Jeffrey and Amanda

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Mother,

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family! We feel honored to share our story with you and hope to learn about yours as we look to fulfill our dream of expanding our family through the miracle of adoption.

Every day we remind our son Kelby, and ourselves, that as long as we have each other, we will never walk alone in life. We will always be present and supportive of each other through good times and difficult moments. Right now, you are navigating through a challenging and complex decision. We want you to know that we are here for you and would be honored to walk this journey alongside you in a way that provides you with what you need.

We sincerely hope that your journey is graced with good health, abundant love, and a sense of peace. As you explore profiles and photos to imagine the life you desire for your child, we realize that this can be an incredibly emotional and challenging time. We truly empathize and are grateful for the depth of care you have for your child’s future. We hold your selfless act of devotion in the highest regard and are honored that you have taken the time to envision our family as a potential fit for the life you wish for your child’s journey.

We want you to know our family is beyond ready to welcome another child or children into our hearts and home. Even before we learned we could not have children biologically, we knew that growing our family through adoption was important to both of us and that it would be the most fulfilling blessing we could imagine. We vow to love your child unconditionally and promise to give them everything they want and need to live their best life. As a family, we will cherish and honor how we came together, and your child will always know how important you are to all of us.

Please know that we will always respect you and your wishes and would love to meet you wherever you are. We love traveling and experiencing new places and would be happy to come to you if you desire or host you near us for visits if you would like. We also have family and friends in most states who can help our family quickly when needed, making traveling easier. However, we want you to know that we will always respect you and your wishes about your relationship with your child, even if they change over time.

Our profile shares a lot about us and our 4.5-year-old son, who is extremely excited to be a big brother one day. However, there are many stories and photos that just could not fit within our profile. If you want, we would be honored to share these with you and answer any questions you might have.

We are so excited and cannot wait to begin this journey. We know the blessing of another child will transform our lives for the better, and we are ready for it. With deepest sincerity, we wish you the best in life. If you are willing, we would be honored to learn more about you and your dreams for your child.

Many Blessings,
Amanda, Jeff, and Kelby

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About Us

The first time we saw each other, we both fell in love. As the years passed, our love deepened, and we celebrated it through our marriage, surrounded by family and friends… and a hurricane. Old tales say that rain on your wedding day brings good luck, and has it ever! As a couple, we have enjoyed wonderful experiences together, including traveling the world, building a new home, celebrating professional and personal accomplishments, and, most importantly, growing together as parents.

We are both motivated and inspired by our families. That’s one of the many reasons we fell in love. We each longed to build families like our brothers and sisters have and create bonds like the ones they share with their children. We have built our relationship on respect, trust, and expressing our affections daily in little ways. Whether it is getting each other’s tea at night, opening doors, or giving the other space to unwind, we relish every moment we can show each other how much we care. As a couple, we always make it a point to listen to each other’s perspectives and maintain equal partnership in our relationship, home, and family life. Our experience raising Kelby has proven that these foundational strengths help our relationship and family thrive and have added to our desire to always do our best for each other.

We are a couple who likes to hold hands with each other when we walk. And when each day is done, we make sure to kiss and say, “sweet dreams” and that we love each other. We do this quite simply because we fully love each other in every way and want to do our best to start and end each day positively.

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About Amanda

From the very beginning, I knew Amanda was born to be an extraordinary mother. Even on our first date, she showed me that she was the most loving, caring, and selfless human being I have ever been around. That’s why I had to marry her. True to form, the moment we met our son, she proved she is the best mom ever! She pours every ounce of her heart and soul into her family. She will do anything to ensure our son is healthy and happy and will go to the same lengths for your child.

It didn’t take long for me to discover that Amanda is incredibly creative, whether through how she shows that she loves me, her incredible Halloween decorations, or the intricately delicious meals she loves to prepare! She has gone well beyond what I ever thought possible with our son, like creating games, making sensory play opportunities, and encouraging his artistic side. Amanda embodies drive and intelligence. She somehow provides every bit of love and support most people can only dream of receiving, even while leading a successful program full-time. With Amanda’s unwavering guidance and availability, your child will get to do everything from art and music to science, sports, and so much more.

