Adoption Terminology

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.

Greg and I always enjoy our time together. We like to spend time outdoors, on a kayak or paddleboard, and are always up for a competitive driveway basketball game! We also like working in our yard. I plant flowers and watch them grow, and Greg keeps them watered. Together we make a great team! We love grabbing ice cream with our nieces, cheering on our favorite teams, and watching funny movies together. Christmas movies are in season all year! Whether we’re at home on game night or out sharing a pizza, we always have fun laughing together. 

Our love story:

Greg and I met through my younger brother, Will. Will and Greg met shortly after Will graduated from college. Years later, Will bumped into Greg at the grocery store. He told Greg he should give me a call. Will had never set me up on a date before, so I knew this guy must be someone special! I agreed to go out with Greg, and we have been together ever since.

We dated for one year before becoming engaged. On a cold New Year’s Day, Greg and I went on a romantic walk along the riverfront in Nashville. We were on the beautiful pedestrian bridge overlooking the city when snow began to fall and music began to play. A man on an electric keyboard was playing Ed Sheeran’s song, “Thinking Out Loud”— a beautiful love song about growing old with your true love. I looked at Greg and he was down on one knee. He told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him. I enthusiastically said, “Yes!” I complimented Greg for having the musician play the lovely music for the proposal, but Greg said he had not hired him. The musician just happened to be on the bridge performing the perfect soundtrack for our engagement! Every time we pass the pedestrian bridge, we remember the wonderful night we promised to belong to each other forever.

Our wedding was a dream come true! The fun began at our rehearsal dinner. Instead of a traditional dinner, we invited the wedding party to a baseball game. We enjoyed the fireworks display over the ballpark that night—it was as if everyone there was celebrating with us. Our wedding was held at the Nashville Symphony Center. The wedding was a family affair. All our siblings, their spouses, and their children were included in the wedding party. We had an amazing band and everyone danced all night! Our wedding was a joyous event and a true celebration of God’s promises.

We met at church and started playing board games with our friends and we often flirted across the table. We had the same sense of humor and we were both very competitive. After a year, we had our first date, a perfect picnic at the lake! A few months later, we flew to Liam’s hometown to meet his family. During that trip a blizzard began and our flight home got canceled. So, we did the sensible thing to do, and rented a small car to drive 20 hours through a blizzard. We tested our relationship on that long drive home while sliding on the road and running on no sleep. We realized from that trip and other dates that we were made for each other. Which led to our marriage. Then, we discovered we were pregnant! Kensi had a difficult pregnancy. We knew we wanted another child, but we wanted to look into other ways. This brought us to adoption. We know the love that Christ has for all his children. We are very involved in our church and close to our small group. We often are with them playing board games, roasting s’mores, or playing with our kids together. We love to go hiking, camping, anything outdoorsy, traveling, eating and making good food, and spending time together.

Howdy! We are a quiet and slightly nerdy family of three. Our home is full of love, laughter, and play, and we are looking forward to increasing in these wonderful gifts as our family grows.

We met in 2010, while we were both graduate students in Chemistry. Tyler was shy at first, but he eventually asked Carrie out for a date in 2011. We married in 2013 and have lived in Texas, Indiana, and Illinois since then. Our son Caleb joined our family through adoption in 2022, and life has never been the same!

Carrie is creative, scientific, and an avid reader, while Tyler is more interested in playing sports and games. Together we cherish our time with family and friends, whether we are in person or connecting through video calls or greeting cards. We travel for work and for pleasure, but we love being together at home as a family best of all!

 

We both attended Oklahoma State University and started dating after we graduated and moved back to our hometowns, in September 2011. On our second date we had a pizza baking competition, since Matt is the pizza connoisseur! Other favorite dates included going to museums, taking the dogs to dog parks, Thunder games, annual trip to the State Fair, and going to the local drive in movie. 

We were engaged in December 2013 on a ski trip. After discussing with Shae's mom how to do it, Matt decided he just couldn't wait any longer and proposed while our group was playing cards - right after Shae ate a blue sucker and had changed into her comfy clothes for the night. Shae's blue sucker caused her mouth to look like a Smurf, but love is blind! 

We were married on May 3, 2014 in the church that Shae grew up in and where we are now members. We asked our guests to wear orange, black or white and had Pistol Pete as a surprise guest at our reception!

