Erich Austin (but I go by Austin)

I grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadephia, with my parents and my older brother and sister. During High School at Central Bucks High School East, I applied to, and was accepted to, both Penn State, and Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. My sense of adventure won out, and in the fall of 1997, I set foot in Colorado for the first time. My freshman year of college was characterized by unrestrained freedom, mostly on the ski slopes! Scholatic acheivment was not a felt need, so I took a year off to "figure out what I was doing in life". I spent the year snowboarding in Summit County, CO, with a few high school buddies. That year I made some of my first Christian friends at Rocky Mountain Bible Church in Frisco. I sang in the choir, I invited friends to church, but I would not surrender my life and desires to Jesus Christ. At the end of the year, I began asking questions like "Why am I here?" and "Where am I going"? Not finding any good answers, I returned to Fort Lewis to get a degree and get on with the American Dream. During my second year at Fort Lewis, a staff member of the campus ministry shared the Gospel with me and I faced my personal sin, and embraced the love and forgiveness of Christ for the first time. The following years as a student, God gave me a heart to reach others with His love and the message of reconciling men to Himself. After getting aquainted with Laura for six months, we knew we were both headed in the same direction in life and we got engaged. 8 months later we were married in Durango. Soon after that we joined staff with Master Plan Ministries as college ministers at Fort Lewis. Over the last 13 years of college ministry we have led mission trips to six different countries, and have had six children. We now live in the foothills of Durango and I serve the staff of Master Plan Ministries by wearing many hats and serving in various ways including assissting the President and the Treasurer with administrative tasks, training and coaching the new staff, staff wide communication, IT coordination, conference coordinator, and resource development.
Laura Leann

I grew up in Denver where I put my trust in Christ as a result of going to watch my friend in a church play in 7th grade. The Pastor talked to me about how to have a relationship with Christ and that day I made a decision to give Christ the control of my life and forgive my sin. I went to Fort Lewis College in Durango (where I met Austin) and had a privilege to be a leader with Young Life, working with high school students. The first time I went into the high school, I met some girls that I built relationships and had opportunity to share the Gospel with. They put their trust in Christ and continually introduced me to their friends, who also gave their lives to Christ. This lead to leading my first Bible study which is what God used to cultivate my heart for ministry. At this point I realized there was nothing else that I wanted to do more. After my years working with Young Life I did a discipleship training school with Youth with a Mission in Nepal. After returning to Durango Colorado, I interned with Master Plan Ministries and the Lord brought Austin into my life. We got married August 4th, 2001 and have been doing college ministry since. We love how God has blessed us with each other and with a passion to reach students for Christ!
Asher Steven

Austin and I had been trying to have kids for 2 1/2 years to no avail. Along with many friends we were praying that God would start our family. Because God was teaching me about taking my heart whole-heartedly before Him, I started telling God that I really wanted to start a family. I was praying for a little boy, Asher Steven. Then in November a lot of “coincidental” things started happening. Our alarm was set to the radio to wake us up, so we found ourselves waking up every morning to a story of adoption. Therefore most mornings in November we woke up in tears because of the touching story. Also in November, Austin spoke at a men’s retreat while the same time I spoke at a women’s retreat. Though these were separate retreats, we each had a special divine appointment with someone close to adoption. Austin spent some time with a guy who had been adopted while I spent time with a grandma of two girls who placed their babies for adoption. Both of these people were extremely supportive of adoption. Austin and I had always wanted to adopt but we thought we would wait till we had a couple children biologically. Our hearts and minds were starting to think of the possibility of adopting now instead of later. The more we thought about it, the more excited we got. We decided to pick an agency and get information. Then we would decide if we would go forward or continue the long process of working with doctors.
