Adoption Terminology

We met while we were both in college.  There was an immediate connection. On our first date, we danced to country music for hours. We both love to laugh and be silly and watch funny sitcoms like The Office and Schitts Creek.  We share a passion for reading and like to discuss books.  We also are huge foodies and love to try new restaurants and cuisines. It quickly became evident that we were meant for each other and got married. Growing our family was not as easy as we expected, and we were faced with many losses and pregnancy complications along the way.  However, we have been blessed with two great kids.  Fast forward a few years and we feel led to complete our family through adoption.  We both have strong faith and raise our children to follow God. We try every day to set the example for them of love and compassion and model a healthy marriage.

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.

Hello, we are John and Alisa Rachan.

We met in Spanish class in college at Olivet Nazarene University. We were acquaintances at first, but reconnected after graduation. John reached out to Alisa to get together since he worked at an engineering company close to where she lived. During college, she had a crush on him from afar, so instantly accepted the invitation to dinner. We spent 3 hours talking that evening and felt as if we had known each other for years. Alisa then went to live in Mexico City to do missions work with her nursing degree for a year. God was always working during this time, however, and we reconnected once again after she returned. We started dating a few months later, were engaged after 6 months of dating and married 9 months later. 

We have 2 children: Eliana, who was adopted, is 4 years old, and Ava, who is biological, is 3 years old. We have always desired to have a large family and first considered building it through biological means and later through adoption. However, when we struggled getting pregnant and were diagnosed with unexplained infertility early in our marriage, we decided to pursue adoption instead of extensive medical treatments. Eliana’s name means God has provided, and we truly feel that her life was an answer to our prayers in many ways. We have an open adoption with her birth family, and we are so blessed by this relationship. Ava was a surprise gift from the Lord as well, when we did not think that we could conceive. She was born to us about 6 months after Eliana was born. Her name means breath of life, and we are thankful for her life and for the friendship that our two daughters have with one another. They are truly best friends. We have been trying to grow our family for a few years now and are feeling led to pursue adoption once again because of secondary infertility and because of the joy that adoption has brought to us already. 

Together as a family, we enjoy playing in our backyard, going to parks and meeting other young families, going on walks/bike rides, exploring the outdoors, doing bonfires, playing board games, and hosting friends and family in our home regularly. 

In our lives, there have been both trials and joys. Through it all, we have seen God's faithfulness to provide for us and give us His peace. We are eager to participate once again in the beautiful gift of adoption because we also have been adopted as children into God's family. We hope to provide the best possible loving and caring home for another child, and will strive to teach our children to love the Lord, to be kind and compassionate to others, and to cherish every moment that God gives us. 

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! 

We are high school sweet hearts that met through mutual friends over 16 years ago. Our married life, 7 years ago, began in Salt lake City, where we first became parents when we adopted our cat, Cora. Living in Salt Lake City taught us a lot about working together as a teamby leaning on on another for support. After 5 years together in Salt Lake, we returned to the St. Louis area. This is where we met, and we are elated to be surrounded by friends and family that inspire and motivate us everyday.

Our marriage is strong, built on  a foundation of trust, communication, and teamwork. These are the core values we will use to guide us as we transition into parenthood. We have known about our fertility struggles long before we were married, so adpotion has been on our hearts for a large portion of our relationship.

Hi! We're Darrin and Rachel. We first met in 2006 and started dating in 2009 right before I (Rachel) moved to college out of state; so we were long-distance for 3 years. We found a mutual love of comics, card games, adventure, and music. After getting married, we also enjoyed playing volleyball together and watching Seahawks games. We both grew up in the greater Seattle area and after our daughter Ellie was born in 2016, we bought a house here, near family and friends.

Some details about us: Darrin is a former truck driver, who now works in a school district. Rachel is an Aerican Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Our daughter loves making friends and playing with every kid she meets, and her second grade school year is off to a great start. We have a 4 fish and 6 chickens, and our daughter would love a cat someday.

We have know each other since the late 90's through mutual friends. We started dating in 2005, were engaged in 2007, and got married in 2008. We are active and enjoying the great outdoors. We especially enjoy getting out to do some fishing and atving when we get a chance.  

We adopted our son in 2020 and have an open adoption with his birth family.  This includes in person visits, video chats, and messaging back and forth with pictures/videos and updates.

Hi, we are Austin and Hannah and we met the summer of 2019 in the college group at our church. I (Hannah) still remember walking to the patio of the building where Austin was grilling tacos (the location of our proposal a few years later). We both thought the other was cute but neither of us said anything at the time. We became friends and hung out in group settings throughout the summer. Following graduation from college I returned home to WA to stay and at the end of the summer he asked me out and we enjoyed our first date getting some tacos and going to a Mariner’s game! We introduced the topic of adoption early on since we both had a desire to grow our family through adoption. Austin's mom was adopted from Korea and Hannah saw adoption firsthand when her youth pastor adopted when she was younger. We both knew that we desired a partner who had the same passion for adoption.

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.

Hi! We are Brie and Kevin. We first met each other in college and married soon after graduating. Kevin works in developing and maintaining safety programs in a science foundation while Brie works in accounting.

Brie has been called to adopt since very young.  We also tried to have children of our own but were unsuccessful, we lost a daughter at 16 days after birth, a son after 20 weeks early birth/miscarriage as well as two early miscarriages.  These events have caused us to go through with our adoption plans a bit earlier.  Our family is also made up of several adopted people and this is something we wish to continue out of other’s need as well as our love, Kevin’s mother, uncle and Brie’s aunt are all adopted.  You don’t need common blood to be family.  After considerable prayer, now also seems the right time to look into and start the adoptive process.

We live in a safe and comfortable suburban house with our very friendly corgis (dogs). Our neighborhood has many wonderful resources for a developing child to be able to thrive, including many parks, trails in the woods and along local beaches, libraries, schools, and museums within walking distance. As well as restaurants and grocery stores from a incredibly diverse range of cultures and ethnicities. We also have valuable resources including medical offices and hospitals in the immediate vacinity.

We like to spend our time with constructive hobbies, including cooking nutritious and delicious meals using food from our gardens. We also enjoy traveling to the coast and exploring areas in our state and neighboring ones. We have a love of enjoying games together, be it board games, video games, puzzles, or books.