Who We Are In The Everyday

We love having people in our home and are glad to host anytime for just about any reason.

We are UGA football fans.

We would love to travel more and hope to see the world as our kids get a little older.

We like to be silly.

We love board games and play several days a week no matter how busy we get.

Josh loves vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and having his head massaged. He is witty and is not afraid to admit he likes chick-flicks. He enjoys reading or studying while listening to movie soundtracks.

If I could, I would live off of double stuffed oreos, I like team sports and group fitness classes but in general I don’t like to exercise. I enjoy finding deals and being resourceful, especially if it means I have an opportunity to be creative or crafty.

Addilyn likes playing outside, tuna fish sandwiches, band-aids, her stuffed animal penguin, and playing pretend. She falls asleep reading books, wears sunglasses often, and is faithful to remind us of Bible Time everyday. Addi is my independent one and likes to do things for herself.

Both kids are grouchy when they wake up from naps but we can usually remedy that with a snack; especially if it's a smoothie.

Josiah likes choo-choo trains, elephants, and yogurt covered raisins. He enjoys brushing his teeth, wrestling, and unrolling the toilet paper from the toilet paper roll.  He loves to do whatever his sister is doing.  Siah is my snuggle bug and will shower me with hugs, kisses, fist bumps, and high fives all day if I asked him too.

We are trying to honor the Lord in all we do and rejoice in all He has already blessed us with.

Our Story of Salvation and Sanctification

I was raised in a family that is extremely dysfunctional but full of lots and lots of love.  I went to a revival with a friend and was saved when I was in 10^th grade.  From that point I desired to read scripture and pray; however, I cared far too much about what people thought of me and lived my life to please others and fit in with the crowd which led to a lot of guilt.

Josh also came from a loving family.  His mother made sure that he was in church, which gave him a basic understanding of the bible.  He would say that looking back, his hope was based upon how good of a person he was.  On the outside he made sure that he always presented himself in the best possible light, but he too struggled with issues only he knew about.  Basically, he had hoped that his good works would outweigh his sin.

Josh and I met and began dating the first month of our freshman year at college.  We struggled in many ways but were blessed to have several solid believers pouring into us and challenging us to grow in our faith.  Towards the end of our sophomore year God changed Josh’s heart and opened his eyes to see that our relationship needed to end because it was built on a poor foundation.  Although this was an extremely hard season emotionally, we both grew tremendously in our relationships with the Lord.  For the first time, I understood my identity in Christ and I began to care more about people and less about what they thought of me.  Josh grew in his passion to serve the Lord with a genuine heart and to be vulnerable with other men with would hold him accountable to walk in righteousness.

Spring formal our freshman year of college (2001).

The following school year we began developing a friendship.   Things were so different and it was amazing to see how God had completely transformed one another in our time apart.   Our junior year of college we delighted in the joy and contentment we both found in Christ.  The next summer, when I returned from my study abroad trip in Asia, Josh picked me up from the airport and made it known that he wanted to marry me.   Because of an experience I had in Burma I was convinced that one day I was called to adopt from Asia.  After discussing this (and obviously many other things) we got engaged in December of 2003.