Our Story

Our Journey begins...

...I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

 

We both grew up always thinking of having a large family someday.  Little did we know how big that might be or how we would get there.  We met each other for the first time in the third grade, but we never interacted much for the next nine years of schooling.  We started dating in college and after just a short time knew we were meant to be together,  fast forward and it has been 15 years of marriage and over 19 years together. We are more in love with each other today than any day before.  Our life together has been one of many ups and downs but our love for each other and our faith in Christ has always kept us strong.  Around the time our third child was born,  Joy stumbled upon a blog documenting a family's journey to China to adopt their daughter.  It stirred her heart, and she began to read and research about the little girls waiting in China. Very soon, she felt God was leading them to adopt. She felt so strongly about it, that when she approached me, and I didn't feel led to adopt, she was perplexed. It was something that came up often in the beginning and led to some disagreements. Then, Joy just started praying about it. That God would change my heart, or her burden. Five years later, Joy was hospitalized about to give birth to our fifth child. She had been on bed rest for her elevated blood pressure, and was scheduled to be  to be induced the following day. God moved in my heart, and broke it for the orphan. I realized that God did intend adoption to be part of our family's story. Our fifth child was born the next day, we started researching agencies just a few weeks later. We were matched with our beautiful daughter from, Guangxi, China just ten months later. We had no idea how it would work or, how we would afford it, but God provided every step. It was a journey of stretching our family and our faith.  She came home when her little brother was just 16 months old. We are just beginning our journey for our second adoption. 
We are a fun loving, homeschooling, quirky, affectionate family. We hope that we can encourage others by sharing a bit of our lives with you.