About Us
We live in Crookston, a small town in Northern Minnesota about 30 minutes from Grand Forks, N.D. Our home is a three-bedroom, 1.75 bathroom ranch
style house. Our backyard is larger, and we enjoying gardening and grilling in the summer. We have two dogs, our spoiled fur-babies. Addie is a rescue dog and is eight years old. Louise is a Boston terrier-pug mix and is three years old. They love to go on adventures with us. They also love playing with our nieces and nephews as well as our friends' kids. We have both always felt a desire to become parents. Early on in our relationship we had talked about the variety of ways to grow our family. Adoption has always been one of the ways we desired to grow, but we decided to try naturally first. We had pursued fertility treatments, but eventually we felt God calling us towards adoption instead. We understand the decision to create an adoption plan is a tough one, and we fully respect and honor your decision. We are excited about the possibility of an open adoption, with a child's family of origin being an extension of our family. We are open to a child of any race or ethnicity, as well as a child with disabilities. We pray that you will consider us as you move forward with a possible adoption plan. Know that if you choose us, your child would be so loved. With love, Kayla and Shawn
Shawn: 319.431.2545 Kayla: 218.766.5484 Carly Kidd (CH/LSS): 651.255.2299 Shawn: smithsd@umn.edu Kayla: bake1kay@gmail.com Carly Kidd (CH/LSS): carly.kidd@chlss.
Meet Shawn
Shawn is a kind hearted, hard-working, fun
loving guy. He is a strong leader in our home and out. He is active in multiple ministries in our church. Shawn is on the leadership team, technology team, and we co-lead a small group bible study. Shawn loves sports. Which is a great thing since he works in the athletics department for the local university in town. He is the Assistant Athletic Director, in charge of communications. He works many of the sporting events by taking the statistics for the games, when the games are done he writes the game story and updates the school website and social media accounts. When he's not working or volunteering with
Shawn's first fish!
our church he loves to travel and explore. He is also working on his "dad jokes," already. Shawn's nieces and nephews have a special place in his heart. He love spending time with them and being "goofy Uncle Shawn." Shawn is the sweetest most caring man I know. I have no doubts that he will be a wonderful dad! -Kayla
Shawn and our niece, Camryn
Meet Kayla
Kayla has one of the biggest hearts. She cares so much for people and children. She is a sixth grade teacher and educating the next generation is her passion. Kid's love being around Kayla. They seem to be instantly drawn to her positive demeanor and
Kayla and Louise outside our home.
infectious smile. Kayla places family and faith at the center of everything. She is very close with our family and loves to spend any moments she can with them. A close relationship to God and remaining active in Kid's ministry at our church is very important to her. Kayla loves to craft and find different projects to do around the house. She is very creative and is a great decorator. She also loves to cook and experiment with different recipes and embrace
Kayla and Addie
different cultures in her meals. She is also very fun-loving and has a goofy side to her. She enjoys adventure and new experiences. I can't wait to see Kayla as a mom. She will be amazing and I know it will bring so much joy to her heart! - Shawn
Exploring
Bryce Canyon National Park
Together we love to travel. One goal we have in traveling is to visit as many National Parks as we can. So far we have been to thirteen in our time married. We love going to National Parks, because it gives us an opportunity to explore the beauty in the world around us. National Parks aren't the only places we like to go to to explore the beauty around us. We also love to visit many of the State Parks in our state of Minnesota and go hiking on the trails in and around our community. With Shawn's side of the family living mainly in Iowa and Nebraska, many of our travels include going to visit them.
Camping in Minnesota
Capitol Reef National Park
Visiting the White House
Glacier National Park