International Adoption Application

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 couldn’t believe we sat near each other in nursing school for 2 years and never shared more than a few words with each other. After going on our first date, almost a year after graduation, we realized how much we had in common and we were instantly attached to each other. We realized we grew up with similar beliefs and enjoyed the same hobbies. We love sports and going to events together, cheering on our favorite team. We both love trying new restaurants and exploring new cities. We love to ride around looking at mountain views and just enjoy each others company. We love to plan vacations with the kids and surprise them with new adventures. We truly are best friends. We love each other so deeply. We respect each other and stand behind each others dreams. We make sure to put each other first and continue learning ways to grow our relationship with each other and the Lord. Having children was always a dream of ours, even before we were married. We love parenting together and we are so grateful for these special blessings that God has given us.

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. 

We are potential parents who love living life and want to share that love with your child. We have love in our hearts for God, first - family, next and from there it extends into our community. Marriage, to us, means working hard daily showing our love to each other. It helps that we both share a deep faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We exist with Him at the center of our lives. One of the things for which we pray daily is that God would bless us with a child. It does not look like this will happen biologically but, with God’s help, it may through adoption. We look forward to pouring our love out to a baby boy or girl, sharing all that we have with them. We especially look forward to helping them grow up knowing how much God loves them and the wonderful things He has in store for their lives.

We want to grow as a family through adoption. We respect all children’s uniqueness and believe that each has been created intentionally by Our Lord. The two of us often find ourselves in lively interaction with the children of our extended family and in our circle of friends. During these conversations, we both learn from the youngsters as well as share lessons we have learned in life..

We are Matt and Cat and we live on a small farm in Strasburg, Colorado. We met during high school, and it didn’t take long for us to fall in love. We have been happily married for 10 years but have been together for 20. Through Matt’s military and civilian career, we moved all over and eventually landed in Colorado. It wasn’t your typical journey, and we definitely didn’t follow the traditional path. Through trials and tribulations, we both realized we needed to go back to school, later in our lives, to obtain our college degrees and we both enjoy successful careers in Systems Engineering and Insurance Management. We wanted to accomplish certain milestones in life before bringing a child into the world. When we realized that naturally conceiving was not an option there was the initial sadness; however, it quickly turned to joy and excitement as we began the adoption process. Matt was adopted at a very young age, and we understood how beneficial adoption can be for the birth mother, child, and adoptive parents. Now a little bit about the home the child will grow up in. The amount of love in this home is indescribable by words. The child will be happy and will know that they are loved and wanted. It is the simple things in life that are important to us, a good home, good health, stable marriage, and beyond all happiness. If the birth parent chooses, we would like our child to know about their birth parents, the incredible amount of love they had for the child, and the sacrifice they made to ensure the child was provided for in life. We will teach our child about love, respect, hard work, and most of all how to have fun. They will spend their time experiencing life rather than watching it on television. Education is important to us, and our child will receive a good elementary and secondary education. College is a personal decision, and we will support our child in whatever decision they make. Most important to us is that the child be provided with the opportunities they need to pursue the path they choose in life. We look forward to watching our child grow and mature; support them as they stumble in life; and, of course, will celebrate with them as they experience the many successes in their life.

Hello! We're Dave and Ashley!

We met in a college class when we were assigned to do a group project together. We began dating a few months later. A week after our first date, Dave found out he was going to be deployed after graduation. We spent a year communicating through emails and video chats. We married a few months after he came home. We've now been married over ten years and our life together continues to be an adventure. Dave finished his military career and is now an ICU nurse. Ashley is a junior high/high school teacher. We have two children, Audrey and Bryce, and love spending time together as a family.

We are a strong couple who found each other very late in life. This is to our benefit as we have walked the path to know ourselves and be financially stable and are able to skip much of the challenges a younger couple often face. We know how to care for ourselves and others. We have grown with our faith so we know what He can do.

We are Kevin and Dawn and are excited to share our story with you. We have a beautiful 2-year-old daughter named Elaina, and we are eager to expand our family and welcome another child into our hearts and home.

A little about us: Kevin works in healthcare risk and emergency management. Dawn is a dedicated stay-at-home mom who lovingly cares for Elaina and creates a nurturing home environment. Until Elaina was born, she was an elementary school teacher.  Leaving teaching was a hard decision, but the right one for our daughter. Our days are filled with laughter, learning, and love as we cherish every moment with our little girl.

Our home is warm and inviting, situated in a friendly neighborhood where we enjoy gardening and playing outside.  We love family activities like swimming, playing in the park, and cozy movie nights at home. Kevin is also passionate about cars, especially Mustangs, and enjoys working on them and attending car shows. It’s a hobby that brings him joy and is something we hope to share with our children.

We met on an online dating site. I noticed right away that Peter was special. He asked good questions and took a genuine interest in getting to know who I was. I was intrigued by him. After a couple of weeks of exchanging long messages, he asked me out to dinner. Our first date was at a restaurant called Smokey Bones. We felt at ease with one another right away and more dates followed, including bowling, a trip to the zoo, going to an indoor amusement park, and trying new restaurants. We enjoyed our second date at a local Thai restaurant where our connection deepened. Later, Peter proposed by setting up a private dinner with food from this same restaurant. He also had a book made that included all of our email messages from when we were getting to know each other online. Since we decided on a small wedding, we had our ceremony at a local park pavilion on the most beautiful fall day. It was a perfectly simple, sunny, and wonderful day. We chose a small wedding with hopes of going on a big adventure for our honeymoon. We went to Ireland, a place I had always wanted to go. Peter had been there before on a high school trip, and had wanted to come back with his wife someday. I guess both of our dreams came true :)

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.

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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