Ethan is doing great. He likes to take long walks on the beach eat, sleep, and poop. Logan and I are having the time of our lives. We spend most of our time just staring at the little guy and thanking God for the privilege of having him in our family.

Please continue to pray for Ethan’s birth-mom. We have heard from the adoption agency that she is doing well. She knows she made the right decision but it is still a very difficult thing to walk through. Pray that God gives her strength and peace.

Please also continue to pray for us as we figure out how to be parents. We also still need to raise about $4900 to pay for the adoption. Please be in prayer for this and if you would like to give you can find out how on our partner page.

Alright now for the good stuff…

Please continue to pray for the situation with the birth father.

Also pray for the birth mom. These next few days will be a roller coaster of emotions. Pray for God’s peace to flood her heart.

Thanks for your prayers. We will keep you updated.

Here are some prayer points.

1. Pray for an easy delivery so she won’t need a c-section.
2. The birth father is being served today with papers to sign away his paternal rights. Pray he signs the papers quickly.

If the father signs and the delivery goes smoothly we could bring the little guy home as early as Friday.

We will keep you posted.

It looks like we may get a very special Christmas gift this year. For those of you who have been following our adoption journey, you know that this year has been a roller coaster of emotions. A few months ago we thought we were about to have a little guy added to our family and at the very last minute the birth-mom decided to keep her baby. It was tough to say the least, but even now we are confident that God answered our prayers to put the baby exactly where he was supposed to be even if that place wasn’t with us.

We have been on our adoption journey for a little over a year now and really have the desire to start this next phase of our lives called parenting. We still want to be a answer for a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation, but we also are aching to start a family of our own.

With a heart full of emotions brought on by the first adoption not happening, Logan prayed a short prayer to the Lord, and with longing-mother’s heart she asked for Jesus to give us a baby by Christmas. Now that prayer might sound a little funny but I believe God heard that prayer and was happy to send an answer our way. We found out recently that another girl had picked us as a family to adopt her baby and that the baby’s due date is December 25. Sometimes I think Jesus has a really good sense of humor and he really does hear our prayers. Don’t you?

Today we are about 10 days away from Christmas and our hearts are hopeful. We know that there is still the possibility that the mother could change her mind or some other circumstance could arise that might complicate things, but we have peace in our hearts that this is something God is orchestrating. We know He is answering Logan’s prayer for a Christmas baby and he is fulfilling our desire to help a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation at the same time.

Will you please stand with us in prayer over the next couple of weeks? Below are a few things you can pray for us:

• Pray for the birth mom. This will be a very trying and emotional time for her. Pray that she makes the best decision for her and for her baby.
• Pray for the baby. Pray that he continues to develop like he should and that there are no complications with the rest of the pregnancy and the delivery.
• Pray for us. We want to be ready to receive this wonderful gift.
• Pray for our finances. We still need to raise about $5000 to pay for the adoption and we will have extra monthly expenses to pay for the little guy.

If you would like to help financially with the adoption, you can find out more about giving on our partnership page.

Thank you so much for following along on our adoption journey. We will keep you posted as the events unfold.

Logan and I hope your Christmas season is blessed and filled with good things.

It’s been a long weekend

On Thursday, about the time that many of you received our last update, we got a phone call from our adoption caseworker. She told us that the birth mom was being released from the hospital. She wanted to take the baby home for a couple of days because she wanted to make sure she was making the right decision. Our caseworker told us that, most of the time, if a mom takes the baby home from the hospital she will decide to parent the baby. She also thought that they would probably not hear from the mother again.

As heartbreaking as this phone call was, we knew that the mother needed this time to make the hard decision of whether to place or to parent. We also knew that our caseworker was right and this would probably mean we would not be bringing this baby into our home.

Logan felt strongly from the Lord that we were to pray that the mom would call one more time to tell the adoption agency that she had decided to parent instead of just taking the baby home and getting into a routine and moving on. We have been praying all along that the mom would know what she was supposed to do and that she would have confidence in her decision. Calling the adoption agency to say she was parenting would be a good indication that she was confident in her decision.

The phone rang

The phone rang on Monday morning and it was our caseworker on the other end of the line. She had just got off the phone with the mom and she had called in one more time to let them know that she prayed all weekend and decided to parent. It was a direct answer to prayer. A few minutes earlier Logan was spending sometime in prayer and had asked God to prompt the mom to call and it was at that exact moment that she called the adoption agency.

