Evan and Christina

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