Mark and Stephanie

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From Us to You

First and foremost, we want to tell you that you are the most important person in your baby’s life story, as you are the one who gave your baby life. You are an incredibly strong woman who is making decisions as to what is best for the future of your child, and we hope to be the family to provide the future that you desire for them. We have nothing but respect and love in our hearts for you as you have taken a path that may not be the easiest in order to do what you believe is the best for your baby. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking time to consider us as an adoptive family for your baby. We can’t begin to imagine how difficult and challenging this time in your life is. The path you have chosen truly takes a selfless individual who is full of love and courage. We would love and take care of your child and provide them with a safe and loving home and family. We are open to having a relationship with you within your level of comfort. We could share pictures, give updates, or even have visits if that is what you would desire, as we want to respect and honor your wishes. Your child would grow up in a home knowing how much their Birth Mother loves them and how much respect and love we have in our hearts for you.

We are so excited to welcome your baby into our life. Our home is in a family-friendly subdivision near a lively town that has a small town feel with big town opportunities. There are many parks, schools, and museums in our town. One of the parks has a little petting zoo that children love as well as ponds that allow for paddle boating or kayaking. Our home has a large, fenced-in yard that houses a play set and a sandbox. We love spending time outdoors and take our daughter, Evelyn, and black lab mix dog for walks daily. We look forward to taking your child with us on our walks and bike rides, and also playing in the yard. Summertime you will find us gardening and playing outside with bikes, wagons, water toys, bubbles, on the play set, in the sandbox, or on the slip and slide. When the weather isn’t as warm out, we play games inside or even go sledding, or build a snowman or a snow fort if there is snow on the ground. We have even put snow in the bathtub to play in when it was too cold to play outside for a spell. Our days conclude with family dinner at our table, followed by a bedtime story in your child’s own bedroom.

A mutual friend introduced us in 2008 and we have been married since the fall of 2010. We were both shy at first, but once we got to know each other everything clicked. We discovered that we had many things in common. Our faith, love for travel, and commitment to our families are just a few of the areas where we found similarities. We also balance each other well with our differences. We have a goal of traveling to all 50 states and have crossed many off of our list. The furthest we have traveled was to Alaska and Hawaii and hope to return to both with our family. Pensacola Beach is our new favorite destination and we look forward to making it a regular destination for our family. We look forward to being able to take your child with our family on our tour of the USA so we can share these experiences with them.

Family is very important to us and we try to spend as much time with our families as we can. We go to sporting events, school activities, family birthday parties, graduations, and holidays. We also travel with our families once in a while. Mark’s parents have traveled with us to the Grand Canyon and parts of Missouri. Stephanie’s family goes on a yearly trip to Branson, Missouri. It is fun to be able to go to Branson and do activities with Evelyn that we wouldn’t have been able to do without her and we look forward to having another child to take with us and share these experiences with.

We have always wanted to have a family, and adoption has always been in our hearts as a way to build our family. After being married for four years and having not been blessed with a child naturally, we decided not to try infertility treatments and instead pursue adoption. Our daughter blessed us in 2018 and has been an absolute joy to every person she meets. Your child would get to be her little sibling and she would love and protect them. Your child would complete our little family and would be a true blessing. Your child already has many people who are excited to meet him or her. Mark comes from a large family and your child would have twenty-nine first cousins and would be the second grandchild in Stephanie’s family, so he or she would have the best of both worlds. We have hearts full of love, a welcoming home, and wonderful families that are waiting to welcome a child with open arms. We look forward to raising another child and teaching them values such as respect, kindness, and honesty while helping them enjoy all that life has to offer.

With Love,
Mark and Stephanie

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Why We're Choosing to Adopt

Both of us always wanted to have a family, and adoption has always been in our hearts as a possible way to start our family. After being married for four years and having not been blessed with a child naturally, we decided to pursue adoption. In 2018 we adopted our beautiful daughter. She has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives over these past few years. Our family and friends opened their arms and their hearts to our family as well and our daughter is loved and cherished by so many people in our lives. One of our favorite sayings is that “everything happens for a reason” and we truly believe that adoption is God’s plan for growing our family. Another sibling for our daughter would enrich our lives even more and we look forward to raising a second child with the same values we are instilling in our daughter such as respect, kindness, honesty and love for one another.

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About Mark

It sounds corny but it is true. There was a connection with Mark as soon as I met him and I didn’t want to be away from him and still don’t. He is a wonderful husband and father. He is hard working, trustworthy, intelligent, playful, and dedicated to our family. I always knew he would make the best daddy as he plays like a kid with all of our nieces and nephews. They all adore him and love playing with him. But our daughter is the lucky one and gets to have him for her daddy. When he gets home she is so excited to see him. They play so many different games and I have no idea where Mark gets the energy from. He is teaching our daughter how a lady should be treated in life and I couldn’t be more proud of the husband and father he is.

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About Stephanie

When I first met Stephanie I knew there was a connection with her. Stephanie is the most kind-hearted person that I have ever met. She makes me a better person. With our special bond I knew that we would be together forever shortly after we started seeing each other. Stephanie is a very trustworthy, intelligent, and determined person. She is a wonderful mother and it’s amazing to see how much she loves and cherishes our daughter. She is dedicated to our family and does so much for us and always puts us first. I love her so much, our daughter so much and our family so much.

