My husband and I have been married almost 5 years now and we’ve been together since high school which was 14 years ago. We want a family more than anything and our hoping to have one soon. Sadly I cannot have children of my own due to some infertility issues but that does not mean we cannot provide love to a child who needs a good home. Our hope is that one day we can say our dream of having a family came true.

Dear Expectant or Birth Mother,

Our family life is a fun mix of Baylor sports, music, books, travel, and our church activities and community. Both of us work at Baylor University: Evan, who has a master’s degree in education, works for the track and field team, and Christina, who has a PhD in English, teaches business communications. Our jobs come with wonderful perks, including a flexible schedule to allow us lots of family time, free admission to Baylor sports events (We love football and basketball games and track and field meets!), and free college tuition for our children. Christina is thankful that her teaching schedule would allow her to be home with a baby for four days each week. On the three days a week that Christina leaves home for work, we would use a wonderful mothers’ day out program at a local church for childcare.

Our flexible schedules allow us to send our only son, Jude, to a Christian university-model school, in which he goes to school three days a week; on the other two days a week, we homeschool. As a teacher, Christina loves being part of Jude’s education and helping him learn. Homeschool gives us opportunities to read and play soccer or basketball outside together, make many trips to the library, and learn about what interests him. We also love the sweet, nurturing atmosphere that Jude’s school provides for him.

Jude is our biological son, born in 2011. He loves sports, Legos, and books. When asked to describe him in one word, his kindergarten teacher said, “Compassionate.” He is an empathetic boy who would be a wonderful big brother. He is both silly and smart. He loves to make people laugh; he also asks thoughtful questions. He cares deeply about what others are feeling, and he wants to help them to feel better if they are sad. Jude is continually playing a sport with a community league. Soccer is currently his favorite, but he has also enjoyed basketball and t-ball. Jude regularly attends Sunday School and our church’s Wednesday night children’s program.

We met through working with a Christian college ministry. We were ministry partners and good friends for several years. We both admired each other’s character and values, and we knew when we started dating that we would marry. Our first date was at a lovely dam in South Africa, where we were leading a team of college students doing ministry there. We were married less than a year later, in 2007, in Greenville, South Carolina.
We have continued in our commitment to church and ministry. We lead a community group for our church; about five other families regularly come over to our house, share a meal with us, and talk about the Sunday sermon and pray for each other. All our kids usually play in the backyard with a couple of babysitters that we arrange. We also volunteer for our church’s Wednesday night children’s program. Evan leads the outdoor activities time, playing sports and games with the kids, and Christina leads the music time, singing songs and dancing with the kids (about 40 children in all).

Travel is another big part of our family life. Christina leads a study abroad program for college students every June, and we enjoy using part of it as a family vacation. Evan also travels to various meets with the track and field team, and Christina and Jude accompany him whenever possible. In Jude’s six years of life, he has already been to Austria, England, France, Switzerland, and Germany in addition to California, Washington, Utah, Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama. We enjoy learning about and seeing new places!

We believe that when God says "No" to something, often He is saying "Yes" to something else. We had Jude with no problems or complications but have had unexplained secondary infertility for the past five years. Our doctors tell us that we are healthy, and they don’t know why we can’t have more biological children. Trusting that God is good, wise, and sovereign, we are pursuing adoption, hopefully as God's "yes."

Several families in our church, including one of our pastors, have grown their families through adoption, and now they are beautiful, multi-racial families. We believe we would have a tremendous support system through these and other friends at church, and we would be committed to helping a child whom God gives us through adoption to learn about his or her ethnic background and have access to adults and children of that background.
If you choose to place your baby with us, we would like to have as open a relationship with you as you would feel comfortable with. We live in a cozy home in Waco, Texas, close to the local library, several fun parks, and the YMCA. We would be glad to share pictures and letters with you, and we would love to visit regularly with you, if you like.

Sincerely,
Evan and Christina

"When you ask you must believe and not doubt" James 1:6. We have asked God to bless us with a child and we believe without doubt that this blessing will come through adoption. We are thrilled and humbled that you are taking the time to get to know us and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time in learning of our adoption story. We are Casey and Cody and are entering into this next step in the journey of our life with so much hope and joy. We are extremely fortunate to live in the beautiful state of Colorado on our family owned ranch. We share our home with our beloved dogs, Sis and Milo; we also have many horses and cattle on the ranch.

We are 33 and 31 years old and have been married for 7 years. We met through mutual friends 8 years ago and have never looked back. Casey is a rancher and a cattle buyer with a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Business. I am an emergency room nurse with a Bachelors of Nursing. We are fortunate enough to have flexible schedules and family close by that will be able to assist with child care when we are at work. We love to travel but it is unusual for us to ever be apart and always enjoy having evenings together and eating a family dinner. We both compete at professional rodeos throughout the country. Horses are a huge part of our lives and we enjoy raising, training, and competing with them.

We entered into our marriage with the knowledge that, due to an accident when Cody was 16, bearing children would be impossible. We have put the matter into God's hands and have faith that everything happens for a reason. We know without doubt that we are ready to fully commit ourselves to a child and look forward to doing this through adoption. We are both Christians and have faith that our family will be complete when the timing is right.

