Dylan and Kayla

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Mother,

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us better.  We are so excited to share our story with you. We cannot begin to imagine what an incredibly difficult decision you have ahead of you, and we are very grateful that you are considering us. Please know that you are strong, brave, and selfless.

We will be here every step of the way to support you through this journey. Relationships are incredibly important to us. We want your baby to know who you are and where they came from. We will share photos and stories with you so you can see how they are growing and thriving. We will talk about you with respect and admiration. We want to maintain an ongoing positive connection and will only share as much as you feel comfortable with. We feel incredibly honored that you have taken the time to get to know us better and consider us to raise your child. If given the chance, we promise to love your child unconditionally.

Our story begins twelve years ago on a hot summer day in the backyard of Kayla’s house that she shared with her college roommates. Dylan was visiting his friends from high school, who just happened to be Kayla’s roommates. We instantly hit it off and spent hours talking on the phone getting to know each other during the week and many weekends driving back and forth to see each other since we went to different colleges about three hours apart. We spent the early part of our relationship focusing on our careers, traveling, and spending time together.

We have been married for six years and live in a beautiful home in what we like to call a small-town city. Kayla is a Registered Nurse and works as a Nurse Case Manager in an inpatient hospital setting. Dylan is a Civil Engineer and part-owner of his firm, where he designs and builds roads. He works on the job site in the summer and can work from home while designing during the winter and spring months.

We love Wisconsin for its many seasons and can’t wait to introduce your child to all the fun activities each season brings. We will enjoy long summer days on the lake, fishing and boating, biking to get ice cream, and watching horse races at the fair. In the winter months, we will take your child sledding and teach them how to ski or snowboard which we both enjoy doing. Fall is our favorite season filled with apple orchards, pumpkin patches, hiking, and Badger football games. During all seasons of the year, we will cook and bake together, read stories and have family movie nights. Life will be filled with weekend trips to their grandparents’ homes and amazing memories will be made playing with their cousins. We will teach them to appreciate the beauty of nature and immerse them in cultural experiences. We will celebrate their achievements and we will teach them to learn from challenges that they face. We will provide them with endless opportunities.

We have dreamed of starting a family for so many years and feel drawn to adoption as our way of becoming parents. We will provide a stable and loving environment. We will make sure your child feels protected and supported every day of their life. We will show them the world and encourage them to find their passion. We feel incredibly honored that you have taken the time to get to know us better and consider us to raise your child. If given the chance, we promise to love your child unconditionally and wholeheartedly.

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Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

We truly feel like we found each other for a reason, and we feel forever grateful for that. We have so much love to give to a child and know we are destined to be parents; however, we are unable to have biological children together. We tried a few fertility treatments, but felt more drawn to adoption and decided to stop the treatments earlier this year. We recognize that this is an important and life-changing decision. This decision is not one that we take lightly. We have done a lot of research and have spoken to many friends who have either been adopted or adopted their children. Their stories and powerful experiences have given us an inside look at the realities of adoption, and we feel prepared to support and unconditionally love your child.

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About Kayla, by Dylan

Kayla is the strongest, most kind, and caring woman I know. She’s been through tough life events most people can’t comprehend and through it all, has had nothing but a smile on her face. I’ve never met someone who doesn’t like Kayla. Everyone who meets her is drawn in by her loveable personality. Kayla is absolutely adored by her nieces and nephews, and I know she can’t wait to be a mother. Her kindness is shown by her passion for her career as a nurse. She has a calling for helping people and is excellent at providing her patients with the compassionate care they deserve. Kayla enjoys living an active lifestyle. She enjoys biking around our city, hiking in the mountains of Colorado, kayaking in Lake Monona, and working out. Kayla enjoys time with her family and friends. She cherishes her relationships with her mom and siblings as well as her friends from high school and college. Kayla has so many likable attributes, it’s no wonder I fell in love with her. I can’t wait for her to become a mom. I know she’ll be an amazing one.

