We have a 5-year-old son named Graham. He is so excited to be a big brother! Graham enjoys Legos, superheroes, baseball, riding his scooter, climbing trees and playground equipment, playing games, and watching movies on movie night. If Graham is out and about there is a good chance he is wearing his favorite cowboy boots. He is actively learning to be silly, imaginative, and adventurous. Graham loves to tell stories and is looking to be included in whatever is happening to gain more stories. Graham is continually growing and challenging himself (and us) as he discovers the world around him. When on play-dates he watches out for his friend’s younger siblings and makes sure they are included, if they want to be. He has a big heart like his mama and a curious mind like his daddy.

Graham is our only biological child. We tried for a couple of years for him and were finally blessed with him coming into the world during the height of COVID-19. Once we felt ready to start trying for a second baby, we experienced issues. After trying for 3 years, including one surgery and 15 rounds of fertility treatments, we made the difficult decision to stop following this path of growing our family and to turn to an adoption opportunity.

Jamie’s mom is adopted, as well as Jamie’s uncles on her mom’s side of the family. For a long time, we knew very little about Jamie’s mom’s adoption. Jamie’s mom always knew she was adopted but had no idea who her birth parents were or why they placed her for adoption. Over the years, one by one Jamie’s uncles found their birth family. It wasn’t until this past year Jamie’s mom found out the name of her birth mom. Through a lot of research Jamie’s mom finally located her birth mom, who was luckily still alive. Jamie’s mom just met her birth mom for the first time this past summer! It has put a whole new perspective on our adoption journey as we have been going through this process. It has been incredible for Jamie to learn more about her biological grandmother and Jamie hopes to be able to meet her soon! We have several friends who have adopted children into their family. As well as, growing up, Jamie’s youth pastor adopted children and his wife is a big advocate and educator on adoption. Our current church has a large ministry that serves foster and adoptive families. Our church is very supportive and welcoming of adoptive families. We have seen the inspiring courage and deep sacrificial love displayed through adoption many times. We cannot wait to experience it more as we get to adopt a child! 

Jamie's family lives nearby and we see them weekly. Jamie plays sand volleyball every week with her brother and sister in law. Jamie's mom and sometimes Jamie's dad (he still works full time) come every week for an afternoon to spend time with Graham and have family time. We also get together for birthday dinners, holidays, and house projects. One of our favorite things is "dragon fights" in Jamie's parents' basement. We build a castle fort, wear homemade knight costumes while Chris and Jamie's dad pretend to be dragons and everyone else defends the castle with wool dryer balls. Last Christmas we even got extended family involved and it was so fun to watch Jamie's dad and aunt play like they were little kids again, in typical brother sister fashion. Another favorite tradition is playing Pictionary all together and eating yummy food, like navajo bread tacos, a family favorite.

Chris' parents live 5 hours away on an acreage in the country. We love visiting them, helping can vegetables from Chris' mom's garden and going to the county fair. We visit them for all major holidays and they usually visit us a few times each year. Chris' extended family is all fairly close to his parents so we get to have bigger family gatherings during the holidays filled with lots of games and fun. When we celebrate on the acreage, we love to have whole family games of baseball or kickball and easter egg hunts.

We live in Iowa on a small cul-de-sac street. It is a very family friendly street where all of the kids go outside and play together. Across the street is a large park with a playground and splash pad as well as baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts and pickleball courts. The city hosts a lot of city events at the park so every year we walk over to the park to watch fireworks on the fourth of July and in the winter they have an event that we love going to. There's ice skating, hot cocoa, inflatable slides, bonfires, s'mores, ice sculptures and our favorite--a fire show with a lot of different performers. We also frequently drive 3 minutes down the road to the library which is also connected to the rec center. The rec center has an indoor and outdoor pool, as well as an indoor play area and indoor track. We spend a lot of time there! Our city also does lunch every day in the summer for kids followed by activities. One week the fire department came and let the kids use their fire hoses on some targets--it was a blast! Our house has 3 levels: the bedrooms are upstairs, the living room and kitchen are on the main level and the whole basement downstairs is one big play room. Our backyard faces a farm field and has a swing set, kiddie pool and water table. 

You are an incredibly selfless, brave and courageous woman. We are honored and extremely grateful that you are considering adoption. Without adoption, we would not be able to add more children to our family and build the family of our dreams. We hope that we are fortunate enough to get to meet you and come along side you in your journey. If we get that opportunity, we will pray for you and be there for you every step of the way, in whatever ways you are comfortable with.

We have been together for 12 wonderful years and we have been married for 9 of those years. Ever since the very beginning of our marriage we knew we wanted to have a lot of kids and a big family. We know there is someone missing in our family and our hearts ache as we pray and yearn for the day when we can add another child to our family. Graham longs for a sibling and we feel like we have so much more room in our heart for another little one.

Jamie has absolutely loved staying at home with Graham. Now he’s going off to kindergarten, and while she still wants to be there for Graham before and after school, she can’t wait to have another little one at home with her during the day. Family time is really important to us which is why Jamie wants to stay at home so she can have an abundance of quality time with the child. Our days can be slow and taken at a healthy pace for the child, while also having room for adventures. We would love taking the child to the library every week, playing with the neighbor kids, reading lots of books, running around at parks and playgrounds, playing games as a family and just having fun.

We would be happy to send you letters, pictures, videos, texts, calls, or even visit as we are able financially. We have seen the value of Jamie’s own mom, for the first time, getting to meet and visit her birth mom this past summer. We have also maintained several long-distance friendships over the years (one that’s lasted 18 years and still counting!) and we are confident we could maintain a strong relationship and connection if that’s what you would want. You would always be spoken of with love and respect in our home and you would be a part of your child’s story forever and always. Your child would always know about you and that they are adopted. Your child would be welcomed and cherished in our family. Our parenting methods are trust and attachment based with safe boundaries. We are loyal, trustworthy and reliable and we love deeply. We are both patient, gentle and loving parents who try to make life’s ordinary tasks fun. Recently, when Graham was faced with the option for all of us to play in the basement with toys, or the option to help us make our bed, Graham quickly and excitedly chose making the bed because we have made so much fun out of it, making “bubbles” with the sheets.

Our faith is the most important thing to us and it is what has carried us though life’s heartaches. We love God with all of our heart and we seek to love others as He has loved us. We make church, community group, and reading the bible a big priority. Graham loves reading his bible every night and we can’t wait to continue that family tradition of teaching about Jesus’ great love for us with the child. Whether you choose adoption or not, we wish you the very best and we pray that God would give you peace over your decision.

Chris & Jamie