Owen and Christin

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Mother,

We are honored and blessed to be considered as potential adoptive parents for your child.  Our names are Owen and Christin and we have two daughters, Lalande (7) and Harper (4). We are a young, active family who enjoys raising our children, but due to complications giving birth, are unable to expand our family.  When we first met, we instantly shared the bond and desire to adopt and provide the kind of life we aspire to provide our own daughters.

Owen was originally born in California and then raised in New York until age 11, until his parents settled in Colorado. Christin was born in North Dakota and stayed there until she became the first in her immediate family to graduate from college in Nevada.  After college, Christin moved back to North Dakota until she met Owen, who was working up there on an extended assignment in the energy business.  Our love was instant and we moved back to Colorado for a couple of years, while Owen finished some additional education until we moved to Texas for a few years.  It was here, during our formative years, where our first two children were born and our hearts have been [filled with joy] watching Lalande and Harper grow.   We moved back to Colorado in 2017 in order to raise our children closer to our two extended families and near the mountains.

As an adoptive family, we are open to maintaining a relationship with you. We both have adopted children in our extended families, so we are familiar with how to share about adoption in a healthy way. We will handle the subject with compassion and honesty. We also understand that your child’s emotional maturity is a top consideration and we will introduce adoption and their story in ways that are age appropriate for them. We think it is critical for your child to know how much you love and care for them. While we as adoptive parents will never replace your biological connection, we will provide emotional, moral, and spiritual support to your child that will allow them to explore and take comfort in who they are as an individual.

We also understand that you have had your own unique life experience. We are hopeful that we can be caring, loving, and nurturing adoptive parents, so that you can take comfort that your child is in a loving house.  We wish you a happy and healthy pregnancy and pray that you will be guided to the family that is the best fit for you and your baby.

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Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

We have wanted to expand our family for several years. Christin had complications giving birth and fractured her tailbone. The doctor advised us not to get pregnant again, and if we did decide to go down that road a c-section was recommended. We still wanted to grow our family, so we continued to try and conceive. After a couple of unsuccessful years, we saw a specialist and learned that Christin had a very limited amount of eggs left and our chances of pregnancy through IVF were less than 10%. We really wanted to grow our family and decided to try. Unfortunately, after months of treatments, IVF was not successful.

Adoption has always been in both of our extended families, and something we were always open to. But, we needed to go down the path of exploring fertility treatments to find our way to adoption. God has guided us to the path of adoption, and we cannot wait to be blessed with a baby and become a family of five.

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About Christin, by Owen

If you would ask me for three words that best describe Christin, they would be honest, nurturing, and selfless. Christin is the type of Mom who lives for her children. In her eyes, that’s what life is about and the time she is currently in will be the time she will always cherish. Growing a family is what she always dreamed of doing. She has a degree in elementary education and event management. Although she has dabbled in careers with events, management, and design, she is the happiest working with kids. It comes so naturally to her and is what lights her up. She jumps at the opportunity to volunteer in the girls’ classrooms and enjoys getting to know the other parents and children of the school community. Most recently she brought in a project for the classroom called “Fall in Love”. Prior to the project, Christin, and our daughter, called the local animal shelters and asked for a list of available dogs. They then brought the list of available dogs into the classroom and made posters and hung them throughout the school. Hoping that even if one dog could find a forever home it would be worth all the work. Making a difference in the community has always been a passion of hers.

Christin is also always eager to spend time with her nieces and nephews. She loves to call her brothers and tell them to go out for dinner or date night so the cousins can all have family time together. I always laugh with her and say, “Our house is like a daycare. Everyone just drops off their kids.” I envy her calmness in a chaotic house full of children. She is without a doubt the most nurturing person I know and has so much strength and self-worth. At an early age, she did a science project on alcoholism and her research made her realize the effects alcohol can have on an individual. She promised herself at an early age she would never drink. To this day, and at the age of 40, she has never had a drink in her life. I think that says a lot about her character her self-confidence, her strength, and her bravery to be able to not succumb to peer pressure and stressors in this life that many people have.

Last winter during Christin’s birthday, she noticed a homeless mom with her children on the side of the street. She didn’t say anything to our girls as we drove by, but when we got home she gave our girls each a laundry basket and told them to fill it with clothes, toys, and stuffed animals they wanted to share. Our youngest daughter had a difficult time giving anything away. Christin reassured her the feeling she would get when giving them the basket of items, would be better than the feeling she got from receiving the toys. This is just one of the examples of how kind her heart is. My eyes fill with tears thinking about Christin holding a baby again.