While we could never understand the depth of emotions or the weight of the decisions that a birthmother experiences in considering an adoption plan, we have faith that these choices will be made from a place of love and are made by them to give their child the best life possible. We look forward to sharing our lives with a child and bringing them up in our western lifestyle. We love sharing in the lives of our nieces, nephews, and close friends' children. We want to extend that love to our future son or daughter and have opened our hearts fully to this being delivered to us through adoption. Thank you again for taking the time to read this letter. We are both very hopeful that we will get to meet our child's birth mother soon and begin to share in this journey with them.

Love,
Casey and Cody

"When you ask you must believe and not doubt" James 1:6. We have asked God to bless us with a child and we believe without doubt that this blessing will come through adoption. We are thrilled and humbled that you are taking the time to get to know us and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your time in learning of our adoption story. We are Casey and Cody and are entering into this next step in the journey of our life with so much hope and joy. We are extremely fortunate to live in the beautiful state of Colorado on our family owned ranch. We share our home with our beloved dogs, Sis and Milo; we also have many horses and cattle on the ranch.

We are 33 and 31 years old and have been married for 7 years. We met through mutual friends 8 years ago and have never looked back. Casey is a rancher and a cattle buyer with a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Business. I am an emergency room nurse with a Bachelors of Nursing. We are fortunate enough to have flexible schedules and family close by that will be able to assist with child care when we are at work. We love to travel but it is unusual for us to ever be apart and always enjoy having evenings together and eating a family dinner. We both compete at professional rodeos throughout the country. Horses are a huge part of our lives and we enjoy raising, training, and competing with them.

We entered into our marriage with the knowledge that, due to an accident when Cody was 16, bearing children would be impossible. We have put the matter into God's hands and have faith that everything happens for a reason. We know without doubt that we are ready to fully commit ourselves to a child and look forward to doing this through adoption. We are both Christians and have faith that our family will be complete when the timing is right.

While we could never understand the depth of emotions or the weight of the decisions that a birthmother experiences in considering an adoption plan, we have faith that these choices will be made from a place of love and are made by them to give their child the best life possible. We look forward to sharing our lives with a child and bringing them up in our western lifestyle. We love sharing in the lives of our nieces, nephews, and close friends' children. We want to extend that love to our future son or daughter and have opened our hearts fully to this being delivered to us through adoption. Thank you again for taking the time to read this letter. We are both very hopeful that we will get to meet our child's birth mother soon and begin to share in this journey with them.

Love,
Casey and Cody

We are excited to be able to adopt a young child or infant as our own, as we've tried to have our own for two years now with no success. With faith and prayers we hope to adopt our first child. Looking for a male or female child under 4 years old.

Al and I met 7 years ago and have been married for 5. Soon after we were married we became pregnant with our first. We had an easy pregnancy and delivery and enjoyed watching our daughter grow up. After she turned 3 we decided to start trying for baby number 2, month after month we would see the lonely pink line and became frustrated. We tracked, we researched and researched but the result was the same….nothing. We looked into fertility treatments and did the recommended testing, based on the test results the doctor recommended IUI. We thought this was going to be a for sure thing…..we went through a whirlwind of medications, doctor appointments for ultrasounds, bloodwork, procedures and after 3 months we were still in the same spot…..nothing. We were physically and emotionally exhausted. Fertility is hard but our dream of having another child never left us.

We both feel blessed by the time we have had to lean on God to get us through those dark days, weeks and months because our marriage is stronger, our family is stronger and our relationship with our Savior is stronger. God's grace has poured over us and our lives in such an incredible way and now He is asking us to step out in faith. We have learned over the last year that God makes beautifully things out of brokenness and pain, and we are so excited to watch this part of our story unfold as we set out on this adventure to bring our baby home!

That being said, we’d really appreciate your support in the following ways:

First, we would really appreciate your prayers.  Please pray for the process, for the baby, for the birth family and for us.  The love and sacrifice required to place a baby for adoption is both heartbreaking and beautiful.  So, please pray for the birth family and the birth mom as goes through this journey.  And please pray for us as God prepares our hearts, our family and our home for our new baby.

Second, we could use your financial support.  Adoption is quite expensive but we are confident that God will provide, as He always does. Lastly, we would love it if you could share our story with others who you think may be interested in supporting us.  We know there are so many people out there with a heart for adoption, and we would love for them to share in our story!

Thank you all so much for your support and love!

Al and Bre

Al and I met 7 years ago and have been married for 5. Prior to us getting married we had discussed adoption however we agreed that we wanted to have biologic children first. Soon after we got married we became pregnant with our daughter. Once she turned 3 we discussed trying for baby number two. Month after month we saw one lonely pink line. I researched different methods to increase our chances to become pregnant, tracked for 6 months and still we weren't pregnant. We decided to look into fertility treatments. After we did the initial testing our fertility doctor recommended IUI to which we agreed to and thought that it would for sure get us pregnant. After 3 failed rounds of treatment I told my husband I couldn’t continue fertility treatments. The toll it took on me physically, mentally and emotionally I knew I couldn’t go through it again.

