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

Happy Birthday!

Today is Josh's 26th Birthday!

I am so very thankful for a husband who
                ....loves the Lord and puts him first in our marriage
                ...is my best friend
                ...puts his family first
                ...loves his friends and investing in them
                ...lets me serve alongside him in ministry
                ...works tirelessly on all of our adoption paperwork
                ...gets my heart for the least of these
                ...is passionate about fighting for marriage and families
                ...loves Alabama football as much as I do

I love you baby!

In honor of Josh's birthday, we have set up our first fundraiser! We are hoping that we will be able to bring our child home during Josh's 26th year and so we are asking for a one time gift of $26 to be able to do that. The link below will direct you to the fundraiser:

Help Us Bring Our Baby Home

Many of you have already given and we are very grateful! You have no idea how much your support means to us, both through prayer and financial support!

Taste and See

Well, you don't get to taste (that is coming soon) but you do get to see. We are pretty much done with the kitchen. And I have pictures! We are working on other rooms this week, so you should get to see those soon!

The first big change is the wall color.... 

 And then we added an island. It is movable and probably one of my favorite things in the house. 

We added blinds to the doors, but I love the huge windows, so for now, they are staying like they are. 

 

 Added a bit of decoration behind the sink, but still tried to leave it open into the other rooms....

 A fun little Pinterest find that I made. 

Another fun little decor thing I made that gets a lot of use in our house. 

 

One of my favorite additions, a poster print stapled onto the back of a window pane. 

 Another favorite, my very talented sister made this for my birthday! 

I hope you like the room as much as we do! More pictures to come soon, and lots of recipes that I have been testing out! 

Courtney Leigh 

New Blog, New House

Well I'm jumping on the bandwagon and starting a blog. Josh and I recently bought a house and are really setting into our life in Jackson. I hope that this will be a good way to keep our family involved in our lives and to share a little bit of my passions and life with you.


I will be posting pictures of the house transformation on here soon, but for now here are a few glimpses of the house.

The kitchen....

The breakfast nook from the kitchen....

The great room...

Looking at the kitchen and dining room from the great room... 

I hope you like the pictures as much as we like the house! :)


Courtney Leigh