January 12th we went to the informational meeting with Bethany Christian Services. On January 13th we received a surprise email from a friend saying that she knew a lady who knew a girl who was pregnant and was considering placing the baby for adoption. She was wondering if we were interested. Of course we said YES! (Though we weren’t really expecting anything to happen) Two weeks later this friend of ours’ church had us come speak, which happened to be very close to were the birth mom lives! So we got to meet her and hear her story of why she wanted to place the baby for adoption. During this meeting she told us her husband was not really in agreement. So, driving home we were thinking that it would be neat but would’nt really happen. Two weeks later the birth dad calls us up and said that he thinks it really would be the best thing to do for the baby, but couldn’t imagine having it go through without meeting us. So we drove out to have lunch with the both of them (who Austin and I both like) and had a great conversation.
The adoption was moving forward… we couldn’t believe it! During our conversation with them they had wondered about names, if we wanted their input on names. We already had names picked out so we were thinking through if we would be willing to change them. Then the birth mom says “if it is a girl, then I don’t care what you name her. But I had a brother who died when I was younger and if I ever had a boy I always wanted to name him Steven.” My mouth just dropped since I had been praying for little Asher Steven! (Asher is a Biblical name meaning Happy and Steven is my dad’s name). After our meeting with them, we had the “hard” meeting with the adoption agency. They had to drill it into our heads that there is a 5-10% chance that she could change her mind up to two weeks after he was born. This was the hardest day of the whole process which taught me so much about God’s love. I felt the fear of laying my heart out there only for it to be ripped away. But I realized that is what God does for us. And instead of a 5% chance of laying it out there and not being loved Him back, there is a 99% chance in some countries. But He laid down His everything… willing to face the reality that He wouldn’t be loved back. Later that day, the birth mom called asking if I wanted a crib and bassinette. This was like God’s gift to me. Reminding us she was very serious about us adopting. We got to go to two ultrasounds and see little Asher on TV.
During that time the birth mom told us that she had told her two other little girls that “Austin and Laura can’t have babies of their own and God is letting me carry one for them” (We are not sure if we can have biological children or not- but that is just how she could explain it to her daughters who are 1 and 3.) How awesome!! Her oldest would continually say “NO, my baby”. So, we started praying and God sure enough showed His compassion. My mom had the birth mom and the oldest daughter over for lunch and right in the middle of lunch the little girl reached over putting a hand on her mom’s belly and said “little baby Asher goes to you” as she pointed at me. My heart just about melted. July 10th we all went in to the hospital for little Asher to be induced. Finally at 3:52pm I got to see my little baby boy enter the world. I got to be the first one to hold him while Austin came in and cut the umbillical chord. God worked it out that we got to stay in the hospital one night and across the street the next night and was able to go in the nursery to feed him. I am so grateful to the birth mom for letting me love and care for him those first days of his life. Austin and I have LOVED this journey and seen and understood God so much more through the process.
Asher is a kind, generous guy that loves and excels in all things theatre. He also plays soccer and is our go to helper when we can't figure out how to do things. He is a natural leader and loves playing guitar and singing.
January 12th we went to the informational meeting with Bethany Christian Services. On January 13th we received a surprise email from a friend saying that she knew a lady who knew a girl who was pregnant and was considering placing the baby for adoption. She was wondering if we were interested. Of course we said YES! (Though we weren’t really expecting anything to happen) Two weeks later this friend of ours’ church had us come speak, which happened to be very close to were the birth mom lives! So we got to meet her and hear her story of why she wanted to place the baby for adoption. During this meeting she told us her husband was not really in agreement. So, driving home we were thinking that it would be neat but would’nt really happen. Two weeks later the birth dad calls us up and said that he thinks it really would be the best thing to do for the baby, but couldn’t imagine having it go through without meeting us. So we drove out to have lunch with the both of them (who Austin and I both like) and had a great conversation.
