6
Indiana
Nondenominational
Novalee 2 yr
Novalee is our bright little 2 year old. She imitates everything she sees us do and learns
so fast. She tries to be independent and often tells us “Nova do it”. She loves to help. She is very happy
and giggly. Nova loves to be outside, build towers, dinosaurs, Mickey Mouse, Bluey, and animals. Nova also loves to play with her baby dolls. She often pushes them in their stroller, burps them, pretends to feed them, and rocks them. She is going to be the best big sister.
1
(About Liam, written by Kensi)--
One of the first things I noticed about Liam was his intelligence. He often has an answer, and if he doesn’t, he will find one. Liam is an electrical engineer for our Navy’s ammunition research and development branch. He is always thinking of solutions. He is adventurous, loves animals, and loves to explore nature. He has a “dad joke” sense of humor that I love. He is easy to connect with. He can make friends with anyone. Often, we are the last ones to leave church because he gets into a conversation with someone. He has a serving heart. He is willing to help anyone any way that he can. Just a few weeks ago our preacher’s pipe busted and Liam didn’t hesitate to give up his day off to help. Liam always ensures that we are provided for. He is great at woodworking and is a fantastic cook. His ribs are my personal favorite! We sit around the table for dinner at night and he always says a prayer. He knows the Bible and has a strong relationship with the Lord. He is very engaged with Nova and often plays whatever she wants (including tea parties!). I often get comments from others about how involved he is. I am so excited to see him love another child. He is so excited for another baby to join our family.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. We are incredibly grateful for our large village. Liam’s parents are wonderful grandparents. They both love kids and are very involved with their children’s ministry. They are the most giving and loving kind of people. Liam’s brother is known as “funcle” to Nova, I bet you could guess why. He keeps us all laughing. Kensi’s mom and step dad are the spoiling kind of grandparents. Kensi’s mom and younger sisters were adopted as well. Kensi has 3 sisters, 1 older and 2 younger. They are all very close. Kensi’s family often goes on vacations together (the beach is our favorite spot!). We also have about 20 friends who we are in a small group with. These friends are our biggest supporters. One time, Novalee got really sick with COVID-19 and we ended up in the ER. Some of these friends waited in the waiting room all night long just to be available if we needed food, drinks, clothes, or a hug. They are our biggest prayer warriors. They love Nova (“Supernova” as they call her) and are so excited for our next baby. We are blessed with our circle of friends and family. They are all so ready to love our next baby too.
Liam earned his Bachelor's degree from Worcester Polytechnic. He is an electrical engineer for Crane Naval Base. He designs and builds for our Navy's ammunition branch. Kensi earned her Bachelor's degree from Western Governors University. She is an elementary teacher for a public school in our town.
We love to go hiking, camping, anything outdoorsy, traveling, eating and making good food, and spending time together.
Our Bucket List:
1. Visit as many national parks as we can.
2. Repeat #1.
(About Kensi- written by Liam)--
I’m going to try and write this without turning it into a mushy love letter. My wife is an amazing woman. I think one of the things that first drew me to her was her boldness. We met playing board games and I enjoyed the banter as much as I enjoyed the games. Kensi isn’t afraid of anything.. except spiders. She did pull a muscle once dodging a picture of a spider. Kensi earned a degree in elementary education. Kensi’s compassion amazes me everyday. As a kindergarten teacher, Kensi is often the first person in her kids’ lives who is equipped to identify special needs. In her role, Kensi is often confronted with children who have an undiagnosed disability in an institution that is slow to respond with aid. Nonetheless, I can still hear the smile in her voice when she talks about the progress of one challenged student or the heartbreak over another. Kensi's uncompromising sense of justice is another thing that I admire about her. She holds herself to a very high standard and leads by example. She manages to dovetail hard work, diplomacy, and compassion beautifully. That is never more apparent than when I watch her play with our daughter. Kensi manages to shift seamlessly from teaching, to playing, to correcting whenever Nova needs each of them.
Novalee is our bright little 2 year old. She imitates everything she sees us do and learns
so fast. She tries to be independent and often tells us “Nova do it”. She loves to help. She is very happy
and giggly. Nova loves to be outside, build towers, dinosaurs, Mickey Mouse, Bluey, and animals. Nova also loves to play with her baby dolls. She often pushes them in their stroller, burps them, pretends to feed them, and rocks them. She is going to be the best big sister.
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.
We live in a small town in southern Indiana. We don’t live in a huge city, but we’re just a short drive
from a major college city that is full of things to do. We also live close enough that we can take advantage of the nation’s #1 Children’s Museum, an awesome zoo, and Riley’s Children Hospital. We also aren’t in such a small town that it’s all farms. We’re urban enough to have a Walmart, but rural enough to see friends and family there. One of our favorite spots here is the lake or the national forest. We have a large fenced-in backyard that is currently well equipped with kids toys. We love to sit out on our patio and enjoy a meal or a fire. Our home is perfect for the size of our family now. We love that we get all four seasons here, and summers are our favorite because Kensi gets the summer off from work! One of the benefits of Kensi being a teacher, she is always on the same schedule as our children. Another benefit of that is that Kensi is involved with our public school system and gets to be there everyday with our children. Our town is a great fit for our family.
