Five Years

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." Proverbs 16:9

At some point in time, you know whenever I have time, this verse will be painted on a wall in our house. I feel like it has been the theme of my life for the past few years, and especially for this adoption. 

Five years ago tonight, these two little kids went out on their first date:

For those of you that don't know our story, Josh and I had been friends for a long time, but it was not until a week in November when the Lord began to really draw our hearts together. We both had plans for our lives but by the Grace of our Father, he began to direct our steps---directing our steps together and showing us a glimpse of the future he had for us.

I don't think either of us would have imagined that five very short years later, we would be putting our passports in the mail to get our visas, buying plane tickets, and sorting clothes for our little boy! The Lord has truly began to direct us throughout this process and it has been amazing to see how the Lord is fulfilling the desires that He placed deep within our hearts many years ago.

I am not even attempting to imagine where the Lord will lead us in the next five years, but I am pretty excited about the few weeks! We officially have plane tickets and are beginning the process of preparing to travel! Thank you for all of you who have prayed this week. The Lord has been so faithful to provide exactly what we need.

Josh, I cannot imagine being on this journey with anyone else! I love you and cannot wait to add a few trips to Russi*a to this journey!

(And now that I have been sweet you can enjoy this picture of Josh's curly hair from five years ago!) 

Courtney Leigh

Thankful

So I am not going to say that I am going to post more often, because my brother has reminded me that I say this every time I write. But we do have news and so things are going to be changing often around here, which might lend itself to a few more updates!

We got a referral! And its a...

Boy! Our little man is 2 years old and seems to be very healthy! We are looking at traveling for our first of three trips in 3-4 weeks. We will be in Russ*a for about a week and will get to meet him and spend time getting to know him. 

We are beyond excited, and a little bit scared, as this journey just became a lot more real. We have dreamed about our child for so long, but getting to see his precious little face makes every feeling more intense. (We cannot post pictures on the internet, but trust me, he is cute!)

We greatly covet your prayers first for our little man and then selfishly for us as well. Here are a few things that you can be praying for.

1. Please keep our son in your prayers. We are praying for him and for his caregivers, that they will help him to know that he is loved and has a family.
2. Pray for us as we prepare to travel. We are waiting on a few more things from Russia before we can buy plane tickets and get visas. Pray that we will get that approval and will be able to smoothly get the necessary documents for us to travel the first week of December.
3. Pray for our hearts as we are preparing to bring our son home. You all know that there is a lot that goes into being ready for toddler, but we also know that anything can happen in adoption. It sounds weird to say that buying a crib is a leap of faith, but in a lot of ways it is. Pray that we will trust the Lord with our fears and the uncertainty that comes with the adoption process, while we are physically preparing for his arrival.

As we enter into this Thanksgiving season, our hearts are grateful. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow for this life! 

Josh and Courtney

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed… if you ask Courtney, she will tell you that it is a word that I rarely use. I just don’t like it. It doesn’t actually give the person you are speaking with an idea of how you are feeling. Are you sad? Happy? Angry? No, I am overwhelmed. What exactly does that mean? I like to be able to hear the words that are coming from a person and assign an emotion with them, so I can know how I can help. 

However, the word overwhelmed is the only word I can come up with that describes how we feel the past few months. We are overwhelmed with the love that has been poured out on us by our friends and families. Not a day goes by where there is not someone asking us about our adoption process. It has been amazing to me that the conversations are not just a casual, off the cuff comment, but that you really care. When you ask, you really want to know. You will stand in the hallways, stop by the office, send an e-mail, stop our parents in church or at the table in a restaurant, you will make the call or text all just to genuinely check on us and to see if our child is ready to come home. Many days where you have talked with us, you could not imagine what we had been through, yet you were there with a smile and a kind word to help us move forward. 

You have prayed for us… Oh, how you have prayed. We have literally felt the prayers of the saints as you have stopped in your daily life to lift us and our child up. We know that God’s people are interceding because there are days in the waiting process that we would never get through without your prayers on our behalf. 

You have given. There are so many of you have given sacrificially to our adoption fund. We have been blessed by those friends who we have not heard from since high school, those who live down the street, those who helped raise us, those who go to church and work with us… you all have said that you would partner with us so that we could bring our baby home. Because of your faithfulness to the Lord in giving, you have made the financial burden, one that I was more scared of than anything, so much lighter than we could have ever imagined.

Whether you know it or not, you are an instrument of God’s grace and mercy. Every time you call or stop to talk, you are showing and sharing His love. Every time you give of your time and your money, you are showing how the body of Christ comes together to sacrificially take care of one another to answer His call on our lives. Every time you respond to His urging, you are showing that God is still at work. Every time you meet a need of ours, whether you know it or not, you are the physical presence of God answering prayers.

We are overwhelmed. By God’s goodness and His grace, we are overwhelmed. By His work through you as you minister to our family, we are overwhelmed.

Our prayer is that you too will feel His presence as you continue to follow His leading and that God’s richest blessings be poured out on you and your family, as you have continued to be the living, breathing body of Christ to ours.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

With humble hearts,

Josh and Courtney