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About Owen, by Christin

Owen has always been great with kids. I remember when we first started dating, 14 years ago, he was always engaged and eager to play with my nieces and nephews. There are so many reasons he is such an amazing dad. I love the proud look in his eyes when the girls are sharing a cute or funny story. As a father, he wants to teach our kids to be grateful for what we have and help others that may not be as fortunate. Every Thanksgiving, he and the girls take turkeys to the homeless shelter. He teaches the girls to write handwritten thank you cards when a gift is given. Harper can’t write yet, so he has her draw a picture, and she helps address and mail it.

He’s the first person someone will call for support. Most recently, a newly hired coworker got into an accident that landed him in the hospital with broken ribs and a concussion. Owen was the first friend to visit him, staying with him until his wife arrived, helping them with the discharge paperwork, and picking up his medication from his accident. He’s big into being part of a team or finding a group to be a part of, always playing fair and being a team player. He believes that learning to play team sports at a young age set him up for success in his career. It taught him how to get along with people even if you have different viewpoints or ways of doing things. Sports also gave him something to look forward to and feel a part of in turn building his self-confidence.

Owen also enjoys traveling and going to concerts. The girls love dancing to his music while he plays the guitar. One of Owen’s favorite things about being a dad is taking them to sporting events. Most recently, he and Lalande went to a Nuggets game. When they got home that night Owen couldn’t stop talking about the game, and our daughter couldn’t stop talking about how good the churros were. We have season tickets to the Broncos and Lalande and Harper LOVE all the action and entertainment at the games. He is also Lalande’s hockey coach, and their team got selected to scrimmage after the first period of the Av’s hockey game. I don’t know who’s more excited, Lalande skating on an NHL rink or Owen proudly watching her on the ice! He’s the dad running at the park, throwing the football in the backyard, and shooting basketball hoops in the driveway with girls. I can’t wait to see his love grow for another baby.

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Our Lifestyle

Christin is a stay-at-home mom and can’t wait to have a baby at home with her again. We have a nursery ready for the baby, filled with the girls’ baby board books to read to your child. Owen’s sister has a daughter that is 4 months old, it will be so much fun to take them to music classes and meet at the park to play and have a picnic when they are toddlers. Christin can’t wait to bring the baby to the girls’ school and include him or her in our playdates. The girls’ friends and our family can’t wait for the family to grow.

While at home, Christin sets up sensory activities, kinetic sand, and aqua beads for the girls to keep busy while she’s making dinner. She enjoys baking with the girls. They make homemade oreo cookies, and classic chocolate chip cookies. They also make grape kool-aid playdough. Christin is big on making sure the kids stay active. She drives them to after-school sports and activities on most days of the week. Right now, they are interested in gymnastics, tennis, basketball, ice hockey, dance, and soccer. She wants to make sure they are respectful children, try their best academically and athletically, and have the education and foundation to be successful adults.

While we have our share of family adventures, we believe it is important for children to have a stable routine to look forward to. The girls love to go around the table during dinner and share their highs and lows of the day, followed up with their favorite colors or season. After dinner, we have our evening routine of bath, brushing teeth, reading books, laying out clothes for the following morning, prayers, and lights out. If we get upstairs in time, we do something special they enjoy like braiding hair, painting nails, or switching out their earrings, which is a big deal and fun for them at this age. We use a chore chart on the weekends and the girls randomly select 2-3 wooden sticks from the jar. Some examples are vacuuming the stairs, brushing the dog, or selecting books or clothes to donate.

We are looking forward to spending the summers at our house in North Dakota. Our house is on a golf course we can walk to the pool, and the street is filled with other children riding their bikes, and lemonade stands. Grandpa owns a construction company and will want to show you all of his heavy machinery. Dump trucks, skid loaders, and backhoes. The grandkids love when he takes them on rides.

On the weekends we will load up our SUV and drives 45 minutes to the lake. Our camper is parked next to Christin’s two brothers’ campers which is next to grandma and grandpa’s cabin. The kids are always so excited to get to the lake and see what the other cousins are doing. On a typical day at the lake, we all meet outside Christin’s parents’ patio and make breakfast to start the day. Christin’s mom has two large outdoor griddles at the lake we can make pancakes, hashbrowns, and bacon on. On average there are about 20 of us relatives eating together and everyone brings a dish to share. We then pack beach bags and towels for the day and walk or take a golf cart to the beach. It is there where we can ride paddle boards, canoes, water skis, and make sand castles. Evenings are filled with cooking hotdogs and s’mores over a campfire. Last summer the girls loved staying up late and running in the large yard. Each of them was covered in glow sticks. They wore them as bracelets, ankle bracelets, and headbands rolling down the hills and attempting to catch fireflies in jars.

