Chad and Melissa

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From Us to You

You are so amazing and so brave for even being here, and considering this incredibly tough decision. We can only imagine how it must feel to choose a family to raise your baby. Our names are Melissa and Chad and we met at a wakeboarding competition when we were 18 years old, and now have been together since 2009 and married in 2014! We have traveled the world together, experienced the most beautiful places, and met some amazing people. When we had our son Kai through IVF, who is now 3 years ago, we learned how much we truly love being parents and how much that little person can reshape our minds and hearts, and show us how to love more than we had ever imagined. We have always wanted to adopt and our hearts are open to hopefully accept a new little one into our family! We would love to meet you and promise that above all, your baby will be cherished and loved, will be safe, and will know that you loved them more than anything.

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A Glimpse into our Lives!

On Saturdays we love making pancakes together and then picking an activity for the day, like going to the aquarium, splash pad or park. We also have family dinners about once a month with each of our parents. Every evening we do bathtime together, talk about our day, and play hide and seek or tag before we put Kai to bed.

We spend the holidays with our families and typically have Christmas parties with each of our families and extended families as we both have aunts, uncles and cousins who live nearby! At these parties we often play games, watch the little kids running around together, do a gift exchange, and eat a large dinner together. We also cut down our own tree in a nearby forest! We typically spend Christmas Eve with Chad’s parents, sister and brother, eating a large dinner, playing games, and opening our matching pajamas. The next day we often go to Melissa’s parents’ house, along with her brother and grandmother, to have dinner and open more presents, then spend the next day playing in the snow.

We have Thanksgiving brunch with Chad’s family and dinner with Melissa’s family, then spend the evening in food coma! Easter is hosted at our house and we hide eggs around our backyard and have a nice brunch. On the 4th of July we often spend time with Chad’s family at the local rodeo then watch the fireworks. We would also love to learn more about your traditions and culture so we can incorporate those into our own traditions!

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

Melissa’s first exposure to adoption was when she was on a medical mission trip to Tanzania in 2012 and visited a local orphanage. There was a small but clean room with multiple babies crawling around on the ground. Melissa picked up the sweetest little girl who gave her a big smile and wrapped her tiny little fingers around Melissa’s. Even then, Melissa knew that someday she wanted to be able to provide a home for a little one. Chad had also always wanted someday to adopt and when we got married we decided we wanted this together and planned to look into it when it was financially feasible.

After being married for several years we started trying to have a baby and were unsuccessful on our own, so after a tough journey with infertility treatments, we ultimately were blessed with our son Kai through IVF. He is now 3 years old and absolutely loves other children. We have so much love in our hearts when we see him playing with other kids. We can see what true joy he has interacting with them. We both have siblings and so many of our cherished childhood memories include those with our siblings, making up games and secret languages together, getting into childhood mischief, and covering for each other. We really want our children to experience that close-knit, unbreakable relationship of a sibling.

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About Melissa, from Chad

Melissa is the most kindhearted and empathetic person I have ever met. I could not imagine, nor would I want to imagine, my life with anyone else. She has a spirit for adventure. Melissa is also incredibly smart. She has worked hard to acquire a great job that allows her to provide a comfortable lifestyle for our family.

Things Melissa loves:

1. Soft things… socks, sweaters, blankets, you name it! Fuzzy things are the best!
2. Ranch dressing on everything!
3. Sitting by the fire with a chai tea in a cute mug

Melissa is also a great mother; Kai is lucky to have her and I know her heart is open and has room for another child. She puts the needs of Kai above her own without a second thought or complaint. It is easy to tell that Kai absolutely loves his mom. Melissa is great at teaching him new things and makes sure he is always learning new words and having new experiences.

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About Chad, from Melissa

Chad is the love of my life and the kind of person that you can feel safe with. He is steady in a storm and no matter what happens, you know he will always be there. He is very calm, level-headed, smart, and thinks through situations thoroughly. He also never misses an opportunity for a good joke. Chad is very active and loves hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and woodworking. He works hard to provide for our family and be a good influence on our son.