Amanda lends a helping hand to everyone she sees and creates community everywhere she goes. People who meet her get inspired by her great intelligence and her drive. Likewise, she sees the best in everybody she meets. Her care for others shows no bounds. I cannot think of a better characteristic of a mother, a role model, or a mentor. That’s what Amanda will be for your child. But most of all, she will expend every ounce of love and energy to ensure your child is supported, healthy, and free to enjoy life and experience the countless beautiful things this world offers. I have already seen her do that for our son and for me.

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About Jeff

From the moment I saw Jeff walking across the parking lot to meet for our first date, I was in love. His genuine smile captured my heart immediately, and his compassion for others made me fall even more. Jeff loves fully and deeply, and his heart shows no bounds. Family means everything to him. Not just immediate family but extended family, friends, and our dog family.

I always knew Jeff would make an exceptional father and the moment he held our son, it was apparent that Kelby was his world. Your daughter or son will also be at the center of his world. Being a father has brought out the sweetest side of Jeff I have ever seen. Watching him play trucks, dig in the dirt, kick a soccer ball, run alongside Kelby as he rides his bike, and gently guide Kelby makes my heart melt.

Jeff has always been a remarkable mentor. He encourages people to push harder for their dreams, not to be afraid to try new things and to always challenge the world they see. Jeff enjoys working with children of all ages to empower them, help them unleash their creativity, and to help them find the opportunities everyone deserves. I have no doubt that your daughter or son will have a father who inspires them to see the good in all people, help others, dream big, and believe in themselves.

Besides being a wonderful dad and husband, Jeff has been and always will be a huge sports fan. He is the person who has a jersey for every team he likes and will cheer them on, no matter how bad they are. He has already shared this love with our son. Jeff will certainly be the father cheering on his child at every game, recital, play, or event. Undoubtedly, our newest addition will forever be spoiled by his encouraging smile, endless knowledge, and enormous loving heart.

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

As a couple, we always wanted to have a large family, just like the ones we grew up in. Jeff has six siblings, and Amanda has three. We both agree that we have unique bonds with our siblings that provide us with strength and support. Our brothers and sisters have brought us so much happiness and have instilled in us steadfast faith. We want Kelby and your child to have their own sibling experiences that bring a uniquely special joy to them.

We want Kelby and his sibling(s) to experience the world as a team, celebrate their accomplishments together, and find comfort in each other when they need support. Most importantly, we want them to go through life feeling the unconditional love of someone who is on their side and will be there for them through thick and thin.

For the last two years, Kelby has repeatedly asked when he will get a baby brother or sister. We are also 100% certain that he will be the best big brother EVER. We can see it in how he plays with and nurtures his friends and other children regardless of age and how his face lights up when he sees a baby. Kelby has inspired us to be the best version of ourselves so that we can help guide him on his journey of independence and discovery. We know he and your child will do the same for each other.

As a family, we discuss the gift of adoption and how special it is for us. We always tell Kelby about the day we met him and how our hearts burst with the most overwhelming love we could ever imagine, thanks to his loving birth mother. As parents, we desperately want to share that love with another child, deeply and fully. We pray that Kelby will experience that feeling and have his wish granted of calling himself a big brother. As individuals, we have many reasons why we want to adopt again. But the thread that ties our reasons together is our desire to share our love and care for another person. This is why we wish to adopt again.

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Our Home

Our home is a two-story, four-bedroom house with an open layout downstairs and all bedrooms, including a large playroom upstairs. Although, the three of us would say our entire house is a playroom. Outside we have a fenced-in yard to provide a safe space for our family to play. Over the spring, Kelby and Jeff built their first garden together, and Kelby has loved watching all the veggies grow. Especially the hot peppers. We also worked on our family area, complete with lounging, dining, grilling, and a bonfire area for roasting marshmallows, and have enjoyed it every day since.

When selecting our community, we specifically wanted one to provide fun events for Kelby to meet other kids. So far, we have attended Easter events, pool parties, National Night Out, 4th of July, Christmas with Santa, color runs, and so much more. As a family, we always enjoy the weekly rotating food trucks and events with bounce houses, cotton candy, and face painting. Kelby has made many friends throughout the neighborhood and is always excited to play out front with them and invite them over for playdates.