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Home & Neighborhood

Living in Colorado gives us the opportunity to go on a variety of different hikes throughout the year. The sunsets are beautiful with the mountains in the background. In the winter, we love to go skiing in Vail. We share a mountain house with Owen’s family, and the girls love spending their weekends there playing in the snow. In the spring season, we go horseback riding and play at the playgrounds. The playgrounds in Vail are like no other. They are all beautifully built into the mountains or with a mountain view. Made of natural woods of the same scenery. In the summers, we travel to our North Dakota home to spend time with Christin’s family and make lots of memories camping at the lake.

Our neighborhood is a wonderful place to raise a family. We know all of our neighbors well enough that we can easily ask them for a cup of milk to add to cereal, a tablespoon of butter for mac and cheese, or sugar for last-minute baking. If one neighbor doesn’t have it, the other one does. We live on a dead-end street, filled with kids playing. In the evenings all of the adults bring their chairs out to the middle of the street and visit while the children play. The street is connected to a beautiful walking trail along a small creek. The kids love to walk down to the creek and look at the small fish, and feed bread to the birds, they have also seen a beaver at the creek! Our backyard is filled with rose bushes, a few lilac bushes, and lavender sprinkled throughout the border of the fence. Harper made a birdhouse that is hanging in a large tree, it’s a beautiful space for the kids to run. Only accessible through our back sliding glass doors. The tree also has a large tree swing for the kids to play on. On a hot summer day, the girls love running through the sprinklers. We have a long driveway connected to our garage along with a side patio. The front yard and driveway have a basketball hoop and a soccer net. The kids enjoy doing sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and riding their motorized jeep and tracker on it.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We will do our best to make sure we work with your child to connect with their cultural background. We will continue to educate ourselves to better understand and acknowledge differences in race and culture. We will create a home and family life that reflects your child’s heritage. We will also engage all of our children in discussions, interactions, and experiences that will help them better understand and to help promote a healthy sense of self-worth and personal identity. At the appropriate age, sadly children need to know that racism does exist. We do think times are changing and eyes are opening, however, it is still out there. At an appropriate age, we want to do our best to help them recognize racist behavior, and how to stand up for what they know is right. We will help him or her build relationships with people who share their racial and cultural heritage. We will also locate a group in our area, where your child can talk with other adoptees’ diverse families. The school our daughters attend, and that your child will attend, has a group for parents of students of color, and students of color. In these groups, they discuss topics such as the emotional needs of our kids and ways we can support each other. It’s a safe forum for meaningful and purposeful dialogue that strengthens a sense of belonging in our community as well as ownership of one’s own identity. It also provides diverse extracurricular activities to our children. The private school is a welcoming place for all and truly seeks to foster a unified community.

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Education

Both Lalande and Harper attend a small private school only a few minutes away. If the weather is nice outside, we can ride our bikes, which the girls love to do. The school is nondenominational, but it is rooted in Christian values and teaches children something we strongly feel as a family, treat others as you would want to be treated.  The school is very purposeful in celebrating different heritages, cultures, and experiences. We toured and interviewed at several schools and one of the reasons we selected ours is because they focus on empowering the character of an individual making everyone feel accepted.

The school has a lot of community-wide gatherings like a fall carnival, holiday sing-along, and bingo night, which offer frequent opportunities to gather and celebrate together. It also has a mountain campus for outdoor education. The school is also big on parent involvement or “character power” as they call it. This program supplements focus on academics, fine arts, and athletics by helping develop moral character. It relies on parents’ commitment and presence in their children’s classrooms, which is one of Christin’s favorite things to participate in. The selected virtues are respect, honesty, justice, loyalty, love, courage, hope, and service/faith. The kids love when their parents can come into their classroom and teach a lesson. When not at school, the girls spend the days playing with their neighborhood friends, visiting the local pool, biking around the neighborhood, and getting ice cream for a treat. They also love a good game of hide-and-seek and playing games like Memory and Old Maid.

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We Love Animals

We have a 9-year-old long-haired miniature dachshund. Her name is Paisley. She is very sweet with children, laid back, and quiet. The girls love to dress her up, and if they draw a picture of an animal, it always seems to be a dachshund. We also have an indoor/outdoor orange tabby named Raja. The girls love the movie Aladdin and thought Raja would be the best name for him. He is the friendliest cat. We got him when he was a kitten, and since the girls held him so much, I think it really helped makes sure he would be a friendly cat. He’s mostly doing his own thing until nighttime rolls around and then he suddenly becomes part of the girls’ bedtime routine-whether he likes it or not. They take turns sleeping with him and trade off every other night. Our 12-year-old yellow lab passed away last June. It was so heartbreaking for the girls. She was the best dog, letting them pretend she was a horse or sheep, whatever animal the girls were imagining that day the lab would go along with it and let them sit on her. Our animals are a large part of our family, and we’re sure a yellow lab puppy will be in our future when the time is right.

