Our Story

Hey Ya’ll, Thanks so much for being here and reading about our story. We are so glad you found us :). First off, if you don’t know us and just saw our shared story from a mutual friend, we are The Junkers. I am Lauren and my husbands name is Tommy. We have been married for 7 years and have two biological children named Holden and Emerson. Holden is 7, in first grade and LOVES sports & being outdoors. Emerson is almost 6, in Kindergarten and is our little artist & free spirit!

Lets go back to the beginning, when Tommy and I were engaged there was a little girl in the ICU that I was taking care of, that I immediately came home and told him, “Hey, I will foster this little girl if no one comes forward, I just want you to know this is on my heart and if you’re not on board we probably shouldn’t get married”. He laughed and said, “wait, what?”….which then opened the door to us discussing having our own children, adoption, fostering and the thought has just never left our minds. Fast forward to us having two babies back to back and me being so extremely ill it wasn’t advised for us to have anymore children of our own. So, we settled in…the four of us. Something was always missing for me, our family just didn’t feel complete. But, as most of ya’ll know, with two under two… we were in the thick of it. Tommy was traveling a lot for work and in our free time we were spending as much time with his family as possible, sadly, his dad passed away in 2017 from ALS. We are so thankful to have gotten to spend the time with him that we did, and that he is watching over Holden and Emerson in the loving arms of Our Saviour.

That brings us to 2019, we were ready to adopt. Holden was about to go into Kindergarten, Emerson was a little more self sufficient and Tommy wasn’t traveling as much. Then, Tommy lost his job…and then COVID happened- shutting down most of 2020. I kept praying & God kept presenting people and things and jobs (with photography) into my life, just little reminders that “This is something you will do, in my timing. Be patient, I will provide for you.”.

Fast forward to 2021 when Tommy went to lunch with his mom and they talked about adoption, how he felt his heart being pulled towards it and now was the time. He wanted to think his thoughts out loud before coming to me because, if you know me…I am a GO GETTER. You give me a green light and I’m ALL IN. 100%. A month went by and he prayed and asked God to give us a sign that now was the time. Insert the “Tx Anti abortion Bill” (praise Jesus). It was our time, we both looked at each other knowing what the other was going to say….and so the process began.

We are SO incredibly humbled and thankful that God has softened our hearts at the right timing for both of us. We are so incredibly blessed to have family and friends that have been 100% supportive of our decision and helped us through the HOURS and HOURS of paperwork that has been needed to get us to here. Which is, YOU. I believe God brought you to this page for a reason. Whether that be to soften your heart a little more to adoption, to feel lead to donate to help us in ours, or to pray fervently for our little family…. whatever the reason…we cannot say thank you enough. Thank YOU, for being in our corner, praying us through this process and for letting others know & pray with us too.

From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

<3, The Junkers (Matthew 21:22)