14.400 --> 00:46:25.920
Funny part, Emory said he he's maybe thirteen or so he says, I know I said I was on board, but I'm not on board with this.
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:30.719
So funny story, when Izzy came, he was good.
00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:32.159
He was real good.
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.039
He and Izzy bonded very quickly.
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:37.039
I mean, he he loved Izzy.
00:46:37.519 --> 00:46:43.039
When Adrian came that first night, he and Izzy were pouting.
00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:44.639
They were pouting.
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:52.000
And that next morning when I was taking Emery to school, he asked me, he said, Does Adrian have to stay?
00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:57.280
And I said, Well, honey, they're gonna want to keep the brothers together.
00:46:57.519 --> 00:47:02.000
And he said, Well, I don't want Izzy to go anywhere, but does Adrian have to stay?
00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:07.199
And I said, Well, he said, Can you call the social worker?
00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:12.480
And I said, Well, I can call her and ask her, but I mean she's gonna want the boys to stay together.
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:14.239
Well, can you at least call her and ask her?
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:15.199
And I said, Okay.
00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:20.639
So I called the social worker and she said, Yeah, we're gonna want to keep the boys together.
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:22.559
And I said, Okay, I knew that.
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:24.320
And she says, Is it a problem?
00:47:24.480 --> 00:47:25.280
And I said, No.
00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:27.119
I just told Emory I would ask.
00:47:27.199 --> 00:47:28.960
I don't think it's gonna be a problem.
00:47:29.119 --> 00:47:38.320
I'm just I I just want this to work for our family, and I'm sure it will, but if it if it doesn't, then I will I will let you know.
00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:41.920
To this day they have a so credible relationship.
00:47:42.320 --> 00:47:46.559
I pick up Emery from school that day, and he said, Did you talk to the social worker?
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:48.320
And I said, Yeah, I did.
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:52.480
And I said, She's gonna want to keep the boys together, they're gonna but stay in the same home.
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:54.880
And he said, Well, welcome home, Adrian.
00:47:55.119 --> 00:47:59.679
So, I mean, it was Izzy Izzy and Adrian weren't going anywhere.
00:47:59.760 --> 00:48:06.719
And to the and and like Todd said, they they think Emery hung the moon, and Emory is a good big brother.
00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:29.280
He he really is, and he um he he he takes time with them and he he and Adrian are a little closer than he and Izzy just because Izzy's at that awkward age, you know, that 13-year-old and Adrian likes sports and you know, but they they're close.
00:48:29.440 --> 00:48:33.760
They're really close and when they were young uh they could not say Emery.
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:35.280
They would they said Emmy.
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:38.320
And to this day at 25, he's still Emmy.
00:48:38.559 --> 00:48:44.079
They they still call him Emmy, but they well he hung uh he hung the moon as far as they're concerned.
00:48:44.320 --> 00:49:10.480
They are when he comes over or uh sometimes he'll he'll take them out or I mean I'll I'll say here, you know, once in a while we'll go out and uh they can kind of say by theirself now, but um, you know, Emory might come over and watch them and I'd give them my I said just take them out to eat or something, and you know, they'll spend time together and do things together, and um but uh they absolutely love Emery for sure, and he loves them.
00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:16.960
Well that's a that's a wonderful story, and I'm glad it's you know, right now have happy ending and all that.
00:49:17.039 --> 00:49:17.599
That's great.
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:18.800
Let's close with this.
00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:22.719
What has this journey taught you about God?
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:27.119
That everything is in his timing.
00:49:27.199 --> 00:49:31.519
It's not our timing, it's his timing.
00:49:32.480 --> 00:49:48.800
Um, and I honestly believe that those boys that God that he put those boys, those are our boys.
00:49:49.280 --> 00:49:51.760
They were created for us.
00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:56.800
And I am thankful to their mother.
00:49:57.199 --> 00:49:57.679
I am.
00:49:57.760 --> 00:50:00.320
I'm thankful to their mother that she chose life.
00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:07.360
I mean, she could have very easily gone and chose not life for them.
00:50:07.679 --> 00:50:10.960
I mean, she could have taken the easy way out, but she didn't.
00:50:11.199 --> 00:50:14.079
She chose life, and I'm thankful to her for that.
00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:26.239
But that God chose those boys for us, and He um and He continues to bless us with them.
00:50:26.800 --> 00:50:30.639
And um that's what I'm truly thankful for.
00:50:31.199 --> 00:50:32.639
I would echo that.
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:35.920
Um, you know, He has blessed us with them.
00:50:36.159 --> 00:50:49.199
People uh would often say, particularly early in the process, of you know, they would pat our back, so to speak, and and say what good things and what we had done for the boys and how we had changed their lives.
00:50:49.360 --> 00:50:54.320
And I will always quickly say they changed our life.
00:50:54.480 --> 00:51:01.199
And uh they made us or me and I think Celeste would agree better people, better parents.