Karsten was born in the crazy year that was 2020! Her birth mom choosing us to be her parents is truly a gift and an honor. Some of our favorite things to do as a family include going to OSU football games, visiting the zoo, and playing outside! 

Thank you for taking time to look through our family's profile. We know the magnitude of the decisions you're making right now, and although we do not know your name, we are praying that you are safe and healthy, and that you feel loved, supported and at peace.

With love,
Matt and Shae

We’re Andrea and Nelson! We’ve been together for twelve years and married for eight (this March), and about five years ago we were blessed to adopt our amazing son, Oliver. Andrea is fascinated by a lot of things, ranging from shark biology to crazy celebrity beef. Nelson enjoys working with his hands and BBQing on our smoker. As a family, we love going on adventures together, spending quality time, and exploring whatever is making us curious at that moment (like animals at the zoo, the jellyfish at low tide, or what we can build with Legos or cardboard boxes). Our family believes in open communication, unconditional love, and asking questions. No topic will ever be off limits in our home. Oliver is very excited about welcoming a sibling home and has been praying for it to happen “tomorrow.” We, too, are excited for another little one to join our family. Thank you for considering us!

One of the greatest things we can share as parents is access to our friends and family. We are unconditionally loved and supported by so many people whether they be biological or adopted relatives, or dear friends. We have strong relationships with some special people – some who have been in our lives for 30+ years. Several of our friends live minutes from us, and a few have recently started their own families so are itching for play dates. Both sets of our parents are still married and are wonderful grandparents. Andrea has an older brother and sister-in-law, and Nelson has 2 sisters, 3 brothers and 2 sets of in-laws. We are aunt and uncle to 13 nieces and nephews and combined, we have 10 aunts, 10 uncles and over 60 cousins. Simply put, we have a lot of family and friends! And everyone is beyond excited to welcome home a new member!

Along with our extended human family, we have two fuzzy members of our family - our adopted animals Indy and Obi. We rescued Indy as a 3 month old puppy. And 2 year old Obi chose Oliver. Really! He came right up and head nuzzled him. It's been love every since! These two pets are characters who love us, but most especially they love kids. 

We are Mark and Allison! After secretly liking each other online for years, we finally met in Colorado and knew right away that this was meant to be. We’ve been married now for 12 years, and although we don’t have any children yet, we both come from loving families where children are cherished, so having children has always been a desire close to our hearts. We’ve talked about wanting to adopt ever since we were dating! While our path to get here hasn’t always been fast or easy, we're so excited to be parents and welcome a precious baby into our lives. 

Mark is a Hardware Engineer and loves lots of outdoor activities like biking, hiking, taking care of our yard, grilling, and golfing. He really cares about our neighbors and community and will jump in to help someone out wherever he can. Allison is a Proofreader and enjoys jogging, hiking, reading, getting together with friends, watching classic 90s Disney movies, and cooking. We volunteer on Sundays at our church and are involved with a weekly life group. We live in Texas, close to Mark’s family and Allison has family in Michigan. Both of our families are super supportive and have been praying for us and you!

Together Andrew and Hailey are known as the fun couple – always making each other laugh, willing to take a spontaneous trip, or go to a hockey game with friends. We love hanging out with our friends and family – but also value our time at home together. That is a core value in our family – spending time together. We want to show up for the school play, or the sporting event – as a family. We both feel very blessed to have been raised by incredible parents who were there for us and we want to be able to give that to our kids as well.

We are a family focused and church orientated couple. We are mostly home-bodies, but don't let that mistake you for our sense of adventure too! 

We have two cats, Bailey and Lilly and a brood of silly chickens. We love camping, playing music and debating on if we love sunsets or sunrises more. 

We met in 2007 in Alaska when Kelly was a brand new flight attendant. Robert had already been a flight attendant for 5 years and Kelly did not have it in her adventurous spirit to spend time with Robert but he was persistent. In 2009 Kelly said yes to dating instead of just being friends. 

Fast forward through many adventures (Alaska, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, Hawaii) and on September 6th, 2014 we got married in Washington state at our local beach park. We have made this sleepy little marina town our home ever since. 

We are Sam and Casey and Julia! We have been blessed with the most amazing family and we can't wait to grow it even more. Sam and Casey have the same birthday (same day, same year!) and on our shared 30th birthday, we got the call to adopt and bring home our first daughter (Julia). That was the most amazing day of their lives but now we want nothing more than to adopt again to complete our family. We love each other, love our friends and family and love what the Lord is doing in our lives through adoption.