Josiah and Karen

First of all, I just want to say how grateful I am that you’re reading this. Thank you for taking the time to consider us. I am praying for you with my whole heart, even though I can’t picture your face. I know that things have probably not gone how you planned, and I can completely empathize with that feeling. I know that this cannot be easy. But I also know that God always seems to take the unplanned things in life and turns them into something beautiful. I am praying for him to do exactly that for you, whether it is on a journey together with us or not!

My husband, Josiah, and I have been married for almost 10 years (!) now. We met in college. It was NOT love at first sight, but over the years we grew a friendship that eventually developed into something more. One of the things that helped push the feelings into a romance for me was watching Josiah interact with his younger siblings. Josiah has 10 younger siblings, and he was just so gentle and nurturing with them. I knew then that he would be a good dad.

Like I mentioned before, Josiah has a large family. Adoption is also an important part of their story. Two of his uncles, an aunt, and one of his sisters are all adopted. We see most of them pretty frequently, because they only live an hour away. We get together for all the holidays, as well as a big birthday party every two months or so for all the family members who have had birthdays since our last get-together. Josiah is the oldest of his siblings, and the youngest is 10. None of his siblings are married or have kids yet, but there are still plenty of kids around!

My family is not as large as his, and they live a little further away, but we are still close. I have two younger sisters. One is 28, and just had her first baby, a sweet little girl. She is especially excited that we might be adopting soon, because she wants her daughter to have a cousin close to her age. My youngest sister is 26 and has two girls, who are 9 and 7 years old. My youngest sister and my parents live in coastal North Carolina, and my other sister lives in southern Florida, so we have lots of options when we want to go visit the beach! Even though it’s a little harder due to distance, we try to visit my side of the family at least once or twice a year, often around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Josiah currently works as a corrections officer in a prison. He feels led to work in the field of law enforcement because he has a strong desire to stand for what is right and protect people who need to be protected. I am a 4th grade teacher, and I love it, but I have wanted to be a mom ever since I can remember. Unfortunately, I have been diagnosed with endometriosis, and it isn’t likely I will ever get pregnant without lots of help. After I got this diagnosis, Josiah and I took a few years to prayerfully consider how we should grow our family. We felt God leading us to adopt, and so that is the journey we are on now! Life may not look the way we expected it to, but we are excited because we know God is going to use it to make something beautiful!

Teaching isn’t exactly like parenting, but when I think about what kind of mom I might be, that is where my mind goes. I am the kind of teacher who listens and cares. I take the things my kids are excited about and I try to incorporate their interests into what we are learning. I love to discover new things about life with them, and I’m not afraid to act a little silly while doing it! I love my students as if they were mine, and my experience teaching makes me confident that I will love any child God brings my way.

I’m looking forward to singing to my child, reading books, and joyfully learning alongside them every day. It’s hard to predict exactly what we will be like as parents, but I think Josiah and I will probably focus on cultivating a strong sense of self in our children. We will raise them to be independent and kind and to pursue their interests wholeheartedly. We’re a little bit silly, a little bit introverted, more than a little bit nerdy, but most importantly, we’re full of love and support. We love music, and we both participate in the praise team at our church. Our church is being so supportive of us and is very excited for us to adopt.

I have no word besides “grateful” to describe how I feel that God brought you to a point where you are reading this letter. You are beautiful. The child inside you is beautiful. And I pray that God makes this decision into something beautiful for you, too. We believe that your child should always hear you spoken of with love and gratitude. He or she will be so proud of you.

With blessings and gratitude,

Karen