Relative Adoption

We are Cory and Kelsi, with three children, Abe, Hazel, and Riley. We love spending time together as a family doing activities like bike rides, movie and pizza nights, individual and family date nights. We live in a small rural town that is currently growing quickly. Kelsi is a stay-at-home mom, that works part time for the local libraries providing early childhood activities. She has her degree in Early Childhood Education. Cory is a software engineer and gets to work from home two days a week. Cory has his degree in Computer Science. Our children range in ages from 4-10.  With the youngest still at home full time but ready to start preschool in the Fall. Adoption has always been part of our plan. We were blessed with our three children, but are ready to add to our family through adoption.

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 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 :)

I, Rachel, was born and raised by my precious parents in middle Tennessee. My dad worked in human resources for most of my childhood, and my mom worked in our family home, caring for my sister and me. My older sister Michele is married and has three young boys in addition to three stepchildren. Three of the six children have joined our family through the great gift of adoption. Our nephews and niece have been a blessing to us and are true examples of how beautiful adoption truly is. My sister and I were raised in a Christian home and were taught about having a personal relationship with Jesus, which is what I cherish the most. I have many special memories from my childhood. My family and I also enjoyed taking summer vacations to a lake in middle Tennessee. It was during these summer vacations that so many wonderful memories were made. Today, I enjoy baking for family and friends. It’s important to me to love those precious people the Lord has placed in my life. One really great way for me to spend time with the Lord is by creating things that give Him glory. It’s this creativity that has me constantly working on a wide range of creative activities. I often create things that allow me to include scripture. It’s a way to encourage others to remain focused on the Word of God and His love for all of us. The Lord has me in a season of life where I am called to really be a person who intervenes on behalf of another, especially by prayer.

Matthew grew up in East Tennessee. In addition, he was raised by wonderful parents who taught him to love and serve Jesus Christ. While his father was an engineer, his mother worked at home, caring for Matthew and his siblings. Marie, Matthew's younger sister, is married with two stepchildren. Her stepson and his wife recently gave birth to a baby girl, making Marie a grandmother. Additionally, Matthew has a younger married brother. He and his wife have a one-year-old boy, and they will soon be adding to their family through another pregnancy. Matthew was involved in a variety of sports as a child. Basketball, baseball, and track were the three sports that captured his interest the most. Like me, he was heavily involved in church and grew up serving the Lord. Matthew also enjoys the creative side of things. He uses his interest in computers to create digital products that glorify the Lord, all while encouraging those who make up the Kingdom of God. He loves to serve others and has a heart for those who need a helping hand. His heart for people is one of the qualities that I love so much about him.

We met 10 years ago and have been married for 7 years. We met online and found a few ways we could have met before! We went to the same college and frequently had classes at the same time in the same building and went to the same conferences in high school for our extra curricular activity. Once we met though we quickly bonded over our love of board games. Today you can still find us playing games together with friends and family. Our favorite to play with family is Letter Jam since it’s a good one for any play level. We already have a list of games we are ready to play with kids including our childhood favorites like Sorry, Life, Clue, and more. We have a large extended family that all live within 20 minutes of us and we get together with both side weekly! We recently got back from an extended family airbnb trip to Broken Bow with some good family fun including too many smores to count and a kids train ride in the forest.  We love spending time in the evenings together usually at our local park and exploring our city on the weekends from splash pads to zoos. We love holiday traditions like 4th of July kids bike parade, Christmas volunteering, and huge birthday celebrations! We are excited to add a little one to our family and for them to be able to bond together over being adopted.  Harper is so excited talking about how good of a big sister she is going to be.  We hope this helps you get to know us and if you have questions hope to hear from you soon!

Our love for each other started from our love of horses. We met at a time in our lives when we both trained and showed horses alongside both of our families. Though we had known of each other, one day we fell in love as we discovered not only did we share the same interest but most importantly we shared the same values. We could tell from that moment that God had led us to each other. After dating for a year, Jonathan proposed in April and we got married in October 2016. We have been married for 7 years and still can say we are truly each others best friend.

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.