The adoption was moving forward… we couldn’t believe it! During our conversation with them they had wondered about names, if we wanted their input on names. We already had names picked out so we were thinking through if we would be willing to change them. Then the birth mom says “if it is a girl, then I don’t care what you name her. But I had a brother who died when I was younger and if I ever had a boy I always wanted to name him Steven.” My mouth just dropped since I had been praying for little Asher Steven! (Asher is a Biblical name meaning Happy and Steven is my dad’s name). After our meeting with them, we had the “hard” meeting with the adoption agency. They had to drill it into our heads that there is a 5-10% chance that she could change her mind up to two weeks after he was born. This was the hardest day of the whole process which taught me so much about God’s love. I felt the fear of laying my heart out there only for it to be ripped away. But I realized that is what God does for us. And instead of a 5% chance of laying it out there and not being loved Him back, there is a 99% chance in some countries. But He laid down His everything… willing to face the reality that He wouldn’t be loved back. Later that day, the birth mom called asking if I wanted a crib and bassinette. This was like God’s gift to me. Reminding us she was very serious about us adopting. We got to go to two ultrasounds and see little Asher on TV.
During that time the birth mom told us that she had told her two other little girls that “Austin and Laura can’t have babies of their own and God is letting me carry one for them” (We are not sure if we can have biological children or not- but that is just how she could explain it to her daughters who are 1 and 3.) How awesome!! Her oldest would continually say “NO, my baby”. So, we started praying and God sure enough showed His compassion. My mom had the birth mom and the oldest daughter over for lunch and right in the middle of lunch the little girl reached over putting a hand on her mom’s belly and said “little baby Asher goes to you” as she pointed at me. My heart just about melted. July 10th we all went in to the hospital for little Asher to be induced. Finally at 3:52pm I got to see my little baby boy enter the world. I got to be the first one to hold him while Austin came in and cut the umbillical chord. God worked it out that we got to stay in the hospital one night and across the street the next night and was able to go in the nursery to feed him. I am so grateful to the birth mom for letting me love and care for him those first days of his life. Austin and I have LOVED this journey and seen and understood God so much more through the process.
Asher is a kind, generous guy that loves and excels in all things theatre. He also plays soccer and is our go to helper when we can't figure out how to do things. He is a natural leader and loves playing guitar and singing.
Uriah John

At Asher's six month finalization we called the lady who has connected us with the birth mom to say thank you. She told us the birthmom had something coming up on her horizon that she would probably want to talk to us about. Two months later the birthmom called us and said she was so emabarrassed and pregnant again. She asked us if we were willing to adopt this baby as well. We of course were so excited! God was giving us Irish twins.
The birth mom invited us to the ultrasound and found out it was a boy. We decided to name him Uriah John. Uriah was one of David's mighty men and is known to be a man of incredible honor and integrity and John is Austin's dad's name. When it was time for Uriah to arrive on the scene, I drove out to where he would be born while Austin stayed with Asher until the last minute. The night the birth mom went into labor Austin flew out. As I was waiting for his plane to arrive before I went to the airport, I was questioning if we really should name Uriah. It is such a unique name. I was asking God about it and what came on the tv was a documentary about the Hittites. They started talking about Uriah and how "it is one of the most redemptive stories in the Bible" Wow! What tv show talks about Uriah the Hittite? And the second after I was asking God if we really should name him that. Oh I love how great God is!
Austin arrived at the airport and we drove to the hospital, Uriah was born 10 minutes later. The hospital stay, just as it was with Asher was wonderful. The birth mom was so gracious in letting us hold him and take care of him. I respect and admire her so much for being able to make such a loving, sacrifical decision. She had always wanted a boy but her circumstances were such that she didn't want to bring anybody else into it. She chose to do what was best for the boys at her own hurt. Oh that we would be able to choose to sacrifically do whats in the best interest of another. Being pregnant and giving birth is extremely inconvient. But she choose to not bow to the idol of inconvience in aborting the babies and instead choose to give life. And how grateful we are!!
Uriah loves soccer, legos and snowboarding. He is our resident comedian and loves to cook and hunt.
