Adoption Terminology

We met in 2013 at a birthday party for a mutual friend. After a brief introduction, I went home and “stalked” Brendon on Facebook. After looking through his profile and thinking he was the cutest guy I had ever seen, I quickly added him as a friend. A week later he sent me a message and asked me on a date. The rest is history! We dated for two and a half years before we got engaged. Brendon surprised me by having our entire family waiting for us at dinner after he proposed and then surprised me again after dinner by having an engagement party with all of our friends waiting to celebrate. Brendon always goes above and beyond to make me feel special and he pulled out all of the stops for our engagement. We were married on February 6, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Our wedding was the most memorable day of our lives. We celebrated our love for each other surrounded by all of the love of our family and friends. It was truly unforgettable! Since our big day, we have been through some highs and lows, but through it all, we have become stronger. We live each day together as a team and as best friends. We work to encourage one another daily, we respect and value each other’s opinions, and we do and we do a lot of laughing which helps to make our days bright!

We first met at a Salsa Dancing Social. After months of dancing and getting to know each other, we had our first date. As we learned more about each other, we realized how we felt at home with one another. It was the Halloween season, so we enjoyed getting dressed up and attending Halloween salsa socials and family friend Halloween parties. We were falling in Love.

At Thanksgiving time, Reena began talking about Joel with her other family members with so much excitement. Reena introduced Joel to her brother, and they hit it off immediately. When Reena invited Joel to meet her parents, Mom gave Reena the Thumbs up. It was Christmas time and there is a cute little ornament with Reena’s picture that Reena had made at school in the first grade. We were decorating our Christmas tree, and Joel took that ornament and placed it at the very top of the tree. Reena’s heart melted and her family invited Joel to our larger family Christmas party where he was immediately welcomed with open arms.

That same Christmas, Joel had invited Reena to his family’s church for their annual Simbang Gabi Mass. This is a Christmas tradition within the Filipino community where Joel’s whole family was present. It was so wonderful to meet Joel’s family in such a beautiful setting. Shortly after, Joel and Reena would attend Joel’s family church on Sunday’s after Dance class, and then meet at his parent’s home for Sunday Dinners.

The following Easter, Joel took Reena to the Easter Vigil, which is the Saturday before Easter Sunday. She learned about the RCIA process where she could learn about the Catholic Faith and be confirmed as a Catholic. That fall, she enrolled in the program and Joel sponsored her. As they went through this beautiful journey together, Joel proposed that following Fall. The following Easter, Reena was confirmed as a Catholic, and Reena and Joel were married that Summer.

We know it sounds cliche, but we met online…by accident. We connected via social media, thinking that the person we connected with was someone else. When we started looking at each other’s pictures, we soon noticed that there had been a case of mistaken identity. After realizing we didn’t actually know each other, we had a mutual friend reach out to us individually to try and play matchmaker. We chatted back and forth for three weeks via email, talking about everything you can imagine – music, work, church, friends, food, and life. Our first conversation on the phone was incredible and lasted for several hours. After a month of speaking to each other, we decided to meet. Our first date was the day before Valentine’s Day and we both knew instantly that we were going to marry each other. From then on, we frequented new and unique restaurants, wandered through museums, hung out at the beach, and got to know each other’s friends and family. 13 months after our first date, we were married, and it has been the most incredible journey.

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.

Hi we are Jim and Melissa and we live in Colorado. We moved here 3 years ago (from Texas) to be closer to family.

We met on a camping trip. Being the only people who could leave early to head to the campsite, we carpooled. Jim, although introverted, decided he needed to be as talkative as possible so Melissa wasn't bored, and Melissa had a headache and just wanted him to stop talking! But through all that, we both realized we had a lot of common interests and after a few months, we started dating at the beginning of 2015. We've been married for 8 years now!

Adoption was always our plan to grow our family, and we adopted our son, Elliot, in 2019. He is 4.5 years old now! We have a wonderful open adoption with his birthmom and we get to see her twice a year (she lives out of state) and also exchange pictures and texts. He is very excited to become a big brother and tells us how he will help "new baby" grow and learn to play.