00:51:01.280 --> 00:51:06.559
I feel like I'm a much better parent second go-round uh than I was with Emory, not that I was a bad parent.
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:09.599
I just he's he taught me patience.
00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:17.519
Um I mean, um I'm as of this recording, I'm 62 years old with uh uh 11 and a 13 year old.
00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:23.119
I mean, I I tell people I'm old enough to be their granddad, but it's kept me younger.
00:51:23.280 --> 00:51:27.039
Uh it it's I've just enjoyed the process.
00:51:27.199 --> 00:51:34.320
It is it is a joy and a blessing, but um I think the verse that kind of comes to mind is you know, Psalm 37, 4.
00:51:34.400 --> 00:51:38.239
It says, you know, take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
00:51:38.880 --> 00:51:47.679
And I don't think my heart's desire at the time was to uh have two adopted sons.
00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:49.519
I had really not thought about that.
00:51:49.679 --> 00:52:04.880
But what the verse really is talking about is uh God aligning his desires or li uh excuse me, with God our desires get aligned with his.
00:52:05.599 --> 00:52:17.840
And it's he he shows up and just begins to work and to mold and to change our hearts and um just uh uh find obedience.
00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:29.440
And uh I would echo what Celeste said is that um God walks with you in step in so many ways that you don't even realize it.
00:52:29.679 --> 00:52:40.079
And I I can look back through the the fostering and the adoption process in hindsight on the back side of things, and you're like, that's what he was doing.
00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:42.079
I didn't realize it at the time.
00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:46.800
And he was planting seeds and getting you ready for the next step.
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:54.000
And he's just we made ourselves available and he gave us the desires of our heart.
00:52:54.159 --> 00:52:58.159
He gave us two wonderful young boys, and they are really good boys.
00:52:58.320 --> 00:53:06.880
I mean, we're we're um uh you know, biased because we're their parents, but uh both boys have thrived.
00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:10.400
They uh uh in in so many ways.
00:53:10.559 --> 00:53:12.239
Their path could have been so different.
00:53:12.400 --> 00:53:14.559
Our path would have been very different.
00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:27.360
And um I just I I I thank God for uh choosing us to be their parents and uh allowing us to be a part of their journey.
00:53:27.599 --> 00:53:34.400
And uh He is good, He is gracious, and He is ever present even when we don't see it and realize it.
00:53:34.800 --> 00:53:46.880
Well, it's an incredible story, and I appreciate you both uh sharing, taking the time to to share that story and how God has worked in your lives, worked in your children's lives, and you know, brought you all together.
00:53:46.960 --> 00:53:49.920
Uh it's really uh a wonderful story.
00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:56.800
And before you go, I just want to pray with you all and uh thank you for all that God is doing in your lives.
00:53:57.039 --> 00:54:04.800
So, dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much for um for Todd and Celeste and for the story that we heard today.
00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:13.199
Thank you for your faithfulness in every season of life and for the ways you call ordinary people to trust you in extraordinary circumstances.
00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:21.360
Thank you for the gift of family, for the blessings of community, and for the opportunity to reflect on your love to others.
00:54:21.840 --> 00:54:28.960
I just want to pray for Todd and Celeste and for their family and for the continued work that you will continue to do in their lives.
00:54:29.119 --> 00:54:35.280
Give them wisdom, strength, patience, and joy as they continue to follow you.
00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:47.679
Help us all to trust you more deeply when you call us to take steps of faith, knowing that you are always faithful to lead and provide for us, Lord.
00:54:47.760 --> 00:54:52.079
Uh you're such a wonderful God, and uh we just thank you for all that you do for us.
00:54:52.159 --> 00:54:54.079
And in thy name I pray, amen.
00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:56.960
So thank you both for sharing your story.
00:54:57.199 --> 00:54:57.840
Thank you, Tim.
00:54:58.000 --> 00:54:58.480
It's been a pleasure.
00:54:58.800 --> 00:54:59.280
Thanks, Tim.
00:54:59.599 --> 00:55:03.280
All right, and for everybody else listening, I hope this story has blessed you.
00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:09.360
And uh, you know, if you're interested in adoption or fostering, here's two people that you can talk to.
00:55:09.440 --> 00:55:17.840
And I hope today's episode reminds you that some of God's greatest work happens when ordinary people simply say yes to his leading.
00:55:18.159 --> 00:55:21.840
And as God is writing the story in your life, go and tell.
00:55:25.599 --> 00:55:28.719
Thanks so much for listening to the Unity Community Podcast.
00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:34.480
If today's conversation encouraged you, we'd love for you to take one or more next step.
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Join us this Monday morning for worshiping the number 1030 to get connected to a live room and or fundamental link to the book.
00:55:42.400 --> 00:55:47.119
You can learn more about Unity and how to give one the end about listening to me in the children.
00:55:47.760 --> 00:55:52.639
So when you go next time, let's go closer to the board and we go closer to the monitor.
