Jeffrey and Tara

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From Us to You

Hello:

Our love story began when we met in college and found our best friend, most honest critic, and greatest support system in each other. Our love for travel, education, music, and sports not only brought us together but has helped us enjoy life together. We have been happily married since 2009.

We have never viewed adoption as a “second choice” to having children biologically. We were blessed to become parents through the Miracle of adoption and IVF and love our daughters the same and just as much. Our hearts’ desire is to welcome a fourth child to our family. Adoption is discussed openly in our home and Samantha is proud of her adoption story and enjoys sharing this fact with others. Samantha’s birth mom, Kim, is freely talked about in our home with love and admiration.

Your child will be loved and nurtured by a mom who has a warm heart and a knack for taking care of others. Being a mother has been the most fulfilling experience to Tara and is her greatest accomplishment. In Jeff, your child will have a father who is devoted to his wife and children. He’s also passionate about his sports teams, especially The University of Notre Dame! He and Tara are equally excited to welcome either a boy or girl into their family.

Your child will also have three amazing and loving sisters to welcome him/her into our family. There is Samantha who loves learning about space, and we hope she one day reaches her goal of traveling to the moon. Gwendolyn’s ideal day would be full of arts and crafts and probably eating watermelon. Gwendolyn and Samantha are only seven months apart and are truly each other’s best friends. The youngest is Josephine who has been such a joyful addition to our family. She is happiest playing with her sisters, though also fiercely independent.

We are very close with our families and have the support and love of four grandparents, more than a few aunts and uncles, and seven cousins in our extended family, all anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new baby. We also have a tight-knit group of friends who hold us up through prayer and support that we will be blessed with a child soon.

You face a difficult decision, and we would be honored to welcome your precious baby into our family and fulfill the dreams you hold close to your heart for your child.

You are in our prayers,
Tara and Jeff

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Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

Being parents is something we dreamed about, even before our wedding. Our path to becoming parents was not a straight line and after two years of unsuccessful IVF cycles, we made the choice to pursue adoption. We can undoubtedly say that was the best decision we have made as a couple. We welcomed our daughter Samantha through adoption, and welcomed two more daughters, Gwendolyn, and Josephine, through IVF. We recently found ourselves at the same crossroads wanting to add another child to our family. We’ve closed the book on having children biologically and are completing our family through the Miracle of adoption.

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About Tara, by Jeff

Tara is a fantastic and devoted wife and mother. She is our family’s north star and constantly keeps us pointed in the right direction. She’s a terrific friend and truly cares for others. Tara’s also fun. Watching Tara sing and dance with the girls is great. Whether it’s singing along to Taylor Swift or Christmas songs, everybody always ends up laughing. She enjoys being physically active with the girls and really cherishes seeing each daughter develop her own personality and character. Tara brings joy to our house, and there’s no one else in the world I’d rather spend time with and raise a family with.

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About Jeff, by Tara

Jeff has supported me through the worst of times, as well as the best. He’s a wonderful father who exhibits the perfect balance of letting the girls have some independence while carefully watching for their safety. Jeff enjoys coaching Samantha and Gwendolyn in soccer, and he is very excited that the girls are showing interest in Star Wars, one of his childhood (and adult!) favorites. The attribute I admire the most in Jeff is his patience. I am so thankful Jeff made the decision to propose to me twelve years ago and for all our decisions together along the way to grow our family.

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How We Met

We attended the same university but actually met at the Los Angeles airport. Both of us were selected to study abroad in Australia and before traveling across the world, we chose to spend the last days with family – Tara and her mom spent a few days together in Los Angeles, and Jeff with his aunt, uncle, and two cousins near Anaheim. At the airport, Tara’s mom waited in line with her to check in. Jeff was in line behind Tara, and it was Tara’s mom who first started speaking to Jeff. Where was he from, was he looking forward to the semester, she wanted to know. When Tara turned around, her mom introduced her to Jeff. Then we were off to Australia. We became friends first and towards the end of our semester abroad we realized that we wanted to continue our relationship back at school, and eventually forever.

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Lifestyle

While we have an active and busy lifestyle, we balance all the activity with quiet and simple things, too. Weekdays are full of packing lunches, school drop-offs, active jobs for us, and lots of hustle to keep up with the pace of our girls. We slow down in the afternoon and evening and prioritize reading with the girls each day. Samantha and Gwendolyn are reading books on their own, and it is really rewarding to see them read to Josephine. Weekends typically include Saturday mornings at the beach (in the summer), birthday parties, extracurriculars like soccer or ice skating, a BBQ at a neighbor’s, and church as a family. We have found a parish in our community we really like. We enjoy seeing friends and meeting new people after Mass, sharing donuts and coffee. We don’t have a lot of time to devote to our own interests like playing tennis, reading, or trying a new local restaurant, but we do work with each other to make time for ourselves independently, and as a couple.

Another part of our lifestyle is our love for hosting. We often host friends and family at our home for holidays, big football games, or just to sit outside and watch the kids ride their bikes. We recently hosted a movie watch in our backyard to celebrate Samantha’s birthday. Our daily life is busy with three kids, but it is so rewarding and built around genuine love. It gives us the energy and strength we need to be our best each day. We look forward to an even fuller house, filled with sibling laughter, lots of energy, and much love.

