Our History

We have created this site to share our lives with those we love. A brief history until a later time that I can explain in more detail. So, here's the fast-track version: Brian & I meet in 1991, in College, marry in 1994, in 1997, decide to begin a family, in which we realize that we are destined to difficulties. Blessings flowed and in 1999, our first son was born, with son #2 not far behind in 2000 and a pure miracle! Several years later, we once again had the desire to add to our family. We re-visited some dark moments of infertility, as we had experienced earlier, but this time it ended with devastating results. We felt dejected and empty and mourned for a time. The desire to adopt had been a discussion we'd had early in our marriage, but now at this crosspoint, it resurfaced with a new sense of hope for our family! In October 2004, we submitted our first paperwork with Bethany Christian Services to adopt a daughter from China. Two grueling years of evaluation under a microscope by The States and China, waiting when we thought we couldn't bear one more minute, and then finally, A Picture! In June 2006, we got our Referral, a short and vague history on our daughter and three precious pictures. August 21, 2006 we received Gao Shao Bin, now Gracyn Esabella ShaoBin. Our hearts and lives were forever changed. As Matthew Barnett so beautifully states in "The Church that Never Sleeps," "When you put yourself in another man's world, you learn how to have vision. All of the vision was born in the valley. You see, in the valley we are close to the need. It's the place where we see the hurt. After we saw a need, a vision came to fulfill that need." We saw beautiful children, in need. Our hearts responded and now, beyond our dreams, we are faced with a proposal to return to China this Summer to make a difference to orphans who deserve a family and so much more. This leads us beginning this blog. Stay tuned for the story of our lives! And thanks for your support!