I worked in a salon doing hair, Ryan finished up college and began working in his field of Natural Resource Management. It was during this time that we decided to start our family.
We struggled with infertility while all around us people were having unplanned pregnancies. This was a time of real spiritual growth. Desperately praying for a child, and not knowing if we would ever get pregnant was hard, but, it did bring us closer together. All my life I wanted to be a mom, so of course we talked about adoption. That planted the seed in Ryan's heart for adoption,{mine had already been planted! You can read about that here.} so God used that difficult time for our good.
We were eventually blessed with our first baby boy. Dylan Michael was born on Valentines day 1998. He was a month early, but absolutely perfect! We were thrilled. God had answered our prayers. About a year later, God called Ryan into full time ministry.
So began a new journey in our lives. Ryan went back to school to work on his Masters Degree. Those were the most faith building years we have had, {well, actually we keep having them, but they were awesome and amazing!} Miracle after miracle occurred as we stepped out in faith and followed Gods leading in our lives. Those were also some of the most difficult days we have had, {well, okay, we've had some more of those too!} Money was tight, oh so tight. Jayden Eugene was born on December 2, 2000. Ryan's birthday! I give good gifts to my husband, a son for valentines and a son for his birthday! Spencer Ryan joined our family on December 5, 2002. Ryan graduated with his Masters Degree and began working at our church part time, and worked on the farm.
Easton Daniel was born on June 6, 2005. In 2006, we felt God moving in our hearts to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala{you can read more about that here.} We were planning on moving into full time ministry right there in our church, but God had different plans, and we were up-rooted and planted a little over an hour away from our family. Now, that isn't too far, (I know,) but, it did change everything . Life as we knew it, no longer existed! During this difficult time, we had gotten our "referral" of Anaya and the adoption process was also experiencing major difficulties. Those were some very dark, difficult days. BUT God showed himself mightily and we are now very happy here, Ryan loves ministering to the youth in our community, and Anaya is home! God is good!
In 2010 God called us on another adventure {which you can read about here!} We are incredibly blessed every day as we watch Luisa grow strong and healthy. Now, we look forward to whatever HE has for us! We have grown so much over the years and we pray we are being made more and more useful for HIM each and every day!
Psalm 105:1
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
