Leadership

We first met online eleven years ago through an app, and for our first date, we chose Starbucks, thinking it would be a quick cup of coffee. Four hours later, we were still engrossed in conversation, so we decided to grab dinner. What started as a short outing turned into a nine-hour adventure! From the very beginning, we felt God’s presence in our relationship, and we knew He had brought us together. After dating for over two years, we got engaged and married exactly one year later. Our journey has been filled with love, faith, and unforgettable moments. We have now been married for 8 years. Our love for each other is strong and continues to grow. We look forward to sharing that love with our child, helping them to thrive and reach their full potential. We want to share all of our passions and help our kiddo develop passions of their own.

We recently attended a “marriage night” at our church, and we were asked to define our “superpower.” We chose the word “perseverance.” We have been through a lot together, but our faith in Christ has been our firm foundation through it all. We have been incredibly blessed in ways would could never have imagined, and we have also leaned on God for strength during times of loss, waiting, and unexpected difficulties. But through each season, we are so grateful for the love we have for each other, and even more for our faith in God, who is strong when we are not.

When we were first introduced by a mutual friend at dinner one night, little did we know all that God had planned for us. We recently celebrated our 10th anniversary. We have supported one another through late nights of studying as we were completing our degrees and celebrated graduations and job offers. We have danced together at many weddings, but we have also cried together at funerals. We have held hands in hospital rooms and nursed each other back to health. We have been isolated together in quarantine (and as it turns out, we really do enjoy each other’s company!). We have poured each other more morning cups of coffee than we can count. We have laughed together almost every single day. We have prayed through it all, and we cannot wait for the next adventure.

We are Cory and Kelsi, with three children, Abe, Hazel, and Riley. We love spending time together as a family doing activities like bike rides, movie and pizza nights, individual and family date nights. We live in a small rural town that is currently growing quickly. Kelsi is a stay-at-home mom, that works part time for the local libraries providing early childhood activities. She has her degree in Early Childhood Education. Cory is a software engineer and gets to work from home two days a week. Cory has his degree in Computer Science. Our children range in ages from 5-10.  With the youngest in morning preschool and the oldest in Junior High.  Adoption has always been part of our plan. We were blessed with our three children, but are ready to add to our family through adoption.

We are truly honored and humbled that you are considering our family in your adoption plan. The strength, and sheer courage that it takes to walk through, and stand in this adoption journey is inspiring and remarkable.

We are Paul and Stacie. We were high school sweethearts, that met in church youth group. We married in 2004. Stacie miscarried in 2008 and was diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure that eventually lead to a full hysterectomy. We never thought that adoption would be part of our story, but the Lord has blessed us with this beautiful path. We adopted our son, Samuel, in 2017, when he was four months old. We would not change one minute of our loss and hardships, knowing now that Jesus was piecing together His rich and glorious plan for our lives.

Samuel is so excited to be a big brother!! He prompts us to pray almost daily over his future sibling and asks where they are. We are ready to love and cherish a new little one. Our plan is for Stacie to stay home with our newest child. Paul owns his own business, and mainly works from home. We have a lot of flexibility and time to devote to our children. Samuel attends a Christian private school and so will his future sibling. He will be thrilled to teach his sibling all about “his” school!

We are committed and excited about all ethnicities, and backgrounds. We value honoring each other in our family. We celebrate our differences, and family backgrounds that make life so rich and enjoyable. We are looking forward to exploring another open adoption. We have been so blessed with Samuel’s birth family. We are excited to explore what this will look like with you.

Hosea 2:14-16 says, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give back her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of Egypt.” The desert often represents unsafety and uncertainty in the Bible. The “Valley of Achor”, translates to the Valley of Trouble. The Lord promises as we walk and trust Him through our hardships, and uncertainties, that He will make a way and a path of hope, of restoration, and joy for us. You are deeply loved, and fully known by the Creator and Lover of your soul.

