Common Countries of Adoption

I would like to introduce you to our family. My name is Julie, and my wonderful husband's name is Will. I am 30 years old, and Will is 31 years old. We have been married for a little over eight years. Will and I met at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. We had both grown up very involved in our churches, so it seems appropriate that we met at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. We were friends for two years before we started dating. Will's kindness drew me to him. We dated and were engaged for a year and a half before getting married in 2015. Will and I love to travel, and some of our favorite places that we have visited are Spain and Portugal, the Grand Canyon, cruises to the Caribbean, and camping at State Parks, beaches, and other beautiful campgrounds around the Southeastern United States. We can't wait to share our love of travel and the world with a child. We spend a lot of our weekends going to football games, camping in our camper, hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains, and spending time with family either in East Tennessee or Middle Tennessee. I love to capture family adventures and memories with my camera. Since I am a professional photographer, I love to take pictures while we travel and around the local area. I look forward to capturing precious memories of our adopted child as they grow up.

Hello! We are Justin and Kaitlin and we are so grateful that you have taken the time to glance into our lives. Justin and I have always wanted to be parents. We had plans to have children biologically, hopes and dreams of what our family would look like, however God's plans look different for our family. After two years of infertility, negative tests, unsuccessful fertility treatments, many prayers and trusting in the Lord’s timing, we are overjoyed to start this next journey. We feel  strongly that the Lord is calling us to welcome a child into our home through adoption. We have been praying for this future adopted child for a long time, and now we pray we get to meet them soon. 

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.

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 are Christians saved by Grace. We have been married almost 13 years. We love spending time together. Damon is the head pastor of Stigler First Baptist Church.  I stay home & help full time with the ministry. We have 1 dog named buddy. He is super sweet. We are both super close to our families. We enjoy hanging out with friends & family & trying new foods. 

We both work in the agriculture industry and while we would have likely run into each other at some point, the timing couldn’t have been more divine. At the time, we had a few mutual friends who were trying to play ‘match-maker,’ and it wasn’t until I was assigned a new territory and walked into a particular ag retailer that I met Austin. I remember him having a hard time coming up with the words to say when I walked in because of course, neither of us expected to meet each other but we both knew about each other because of the whole ‘match-making’ bit.

Austin asked me on a date THREE times before I finally relented. The third time, he invited me to the lake, and being from northeast Oklahoma where lakes are abundant, I was convinced this part of Texas didn’t have lakes so I really only said yes because I missed home and missed being out on the lake. We had instant chemistry and fell for each other pretty quickly. The first time we ever went out to lunch, for a work meeting, he says he left that meeting and told his co-worker that he could listen to me talk for the rest of his life. We didn’t immediately date. In fact, we went on a few dates and then stopped abruptly, but months later we reconnected and as they say, the rest is history.

Austin proposed in May 2017, during the busiest season of our careers – cotton planting season! Even though the day didn’t go as planned and I ended up hauling seed during the time Austin intended to propose, it was still a night we will never forget, and now we have the most hilarious story to tell when people ask about our engagement. We wouldn’t trade it for anything. Well, maybe Austin would. He was awfully stressed out that night. 

It’s hard to believe we’ve been together for nearly 9 years and married for almost 6. Time has really flown by and each and every day in our marriage is so much fun. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, you can count on us to be the life of the party and always down to have a good time. We love laughing and creating memories together. We recently remodeled our current home together that we purchased originally as an investment property, and while we did that we lived in our motorhome with our dogs for 6 months. I feel like that is a great test of a relationship, not to mention, the home remodel. We only grew closer during that time and really learned that we don’t value ‘stuff’ much and we’d rather have the time and finances to create memories and travel together.

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 first crossed paths at Zilker Park in Austin, TX. John was playing lacrosse with friends while Sarah chatted with a friend. New to Austin, Sarah remembers seeing his group and wishing she could be a part of it. John remembers wishing he had stopped her and said hello. Months later, Sarah was invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party on Cinco De Mayo, and we officially met! Six months later we were dating. Sarah knew from the start we were meant for each other—we have now been together for 8.5 years! We got married in New Hampshire in the sumer of 2019. All the Texan guests brought the heat with them, though; it was 100 degrees on our wedding day!

We are laid back, outgoing people with a strong support network of close friends and family nearby. We love spending time together and seeing and experiencing new places, people, and foods! As a couple, we both enjoy spending quiet time at home with our dog as much as we enjoy going out to restaurants and spending time with friends and family. Boating, beaches, and nature fill us both, so we spend a lot of time outdoors and traveling to New England. We also love skiing and snowboarding together.

John is a partner at his firm, focusing on marketing and PR strategy for portfolio companies. We are lucky in that John works from home and he’s able to make his own schedule, so he is looking forward to being a hands-on dad. John is Scotch-Irish, English and German—and a multi-generation Texan! He played lacrosse in college, chaired several social organizations, and started a charity with friends that built 15 public wells in Africa. He currently mentors and sits on the advisory boards of many startup incubators.

Sarah loves animals…a lot! She is obsessed with her dog, Auggie, and three young nephews. They are her world. Sarah is Swedish, Chilean, English, and Scottish. She loves learning about history and family traditions. She has two sisters, one is 11 months older and the other is her twin! Sarah is a former corporate IT manager and experienced project manager. She now consults but is lucky to be a stay-at-home mom for our future child!

We met at work in 2015 and Nathan immediately told his coworker “I really like the new girl!” After months of growing a friendship through team work lunches, we began dating in 2016 and were engaged within 6 months (our coworkers didn’t even know we were dating until we showed up engaged which was hilarious to see their reactions!) Nathan proposed at the spot of our first date and we got married 6 months later. Our wedding day was amazing, and Rebecca didn’t leave the dance floor the entire night!

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.