Our dream of having another baby never left us. We are excited about growing our family through adoption, to give this little one a home, a family and to call him or her ours.

In these last 2 years our faith has been tested, stretched and strengthened. God's grace has poured over us and our lives in such an incredible way and now He is asking us to step out in faith. If there is one thing we've learned in the last 2 years, it's that God makes beautifully exquisite things out of brokenness and pain, and we are so excited to watch this part of our story unfold as we set out on this adventure to bring our baby home!

Many of you have asked how you can help with our adoption journey. We want to first thank you for your support and for your desire to be a part of our story. I'm sure you are aware that adoption is quite expensive, so we are asking for your help! Any amount we receive through donation will be such a huge blessing, but if you are unable to help financially, you can still help by sharing our story and joining us in prayer!

Specific things to pray for:
1. Pray for patience as we go through this journey. Pray that we continue to place our faith in God and His plan for us and our future family. It’s easy to get distracted by all the things we “have to do” and by the financial obligations that are tied into adoption.
2. Pray for our birth mom who is choosing life and making such a courageous decision in allowing us to be the family for her baby.
3. Pray for our baby and that the pregnancy and birth go smoothly.
4. Pray that God uses our story to bring hope to others and that God is glorified through our journey.

We are so thankful to have you as a part of our journey and cannot wait to keep you updated and to someday introduce you to our precious baby.

Love,
Al and Bre

P.S. Please feel free to follow our adoption journey on our blog www.lovebuiltourfamily.blogspot.com

To any biological family member or foster family...
We are thinking of you. We are thinking of what you/your child are going/ have gone/will go through during this entire process. Know that all of these things are not taken lightly by us. We give you our word that we will work every single day to be worthy of such sacrifice. We'll try to tell you as much about us as we can here:
Our names are Cory and Natalie. We've been happily married for thirteen years. We have an eight-year-old biological son, Austin, who is sweet, smart, funny, and has more energy than should be humanly possible.
Originally, we are from the Midwest and Northeast (respectively), but have called South Carolina home for over a decade now.
We always meant to have more children, we were able, but time just got away from us. We believe in things happening when they’re supposed to, though, so we’re sure we’re here at the time we’re supposed to be to meet the child we’re supposed to meet. Natalie’s sister (who we’re all close with) is adopted, so adoption has always felt very natural and comfortable for our family.
We have a great gift of a rock-solid, loving, forever family to give to a child who, in turn, could give us the gift of becoming the family of four we've always dreamt of being. We have enough guys in the home, LOL, so we are looking for a little girl. The ages we are open to are four through ten.
As for what we're like personally?
We are a very active family. We have a lot of energy and like to explore the world around us.
Austin is a bookworm who loves school, riding his bike, playing video games, playing basketball, and reading and writing. He is currently in the third grade. Austin has always wanted a sister. He talks about it often. He'd like his future sibling to know that he's very nice, smart, and that we have two cats. He doesn’t want her to know that he’s obsessed with his hair. But we think she’ll be able to figure that out pretty quickly...
Cory works at an insurance company and is big into history, gardening, and volunteers at a cat shelter. Natalie is a voice actor and writer and is into all things "artsy". These jobs are great for family time. Natalie works normal hours from home, so she’s there after school. Cory works 9-5 Monday - Friday at a building just a few miles away.
We live in a four bedroom, single-family home (so our second child can have their own room!) in the suburbs.
We have a small pond out back with fish in it, so we can fish out there, there's a fire pit out there we don't use nearly enough, too.
Our community has a pool, so we spend a lot of days there in the summer. We're on a cul-du-sac, so it's great and safe to play out front.
We have a pretty structured routine, but we're not overly strict people. We’re weird, silly, and very loving people.
As parents, it’s important to us that our children learn to love, how to be loved, to be good people, the importance of an education, and to be self-sufficient adults. We will do everything in our power to nurture and support their natural passions, talents, interests, and goals -- whatever they may be.
If there is an active, inquisitive, little girl out there that you think we would be a good fit for, we’d love to hear from you! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, we're excited and greatly appreciate it.
Best, Natalie, Cory, and Austin

My husband and I are both stay at home parents with 5 children of our own. As 4 of them get ready for college we have a 9 year old still at home looking for a new brother or sister. We live on the beach in a nice house with a pool, little Chihuahuas, and even a pot belly pig named Lola! Our family has a lot of love to give and now that my husband is retired from the USMC we have all the time in the world to give all the love we have to a new addition to our family!

Hi, We are Russ & Brenda. We have a 10 year old daughter, and have wanted another child for a long time. We almost adopted an infant several years ago, however, that didn't work out. After some soul-searching, we have decided that adopting an older child could also be a good way to complete our family. We would like to adopt a child younger than our daughter, and have a current home study approved to adopt a child from 0-7 years old. We are also applying to our state's foster-to-adopt program, and have been learning about how to parent an older child who may have had trauma or other special needs. We are a loving family in the upper Midwest and live in a fantastic neighborhood with great schools. We look forward to answering any questions you might have about our family!