Things Chad loves:

1. Word or number puzzles like Sudoku and Wordle
2. Learning random facts and skills from YouTube videos
3. Mom’s Italian sausage lasagna The most amazing thing was watching

Chad become a father and seeing how he loves our son unconditionally. He gives Kai focused attention and loves reading to him and teaching him new things. Chad has big dreams and encourages us to have big dreams too, and I know one of those big dreams is to have another child join our family.

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Meet Kai!

Kai is a bundle of joy and energy! He is always running around, climbing and making up imaginary storylines for us to play along with. He is very smart and always surprises us with new words and questions or observations about how the world works. He loves waffles smothered in jelly, french fries, blueberry muffins and vanilla ice cream…. And for some reason doesn’t like chocolate! He loves playing with other kids and we love seeing his eyes light up when he gets to play with his cousins! He can’t wait to be a big brother!

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How We Met

Melissa had just turned 18 and was with her dad on the lake wakeboarding one early morning when she looked over at the next boat driving by. There was a super cute boy with long dark curly hair, which he flipped out of his eyes when he looked over and smiled right before throwing a big flip… and then they were gone. Three months later while at a wakeboarding competition, a man came up to Melissa’s dad and started a conversation. It just happened to be that cute boy’s dad! Our dads introduced us and for the next 4 years, we would hang out occasionally, and go on a few dates but mostly we went wakeboarding together whenever we could. Eventually, we started officially dating, moved in together, bought a house, got married and now have been married for almost 10 years!

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Lifestyle

We believe in working hard but also playing hard and making our family the priority. We both work so we can have the freedom to travel and experience everything this world has to offer. We are very active and love hanging out at the lake, hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing! We go camping frequently and have a new camping trailer (with an extra bed waiting for a new little one). We have a close-knit group of friends and family with young kids who love adventuring with us so we often have a tribe of littles to explore with! We have also done quite a bit of international traveling and once the kids are old enough to enjoy this, we hope to expose them to this lifestyle as well, to allow them to learn through the great diversity of nature, animals, and cultures. We love family dinners and cooking together!

Our favorite things to cook:

1. Korean fusion chimichangas
2. Beer batter fish tacos
3. “Fazookies” – barely cooked cookie dough smothered in vanilla ice cream

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Vacations & Leisure Time

Our Travel Bucket List:

1. Sail on a sailboat through the Caribbean
2. Kayak the Fjords in Norway
3. Rent a narrow boat and cruise the canals and locks in the UK

We love to travel and have gone on many adventures together, from hiking through Chile and Argentina, to rock climbing in Thailand, surfing in Nicaragua, exploring the back roads of New Zealand, and road-tripping through the beautiful highlands of Scotland. These trips have only piqued our curiosity about the vast diversity and variety of cultures our beautiful planet has to offer! We have taken Kai to Kauai, Hawaii to swim with the turtles, to Florida for a cruise in the Caribbean, road-tripped through Idaho checking out the natural hot springs along the way, and hiked through the many national parks our state has to offer! Closer to home we love going on walks, mountain biking together, visiting family, meeting the animals at the local farms, checking out the aquarium, and watching movies.

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Home & Neighborhood

Our favorite things about where we live:

1. The community! We love all of our neighbors and have dinner and playdates with them often!
2. It’s so close to so many fun things! A 10 min drive gets us to the aquarium, many big new parks, the library, grandma’s house, and lots of indoor playgrounds!
3. We have great views of the mountain, valley, and lots of wildlife with deer, porcupines, and moose and we can even hear the coyotes sing at night! We have a great school district!
4. There are so many kids in the neighborhood that love to play!