Our community has over 20 miles of sidewalks for fun family strolls, a large playground, a water park with two pools (one designed specifically for younger kids), an amphitheater with a fire pit, a clubhouse, and tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts.

We are ten minutes away from a large lake perfect for kayaking, fishing, family picnics, and hiking, which we partake in often. We are also a ten-minute drive to three major shopping centers and markets and a short drive to two major cities offering children’s museums, science centers, theaters, animal conservatories, universities, and various farms, all of which we often visit on the weekends.

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Our Families and Friends

Beyond our partnership as a couple, we are lucky to have wonderful family and friends who are always ready to support and celebrate life with us. As mentioned above, we both come from larger families spread out across the country, giving us many vacation options. We are very close with all of them, especially our brothers and sisters. They lovingly share lessons learned about raising a family and building a nurturing atmosphere for siblings to grow together, as our son and your child will. Kelby is blessed to have dedicated grandparents he sees often, 17 aunts and uncles, many great aunts and great uncles, 22 cousins, and many more family members who love him and are excited to welcome your beautiful child into our large family.

Dedicated parents AND a loving community raise children. We are extraordinarily lucky to have amazing friends who have supported us throughout our lives and will be there for our growing family at the drop of a hat. Kelby refers to many of them as his aunts and uncles, and they look forward to having another niece or nephew to visit and spoil. We spend as much time as possible with our friends and their families from work, school, church, the neighborhood, and more. We often have them over to our house for delicious meals, game nights, or watching movies outside in our yard. As Kelby has grown, we now enjoy weekend meetups with other parents for play dates.

We are very blessed to have such loving, caring, and devoted people in our lives, and we are excited to make new connections as our family grows.

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Our Sweet Puppies

Our children are a big part of our family; we love including them in everything we do. Before Kelby joined us, we always referred to our dogs as our children and said that when we were lucky enough to have a baby enter our lives, we would then have a puppy. So, we have affectionately nicknamed Kelby “Puppy.” With that said, we love our dogs.

Our oldest is Precious. A 16-year-old, 4lb Yorkie who joined our family when Amanda’s mom passed. Precious is still very spunky for her age and appreciates Kelby’s daily food scraps that drop to the floor. Franklin is next in line. We rescued him when he was a puppy; he is now almost 6 years old. He’s the cutest Shih Tzu mix with a serious human personality, especially when relaxing on the couch. Our youngest is Simon, a 4 1/2-year-old mix of all the cuteness in the world, whom we also rescued when he was a puppy. Simon is Kelby’s sitter and friend. There is no moment when Simon is not watching or cleaning him with a million kisses.

As a family, we love to go for one long walk around the neighborhood each weekend. We also take shorter strolls with Kelby helping to walk the boys. Kelby loves his sister and brothers and enjoys helping to feed them, pet them and play with their toys. It’s not unusual to find Kelby running away from the dogs with one of their toys and the two boys chasing behind him. We are blessed that he grows up with that kind of love and appreciation from his doggie family.

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What We will Teach Your Child

Love. We will always teach your child to love themself and to love all people, animals, and the planet.

Faith. When we have faith, we can become free to give to others, live a happy and impactful life, and find home in our families, friends, and communities.

Respect. If we can respect ourselves and others, then we can work to create an environment where all feel safe and welcome. We will teach your child to respect people, wildlife, and nature.

Laughter. We will expend every effort to teach your child the joy of laughing and being silly, but never at another’s expense.

Patience for themselves and for others. As we each develop uniquely, we must teach our children that patience is essential in establishing relationships.

Communication. We both strongly believe that open and honest communication is imperative and also extremely difficult. We are always actively working on our communication skills. When we model effective communication, we teach our children those same skills.

Education. We will teach your child that education is one of the keys to a fulfilling and successful life. You cannot know everything, but being open to learning about everything is very important. The more we learn, the better-informed decisions we can make to live a happier and healthier life.

Failure leads to learning and success. Allowing ourselves to try new things and to learn from our mistakes is wonderful. We find success and opportunity by learning from failure rather than fearing it. By teaching this to your child, we will enable them to try more things and not give up. They can create and live out their dreams with more confidence and character if we teach them that perfection is an unrealistic goal and that they will achieve great things if they have an open mind and know they can always improve.