The birth mom invited us to the ultrasound and found out it was a boy. We decided to name him Uriah John. Uriah was one of David's mighty men and is known to be a man of incredible honor and integrity and John is Austin's dad's name. When it was time for Uriah to arrive on the scene, I drove out to where he would be born while Austin stayed with Asher until the last minute. The night the birth mom went into labor Austin flew out. As I was waiting for his plane to arrive before I went to the airport, I was questioning if we really should name Uriah. It is such a unique name. I was asking God about it and what came on the tv was a documentary about the Hittites. They started talking about Uriah and how "it is one of the most redemptive stories in the Bible" Wow! What tv show talks about Uriah the Hittite? And the second after I was asking God if we really should name him that. Oh I love how great God is!
Austin arrived at the airport and we drove to the hospital, Uriah was born 10 minutes later. The hospital stay, just as it was with Asher was wonderful. The birth mom was so gracious in letting us hold him and take care of him. I respect and admire her so much for being able to make such a loving, sacrifical decision. She had always wanted a boy but her circumstances were such that she didn't want to bring anybody else into it. She chose to do what was best for the boys at her own hurt. Oh that we would be able to choose to sacrifically do whats in the best interest of another. Being pregnant and giving birth is extremely inconvient. But she choose to not bow to the idol of inconvience in aborting the babies and instead choose to give life. And how grateful we are!!
Uriah loves soccer, legos and snowboarding. He is our resident comedian and loves to cook and hunt.
Eden Noelle

Austin and I heard about snowflake adoption (adopting an embryo that was made through other couples who have done in-vitro fertilization and choose to let other couple adopt the embryos they choose not to implant. There are over 400,000 babies in freezers waiting to be adopted and only 200 people have ever chosen this route of adoption.) Galatians 6:10 says, "as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people..." Austin and I hadnt used any sort of birth control for 5 years and have never gotten pregant. Doctors said I had unexplained infertility but I had a womb to carry a baby. God had given us "opportunity" to provide a womb for a baby to grow in... a home.
So, we started the process. After 3 Dr.'s appointments, things came into perspective. It was going to be twice as much money as we thought, the drive to the Dr. was really far from us, and I was going to have to give myself shots (I hate needles!!) everyday for 3 months! The list goes on and on of inconveniences. On my first drive home from the doctor, as I was crying and telling God I wasn't sure if I could do it. He reminded me that life was worth it... LIFE is worth the inconvenience. So, I determined not to bow to the idol of convenience.
After Dr. appointment #2, hearing about the 1 1/2" long needle I would have to give myself everyday, not having coffee, having to be on bed rest for 2 days and not being able to lift my boys for 2 weeks I thought, "God, for real, I really don't think I can do this." After Dr. appointment #3 some tests didn't work and some even more invasive procedures were going to have to be done, I started questioning the "calling" and hoping and praying for God to give me some sign that He really wanted us to do this. How crazy! I actually turned to a mystical experience or circumstance when it got hard rather than trusting that God's Word and believing it was right and was enough. I Love God's Word and that is why it weirds me out that my default when things got hard was to put my trust in mysticism and circumstances. Yuck! Why in the world does it seem like circumstances (which can totally be set up by Satan sometimes) and mystical experience or feelings would be more reliable that God's Word when things got hard? Austin said it is like when our faith is bumping up against our flesh that we tend to look for other life lines.
What an eye opener to even the word "calling". How really most of the time when we say that, we are meaning we had some experience or mystical feeling or circumstance and that means God wants us to do something. Instead of just reading His Word and realizing that He for real wants us to do something whether we "feel" like it or not. God has "called" us to do what's right, to share our faith, to take the gospel to those who haven't heard, to pray etc.
But God is so great... oh how His grace is sufficient! The next day He spoke verse after verse to me and opened my eyes to this and gave me strength to trust Him and His Word more than anything else.
Here's the verses He spoke to me regarding moving forward with this adoption.
