Our Family david, sarah, and jadon
Hello! We're David and Sarah. We've been married for 6 years and have been parents for 20 months. Jadon joined our family through adoption when he was 9 days old. We want to continue to adopt because we love children and would love for Jadon to have brothers and sisters. We miscarried twins during the first year of our marriage and have not been able to conceive since. Our dream of becoming parents has come true—through adoption. We can't wait to adopt again! We cannot imagine the difficulty of the decisions that you are facing. Although we haven't met you, we are praying for you. We would like to give you a glimpse of our life so that if you choose us, you will be comfortable and confident in the decision you have made. Thank you for considering us for the amazing privilege of providing a home for your baby. It would be a wonderful answer to prayer to welcome another child into our home. We are grateful for your efforts in considering us to provide a joyful and caring home for your baby.
David, Sarah and Jadon
Our Lives Hello! Together David and Sarah met 10 years ago, working in Christian publishing together. Three and a half years later, David proposed to Sarah on the beach, and she immediately said yes! Our wedding was held in Orlando and was very "do-it-yourself," with family and friends pitching in to make food and decorate. We are best friends and have similar personalities, so our everyday conflicts have been minimal. Despite the pain of infertility, marriage has been sweet and very fulfilling. We spend the majority of our free time doing things together. Backpacking, hiking, walking on the beach, going on dates, reading aloud to each other, and playing with Jadon are things we enjoy.
The first 5 years
My husband Name: David Age: 34 Occupation: Software Developer
David loves being a dad! He spends much of his time after work playing with Jadon, pushing him in the stroller, playing ball, and building with blocks. He looks forward to the time when he can help Jadon with homework and work on science projects together. David is a computer programmer. His work schedule is flexible and he works from home most of the week. His personality is laid-back and quiet. He likes simple things, comfortable clothes, and is basically the type of guy who would rather eat hamburgers in the backyard with his friends than go to a fancy restaurant. As both his parents were teachers, David grew up with a passion for learning. He's a good listener and tends to be quiet in groups. He likes scheduling and planning and really enjoys problem-solving, as well as telling corny jokes. He enjoys reading and listening to music a lot.
My wife
Name: Sarah Age: 30 Occupation: Stay-at-home mom, part-time artist Sarah is a stay-at-home mom, as well as a parttime artist who works from home to sell porcelain art items online. She also devotes time volunteering for church, designing graphics to use on the church website. She loves cooking and baking and thrift-store shopping. A self-described homebody, she still enjoys visiting with the tightknit circle of family and friends who come for kids' play dates, to take art classes she teaches, or just to sit and have a cup of tea. As the oldest of ten children, Sarah grew up getting a lot of experience taking care of her younger siblings, including helping organize family outings and tutoring through difficult school subjects. She enjoyed her "large family" experience growing up. She has more of a dramatic flair than David, but still prefers oneon-one interaction with people vs. being "the life of the party." She enjoys organization projects and is constantly rearranging the house. She likes reading, too, and video-chatting with family. Sarah dabbles in photography, decorating, and other arts and crafts.
Our son Name: Jadon Age: 20 months Occupation: Being cute!
Jadon is our precious gift from God! We love, love, love being his parents. After waiting 19 months in the adoption process, we finally got the call that a newborn boy had been taken to a local hospital under the Safe Haven law. A week later, Jadon came home with us, and four months later, his adoption was finalized. Many of our family and friends gathered around to give us a baby shower, party with us to celebrate the adoption finalization, and be part of Jadon's first birthday party. These dear friends had been praying for us and hanging on with us through the ups and downs of our first adoption experience. Jadon has been dubbed "Jadon the Joyful" by his grandma, and that pretty much sums it up! He "sings" in baby talk throughout the day and is delighted by his reflection in the mirror. He loves looking at books, going on walks in the stroller, and playing with his toys and puzzles. He is a "snuggler" and will happily lay his head down on Mommy or Daddy's shoulder. He loves bouncing on the couch and getting hugs and kisses. Jadon is surrounded by many people who love him dearly. We cannot wait until he is joined by a new brother or sister!
Our family We see our extended families as often as we can. David's sister Becky (his only sibling), lives in our town and loves being an aunt. David's parents also lived nearby until a recent job change moved them to Virginia. We enjoyed spending lots of time with Gramma and Grampa, and they loved being able to be a big part of Jadon's first year and a half. They are kind, gracious folks and wonderful grandparents. We plan to visit them often. Sarah's family is spread far and wide but gets together at least once a year if not more often. Sarah's mom comes to stay a weekend out of each month to enjoy some mom-daughter time. Sarah's family is a loud, loving, Italian family. Sarah's dad is retired (US Army) and her mom is a stay-at-home mom. Sarah's nine younger siblings range in age from 29 to 9 years old. Sarah's sister Melody is married with three children. Emily is married and a student in nursing school, and the rest of Sarah's siblings live at home with Mom and Dad. Sarah enjoys a great relationship with all her immediate family, having some contact on almost a daily basis.
Thanksgiving the year before Jadon joined the family
Our Home
Our home is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath cozy place on 1/10 of an acre lot in a suburban neighborhood. We chose a small, affordable home so that we could own it quickly, and we were able to pay off our mortgage in 4 years, in part thanks to generous gifts from family. We planted some flowers and trees in our yard and enjoy the back patio, which we extended and painted recently. Much of our furniture was given to us at our wedding by family and friends, and most of the decorations, such as quilts and paintings, are handmade gifts as well. Looking around our home is like a getting a giant hug, there are so many sweet memories to enjoy! Our town is a diverse military community where we have neighbors from all over the country of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds. We enjoy walking in the public parks and taking Jadon to play at a number of nearby playgrounds. The traffic is not too bad, and overall our town has been a great place to raise a family.
Community Adoption Support
David and I were greatly influenced to adopt by seeing adoption successfully enjoyed by the friends around us. Seeing adoption truly celebrated and promoted in our community has really meant a lot to us, emotionally and practically. We have access to local education and seminars through our local adoption agency to better equip us to parent as an adoptive family. We have friends who have dropped everything and come to cry with us when we were going through our infertility struggles. Our local adoption care group hosts potlucks so our children can play together, we can hear each others' stories, and we can grow in our love of adoption together. And we can count on a tight-knit group of people to affirm and support our family. We want you to know that adoption is strongly celebrated in our community and that each new child who is adopted is welcomed with open arms. We are so grateful to be living life with family and friends who will unreservedly accept and celebrate our family.
We love adoption because we believe that being a Christian means being adopted by God into His family. So we plan to communicate our love of Jesus and our love of adoption to our children on a daily basis. Being faithful to God and being faithful to each other and our children is our highest priority as a family. We also hope to raise our children to love learning. David's parents and Sarah's parents provided comprehensive "oneon-one" teaching and tutoring throughout our grade school years through a home education approach. We are really looking forward to being heavily involved in our children's education through teaching, reading aloud daily, hands-on experiments, field trips, and local co-op classes, tailoring our children's education to meet their individual needs and interests. We want to prepare and equip our children to pursue their dreams and goals, whether through college, starting their own businesses, traveling, serving in Christian ministries, or taking on apprenticeships. We know the decision to make an adoption plan is a huge decision. Thank you for loving your baby from the very start! And thank you for considering us as adoptive parents. It would be an amazing privilege to welcome another child into our home. Please know that we are grateful for you and that we are committed to providing a joyful home for your baby. Thank you for reading our story.