Neil James slattery

What a crazy 24 hours.

At 8pm Tuesday night, jasmine started having contractions just a few minutes apart. So we rush down to Dubois to the hospital. Long story (which are better told in person) short. Our little miracle baby was born at 6:18am on Wednesday April 19th, 2017.


I say miracle because how else could a baby fit through that hole! But seriously after two miscarriages we decided late spring of 2016 to try a third time for a baby.

When we found out jasmine was pregnant, I was so scared. Could it happen again? Would we have to deal with another miscarriage. And I understand, I know some people have more difficulty than us but it was still hard because we knew God promised us a child.

But God came through. Because he's awesome. 


But I wanted to talk about his name. 

We chose the name Neil James slattery

James is a tribute to my grandfather. That is his name. It's also my brothers middle name. And my dad's saint name. 

But Neil? Why? Well, it's normal. In a world with people naming their kids crazy things it's nice to have an old fashion name.

But what does Neil mean?

The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", or "champion".

Most authorities cite the meaning of Neil in the context of a surname as meaning champion.

One of favorite bible verses is romans 8:37, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

I also saw this picture of my son kneeing at the cross where Christ was killed and defeated death. 

This idea of being a champion makes sense to me. I wrestled. Who doesn't want to be the champion?

But I have been ppraying/declaring that as my son grows he will know he is loved. Love by God. Loved by his community. And loved by his family.

I pray that as he knows he is loved and fully accepted just for being who he is.... a child of God.... that  he will be able to overcome anything Life brings his way. 

After all he is our champion. 

I think there is more to upload here but it will have to wait. It's time for my nap! 


We love you Neil! Thanks for gracing us with your presence.