"But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed" 1 Pet. 4:13
"Let us not become weary in doing good" Gal. 6:9
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is true worship." Heb. 12:2
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18
"Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me." Mt 25:40
"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out... who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 7:18, 24, 25
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (He took on physical infliction for the benefit of those who couldn't do anything about their condition. Through his suffering He freed us from what held us back from doing what were created to do-glorify Him.Carrying this baby would give it opportunity to experience life and give it opportunity to do what he or she was created to do-glorify God)
"My grace is sufficient for you..." 2 Cor. 12:9
All these verses made it clear to keep moving forward step by step although we wernt sure about the timing. We called the embryo (fertilized egg-a person with complete DNA) adoption agency we had got information from and told her we decided to move forward with adopting the 1/2 white, 1/2 pakistani babies she asked us to consider adopting. At first we were hesitant and told her we didn’t think we were ready to adopt a different race. After a couple weeks of praying and thinking about it, we called her back and asked if we could move forward with those embryos. She told us she had just placed them with another family that morning. The same time Austin was on the phone with her, our other adoption agency (who did our home study for the boys) called me and said they lost our finger prints and we had to start all over. Since we wernt sure of the right time, so we decided to move forward in trying to do the transfer in Feb. Because of these setbacks, February would be impossible.
It turned out that at the exact day of these phone calls, I was pregnant. But here I was pregnant. November 17th, Eden Noelle was born. I wondered why in the world did God make it clear to take steps forward in adopting embryos. Why did He bring so many verses to mind about laying down your body and enduring suffering? Preganancy for me was not fun or pleasant in any way. And the birth was no great either. After 18 hours of labor and the baby not dropping and not doing well, they gave me a c-section. That’s when they found the cord was around her body and around her neck 3 times.
Eden was born a healthy 7lb 12oz baby and is adored by her brothers. God sure is full of surprizes.
Eden has talent coming out her ears. Because of her perseverance and coachability, I believe she can do anything. She loves volleyball, cheerleading (especially stunting and tumbling), soccer, snowboarding, crafting and painting nails. She is fun loving, kind and is a natural leader. She started FCA at the Durango's Miller Middle School although she is homeschooled. She also has started another Christian Club at Bayfield Middle School.
So, we started the process. After 3 Dr.'s appointments, things came into perspective. It was going to be twice as much money as we thought, the drive to the Dr. was really far from us, and I was going to have to give myself shots (I hate needles!!) everyday for 3 months! The list goes on and on of inconveniences. On my first drive home from the doctor, as I was crying and telling God I wasn't sure if I could do it. He reminded me that life was worth it... LIFE is worth the inconvenience. So, I determined not to bow to the idol of convenience.
After Dr. appointment #2, hearing about the 1 1/2" long needle I would have to give myself everyday, not having coffee, having to be on bed rest for 2 days and not being able to lift my boys for 2 weeks I thought, "God, for real, I really don't think I can do this." After Dr. appointment #3 some tests didn't work and some even more invasive procedures were going to have to be done, I started questioning the "calling" and hoping and praying for God to give me some sign that He really wanted us to do this. How crazy! I actually turned to a mystical experience or circumstance when it got hard rather than trusting that God's Word and believing it was right and was enough. I Love God's Word and that is why it weirds me out that my default when things got hard was to put my trust in mysticism and circumstances. Yuck! Why in the world does it seem like circumstances (which can totally be set up by Satan sometimes) and mystical experience or feelings would be more reliable that God's Word when things got hard? Austin said it is like when our faith is bumping up against our flesh that we tend to look for other life lines.
What an eye opener to even the word "calling". How really most of the time when we say that, we are meaning we had some experience or mystical feeling or circumstance and that means God wants us to do something. Instead of just reading His Word and realizing that He for real wants us to do something whether we "feel" like it or not. God has "called" us to do what's right, to share our faith, to take the gospel to those who haven't heard, to pray etc.
But God is so great... oh how His grace is sufficient! The next day He spoke verse after verse to me and opened my eyes to this and gave me strength to trust Him and His Word more than anything else.
Here's the verses He spoke to me regarding moving forward with this adoption.