Dancing. When have you danced and not felt great afterward? We will teach your child that there is always time for an impromptu dance party.

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On a Typical 3-Day Weekend

When gifted with a long weekend, we might travel to a local beach to play in the sand, ride the Ferris wheel and eat all the ice cream we can. Or we might head in the opposite direction to the mountains for fresh air and nature trails. Since various beaches, lakes, and mountain destinations surround us, we have plenty of places to explore as a family. One of our favorite long weekends this year was going to our family spot, Carolina Beach, where Kelby rode a ferry for the first time to Southport for lunch filled with seafood directly off the local fishing boats.

Although we love to travel, we don’t do it every long weekend. We also enjoy exploring our local area more or playing at home. In the summer, we spend long days at the pool swimming and playing with our neighborhood friends or taking Kelby to play dates.

When we are up for an adventure, we might visit a new hiking trail, drive to see the big cat conservatory or state zoo, visit local farms to mingle around animals or visit our favorite science center for Kelby to enjoy experiments, climb outdoor treehouses, or watch the penguins, sharks, and other animals. We have so many choices of activities near us that sometimes it’s hard to pick which one to do.

Recently, we spent the day at a nearby town kayaking and swimming in the lake, hiking trails, and enjoying a delicious lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river. We can’t wait to do it again soon! Kelby also looks forward to camping in a tent in our backyard this summer, then eventually going for a night in our state park.

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Family Vacations

We love vacations! To us, vacations are about family and exploration. They are about coming together, having fun, and experiencing our world. We love visiting our brothers and sisters who live in seven states from the east coast to the west coast and from border to border. We make it a point to visit Jeff’s parents in Southwest Florida and Amanda’s family in Northeast Pennsylvania each year. We often visit family members and close friends who live in different locations throughout the U.S. Kelby has been fortunate enough to visit Disneyland in California, Savannah in October for a haunted ghost tour, and Michigan in the early winter for great sleigh rides.

This year our spring and summer were full of vacations, with more on the way. Over Jeff’s spring break, he and Kelby rented a room on a train for a fun ten-day trip in Florida to visit Grammy and Grampy. Our family spent a long weekend in Wilmington, NC, where we explored a pirate ship, the beach, and a thoughtful stranger gifted Kelby his first pedal bike. We just returned from Disney World, where we rode several roller coasters in Magic Kingdom, went on safaris and splashed through rapids in Animal Kingdom, encountered a velociraptor at Jurassic Park, spent hours in the hotel lazy river, and came home with so many Legos from Legoland. Next, we will finish the summer at our family spot for a week, Carolina Beach, where Kelby will have his first sea aquarium summer camp. We will celebrate the end of the summer with a trip to Pennsylvania for a family wedding.

For us, vacations are also about meeting different people and communities throughout the U.S. and worldwide. We both have traveled the globe and are excited to provide our children with travel opportunities to experience different places. We have already planned a trip next May to Portugal, and we would love to include our newest family member on that trip.

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Family Traditions

We firmly believe that the traditions we grew up with helped shape our lives as individuals and provided us with cherished memories to share, which is why we love carrying on those traditions and making new ones.

One of Amanda’s favorite family traditions is simply coming together for a loved one’s birthday, singing “Happy Birthday” a million times, and blowing out the candles. Growing up, Jeff often spent the days leading to the New Year at a ski lodge with family and friends in Michigan. He has fond memories of skiing, snowboarding, and taking breaks to drink hot apple cider or hot chocolate. We look forward to starting that exact tradition with our son this year.

We also love to celebrate the major holidays. Halloween is Amanda’s favorite, and we go all out with decorations inside and outside. Kelby’s love for Halloween has made it even better as we get to experience the joy of trick-or-treating and dressing up together as a family. He has already instructed us on what we will be doing this year. We have molded family Easter traditions into new versions for our family. Jeff grew up going to church and then family brunch in their community. Kelby loves our own Easter egg hunt that Amanda designed during the pandemic.

