Our Founder’s Story

The Lord gave me (Corey) the phrase Always Endure to be my battle cry just before I began treatment for Stage 2a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer in 2013. I knew treatment would be extremely difficult, yet I was determined to never give up! Though treatment days were very hard on my body, I endured, clinging to my Lord and His daily deposits of grace and strength. My girlfriend, Brittany, was my primary caregiver during this difficult season (she became my fiancé after my first round of chemotherapy). Brittany provided me the best care I could ever receive. She took me to chemotherapy treatments, helped get me settled afterwards at my house, and was there for me throughout this season. I was declared to be in remission in 2014 after we returned from our honeymoon, and we were debt free from all treatment expenses, which FAR exceeded $100,000. This was only possible because the Lord provided through members of our community who had come together to cover every need I had throughout the many months of cancer treatment. Our wonderful home town was there for us over and over, not only financially but also by delivering meals to my house, driving me to work when I was too tired to drive myself, and mowing my grass during treatments weeks.

From 2014 through 2018, we tried to grow our family. Though we were told that we had a 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, we knew that God can do whatever He wants to do. We eventually found out that Brittany was expecting! Britt & I were so excited to see the Lord work this miracle after healing me from cancer. However, six weeks later, the pregnancy ended when Britt miscarried. We were filled with so many emotions. We navigated through anger, confusion, and bitterness as we clung tightly to each other and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ongoing infertility led us to pursue reproductive medical procedures, but these too ended in miscarrying three more children in consecutive miscarriages. We didn't know what God was up to, but we trusted Him. We had questions about why He called our four babies home before we ever met them but knew, as hard as it was, that He was working for His glory and our good.

Many months went by as we continued to seek the Lord and desired to grow our family. Eventually, He got us both on the same page to pursue private adoption. We began fundraising and saving money in Fall 2017 and became an “active” adoptive family in January 2018. Active means birth mothers could choose us to parent their child. Over the next seven months, we were presented to five different birth mothers, each ultimately choosing a different family. Each time we weren't chosen, we were heartbroken but continued to rest in God's sovereign plan for our family.

The fifth birth mother who chose another family was especially difficult for us. For a week or so leading up to that mom’s decision day, Britt & I began to receive messages from several of our prayer warriors who did not know each other. Each of them told us that the Holy Spirit was telling them that we would be chosen by a birth mother very soon. Even Teddy, our Yorkie, knew God was bringing us to a newborn baby soon. He never went upstairs on his own, but suddenly began going upstairs and sleeping by the crib in our future child’s bedroom. After all of that happening, you can imagine our confusion and heartache when that birth mother did not choose us.

But God! Two days later, Brittany got a Facebook message from another pastor’s wife/friend while we were serving at a church event. She said that the Lord had told her to send us a case she saw about a baby girl in California even though the child wasn't through our adoption agency. We thought we were crazy for entertaining the idea because it was across the country and required an additional $20,000 plus travel expenses, which we did not have at the time. However, we felt the Holy Spirit's leading to pursue this child.

We stayed up until midnight creating a mini profile to send to the law firm and went to bed saying, "This is crazy. What did we just do?" The next evening, we got a call from the adoption law firm in California that the birth mother had chosen us! We were told that if we didn’t choose to parent this child, Child Protective Services (CPS) was already at the hospital to take the child into foster care. Furthermore, we needed to be in California in 48 hours with the $20,000 cashiers check, planning to live there for a month. Brittany and I looked at each other and said yes in faith to adopt this newborn baby girl. In the midst of hugging and celebrating, we prayed, giving the Lord our need and trusting Him to provide for His glory.

And that is exactly what God did through our village in less than 24 hours! Two families gave us $10,000 and many others provided funding that covered our roundtrip airfare, nearly three weeks of hotel expenses (they also paid for breakfast vouchers), rental car, daily meals/groceries and other needed funds! We made it to California barely before the 48 hour window. The next day we met our girl in the NICU for the first time. Years of heartache, tears, questions, and discouragement instantly dissipated. Our Bella Faith, "Beautiful Faith", had captured our hearts, and we gave God glory and honor and praise for His unending faithfulness!

All fees and expenses included, our adoption cost around $60,000. We praise the Lord often for our village of family and friends who generously gave to our adoption. We expanded our nonprofit in 2020 to help remove financial barriers for adoptive families the Lord has led to pursue adoption through awarding adoption aid grants. There are well over 100,000 children waiting to be adopted in our country, and we desire to help as many as possible receive their forever home by making adoption more affordable for adoptive families.

As the Lord continues to write our story for His glory, Always Endure expanded again in 2022 to remove barriers to placement for children in foster care. Before we adopted Bella Faith, we had prayed about becoming foster parents and/or involved somehow in the foster care system. However, we felt the Lord telling us to wait. Now, several years later, the Lord has moved in our hearts and those on our Board to remove barriers to placement for youth in foster care. Through our village - our incredible hometown community - House of Hope was built and opened debt free in 2025 to serve youth in foster care and be a resource for local foster families. Not only that but several months before House of Hope officially opened, I received an anonymous text message from a local teacher asking Brittany and I to consider fostering a local youth who was removed from their home due to abuse and neglect. The Holy Spirit moved us to say yes to this child, and we became their foster parents a couple months later.

As of June 2026, we have cared for this child for 15 months. When our journey began, we knew foster care would be hard, but have been days when the behaviors, meltdowns, and challenges felt overwhelming. There have been moments when we questioned whether we were equipped for what they needed. We prayed constantly for wisdom, patience, healing, and the tools to help them thrive. We have learned so much since this child entered our home —not just about parenting a child from a difficult place, but about connection, consistency, and building trust. We have seen growth in our daughter, growth in ourselves, and growth in our relationship together. The changes haven't happened overnight, but they have been nothing short of remarkable. Foster care is hard. It stretches your heart, your patience, and your faith. But it is also one of the most rewarding things we've ever done. Watching healing happen, even in small steps, makes every difficult day worth it.

I don’t know why the Lord our God chose us to start this nonprofit ministry, but He has blessed and prospered it year over year. There is literally nothing good in us but Jesus. And God knows that whatever He does in and through our family, board, and volunteers, we will be faithful to give Him the glory and the praise. It is so humbling to be used as an instrument in His hands!

“Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” — William Carey