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Our Sweet Pup

We adopted our dog when he was 3 months old from a shelter in 2011. He is a black lab mix named Gauge. He loves our daughter so much and allows her to play with him as she wishes. He loves kids but especially ours. He has been to 28 states with us so far, he loves car rides and being with us. In 2022, we added Chloe to our family. She is a black, domestic short hair cat that we adopted from a shelter when she was 4 months old. Gauge was completely fine with her but it took Chloe a little bit to get used to him. They are buddies now. Chloe is great with our daughter, they play and cuddle. The wand toy is her favorite and our daughter runs around the house with it while the cat chases the toy.

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Our Home

We live just outside of town in a subdivision. Our neighborhood is full of families who look out for one another, from families with small children to retired families. It has the feel of country living but with quick access to town. We frequently go on walks, and during those walks we may visit with neighbors or see any of the neighbors’ animals which consist of cats, dogs, chickens, and horses. Our home has a fenced-in yard with a play set and sandbox as well as a garden. It makes for a wonderful place to raise our family. Our home is pretty spacious with five bedrooms and a toy room. It has a front porch, patio in the back, and a deck that we enjoy summertime meals on. There is a golf course not too far from our home that we enjoy going to. Every year around the 4th of July our neighborhood has a big barbeque with a fireworks show and live band. The town we live near is not too big or too small and offers a variety of activities such as parks, swimming pools, theaters, museums, sporting events, fishing, and hike and bike trails.

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Our Families

Mark was raised in a large family of nine siblings with twenty-nine nieces and nephews. Mark’s parents have been married for over fifty years and have set a wonderful example to their children and grandchildren of what a marriage is all about. Both of his parents love each of their grandchildren and absolutely adore spending time with them. Mark’s mother has a tradition of making a special quilt for each grandchild and your child would also get to be a part of this tradition. His parents live about two hours away on the family farm where he was raised and most of his siblings live in that area. We visit often and our daughter loves to see her family and experience farm life.

Stephanie was raised with her sister between two homes as her parents divorced when she was young. Both sets of parents eventually remarried. From those marriages came the addition of a half sibling and four step-siblings. Most of her childhood was spent living with her father. Stephanie’s dad comes to our house frequently to see our daughter and spend time with her. She is the only grandchild so far on her dad’s side and is one of four grandchildren on her mom’s side. Our daughter loves it when grandma and grandpa come to play with her. It is so neat to see how much she adores them and how excited she gets when they come to visit. Stephanie’s mother also visits us and our daughter loves to go there and play with Grammy and her dog Bo. Both sets of parents live in the same town; we go there about once a month and while we are there we make sure to spend time with both sets of parents as well as Stephanie’s siblings who live near her parents.

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On a Typical 3-Day Weekend

A typical 3 day weekend starts with pancakes for breakfast. Mark and Evelyn love to make pancakes together and of course share with Stephanie and Guage. We’ll go for multiple walks through the neighborhood, play outside as weather permits or inside, and work in the garden in the summer time followed by supper as a family. We go to a favorite park that has a little fishing lake and have a picnic while watching geese and ducks. There is a good chance on a long weekend that grandparents will show up for part of it to play with our daughter and have a nice family meal.

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Our Lifestyle

Our lifestyle is focused on family and each other. We enjoy spending time with each other. We enjoy having meals together at our table, playing either inside or outside, going for walks, working in the garden, and riding bikes. We believe it is important to raise our child with God in her life, so we attend mass weekly. Stephanie is a stay-at-home mom, while Mark works locally. Mark is home nightly so we have dinner as a family when he returns home. We spend many weekends hosting family or traveling for family events and a lot of time is spent with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Ever since we met we’ve had a love for traveling and that hasn’t changed. We go on a family vacation at least once a year and our dog goes with us. Our dog loves our daughter so much. She can do whatever she wants to him and he just sits there and loves on her. He is very well trained and is a big part of our family. Family is the most important thing to us and adding another sibling for our daughter to grow up with and have beside her in life would make our family complete.

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Family Traditions

We are still building our traditions but do have some that are established. We go on a family trip to Branson, Missouri every year. Stephanie’s dad puts the trip together and as many family members as are available attend. Stephanie and our daughter bake a cake that looks like a lamb for Easter every year, which is a tradition that Stephanie’s grandmother did for her and her sister when they were growing up. We also put our Christmas tree up together that is decorated with ornaments from friends, family, and our travels. We started a tradition of going fishing for Mark’s birthday. Mark’s mother has a family tradition of preparing big Sunday lunches and we attend them as we can. Another tradition which we just started is going to the beach once a year.

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Our Relationship with Evelyn's Birth Mom

We do maintain contact with Evelyn’s birth mother. She is so very important to us and loved and respected so very much. We respect her wishes for contact. We’ve seen her one time aside from seeing her in the hospital when Evelyn was born. We have had some phone contact, but most recently we share photos and messages with her online. Our messages back and forth are quick, but all of us share the same sentiments as to how thankful we are for each other and express the love in our hearts for each other. She has blessed us beyond measure and words cannot express how much love and respect we have for her.

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Our Promise to You

Thank you for taking the time to consider us as potential adoptive parents for your child. We cannot even begin to understand the hard decisions you are making. However, you can be assured we will give your child a wonderful life filled with love and cherish the amazing gift you have given us. We have so much love for our daughter and will give a second child just as much love as she receives. She is surrounded by grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and so many friends that will give that same love and attention to a second child in our home. We are a close-knit family and our children will forever have our love and protection.