Then there is Christmas, which we both love to celebrate. More importantly, we love hosting our family and spending quality time with them baking cookies, playing games, catching up, and cooking fabulous dinners together. A tradition passed on from Amanda’s family is the Christmas Eve gift of matching pajamas and a potential visit from Santa himself. While we love to celebrate all the holidays with our favorite foods and decorations, a true tradition for us happens when we come together as a family. That may be for a family barbecue, a wedding, major milestone celebrations, or a weekly face-time call. When you bring a family together, memories and traditions are born.

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Racial and Cultural Diversity

We have always been a family that values and respects everyone’s cultures, ethnicities, religions, and all the other beautiful ways that people define themselves. We prioritize this in our family life, communities, and work. We believe it is essential to re-educate ourselves and teach our children about different cultures continuously. We must do better today, so our children have a brighter future tomorrow.

Cultural diversity does not end once you learn about it or discuss it. That is just the beginning. Life is fluid; people change, and we must learn to be more respectful of others’ lives. We feel we should support those who are underserved and teach our children to open their hearts to everyone. Amanda has led efforts to support everyone through her work, allowing everyone to feel cherished and celebrated. Jeff has incorporated these beliefs into his work and has also led our church’s creation of an intentional living community focused on alleviating food insecurity.

Everyone deserves the tools and means to better their lives. Everyone deserves to feel appreciated, loved, and valued. We will raise our children, your child, to always support, help, and advocate for others, to see the differences in people, and cherish them. We will help our children discover their ability to listen to, hear and learn from different perspectives, and to find common ground when needed. We will teach our children to have respect for all people, no matter what.

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Hobbies

In addition to loving Kelby and our three dogs, we each have hobbies we enjoy doing alone and others we have formed together. Amanda’s favorite hobbies are cooking, baking, puzzles, and reading. She finds cooking and baking incredibly relaxing and loves creating unique treats for others, especially layered cakes and cupcakes. In addition, she enjoys reading when she has time Amanda also loves to practice and teach yoga. She teaches coworkers at work during the work week, and when time allows, she takes a weekend class.

Jeff’s favorite hobbies are playing with Kelby and the dogs, watching sports at home or a restaurant, attending games, and learning about cultural connections to sports. He also loves to walk the dogs every morning to prepare himself for the day. He enjoys filmmaking, working in the yard, grilling, dreaming up and planning trips, learning about other cultures and places, and watching documentaries.

As a couple, we have enjoyed growing our organic vegetable gardens and connecting what we grow to our cooking and grilling. We also love playing board games, watching movies, and exploring new places.

We have enjoyed watching Kelby grow into a wonderful child and find his own hobbies. He enjoys playing with dinosaurs, wildlife figures, and plastic army men, riding his bike or one of his many cars, doing arts and crafts, and building Legos. We look forward to seeing what new hobbies Kelby will develop, what our future child or children will be interested in, and what hobbies ones we will grow into as a family.

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What Kind of Parents We Are

As parents, we believe that raising children must be done with each other and for each other. We share equally in everything, from celebrating all the amazing moments to tackling all the inherent challenges.

Our overall parenting style is compassionate, reassuring love, and gracefully accepting moments when we fail. We like to provide our son with a “yes” house and not a “don’t touch” house. That way, Kelby can learn and play independently, knowing we will be there if needed. We love incorporating Kelby into everything we do, from cooking and grilling to cleaning and caring for the dogs. To us, Kelby is more than a four-year-old; he is an integral part of our family. We will do the same for your child, allowing them to explore and teach us about their passions and preferences.

We are also super silly, which extends to our parenting styles. Amanda loves to throw impromptu dance parties, sneak in a tickling session, or hide and yell, “Boo!” Jeff loves making forts with Kelby, sharing his witty humor, and rolling around on the ground with all the boys, dogs included.

We both love nature, which is apparent in our lifestyle and how we teach and engage with Kelby. We enjoy educating him on how nature and animals grow and survive and how to respect our planet. Our love for the outdoors has certainly rubbed off on Kelby. Even when it’s freezing, he wants to get out and play.

We also believe trying new things, be it activities or food, is important. Since Kelby was two, he has taken gymnastics, soccer, Tae Kwan Do, BMX racing, and swimming classes. Since he was a baby, we exposed him to new foods and ways to eat them. We are very excited to welcome another child into our loving home and look forward to creating new environments for two adventurous children to play in together.