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About Dylan, by Kayla

Dylan is smart, genuine, and driven. He is the hardest working person I know, and he gives his entire self to anything that he is doing. It always amazes me how versatile Dylan is. He grew up building barns and doing chores on his family’s dairy farm and now, he is a successful business owner and engineer. I admire Dylan’s passion for his career and his desire to learn. He is dependable, responsible, and trustworthy, yet he still knows how to relax and have a good time. He is the best uncle to our nieces and nephews and values family above anything else. He loves the outdoors and is often seen playing golf, snowboarding, kayaking, and hiking mountains in Colorado. Dylan has a passion for harness horse racing and owns racehorses with his dad and uncle. He loves to travel and often plans the itineraries for all our adventures. He is an amazing cook and makes the best Neapolitan pizza. He supports my goals and aspirations and always encourages and motivates me to follow my dreams and to do what makes me happy. He is my favorite person to have a conversation with and makes me smile and laugh every day. Dylan is such an amazing individual, and he makes me so happy. I know he dreams of being a dad, and he is going to be an incredible one.

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Our Lifestyle Is...

Fun, adventurous, and easy-going. We both work during the week and often find ourselves taking walks or doing yoga together after work, then cooking dinner at home. We like to make time for outdoor adventures during the week and enjoy bike rides or kayaking in the warmer months and snowshoeing or ice skating at the pond near our home during the colder months. We love exploring our city on the weekends, often with friends or visiting family. We live in a great area that allows us to easily access all that the city has to offer. On a Saturday morning, we usually find ourselves walking to a local coffee shop and finding a quiet place by the lake to enjoy it, followed by finding local produce at the farmer’s market. We enjoy walking to festivals, restaurants, food truck nights, and other family-friendly community events. Both of our families live within two hours, so we often spend weekends with our parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews. As much as we love being home, we are always planning our next trip. We love our yearly trips to Colorado, relaxing tropical vacations, and enjoy traveling out of the country to experience different cultures.

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Home & Neighborhood

Our neighborhood is full of history with its tree-lined streets, beautiful parks, and historic homes bursting with character and charm. We live in an incredibly vibrant, active community and often find ourselves walking, biking, or kayaking around the city. It is a safe and family friendly neighborhood, rich in both rural and urban culture. We are within walking distance to farmer’s markets, the zoo, lakes, parks, bike paths, coffee shops, and restaurants. On a quiet day, you can hear the lions roaring from our backyard. We are sure there will be lots of made-up bedtime stories about the lions that live next door. Our neighborhood values culture and creativity. There are numerous art fairs, museums, and music festivals that we look forward to attending with your child. We live near a university where we enjoy tailgating in our backyard followed by watching Badger football and basketball games.

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Our Families

Kayla’s mom, sister, sister’s husband, and their two little boys live two hours away. We love spending the weekends together going to plays, the park, and enjoying family game night.  Kayla’s brother, sister-in-law, and their two dogs live in Colorado. They share our love for the outdoors, and we enjoy our time hiking with them in the mountains. Dylan’s mom, stepdad, dad, and stepmother live about an hour away in a small rural town. We enjoy our time visiting the quiet countryside and we know your child will love spending time on the family farm. Dylan’s sister, her husband, and their three children live close by. Dylan’s late brother’s wife and our niece also live close to us. We spend a lot of time getting together for dinner or watching our nieces and nephews’ sporting events or dance recitals. Our families are still growing and we welcomed our sweet niece Olivia into our family in June and have another niece on the way in February. We look forward to our future child being able to grow up alongside their cousins and be able to build lifelong friendships.

Family is everything to us. We experienced hardship and loss at the beginning of our relationship due to the sudden loss of Dylan’s brother, Aric, and then a year later with the loss of Kayla’s father, Bob. We are forever bonded through these losses and our relationship with each other and with our families is stronger because of it. Our families are incredibly supportive and so excited to welcome your child.