Faithfulness, Grace, and Disappointment

Our two main prayers since we got the call that we might possibly get this baby have been 1.) that God would put this little guy right were he needs to be and 2.) that the mom would be confident in her decision to either place or parent.

We have seen the faithfulness of God at work over the last week as the baby has been born and the mom prayerfully wrestled over the decision to place or parent. We are confident that God has heard the many prayers that have been prayed over this situation and that He has been at work all along. It is because of this that we can say with confidence that this little guy is supposed to be with his mom, that she loves him, and that God is going to help her raise this child.

We have also experienced the grace of God in a new dimension. Way back in 2008, when we were in Washington D.C. praying for the end of abortion and revival in America God was planting a desire in our hearts about adoption. We already had the desire to have children and maybe even adopt, but God was adding a new desire. He added the desire to be a living answer to a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation. It was this desire that eventually lead us to begin the adoption process.

We know this process was a direct answer to those prayers and God’s grace in our life. We were able to be a support and a real alternative to a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation. Even though she decided to parent, she knew that she wasn’t backed into a corner. She knew that there was a family that was willing to help her and raise her baby if she felt like she couldn’t.

To be honest, our hearts are a little sad right now. We know God will give us children someday and our hearts are not sad simply because we didn’t get a baby. In praying and getting ready for the possibility of this little guy coming home with us, we had to open our hearts up to him. Because of this we do have a sense disappointment and loss of what could have been.

In the midst of our sadness we are confident in God’s faithfulness and grace and know that He is working all things together for our good because we love Him and have said yes to His purposes in our lives.

Thanks again to all of you who have been standing in prayer with us during this journey. For now it’s back to the waiting game and praying for God’s perfect timing in our lives.

As mosts of you know, Logan and I have been going through an adoption process for about a year now. Right now we are possibly approaching the finish line of that journey and the starting line of the new journey of parenthood. But we need your prayers. The next few days are very important for a young lady who is thinking about placing her little baby with us, for the baby and for Logan and I.

Let me catch you up

About a month ago we got a call from our adoption case worker that a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation has chosen Logan and I as adoptive parents for her baby. Our case worker warned us that there would be a significant possibility that the mom might change her mind once the child was born. As we prayed about what we should do, we felt like we were supposed to say yes and make our home available if the mom were to decide to place the baby with us.

The very next day we met with the mom and the adoption case worker. We have been praying for the mother of the child we would adopt for along time now. It is very exciting to think that we can now put a face to our prayers. Being able to see her face in our minds as we pray for her has made it much easier to pray for her and the baby. We left the meeting with excitement in our hearts at the possibility of bringing a baby into our home and being an answer to prayer for a mom in a really tough situation.

This past Tuesday, the baby was born. Both mom and baby boy are doing fine. She had a c-section and is pretty sore. In the state of Texas, a mother cannot terminate her parental rights until the baby is 48-hours old. That 48-hours has technically passed and now she has to make the hard choice of wether to place the little guy with us or choose to raise him herself.

Please be in prayer over the next few days for the mom, the baby boy, and Logan and I.

Here are a few prayer points

• That mom and baby would both continue to be healthy. Specifically that the mom would heal quickly from the c-section.
• That the mom would be able to hear God and make the most loving decision for her baby.
• That the mom would have no regrets with her decision.
• That the baby would not sense any of the tension and stress that is surrounding his little life right now.
• That Logan and I would be able to wait patiently as the mom prays and comes to a decision.
• Most of all that this little guy would be placed right where God wants him to be.

We will keep you updated with more information as it becomes available. We know that God has good plans for the mom, the baby, and for us. We would love to bring this little guy into our family, but most of all we want God’s will for his life to happen. Thanks for standing in prayer with us.

The other day, Logan was sitting at her desk at work and her cell phone rang. She looked to see who was calling and noticed that it was our adoption case-worker. Instantly her heart jumped into her throat and her mind began to race, “Could this be it? Are we about to find out that a mother has selected us as her adoptive family? Are we really ready to become parents?” She answered the phone only to find out that our case-worker just needed to double check some facts as she was filling out some paper work on us. This would not be the day when we found out we were going to bring home a new baby.