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Our Daily Lifestyle

Each day we wake up and get started together – either with Kelby greeting us in our bed or us sneaking into his. Monday through Friday, we wake up, have breakfast, Kelby picks out a favorite toy or book to bring to school, and we help each other get ready for a wonderful day. Kelby is about to start his last year at Montessori school and will begin kindergarten next year, which he is very excited about.

After school and work, depending on the day and season, we take Kelby to Tae Kwon Do, soccer, or gymnastics. Next year he wants to start tee ball, too! We then either go out to eat or head home to make dinner. When Kelby doesn’t have a fun event, we enjoy watching him play with his neighborhood friends or create at his arts and crafts station. Following dinner, Kelby plays with his toys; currently, Legos and dinosaurs are his major focus, along with cars and wildlife toys. After a tv show to wind down, one of us begins his nighttime routine, ending with his choice of a “scary” or animal adventure story. Kelby has also started reading books to us at night.

When we cook at home, it’s often quite an adventure. We love to make fun meals together! Some days we go all out, like making pizza from scratch. Other nights are highlighted by quick dishes we love, like pasta or breakfast for dinner. We also enjoy taking our cooking skills outside on the grill or even the fire pit for extra fun. Our favorite part is that Kelby loves to cook along with us and has done that since he was two. We are all huge foodies. Kelby loves seafood and veggies, Jeff loves sausage and peppers or burgers, and Amanda loves everything vegan.

On the weekends, we spend as much time outdoors as possible. Typically, we do one big adventure as a family or with friends, such as visiting a children’s museum, our favorite animal farm, a science center (there are so many near us), or a day trip for something new to explore. We fill the rest of our weekend with playing at the park or pool, walking the dogs, making home chores fun, riding our bikes in the neighborhood, enjoying our backyard, or going for a short nature hike. We especially like attending sporting events and love sharing those experiences with Kelby. He has been to baseball, basketball, and football games. He’s hoping to go to soccer and hockey games next. Family date nights are also a big part of our weekends. We enjoy going to the movies, arcades, and bowling, to name a few.

Overall, we lead a healthy and active lifestyle centered around our family, being silly, and having fun together. More than anything, we can’t wait to expand our family with another child and create new routines, meals, and adventures together.

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Our Relationship with Kelby's Birth Mother

Currently, we have a semi-open relationship with Kelby’s birth mother. It was a quick, whirlwind experience when we were blessed with Kelby. We went from an extremely happy couple to a wonderfully joyous family of three within a few hours of a phone call. We were told that Kelby’s birth mother had a beautiful baby boy the day before, and she decided adoption was the right choice for her and her son. When we met her at the hospital, she told us that she instantly knew, when she saw our profile, that we would be the best parents to raise her perfect baby and that she was ecstatic with her decision upon meeting us.

Since our initial adoption experience was much shorter than anticipated, we did not go into our adoption with a clear plan of how his birth mother and father would remain in his life. We instead left it open for his birth parents to decide. We text his birth mother with updates about milestones and sweet moments we’ve had together and send plenty of photos. Sometimes we receive messages back and other times we do not. We understand that there may be moments when it is easier for his birth mother to respond and times when it might be difficult. We will always honor her decision; if she does not ask us to stop, we will continue sharing the sweet moments of Kelby’s life with her.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to love your child unconditionally. We promise to provide them with an enriching environment full of wonder and adventure, where they feel safe exploring and learning. We promise to hold your daughter or son in our hearts and minds every second of every day, in our arms as much as she or he allows us to, and we promise that our love will be boundless and unconditional.

We promise that we will provide your daughter or son with the best possible life that we can give them. We promise that how we became a family will be a cherished and treasured blessing that we will share with your child. We promise that our son Kelby will love your child and be the best big brother he can be.

We promise, if you wish, to keep communication open so that you can see your child grow and develop. We promise to respect your decisions about how you wish to be a part of your child’s life. Above all, we promise to give your child all the love, hugs, kisses, encouragement, faith, patience, respect, laughs, dancing, and fun family adventures as humanly possible.