We have recently moved into our dream neighborhood! We have friendly neighbors, safe streets, and breathtaking views of the mountains and valley, and it only takes a few minutes to walk to the top of a great hiking and mountain biking trail system! The neighborhood is buzzing with kids of all ages, many of whom have found our yard to be the center of their games and meetings. Our home has 3 floors with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a large open living room connected to the kitchen. The windows look out into our large grassy backyard with a ground-level trampoline and covered gazebo with a fire pit. We are located within 10 minutes of the aquarium, many indoor playgrounds, the library, a great splash pad, and several large parks.

During the summer we frequent the splash pad and parks several times throughout the week, as well as bike around the neighborhood and on the local mountain biking paths. During the winter there is a perfect sledding hill right in front of our house, and we also love to check out the indoor playgrounds and aquarium on colder days!

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We understand that it is so very important to acknowledge and understand the challenges that a child may encounter and have to overcome when being adopted by a family of a different race or culture. We will foster an open environment where your child will feel comfortable bringing their questions and feelings to us. Even if we are not immediately able to provide the right answers, we will be willing and able to find them.

If we are blessed with a child of a different race or culture we will do everything we can to expose them to their own culture and see people who look like them on a regular basis by putting them in play groups, schools and sporting groups with children of similar ethnicities. We will make sure they see themselves in the books on our shelves and art on our walls, teach them about the leaders in their cultural communities, and incorporate aspects of their culture into our own traditions. Melissa comes from a mixed race family, her father is Japanese and her mother is White, and we have learned to blend our traditions to incorporate both cultures into our family.

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Our Families & Friends

Both of our families, including our parents, Chad’s sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even some great grandmothers, live nearby. They are very involved in Kai’s life and are all very supportive of our dream to adopt and have expressed without reservations that they would love and welcome whole heartedly a baby into the family. Melissa is the youngest of 3, and has a brother and a half-sister. Chad is the middle child and has an older brother and a younger sister. We hang out regularly with Chad’s sister and both Melissa and Chad’s cousins as our core group of friends and many of them have young children as well. It is always fun to get the little cousins together to play.

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Our Relationship with You

We would be overwhelmed with love and gratitude if you were to choose us to raise your baby. We imagine seeing your eyes in the eyes of your sweet baby and know that you are very much a part of who your little one will become, even if you choose for them to grow up in our arms. We can imagine feeling their tiny little heart beat against ours when we hold them close, and we will know that this heart beat came from you. We feel unmeasurable appreciation that you have trusted us raise your sweet child.

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Family Traditions

Typically around Christmas we have 3 extended party families, one with Chad’s dad’s family, one with Chad’s mom’s family and one with Melissa’s dad’s family who all live close by, including multiple aunts, uncles, and cousins. At these parties we often play games, watch the little kids running around together, do a gift exchange, and eat a large dinner together. We typically spend Christmas Eve with Chad’s parents, sister and brother, eating a large dinner, playing games, and opening our matching pajamas. We sleep over and in the morning we eat breakfast together and open presents. Later that day, we go to Melissa’s parents’ house, along with her brother and grandmother, to have dinner and open more presents, then spend the next day playing in the snow.

Thanksgiving is often spent having brunch with Chad’s parents and sister, and then dinner with Melissa’s extended family. Easter is hosted at our house and we hide eggs around our backyard and have a nice brunch. On the 4th of July we often spend time with Chad’s family at the local rodeo then watch the fireworks. We would also love to learn more about your traditions and culture so we can incorporate those into our own traditions!

On a more day to day basis we spend every Saturday morning together eating breakfast and reading books together before planning a fun family activity. Typically on Wednesday evenings we go to the pool to go swimming. Every night we do baby bath time together, talk about our days, and then run around the house playing tag or “airplane” and then read books together before putting Kai to bed.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to keep your baby safe and also encourage them to experience life to the fullest, to take risks and work hard. We promise to love them fiercely as our own and to teach them to love, trust and forgive. We promise to accept them as they are and encourage them to be the best versions of themselves. We promise to never take your sacrifice for granted. We will raise them to know how you love them and want the world for them. Whether our paths join through adoption or not, we wish all good things for you going forward.