Ray Family Adoption

A sincere thank you for visiting our Go Fund Me Page. For those of you who have journeyed with us for the past 8 years through the mountaintops and valleys of praying and believing for another child, there is nothing more exciting than being able to make this announcement. Justin and I and our boys Robert and Walter are adopting a baby boy who is due at the end of March. This miracle came about in the most serendipitous way.

Our story ….

Justin and I got married on July 26th, 2008. We had always thought we would wait several years before having children. Then, when on our honeymoon, we found ourselves surrounded by families with little ones having the time of their lives together. It was at that time we decided we would try to start a family of our own. I got pregnant with Robert that December, and he was born August 31st, 2009. Welcoming our first son changed our lives forever, and we found the ultimate joy of becoming parents. During the spring and summer of 2010, Justin began to have severe back and stomach pain. We initially thought he was passing a kidney stone, but his symptoms progressed quickly and they painted a much scarier picture for the otherwise healthy 26-year-old. In July of 2010, Justin was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I will never, ever forget that phone call. This was a devastating time for my family as my dad had just recently been diagnosed with terminal metastatic melanoma and given 1 year to live. Many of you reading this circled around us and held us together as we fought for healing for my Dad and for Justin. Shortly after both of these diagnoses, Justin and I felt strongly that we needed to take a stand for life. In that same week, with Justin quite sick, we conceived Walter, our life baby. Without a doubt, I can say Walter was sent straight from heaven to bring us joy in our darkest days. December 3rd, 2010, we lost my dad and shortly after that, Justin, who had been in remission for a short time, had an aggressive relapse of lymphoma with the only cure being a stem cell transplant. This treatment involved chemotherapy, full body radiation and ultimately the stem cell transplant. I will never forget sitting in a small treatment room with Justin and our two babies as the doctors went over all the details of the treatment. The price, and commitment to have 24 hour care for Justin, and the necessity of moving into medical housing were just a few of the expensive and daunting details. Justin courageously faced this all, and has now been in remission for over 11 years. As we were completing all of our exit appointments from his treatment, we asked the doctor what our chances were of having a baby in the future. She said less than 1%. However, our nurse encouraged us by saying that we should not give up on having more children because she had seen it happen. Two years after Justin was in remission, we began trying for another child. We have been trying ever since. There have been multiple moments along the way where God had spoken directly to me about a promised child. With our hearts full of hope and faith we walked the absolutely beautiful yet heart wrenching journey of infertility for years and years. My heart goes out to anyone on that journey. We have become so familiar with this road that it has become a part of us. There were many moments of tears and anger but we always returned to the guiding light in our lives, that our God is faithful to complete every word He promised us. We had considered adoption on several occasions; however, up until now we haven’t proceeded in that direction. It always seemed too expensive and unattainable. This past December, our extended family came together to love on a family for Christmas, and Justin and I took part in that. It was through this beautiful connection that this adoption was birthed. We’ve prayed and know this boy is blessing from God, a return on what was stolen from us during Justin’s battle with cancer. We are honored to have crossed paths with this brave mother wanting the best for her son. So we are asking again that you would circle around our family and help us as we prepare for this miracle. We are raising money to help cover the costs associated with this private direct placement adoption. Thank you for reading our story and partnering with us. We know there are amazing plans and purposes for the life of this boy, Joshua Thomas Ray.