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Home and Neighborhood

Our home is a spacious white farmhouse, originally built over 100 years ago but completely rehabbed to keep our family comfortable. All of our bedrooms are upstairs, and we enjoy reading with the girls or watching them play dress-up in their rooms. Tara’s favorite part of their house is the big table in the dining room. While some family dinners are in the kitchen, when grandparents or friends join for a meal, Tara enjoys setting a large table. Long conversations around the dinner table are a vivid memory of Tara’s childhood, and one she is carrying on to her family. Jeff is really enjoying the backyard we made renovations to recently. There are now two separate patios and a safe spot for a bonfire pit. The girls have enjoyed trying out their lemonade stands both in front of our house and in the backyard, just to see where sales are the highest!

We were fortunate to find a great community outside of the city and have enjoyed putting down roots in a home we can see ourselves in as our daughters grow and as we complete our family. We are walking distance to a great park and the K-8 school where Samantha and Gwendolyn go. The lake is a short bike ride from our home. Our neighborhood is full of kids biking to the ice cream shop and neighbors walking their dogs. We can also walk to the train, which is not only convenient for Jeff when he works downtown but also makes for fun day trips for the family to explore a museum, a show, or a ballgame.

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Our Families

Jeff’s parents are retired college professors, who enjoy sharing all kinds of educational ideas, books, games, toys, and activities that entertain and challenge our girls. They live only three hours away and are always ready to jump in the car and drive over to join us for family time or to celebrate any special occasions with us. One of our fondest family memories was a recent trip to Disneyland with Jeff’s parents. Jeff grew up going to Disneyland with his parents and cousins, so it has been fun to keep that tradition alive. We can’t wait to include your child in our future plans for family trips to Disneyland with grandparents.

Tara’s parents and brothers live further away, but she grew up with a father who was a pilot, so our family considers no distance too great to keep us from seeing each other and we visit each other often. Tara’s parents have a cabin where we get together with our extended family to celebrate birthdays, baptisms, Christmas, and the Fourth of July. Our family loves tubing on the lake, bonfires with s’mores and cousins, and reading books with Grandma. These simple moments are the best memories for us, as well as our girls. Our family means the world to us!

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Faith

Faith has always been a very important part of both of our lives, and we are proud of the diversity of religions we embrace. Tara’s parents like to say that she went off to a Catholic University and came home with a Methodist! When Jeff asked Tara’s parents for their blessings for him to marry her (which was no easy feat given it was a snowstorm and a flight was involved), the first question her parents asked Jeff, was if he would continue to support Tara as she continued to live her life in the Catholic faith. Jeff promised Tara’s parents to support her then, and he continues to live up to his promise.

We attend church regularly as a family at our Catholic parish, which is just five minutes from our home. We were so proud of our two older daughters when they recently received their First Communion. We believe that combining the diversity of religions at home and in our lives has given us the opportunity to share more about our faith lives with our children in teaching about God’s love for all people, no matter how different we are.

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Family Traditions

While many traditions revolve around holidays for us, we have created some new traditions with our daughters as they grow. We love to think of including another child in these traditions! Most of these are simple, like family movie nights on Saturday, family games on Sunday, and visiting our local ice cream shop every Father’s Day (and many days in between!). One of Tara’s favorite traditions is having pancakes on Sundays. She grew up with her dad making pancakes for the family after church on Sundays, and now Jeff has assumed the role of making pancakes for the family. Tara is still usually on clean-up duty!

We are fortunate to continue to celebrate holidays like the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with our parents and extended family. Thanksgiving pies have been fun for the girls to learn how to bake with both grandmas. Jeff’s dad has started making pizza from scratch on Christmas Eve, and we enjoy it together when we celebrate Christmas with them. Tara’s extended family is large, and when we travel to spend Christmas with Tara’s extended family, a crowd of 40-50 gathers to celebrate. It brings us so much joy to see our daughters enjoy time with their cousins and other extended family members. We can’t wait to share all of these traditions with your child.

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Our Relationship with Samantha's Birth Mother

We still celebrate July 29th to this day. It was the day when we received the call that Kim, Samantha’s birth mom had chosen us. We had a phone call with Kim a few days later and met Kim and her mom within two weeks of our first phone call. We went to breakfast together and Kim and Tara ordered the same thing, French toast. On September 16th Samantha entered the world and forever into our hearts.

After Samantha was born we shared pictures and updates with Kim, and we are grateful for the pictures and updates she has with us of herself and her 3 children. Those pictures and our communication beginning during the last weeks of her pregnancy are cherished treasures of the woman that blessed us with our daughter, Samantha. We are delighted when we hear from her. We talk about Kim, we pray for Kim, and we continue to remain eternally grateful.

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Travels & Family Vacations

While we were going through the adoption process with Samantha, we bought a travel book on Argentina and were looking forward to traveling in South America. We got a call saying we had been chosen by Samantha’s birth mom and then our other two daughters were born, so our Argentina book still sits on our bookshelf, almost 10 years later! We wouldn’t exchange our time of being parents for any trip in the world, but we are motivated to travel with our children, domestically and internationally, as they grow.

Our favorite trips as a family have been three trips to Hawaii with our girls and Tara’s parents, and two trips to Disneyland with our girls and Jeff’s parents. Future destinations will include places we’ve been and loved but also new places like Santa Fe, Quebec, and hopefully, Argentina someday!

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Our Promise to You

We promise to love your child unconditionally and forever. Life can take drastic turns, for good and for bad. While we have been so blessed with family, the means to have an education, and good health to this point, our fertility struggles have caused us to experience some of life’s toughest blows. These blows have strengthened our love for each other. Our faith is important to us, and while it has been shaken at times, God has always shown us the rainbow after the storm. We have no doubt you too have faced challenges, some of them far greater than we will ever know. We pledge to you we will be the best parents we can be to this baby and always keep you in our hearts, minds, and prayers. We promise.