"But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed" 1 Pet. 4:13
"Let us not become weary in doing good" Gal. 6:9
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is true worship." Heb. 12:2
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18
"Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me." Mt 25:40
"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out... who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 7:18, 24, 25
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (He took on physical infliction for the benefit of those who couldn't do anything about their condition. Through his suffering He freed us from what held us back from doing what were created to do-glorify Him.Carrying this baby would give it opportunity to experience life and give it opportunity to do what he or she was created to do-glorify God)
"My grace is sufficient for you..." 2 Cor. 12:9
All these verses made it clear to keep moving forward step by step although we wernt sure about the timing. We called the embryo (fertilized egg-a person with complete DNA) adoption agency we had got information from and told her we decided to move forward with adopting the 1/2 white, 1/2 pakistani babies she asked us to consider adopting. At first we were hesitant and told her we didn’t think we were ready to adopt a different race. After a couple weeks of praying and thinking about it, we called her back and asked if we could move forward with those embryos. She told us she had just placed them with another family that morning. The same time Austin was on the phone with her, our other adoption agency (who did our home study for the boys) called me and said they lost our finger prints and we had to start all over. Since we wernt sure of the right time, so we decided to move forward in trying to do the transfer in Feb. Because of these setbacks, February would be impossible.
It turned out that at the exact day of these phone calls, I was pregnant. But here I was pregnant. November 17th, Eden Noelle was born. I wondered why in the world did God make it clear to take steps forward in adopting embryos. Why did He bring so many verses to mind about laying down your body and enduring suffering? Preganancy for me was not fun or pleasant in any way. And the birth was no great either. After 18 hours of labor and the baby not dropping and not doing well, they gave me a c-section. That’s when they found the cord was around her body and around her neck 3 times.
Eden was born a healthy 7lb 12oz baby and is adored by her brothers. God sure is full of surprizes.
Eden has talent coming out her ears. Because of her perseverance and coachability, I believe she can do anything. She loves volleyball, cheerleading (especially stunting and tumbling), soccer, snowboarding, crafting and painting nails. She is fun loving, kind and is a natural leader. She started FCA at the Durango's Miller Middle School although she is homeschooled. She also has started another Christian Club at Bayfield Middle School.
Malachi Peter

Surprise! God gave us another little life. Malachi Peter was born March 27th, 2013 at a healthy 9.8 lbs. He is a blessing to all of us. The kids think the world of him. Surprisingly it has been easier to transition to having four than it was to three.
Malachi loves and excels at soccer and is training himself to become a navy seal. His record for pull ups in one day is 111 and 15 in row. He loves airsoft and his cousins. He is our verbal affirmatio guy telling me sweet compliments many times a day. He's a natural athlete and is a sweet soul with a tender conscious.
Malachi loves and excels at soccer and is training himself to become a navy seal. His record for pull ups in one day is 111 and 15 in row. He loves airsoft and his cousins. He is our verbal affirmatio guy telling me sweet compliments many times a day. He's a natural athlete and is a sweet soul with a tender conscious.
Willow Grace

And can you just believe it!? There's another putting us at five kids in 7 years. Pretty crazy for a couple who were told to have unexplained infertility. And they just keep getting bigger! Willow was born July 7th at 10 pounds. We are all adjusting and the kids love her to death!
Willow is super spunky and exuberant. She loves any and all physical activities and is fearless. She loves basketball, soccer, cheer leading, skiing and volleyball.
Willow is super spunky and exuberant. She loves any and all physical activities and is fearless. She loves basketball, soccer, cheer leading, skiing and volleyball.
Asa Russell

And another... you can stop praying now. ;) Just kidding. But we do have our hands full of huge blessings!
God blessed us with this little 10.5 pounder Feb. 2016. He is a joy and the apple of his siblings life.
Asa is an incredibly thoughtful and laid back kid. He excels in math, being 3 years ahead, and loves basketball, wrestling and skiing. He is a quick learner and the sweetest boy you'll ever meet.
God blessed us with this little 10.5 pounder Feb. 2016. He is a joy and the apple of his siblings life.
Asa is an incredibly thoughtful and laid back kid. He excels in math, being 3 years ahead, and loves basketball, wrestling and skiing. He is a quick learner and the sweetest boy you'll ever meet.