Family

I have a great family.

I met my wife when I was a freshman in high school. We attended the same church and were in the same group on a Mexico Missions trip. She was one grade older and clearly out of my league! When I was a junior, Misha asked me to her senior Prom for our first date! I was terrified the entire night.

Misha and I dated through college. I graduated from Azusa Pacific University and she graduated from the University of San Diego. Upon graduating, I worked at Saddleback Church and Misha taught the second grade. After dating for seven years, we got married. We’ve been married for 25 years.

We have five kids. All boys. Max, Marc, Morgan, Miller, and Mac. Our house is loud and filled with lots of laughter and wrestling. When they were younger, it was impossible to get a family photo where all of our kids are smiling.

Our two oldest boys, Max and Marc, were conceived naturally. When we couldn’t get pregnant for three years after Marc was born, we decided to adopt. The adoption lawyer presented three options: international, domestic, or something called ‘the snowflake’ program. In the U.S. (at that time), there were more than 400,000 frozen embryos in storage. According to the law, embryos are not considered “life.” However, it is illegal to destroy them. The snowflake program allows couples to adopt these embryos. After hearing this, we immediately felt like this was where God was leading us. We adopted an embryo and Misha gave birth 9 months later, even though he was not “ours” genetically. This was our third son, Morgan.

He was frozen for ten years before he was born. Crazy.

Miller, our fourth son, was a private adoption, and three months into that pregnancy, Misha got pregnant with Mac, our youngest. It seems to happen all the time: people who can’t get pregnant conceive a child after adopting one.

Our two oldest are in college (Max and Marc). Our three youngest are in high school (Morgan, Miller, Mac). Our kids are great! I’m proud of who they are becoming. Naturally, I’m a little biased!

Misha is the center of gravity in our family, holding everything together and makes everything happen. I usually call her The Mish because she is a force of nature. Everyone who knows her is amazed by her and they have good reason to be!

I love ministry, my calling is to serve others and help them know God more. I have a strong family and that allows me to devote a lot of energy towards ministry.