this is us.

We met when we were just twelve years old. It was my first day at a new school, and I only remember a few things about that day. The tall blonde who sat at the front of the row to my left in math class was one of them.

In ninth grade, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I'd say that the rest is history, but it's really not. I mean, yes, we ended up getting married. The journey to that point, however, was full of heartache, heartbreak, and forgiveness. Mostly forgiveness. And you know what? That's still the thing that gets us through our tough days.

We got engaged in September of 2010, and became husband and wife ten months later. The sixteenth of July, to be exact. After eight years of boundaries and guarding our hearts as best as we were able, we were finally married. What a precious gift to marry my Teesh!

Our relationship and marriage hasn't been perfect, but it has been good. Really, really good. Even the hardest times we have faced thus far have been used to make us stronger and steadier, we are constantly learning to love more wholeheartedly and step out of our comfort zones in faith.

One of the most, dare I say the most, trying times we have faced in our fourteen years of pursuing each other was the first few months we became parents. After getting pregnant and celebrating each milestone leading up to the birth of our son, we were both so excited when the day we would finally meet him arrived. Many of our family and friends remember the events that followed what seemed to be a regular labor and delivery, and I, personally, have relived it more times than I can count. Our precious Braxton Michael being born without bring effected by what was happening inside of my body was nothing short of a miracle, and we will never forget the faithfulness of God towards us during pregnancy and delivery.

I am the oldest of five kiddos, and I spent a lot of time from childhood to adulthood babysitting. That being the case, children have always tugged on my heart in a special way. I used to joke that I wanted twelve children, and you should have seen the looks I got in response! After Teesh and I began to seriously consider growing our family, we (I) laid out the perfect plan for how many kiddos we wanted and when we would start trying to make those dreams come true. We'd have three of our own, then wait until the youngest was a few years old and begin the adoption process. We committed these plans to the Lord, fully confident that He would grant our requests.

Then January 12th, 2015 came, and all of those carefully crafted plans began to shift.

There is always heartache involved when the dreams we make for ourselves vanish right before our eyes, and we certainly have experienced a whole lot of emotions all over the spectrum as a result of the new reality we found ourselves living in two years ago.

Since those months of healing that followed those first few really frightening days, we have been learning what it really means to cast our cares on the One who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7), trust in the Lord and lean not on our limited understanding of why things are the way things are (Proverbs 3:5), rejoice in the Lord no matter our circumstances (Philippians 4:4), and believe that even the hardest trials are meant for our good (Romans 8:28). In our seeking, we have found more than we could have ever imagined: we have found Jesus walking with us down every road, comforting us and reminding us that we have not been forgotten or abandoned. And we have really begun to learn that He really is better than the gifts He gives.

In seeking Him, we have also been intentionally seeking His way, His timing, and His promptings.

That's what we want to share with you now.

Instead of viewing our circumstances as God having robbed us of something or crushed our dreams, we are taking Him at His Word and believing that His promises are true. And we are stepping out in faith to walk the path that He has revealed to us.

Family and friends, we are overjoyed to announce that we are adopting!

Braxton will soon be a BIG BROTHER, and we can hardly contain our excitement and anticipation for this prayer to come to fruition!

We are still in the very early stages of this process, and we have no idea how long it will be before we become parents to a precious new baby. The only things we do know at this point are: 1) God has revealed to us that it is time to grow our family again, 2) we will have no control over how and when it happens, thus we will have to trust Him for all of it, and 3) we cannot accomplish this without lots of support.

Many of you helped us spend a month in Haiti several years ago, as well as helped us return there last year, and we are boldly, expectantly, and humbly asking for you to help us again. Although we do not know exact numbers quite yet, we do know that this will be the most money that we have ever raised, especially in such a short time. But with God's favor partnered with your support and prayers, we are confident that we will be fully funded very soon! We have several fundraising options that we will be sharing with you soon, and we are praying that every person who read these words would be prompted to lock arms with us as we trek forward.

For now, would you consider praying for us? We are stepping out into waters that we have never been before, and we are quite anxious about this new adventure. A good, God-fearing type of anxious, but still anxious nevertheless. We are wholeheartedly committed to this process, and we are thrilled and honored to keep all of you updated along the way.

We can't wait to add another Bargeron to the family tree!

To God be the glory forever!