Butch and Laura Stahler are an ordinary St. Paul’s couple, who have been on an extraordinary journey of faith.

Laura has been a stay-at-home mom for 15 years, and she sells Medicare on the side; Butch provides for the family by selling building materials.

While Laura was raised as a Protestant in Tennessee, Butch grew up within our local St. Paul’s, Assumption and St. Ambrose communities.

When Laura chose to join Butch as a Catholic, she didn’t realize God would use their trials to forge a pathway toward amazing blessings within their marriage.

As they endured five long years of infertility, they went through the process of learning to let go and trust God through the storms of life. Laura says “Infertility was a life changing experience for me because I was taught that if I was willing to work hard enough and sacrifice enough, I could do anything.”

Only later did Laura realize that God had a better plan for her family than anything she could have imagined or achieved on her own. He mapped out a way for them to adopt their daughters Anna (now 16), Sasha (now 14) and Francesca (now 10) from Russia.

Laura explains “It was only years later, while looking back on our journey that we could see God’s hand in every single step we took towards Russia. Every ounce of pain was worth it as each girl arrived in our arms. God had taken our most difficult time and used it to transform how we approached life.”

Now the Stahlers are doing their best to instill the Catholic faith in their daughters by attending Mass regularly, praying the rosary together and trying to set a good example through their actions. They have taken several family trips to Medjugorje, where they were able to experience the love of Jesus in

a special way through Mary.

According to Laura, having teenagers in the house provides ongoing opportunities to explore greater depths of faith as they learn patience, humility and the importance of prayer. “Jesus has taught us that life is a journey and even with all the bumps, bruises and roadblocks, we can rest assured that God is with us and His plan is good.”

Thank you Stahler family for sharing your incredible adventure of faith! We can all learn a lot from your ability to let go and trust God. You are a blessing to our St. Paul’s community!