Jim is a structural engineer and works with a company in Denver. He grew up as a missionary kid in Argentina and is fluent in Spanish and speaks it to our son, who is now bilingual. He loves working on projects around our home (recently re-doing our back deck!), backpacking, ultimate frisbee, watching soccer, and playing strategic board games.

Melissa is an aerospace engineer turned stay at home mom. She enjoys gardening, quilting, hiking, reading, and researching all the great childrens books and activities to encourage our son to have a lifelong love of learning and exploring.

As a family we love to be outside - hiking, camping, exploring. Elliot has recently started playing board games with us (Ticket to Ride!) and that's been a great way to spend time together as a family. We like going to zoo and the Children's Garden at the Botanical Gardens. 

Thank you for stopping to learn about us and please reach out if you have any questions!

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We are Brad and Jerica. We have been married for 11 years. We have three boys; Owen, Briggs and Benny. We are delighted to open our home up to adoption because we believe the Lord has invited us to love another child. These three boys are over the moon excited to welcome another sibling to our family. Brad works as an engineer. He gets to work part time remotely at home and part time in his local office. We homeschool our children and Jerica is a stay at home mom and the primary educator of the kids. We live on 5 acres in the country near our church, friends, and and family.  Our family enjoys spending outside and exploring the world God has made. We are deeply connected to our family and friends. We have more support than we could ask or imagine as we grow as a family. We hope to talk to you soon! 

We met in 2012 while living in Tempe, Arizona when Kelli started working with Cory at Dutch Bros Coffee. From there, we became best friends, bonding over our love for people, working out, and for making each other laugh. Exactly one year from the day we met, we began dating and quickly knew our relationship was meant for more. Cory bought an engagement ring after 6 months and carried it around with him everywhere waiting for the right opportunity.

During a vacation to Sedona, Arizona, our relationship evolved into an engagement! We both love being outdoors and have always preferred intimate settings, so in 2015, exactly 3 years from the day that we met, and started dating, we decided to hike back up to a secluded trail in Sedona with a handful of our best friends and tied the knot there. Afterwards, we had a more traditional ceremony with our extended family and friends but love having had that intimate moment to truly celebrate our love together.

We both still work for the company that gave us the opportunity to find each other, and that has led us from owning a franchise in Nevada for 6 years to giving us the opportunity to move to Texas as we helped our brand expand further east. While it’s been just over three years, Texas is our forever home and we love everything about raising our family here together. We are both proud of our careers but are more thankful for the flexibility they give to make space for our family and the things that are important to us.

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.

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 met at the gym where we both attended the same exercise class. Katy knew Kelly was a dentist and when her dog ate her retainer, Katy asked him after class if he could help make her a new one because her dentist was out of town. (That’s right…the old “my dog ate my retainer” trick!) And it worked! ? Katy got her new retainer and Kelly asked Katy on a date. And the rest, they say…is history! Almost a decade later, we are celebrating 7 years of marriage and growing our family!

Katy works part time as an academic advisor for a local college, and is able to spend lots of time at home with a new little one. She loves gardening, playing pickleball, trying new restaurants & recipes, and volunteering. Katy describes herself as empathetic, warm, fun, resilient. Katy loves being a mom and watching children grow, change and become who they are while loving and laughing with them along the way.

Kelly is a dentist and owns his own practice, which allows him to work 3 days a week and be at home with my family. Kelly loves learning, biking, baseball & snowboarding. He describes himself as practical and adventurous. Kelly loves being a dad and interacting in different ways with children as they grow and sharing experiences with them.

Katy said “Kelly’s calm demeanor, kind heart, and willingness for adventure make him a great dad and husband.”

Kelly said “Katy is smart and curious. With her warm and welcoming manner she draws people in whether they are dear friends or complete strangers. She is amazing at helping children grow and navigate the world.”