Sincerely, Paul and Stacie

      A ping pong table in a small Bible college in Pennsylvania is where it all began. Our friendship in the beginning laid the foundation for our relationship later and we got to know each other over games of ping pong. When we started studying together and spending more time with each other, we realized we had a strong connection. Rob thought Jessica was beautiful and fun to be around. Jessica admired how much Rob cared for his friends and family. It didn't take us long to see that we were meant to be together and have been inseparable ever since.

     Each day is a blessing as we spend time together doing the activities we love. Walking around local theme parks, visiting the beach, and meeting up with Rob's family are some of our favorite things. Jessica enjoys cooking healthy meals, and Rob helps out around the house. An evening walk around the neighborhood is a nice way to catch up and enjoy nature. We plan weekly outings and look forward to our annual summer vacations. It will be a joy to have our little one in our lives!

We both went to college at Texas A&M University. Claire majored in mathematics and Jeffrey in Industrial Engineering. We both joined the Baptist Student Ministry our freshman year. In 2015 we were both Bible study leaders of different groups and slowly got to know each other over the year. We began dating and most of our dates consisted of studying, getting coffee and snacks, and taking breaks by driving around exploring our town. We got engaged October of our senior year (2017) while finishing school, applying to jobs, and student teaching. It was a wild year but God was oh so faithful in each moment. We graduated from college and three weeks later got married! We moved to McKinney on a whim – about 30 minutes from each set of parents – and fell in love with the city. We absolutely LOVE doing life together and getting to explore the DFW area!

A primary factor of who we are as a couple is quality time spent together! We find lots of joy in time spent together, or with community even in the mundane things. We are avid board game players, coffee shop visitors, and amateur food enthusiasts. Some of our favorite moments with friends and family have happened just on a couch in deep conversation or over a cup of coffee!

We have been so blessed to have friends who live close by and that we get to see often! They are our chosen family and who we get to do life with. Our community has comforted us and rejoiced with us and we hope to continue walking with them as we get older! We have found a lot of joy in prioritizing our community and growing it! They love Jesus and us so well!.

In 2023 we adopted our son, Eliezer, and are absolutely obsessed with parenthood. He is in full toddler mode which has been the sweetest season of our lives (even with the hard tantrum moments). We are so incredibly thankful for the way God has blessed us in our marriage and are very excited for the years to come. Parenting has definitely been our favorite adventure yet!!

We met in 2008 when Facebook had apps that became the precursors to today’s dating apps. After chatting online for a few weeks, we decided to meet for dinner after church. I (Mindy) spent the whole service praying Clay wouldn’t show up because I was so nervous. But he did show up, and we had a great evening. We talked for hours over queso and tacos. I was disarmed by his lack of pretense, his willingness to show me who he really is and not cover up rough patches in his life. We hit it off that night and began dating exclusively. A few months later, Clay wanted to be baptized at our church, and he asked me to do it. That afternoon was the first time our parents met each other, and it is a wonderful memory. After dating for about a year and a half, Clay proposed and we were married just three months later.

When we met, I had a degree in counseling and was working for Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Services. I felt called to teaching though, and shortly after we began dating, I accepted a position to teach 5th grade at a private Christian school. Sixteen years and so many good memories later, and I am still here and now our daughter attends as well. Clay was working for an accounting firm when we met. He has continued to work in office administration and finance, while also getting his master’s of education.

Our life is focused on our faith in Jesus and love for one another. We are surrounded by family and friends who love and support us and have fun with us. We are active in our church and school, and both of these communities are extensions of our family. We still eat lots of tacos and queso, and we are thankful that we both stepped out in faith through what seemed to be just a chance meeting online.

Hello! Our family lives in a suburb outside Washington, DC and we have two biological daughters - we are very excited to add to our family through adoption! We have been happily married for nine years and are best friends who enjoy traveling together to places both near and far. We are a family who doesn't like to sit still and is always on the move! We are energized by adventure, powered by ice cream, and firmly committed to following Christ and raising our children to love Him and love others. Come explore our profile to learn more of who we are!