She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Her emotions of excitement and wonder were soon replaced with a sigh and a hint of sadness. But then it was time to get back to work and the thoughts of this experience would have to be pushed aside for now.

The roller coaster of emotions that we find ourselves on, with it’s quick ups and downs, is an exciting ride to say the least. Everyday is a waiting game. Many days, when my eyes open and it is still dark outside, the first thought to run through my head is, “I wonder if today is the day?” I say a quick prayer for our birth mother and her baby and ask God to be with her that day. I then say a quick prayer for Logan and I and ask God to help us be ready when that phone call comes and to help us wait with hope and patience until the moment is upon us.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for us as we wait for the Lord’s timing.
• Pray for our birth-mom and her unborn child.
• Pray for provision for our adoption. We still haven’t met our adoption goal of $7700

If you would like to find out more about how we are paying for our adoption and how you can be a part of the miracle of adoption, click here.

We are really excited and are waiting with hopeful anticipation for the day when we will get the “we have a baby for you” phone call from Loving Alternatives.

We are believing God for the finances to pay for this adoption. We have yet to meet our goal of $7700. If you feel like the Lord is leading you to give, please click here for more information on how you can do this. We would also love for you to be an advocate for us in raising money for our adoption. If you know of people who you think would like to hear about our adoption journey, please direct them to our website.

If you are just now finding out about our adoption journey and would like to peruse the annuls of its history you can click here to find out more.

Prayer Points:

1. Pray for peace. The last few days have been pretty stressful as we have tried to get everything finished for the home inspection.
2. Pray for favor. This last interview is crucial for us to be able to complete the homestudy and move forward in the adoption process.
3. Pray for our “Adoption Book.” We are almost done with our book and ready to send it to the printer. We hope to send it to print by the end of the week.
4. Pray for finances. Our “Adoption Fund” goal is $7700.

We appreciate your prayers. They really do make a difference. Thanks for following along in our adoption journey.

You might be asking yourself questions like:

1. How are they going to pay for an adoption?
2. Aren’t adoptions really expensive?
3. Are they crazy that they are going to adopt a child and they don’t have normal jobs to pay for it?

These are all legitimate questions and, to be honest, they are questions that we think about a lot. Again and again, we come to the conclusion God has called us to full-time service with YWAM and that He wants us to adopt.

So the answer to the questions above become very simple.

1. God is going to provide for the extra expense of an adoption and the extra expense of a child to care for.
2. God knows how much adoptions cost and He is not intimidated by the huge cost of them. (Actually, the cost isn’t huge to Him.)
3. And yes, we are crazy no, we are not crazy. We are living by faith.

Here is the cool part of living by faith. You get to be involved in the miracle of provision, not just for Logan and I, but for the child that we are welcoming into our home. By your financial investment, you get to help us express God’s heart of adoption to a real human being. Isn’t that cool?

The Practical Bits

Our adoption will cost us between $3000 and $7000. The adoption agency we are working with is a faith-based adoption agency and they do what ever they can to make the adoption process as inexpensive as possible. They do this by setting up a system for a sliding fee based on the adoptive parents income. With our level of income, our adoption fees will be towards the lower end of the spectrum compared to a typical adoption, which can cost as much as $30,000 – $40,000.

Our homestudy is going to cost us $700.

If you would like to financially help us reach our adoption goal of $7700, you may do so in one of three ways.

By check: (This option is tax-deductible)

If you would like to make a donation by check you can do so by mailing one to:

YWAM Accounting
PO Box 3000
Garden Valley, TX 75771

Due to IRS restrictions, please do not put our names on the check. Include a separate piece of paper indicating the donation is for “Kurt and Logan Hurst.” This will ensure the donation is credited to our account and that you will receive a tax-deductible receipt.

By Credit Card via YWAM Tyler: (This option is tax-deductible)

You can make credit card donations through YWAM Tyler’s accounting office Monday through Friday, 9:00am-12:00pm & 1:00pm-5:00pm CST.  Please call 1(903) 882-5591 and ask to speak to the accounting department.

By Credit Card via PayPal®: (This option is not tax-deductible)

You can make a credit card donation through the secure, online payment site, PayPal®.  To do so please click the button below.

These donations come directly to us and are not tax-deductible.