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Our Families

Owen’s sister and their families live here in Colorado. His sister has a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a baby. Their oldest and our youngest have so much fun growing up and playing together. They love playing on the playground and swimming at the local pool. They plan on taking skiing lessons together this winter.

Christin’s family lives in North Dakota where we spend our summers. When we are here in Colorado, Christin calls and checks in with her mom, dad, and brothers every day. Most evenings, we Face Time with her mom so the girls can read a book with her and tell her any special updates, like winning a basketball game or losing a tooth.

All of our family members are incredibly excited to welcome a child to the family, and we both have family who share the special connection of adoption.

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Faith

Christian faith is important in our home. We teach our children to pray over fears or concerns. We say nightly prayers and the Lord’s prayer as a family and also attend Sunday service.

We are firm believers that God has a plan for each of our lives, even though sometimes we think we are in control. Christin’s friend has a Texas faith group she is part of that supports women of faith. Encouraging and lifting each other up in times of need. We believe all of the ups and downs in our pregnancy were part of the plan to lead us to adoption.

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Family Traditions

We are firm believers that children should not deal with adult problems and stay sweet and innocent as long as possible. We have a lot of fun, family traditions that revolve around this idea. There is an annual neighborhood Fourth of July parade that we like to attend. Our local fire station brings out a fire truck and sprays all the kids at the end of the parade. The girls love it and look forward to going every year. To keep the summer fun going, we make sure to get out to the state fair parade in July. Whenever a tooth is lost, Christin leaves mini presents and handwritten fairy notes set by their own fairy doors. The girls also get fun Easter bunny baskets on the front doorstep. When fall starts, we love going up to the pumpkin patch. Not only do the girls get to pick out pumpkins, there are also fun activities to do like drinking hot cider and going on the big jumping pad. Every Halloween, we trick or treat with our family friends that have four children of their own. We make dinner that includes nice warm soup to keep us warm, then go all around the neighborhood collecting our goodies.

We go out of town and stay at a hotel to attend a huge winter festival with Santa and Mrs. Claus. One of the most exciting things to see is the large 10-foot-tall gingerbread house that is decorated with a new theme every year. On Christmas Eve, the girls and Christin make sure to set out cookies and milk by the fireplace for Santa. We create and send out Christmas cards to our friends and family. It is a fun way to keep in touch and share how our girls are growing. We keep a copy of each year’s Christmas cards so that our children will be able to look back at them when they are older. We can’t wait to include your baby in all of our family traditions as well as create new ones when they join our family.

Along with visits to see Christin’s family, we like to go on 1-2 family vacations a year. Last year we went to Kona, Hawaii. The girls had so much fun swimming, playing on the beach, and paddleboarding. We saw sea turtles and dolphins jumping in the distance. This fall we are going to Disney World with Christin’s parents, her brothers, and their families. The girls are so excited to explore Disney world with their cousins.

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Our Promise to You

Our promise to you is that we will ALWAYS, no matter what it takes, give the best loving care to your child. We are a very loyal family. We will always put your child’s needs before our own. Just as our own biological children, we will give them the best academic education that is offered. We will nurture your child’s emotional needs, all while encouraging them athletically, knowing what they can achieve. We will be your baby’s biggest cheerleader. Please know how excited our daughters are to have another sibling. They are already talking about who will hold the baby first, who will get to be Mommy’s helper when we are changing diapers and giving baths. They are already thinking about what bikes and toys they can share with their new sibling. We are very nurturing and loving parents and expect them to respect themselves and others, always striving for their best.  We will be forever grateful to you as we feel you are giving SO much in this situation. You are giving life, a family to this child, and giving us a piece of our heart that has been missing. We value our marriage, and what it means to be a solid family. We know how important a stable marriage is for young children.  It gives them a sense of security, self-confidence, and reassurance in themselves when they are part of a tight-knit family. A family where it’s a safe place to be yourself.

If we are so fortunate to expand our family, please know there will be a lot of living, a lot of life experiences and memories made, a lot of laughs, and when there are downs, we will work on them together and grow even stronger as a family. We can imagine how this journey has been incredibly challenging. Please always remember how strong YOU are as a person. Adoption is one of the most selfless acts. To not only give a life, but to make sure your baby is in the hands of one of the most loving families that will support him or her throughout their life. We will always be grateful for you, and make sure your baby knows how much they are forever loved by you, so much so that you wanted him/her to have the best life you could imagine for them. Whether it is us or another family, we pray you find peace and happiness in your decision and are guided to the most loving family for your baby.

We promise to love your child unconditionally as our own. He or she will know how much you love them and we will raise them to be proud of their adoption story.