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Family Traditions

We have a lot of traditions that involve spending time with our family and friends. Our extended families are both very large and we spend every holiday with them. The holidays are loud, chaotic, and filled with so much laughter and lots of food. Leading up to Christmas, it is a tradition to spend all day baking Christmas cookies with our families. It has been so fun to have our nieces and nephews join in on the cookie tradition. Santa visits every Christmas Eve and brings the kids presents and we sing “Jingle Bells”. Kayla bakes 20 loaves of her grandma’s homemade bread recipe every year to give to her family on Christmas Eve. We are excited for your child to join their cousins and learn how to ski together, experience the magic of the holidays by riding the Polar Express train, bake cookies, build forts, and watch movies during sleepovers.

We go to Colorado to visit Kayla’s brother almost every year for Thanksgiving. A morning hike in the mountains precedes our afternoon feast on Thanksgiving Day. During football season in the fall, we have a yearly tailgate with family and friends at our house. Dylan makes his famous chili, we play yard games, and watch the Badger football game on the TV in our backyard. Dylan’s mom hosts a family reunion every summer at her house. Our extended family enjoys playing games, going on hayrides, and roasting s’mores around a fire at the farm. We go on family vacations every summer. We travel somewhere different every year in Northern Wisconsin or Michigan to enjoy the northern Midwest lifestyle. On those trips, we go to the beach, ride bikes, and play cards.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

When we first started our adoption journey, there was no question that we would be open to transracial adoption. We will not ignore our child’s racial and cultural origins. We plan to integrate your child’s birth culture into our everyday, family life. We feel like it is important to understand and acknowledge differences in race and culture for your child to have a positive and proud identity. We plan to do that through our community resources, cultural experiences through travel, and through the support of our family and friends. We know a few couples who have transracially adopted. They work incredibly hard to ensure their children can learn and identify with their culture and heritage through food, people, and experiences. We vow to do the same for your child. We will explore opportunities, find role models who share their culture, and learn together with these families that we have met.

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Our Passions

One of our passions is travel. We have been fortunate enough to be able to go on some amazing trips this year. We were able to travel to Iceland and experienced the northern lights, snorkled through glacier water and saw more waterfalls than we even knew was possible with our best friends. For Dylan’s mom’s birthday, we went to Hawaii as a family and realized how amazing it is to watch the joy and excitement through our nieces’ and nephews’ eyes. It made us even more excited to be able to travel with our children someday and show them the beauty that is out there in the world. We snorkeled with turtles, visited national parks, and even witnessed an active volcano. Oregon was another beautiful place we can’t wait to go back to. We relaxed in natural hot springs, hiked in the snow when it was 90 degrees in July, and spent hours sitting by a fire laughing with our friends. We truly value these experiences, especially being able to spend quality time with each other and our family and friends.

We are also passionate about supporting organizations that are near and dear to our hearts. We recently attended an annual charity event for a hospital’s Cancer Center and had a great time dressing up for their Kentucky Derby theme. We have so much respect for this institution and its dedication to researching better treatment and cures for cancer. We have personal experience with this cause because Kayla is a five-year cancer survivor, with the brightest outlook, who underwent treatment at the Cancer Center. That experience changed our lives and we are all so proud of Kayla for how far she has come. She fought cancer with courage, drive, and a positive attitude and even hiked Rocky Mountain National Park just weeks after finishing chemo. We will instill strength, determination, and appreciation for life in our future children because of the personal battles we have experienced. We will also show your child the importance of giving back and helping our community because we were lucky enough to be lifted up by our community members when we needed it most.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to spend every day of our lives loving your child for who they are and who they aspire to be. We will bring them up in a family that values courage, generosity, and respect for others and themselves. Your child will know how grateful we are for you. They will know the sacrifice you made for them because of your love for them. We will respect any decision that you make about how open you would like this adoption to be. Thank you again for considering us. We promise that if given the opportunity, we will make you proud that you choose us.