About

We are the R family. This is our story. It all began with a car.

A 1968 Candy Apple Red Mustang, to be exact.

On a normal day during their Junior year of high school, there was a boy named Justin who was introduced to a girl named Miranda in the cafeteria line. "Hey, this is the guy with the Mustang." Fast forward to Senior year and they found themselves in the same second period English class. One day Miranda overheard Justin talking about a wreck with his friends and she said, "You didn't wreck the Mustang?!" 

And the lifelong conversation began.

After a school year of a cat and mouse game, the day came for graduation, and though none of the factors matched up and they were very opposite people, Justin and Miranda both knew that their future included each other. 17 months and a deployment to Iraq later, they walked down the aisle of a little chapel in Tennessee and said "I Do" to whatever was coming their way. Just two kids head over heels in love, they were ready for the adventure. Little did they know just how adventurous their life was going to be.

The day after their first anniversary, J and M welcomed a baby boy into their lives. His name was Stephen Isaac. The crowned one who laughs. After one miscarriage and the uncertainty that they were ready for a baby, Big S, was the Father's way of saying for the first of may times, "I am in control."

Fast forward a few years, and life began to really get hard for J and M. In the midst of a deployment to Afghanistan, they were also having marital struggles, but for the first time in their lives, they were learning what it meant to have a true and unique relationship with their Creator. They began to seek what it meant to be a husband and a wife and all the while the Father was molding and watching their hearts become more like Him as He continued to write their story.

When Big S was 3, after another miscarriage and 6 months of negative pregnancy tests, J and M found out one December day in 209 that they were finally expecting another baby. Life was filled with hope again as they anticipated the arrival of this new life. However, 37 1/2 weeks later, in the middle of the night, they said a brokenhearted goodbye to that little boy when he was stillborn. His name was Kristopher Noble, a distinguished bearer of Christ.

As they sat in the hospital that night pondering all the ways that their world had just changed, J and M knew they had a choice. They could choose to follow their Heavenly Father with trust and hope, or they could run away as fast as they could from anything that resembled Him. They chose to trust. They had already learned in their life that you can only run so far before you find yourself fallen down and exhausted. This time, J and M knew that the easier way was to lean into the One who promised to carry their burdens.

Shortly after the loss of Kristopher, J, M and Big S received a promise from the Father that their future did include another child. Through many ways, again and again that promise was confirmed to them, and though it took 3 years for them to see the fulfillment, Sean Emet, their "gift from the faithful One," finally arrived. Little S showed them that Father's timing is perfect.

During their process of grief and healing, J and M learned a lot about the character of the Father and how He views the world. And their hearts became very broken for the things that He was showing them. They understood that a man plans his path but it is the Almighty that directs a man's steps. They began asking, "What is it that YOU want us to do with our lives?" Sometimes we don't receive answers because we haven't learned to ask the right questions. They received two answers: They were being called to move overseas to work full time and they were being called to adopt.

We are the R Family, and this is who we are. We just returned to the States after 3 years overseas  and are adjusting to life with our newly adopted 6 year old, Silas. We hope that this blog will be a glimpse into all that He is teaching us day by day as we walk this journey called life.

He is faithful. Never give up on faith because, we promise, He will never give up on you!

If you are visiting our blog for the first time and want to read more about our adoption story, just click on the link for "story" under the labels to the right. Thank you for reading!