Stephen & Mary, Exercises of Dance

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Stephen & Mary

We met on the sand volleyball courts in college and started a friendship that continued through college. Fast forward several years, and we met for a cup of coffee that we both agree was the best ever! Through our five and a half years of marriage, we have been through a lot of ups and downs that have truly brought us closer together. Stephen has earned his Master’s degree in counseling, joined the National Guard, and is now a Clinical Director of a counseling center. Mary loves being able to stay at home with the kids. We have bought a house, ran a half marathon, and had so many more adventures. We have had four children over this time-period, two of whom passed away shortly after birth. Throughout all of this, our faith has been our solid ground on which to stand. Our two living children are such a joy to us. They are 3.5 and 4.5, and they both have big personalities full of love, laughter, and exuberance for life, and they are both very excited for a new sibling to join the family. We all love to be out in nature, whether hiking or just taking in the beauty. Traveling is important to us, and we enjoy exploring new places, and visiting historical sites, but we also love the beach! We love spending quality time with our core little family whether it is pizza Friday, movie night, dance parties, board games, reading books,or going on walks.

About Us

Stephen

Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Musician: Ludovico Eunadi

Food to make: Pasta Carbonara

Activity with the kids: Building forts

Hobbies: Reading, watching sports, taking fAVoritesnaps, and playing board games

Mary

Movie: It’s a Wonderful Life

Musician: Frank Sinatra

Food to make: Chocolate chip cookies

Activity with the kids: Swimming

Hobbies: Playing the piano and cello, reading, exercising, and working on jigsaw puzzles

At an ordination of a dear family friend

Stephen’s graduation from Basic Training

Horseback riding in California

Stephen and Mary after a drill weekend

At the beach! (^) Getting ice cream (our favorite!)

Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains

We both come from very loving and supportive families and are close to both of them. Stephen has three siblings, two of whom live out of state. His dad loves cooking for us, and they love to spoil us, especially the grandkids! Mary has ten siblings who all live close by. Her older siblings have many kids, so there are many cousins! One of our favorite traditions is to eat Sunday brunch with Mary’s parents and the few siblings who are at home still. We are surrounded by a beautiful family and church community, and they both play an important part in our life. Everyone is very excited about the adoption and can’t wait to welcome the newest member to the clan!

Mary with her sister-in-law and sister, Carmen and Melissa

Stephen and the kids with Stephen’s grandparents

Mary and her two younger sisters, Elayna and Kassie, on Christmas morning

Mary and all her siblings and her parents

Celebrating Mary’s birthday with her parents

Stephen’s family at the beach together Mary and her dear friend, Sister Magdalene Marie

The kids and Stephen with Stephen’s brother and his brother’s fiance

Our

family

Stephen and our kids with some of our nieces at a festival

The kids with Stephen’s parents at a Sunday dinner

At Elayna’s play (Mary’s sister)

Mary’s parents with all the grandkids!

Dear Birth Parent,

Thank you for taking the time to consider us as adoptive parents. While we don’t know the circumstances and various factors that have led you to the decision you are making now, we do have the utmost respect for you and a recognition that this is a difficult decision. Our hearts go out to you in this place. Being a parent is a challenging endeavor, but we can promise to love your child unconditionally, and to cherish them. One lesson that we have learned in our role as parents is the value of humility; there is never one “right answer”, and each child is a unique individual that is learned from and loved. We would welcome a child of any race or cultural background, while recognizing the importance of an individual’s cultural heritage. We consider ourselves life-long learners, and we would try to incorporate the child’s culture as much as we can, so that they too can learn about from where and from whom they came. Whatever story a child has, all of us are excited to welcome a little one into our family and begin this new adventure. We are grateful for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Stephen & Mary

Why Adoption?

We have always dreamed of having a big family. Our journey through grief of our losses has taught us so much about love, and truly expanded our hearts to love and to continue to hope even amidst difficult circumstances. Each of our children have been such a blessing to us, and we so desire more! We think our family has a whole lot of love to give, and we would love to share it with another child in our home