Wrapping moments to be
remembered for a lifetime...
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109 Church Street • Vidalia
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HERE TO HELP LIFE GO RIGHT.TM
Kailey Dees, Agent
912.537.AUTO (2886)
205 Rigsbee Drive, Vidalia
www.sweetonionagent.com
72 Toombs County Magazine
marriage draws our weaknesses to the surface and exposes our hearts,
we are given the opportunity to learn what it really means to love
another person.
This wasn’t something Bradley could learn in a Bible study. He
came to the realization that love was about choices, those irritating
daily opportunities that come around as faithfully as bad news stories.
It wasn’t so much about right and wrong as it was about meeting
somewhere in the middle. That place where you take responsibility, stop
blaming the other person, and give their perspective the same value as
you give your own.
“I sat at my computer,” said Bradley, “and wrote down what I wanted
my life to be about: God first; my wife second.” The decision became a
pivotal moment that strengthened their relationship and prepared them
for the incredible year of change that neither of them could ever have
anticipated.
The first change was the birth of their daughter Bella on July 23,
2014. Not long after Bella was born, Bradley got a phone call from his old
college roommate, Billy Shiver. “He told me, ‘Man, I think God wants me
to start a church in Vidalia.’ I said, ‘Whatever you need, I’m in.’” Bradley
had been a part of the Connection Church in Statesboro when he was
in college. It was exactly what he and Carly needed to reconnect with
others in the community. “Starting one here helped us get plugged in
again.”
All this time, Bradley was working hard to build a strong and
competitive wrestling team at Toombs County High School. One of the
boys he had taken under his wing was Deven. “He was this muscled
up little ninth grader with a chip on his shoulder. I talked him into
wrestling, but I had to pick him up every day and take him home to
practice,” said Bradley. Deven also had a congenital defect known as
cleft lip and palette.
Deven’s cousin Sabastion also joined the wrestling team. “Sabastion
was soft spoken and good natured. Even though Deven was two years
older than Sabastion, they were in the same grade. Deven started high
school at 16 and was way behind academically.” As with Deven, there
were issues with Sabastion’s homelife that concerned Bradley. He did
what he could, gave the boys yardwork to do, and spent time with them
outside of wrestling practice whenever he could.
“One Friday we got a call from Courtney Anderson,” the courtappointed
Guardian Ad Litem for Toombs County. “She said, ‘I’ve got a
wrestler of yours here named Sabastion. We just pulled him out of his
home, and we’re getting ready to place him in a boy’s home. We need
somewhere for him to stay, and the only person he’s asked for is his
coach. I was wondering if he could stay with you for a little while until
DFCS can get him placed in a home.” Bradley turned to Carly, who had
heard everything, and they both burst into tears.
“We didn’t have any idea how to raise a toddler and a teenager in the
same house,” said Carly, “but we decided if it was what the Lord wanted
us to do, we would figure it out.”
But taking in Sabastion wasn’t enough for Bradley and Carly. If they
were opening their home to one of the boys, why not both? The truth
was that they loved both boys as if they were their own. In fact, by the
following Monday, both were in the Benton’s custody. (At this stage, they
have been able to legally adopt Deven and are working toward adopting
Sabastion as well.)
“One of the first things we did was look into having surgery to fix
Deven’s cleft lip,” said Carly. “He got some surgery before kindergarten,
but he was supposed to have follow-up surgeries in middle school, and
it never happened. We prayed, but we didn’t know how we were going
to pay for it.” Literally three days after Deven’s adoption was finalized,
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