Our Journey Begins Here

We were married May 23, 2009. I guess you would say we are newlyweds. It's crazy how time really does fly. Even though we have only been married 6 months sometimes it feels like 10 years. We live 8 hours away from our family so we really only have each other to depend on when times are hard. These past 6 months have had their ups and downs, but I'm so thankful that I got to go through the ups and downs with Ryan, and I know there will be many more in the future. He is so amazing in every way possible. He's still in school but will graduate in May and is also working full time at Second Baptist as a worship leader. So he definitely has his plate full. Add having me as his wife, and I know it has to put him overboard sometimes! I know that he loves me and would do anything in the world for me and I would do the same for him.

It's funny how God throws you curve balls. Curve ball #1: I met a man who is 3 years younger than me but understands me like nobody else in the world! Curve ball #2: We were apart for our entire engagement b/c he was living in Missouri working and doing school full time while i finished at University of Alabama (which we now both call our home). Curve ball #3: We have only been married 6 months, and we both feel led to adoption. I had always thought that I would have my own kids; I knew exactly how many I wanted and already had names picked out. Since we have been married we have mentioned adoption very lightly but we haven't been married that long so it hasn't been the first thing on our minds. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that we both felt God pulling at our hearts to adopt from Russia. We know that we want to be married at least a year before we start the adoption process but after hearing and reading story after story of the process of adoption, I feel that's not even long enough to prepare myself for something like this.

I am that type of person who likes to know how everything is going to turn out before I walk down a certain path. I like for things to be laid out in detail and for me to be able to jump over the obstacles with ease. I'm starting to figure out and realize that for a process like this, we can't have everything figured out. But I know that someone already does and that's God. I stress over the little stuff while my husband sits back and doesn't have a stressed bone in his body. I know that I already have to give this idea of adoption to God because I know I can't get through it with it being in my hands.

So as of right now, I ask you to say a quick prayer for us, to allow God to open our hearts to whatever he has planned for the time leading us to the process, to the time we begin the process, and to the time where we finish the process. Pray that I won't worry about the money aspect, or what some people may say about the process being difficult. Pray for us to know that God has placed this feeling in our hearts for a reason, and that that reason is to adopt our first child from Russia!

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27