8
Colorado
Nondenominational
Casper 6 yr
Introducing Casper. Our dear boy's name was inspired by a Dutch man who gave his life rescuing Jews in WWII. Our Casper loves to imagine grand stories in his head of his own rescues and adventures. What a blessing this buddy boy is to us. He's creative, adventurous, and oh so very funny. We have a long list of chuckle-worthy "Casper quotes", such as his statement on eating holiday treats, "Momma, here we are making poor life decisions!"
Florence 1 yr
Our dear Flora. Florence was an unexpected surprise when we first started to pursue adoption after a few years of infertility. This girl loves to fill our home with joyful squealing. She's in the age of baby-to-toddlerhood where everything is new and exciting. Her favorite activity is to grab our hands and walk us wherever her heart decides throughout the house. We love to hear her happy babbles all day long.
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A little about us: we met near the foothills of the beautiful Rocky Mountains at a discipleship school. When we first started our relationship, Brandon (who had never dated before) thought it'd be quite sweet to get Jess a flower. But when he took the carnation out of the car to hand it to her, the heavy flower head fell off! Not quite the impression he was hoping for, but despite the "flower that flopped", the relationship did not, and we joyfully were married less than a year later.
After 8 years of marriage, we still enjoy laughing together at life's quirky happenings and dreaming big about the future. We love and follow Jesus Christ. Because of that reality, our home is filled with peace, joy (and so much of it!), love, laughter, giggles, excitement, hope ... the list could go on and on!
To sum it up, our home and our family is a place where Light and Life are found.
“Can we play some volleyball?” Is a phrase I often say to Jess, who generally is happy to oblige. Though I’m not the tallest kid on the block, I can hit a mean serve. I work as a networking engineer, but am steadily working on my web-development side-business so I can work full time from home someday and be present in my family’s day-to-day life. I don’t want to miss these precious years while children are in the home!
I was a bit more of a “hermit” in my teen years, but God radically got a hold of my life in my 20s and now I love to laugh, be a daddy (I just can't get enough of those sweet baby cuddles!), and beat Jess at pickleball. This year has been extra special in being able to read aloud some of my favorite children's books to Casper and experience the wonder of those stories afresh.
To sum me up my vision in a short sentence, "I want my life to show the world who Jesus is."
Brandon's family is a bit more spread out which makes visiting them all little harder, but we enjoy sweet times in Idaho with his parents (and Brandon's brother joins us when he is able to make the trip as well!)
6 Things I'm passionate about:
1. Having people over for dinner
2. Debating theology with a group of guy friends
3. Eating scrambled eggs for dinner
4. Practicing my spikes for volleyball
5. Playing strategy board games with friends. (It's extra fun now that Casper can join in—he keeps us on our toes with his unpredictable moves!)
6. Telling Jess, “I love you” everyday
I thrive in the simple everyday happenings of our home: setting traditions, cultivating beauty, making meals for my little family, tending to the garden. We’ve affectionately named our property “the littlest orchard” because of how many fruit trees I’m trying to squeeze in! I've come to the happy realization that I'm pretty crazy about fruit trees. My passion though is to create an environment where childhood wonder can flourish. This sometimes means creatively constructing a giant castle out of cardboard and other times trying to visit all the public play grounds in our town (over 24 we discovered!)
Growing up, my parents (now lovingly called “Grandma” and “Grand-daddy”) were purposeful in cultivating a peaceful, fun-loving home that we kids flourished in. Their modeling of how parenting works has been the biggest influence in how I want to raise my own children.
I love that now I get to be a momma, and am continually excited thinking of new ways to add "sparkle" to our lives.
We love visiting our family! Jess’s family all hails from Michigan and each year there is a big family get-together at a cabin in the woods. Paddle-boarding on the lake, sand volleyball, roasting marshmallows (or apples) while swatting mosquitoes, and just enjoying cousin playtime together is a highlight for us all. As our children grow up, we are grateful that on these visits there will be cousins that may match their skin color.
I grew up with the best family a girl could ask for. My mom homeschooled me and my siblings (I loved it!) and then later I went on to get a bachelor's degree at a university in Graphic Design. Now I am a full-time momma and hope to cultivate that same love of learning in my own children.
6 Things that make me smile: 1. Long walks as a family in the evenings 2. Learning old-fashioned life skills (sewing, pottery, etc.) 3. Ballroom/Swing Dancing with my guy! 4. Collecting multi-colored eggs from our happy little backyard chicken flock 5. Dreaming up adventures for my little family. 6. Drinking homemade bubbly water
Introducing Casper. Our dear boy's name was inspired by a Dutch man who gave his life rescuing Jews in WWII. Our Casper loves to imagine grand stories in his head of his own rescues and adventures. What a blessing this buddy boy is to us. He's creative, adventurous, and oh so very funny. We have a long list of chuckle-worthy "Casper quotes", such as his statement on eating holiday treats, "Momma, here we are making poor life decisions!"
Our dear Flora. Florence was an unexpected surprise when we first started to pursue adoption after a few years of infertility. This girl loves to fill our home with joyful squealing. She's in the age of baby-to-toddlerhood where everything is new and exciting. Her favorite activity is to grab our hands and walk us wherever her heart decides throughout the house. We love to hear her happy babbles all day long.
