Chad's blog: Life Now

Over the weekend, Chad posted a new blog update! We wanted to share it with you.

"Life Now

    

   As I was on my way home from work the other day, I noticed handfuls of leaves scattered along the roadside in various places as I drove by. Whether these leaves were falling due to the cooling temperatures or just randomly falling, I knew that fall was just around the corner.

   Thinking back to a fall day, when I came to Tennessee three years ago to ask a beautiful girl to be my girlfriend, brings a big smile to my face. My thoughts drift on to that warm summer day in August of the next year when I worked up enough courage to propose to my sweetheart, Erin Elise. I remember all the wonderful memories and emotions surrounding that special time of year. I can't help but think about the busy few months before our fall wedding in November and that incredible, wonderful, happy day when I married the girl of my dreams. All of the thrill, the love, the bliss that I experienced is nearly impossible to put into words.

   Life now...almost two years later, I find myself sitting here and marveling at how fast this time has passed and how our lives have changed so much in such a short period of time. It has been four months since I have written a post. Four months!?!? Little did I know that the day I wrote my last post was the day that our little boy, Carson, would enter the world.

   Carson's delivery is something I will never forget. The intensity, the excitement, the worry, the thrill, the love, the fear, the joy...so many emotions and feelings all packed into just a few hours before delivery. God is so good and He answered our prayers. The delivery was very quick and extremely intense due to an unknown placenta abruption. We found out later that this causes unusually hard contractions and thus speeds up the delivery process. Our plan was for Erin to have an epidural, but due to the circumstances we had to go through with an all-natural birth. Erin was so brave and strong throughout the delivery. I had never felt so helpless in all of my life. I wanted to do something to help...but I realized that I couldn't. The few hours of delivery felt like years! God protected Erin, and little Carson was brought into this world! All I could do was cry and tell Erin how proud I was of her. Every baby is a miracle, and Carson was an extra special miracle to us and an answer to so many prayers.

   Carson, (Charles Stephen Paine IV), is doing wonderfully well along with his gorgeous mommy, Erin. It's hard to even imagine me as a dad, even after four months! But I have loved every minute of it and wouldn't change it for the world. Erin has been the most loving and attentive mother to our little boy, and I am so very proud of her. Carson has brought so much joy and life to our hearts...I think only a parent would know what I am writing of. These four moths have been filled with mixed emotion as we have watched our little miracle grow out of preemie sleepers into three month old outfits! He is growing so fast! Erin and I know that all too soon he will be running around the house one day and then off on an adventure of his own the next. I am realizing more and more how precious time is and to make the most of the time the Lord allows us to spend as a family.

   I just took these pictures of Carson the other day...he is so precious to us. I hope to post more in these coming weeks about all that's going on in our little family, but I won't make any promises! =) We have a special announcement coming up that I am so thrilled to share with you all!....and I am so pumped about it, but I am bummed that I can't share now, but I will soon!...so stay tuned! =)

   I don't' know about you, but this summer has been so busy and rather overwhelming with so many things taking place in our lives. With all that's going on in our country and around the world, it seems as though the future is very uncertain and unnerving. It is easy to get discouraged when you focus on these things and the negativity of them. I find encouragement and hope in turning to the Lord who doesn't change. Our church has been going through a series on Hebrews 11, the heroes of faith in the bible. My faith has been strengthened by hearing the testimonies of the faith of those who have gone before us. God has already written the last chapter and He knows the future and He will take care of us."

 

Be sure to check out the blog for more updates soon! :)