Richard and Gretchen

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From Us to You

When we started dating, we knew from the start that we wanted to be parents and that adoption would be an option for us. Little did we know at that time how much of an impact adoption would have on our lives. We adopted a son, Henry Thomas, in 2023 and are excited to continue to expand our family. We have so much love in our home and your baby is already so loved by our family and friends. We cannot wait to share our love of life with your child and endless opportunities for a wonderful life. This is a special time for us, as we want to expand our family, and we are anxious and excited to meet you.

We believe in the importance of kindness and compassion to others; giving back to our community and being involved in our church; and praying together as a family. Your child will be raised with these values and the importance of accepting all people from all backgrounds.

Our city provides endless opportunities and is abundant in racial and cultural diversity. Your child will have endless opportunities to explore, whether it be academics, arts or athletics. As parents, we are prepared to be there emotionally for the ups and downs your child may go through and we will work through the good and the bad as a family.

It is our hope that you find comfort in knowing how much your child will be loved and cared for, not only by us, but also by grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and many close friends. You face a difficult decision, and we admire your strength and courage in making this choice. We, too, as parents to your child, will always put your child’s best interest above our own. We want to provide a safe and loving environment. Your child will always be safe and provided endless opportunities to grow and excel. We will always be praying for you. Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know us and we are looking forward to getting to know you too.

With Love, Richard and Gretchen

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Why We Hope to Adopt Again

Becoming parents has made us feel like the luckiest people in the world. We have so much love to give and welcoming your child into our lives and home would complete our family. We are currently a family of 3, but always have envisioned having our children with siblings to play with, love and have the good and bad moments with. We look forward to watching your child grow and learn new things. We also think about the little things, such as scraped knees, tooth fairies, kicking the first soccer ball, playing kickball or T-ball and teaching your child how to ride a bike. We look forward to sharing our joys in life, such as hiking or camping with your child and we imagine being there for their first homecoming dance or prom. We will be there for everything from wiping tears to giving high fives. These are a few examples of the joy and excitement your child will bring to our family. Our love is endless.

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Our Lifestyle

We both work from home and that allows us a lot of flexibility with our schedules. Many days, particularly weekends, you will catch us as a family hiking and being outdoors. We have a love for camping, mountaineering, boating, sports, and outdoors in general. We look forward to sharing some of our favorite camping memories, such as building a fire and making s’mores. We long for creating more of these memories with your child.

We love sports and are a sports family. We follow our favorite NFL teams. In the fall we look forward to watching Richard’s favorite college team, the University of Texas on the football field. Gretchen played college soccer. We are definitely a competitive family. With that, we want our children to choose activities that match their interests and passions. Your child will have many opportunities to try various activities to match with what they enjoy. We look forward to the day running the kids around to all their activities, whether it be practice on the weeknight or games on the weekend. This excites us.

Since we all have busy schedules in our family, something that we enjoy to do together as a family are game nights. You will often find us playing Dominos or building a puzzle together. This is a time that we can all unwind from our busy days and enjoy some time together as a family.

Traveling is important to us, and we enjoy exploring new countries every year. We plan one big trip a year and then several small trips throughout the year. Our big vacation is usually out of the country and then several vacations during the year where we visit other US states, as well as explore our Pacific Northwest area. Between both of us, we have visited 17 countries and 39 of the 50 states. We love to explore the beauty the world has to offer and we can’t wait to take your child with us to explore our amazing world. Your child will travel the world with us and see all parts of our beautiful country here as well.

As a couple, we stay active together. We have trained and finished multiple half marathons as training and running partners. Gretchen has competed in four Ironman triathlons and crossed the finish line in each one. Richard has competed in numerous half marathons, adventure races and Tough Mudders. We are also avid hikers and took up mountaineering as a hobby. We took on the challenge and climbed Mount Rainier in Washington with a group of friends. It took us 3 days to complete, but was an accomplishment we achieved together.

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Meet Gretchen!

I believe meeting Gretchen and marrying her was one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. Gretchen is a very loving and thoughtful person who literally would give you the coat off her back if you needed it. She is always looking for ways to help our community. Last year she handmade over 40 baby blankets and dropped them off at charity so that families would have them for Christmas and the winter season.

Gretchen always makes sure everyone is welcome and feels comfortable around her. She is the best cook I have ever met…you know if she is in the kitchen the meal will be amazing! Gretchen is very competitive and athletic. She was a college soccer player and completed 4 Ironmans. I know she will bring this “can do” attitude in the raising of our family.

She is great with children and also helped to raise both her niece and nephew from the time that they were babies. She is a social butterfly and loves to sing karaoke whenever she can. Gretchen loves to explore her artistic side. She loves photography, crafts, and other forms of art. This is something she looks forward to sharing with your child. She is an amazing mother to our son and I know she will be to our next child.

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Meet Richard!

Richard is such an outgoing, loving guy, and I do not know a single person that does not enjoy being around him. He is always positive and sees the good in all situations. Our friends would say he is a “Big Teddy Bear” and he would literally do anything for friends and family. Richard is such a hands-on, loving father.

When I think of Richard, I see a guy who truly loves life and makes others’ lives better around him. The hobbies that Richard enjoys most are gardening and golf. I picture him teaching your child how to plant their first seeds and learning how to ride a bike. R

ichard has been involved in the Big Brother Program and is very passionate about his service there. He was paired with a young man named, James, when James was 12 years old. James recently turned 20 and Richard is still a part of James’ life. They enjoy spending time together grabbing some Barbeque, hitting up the golf range, or competing in a Tough Mudder run together. Richard has had a positive impact on this young man and enjoys his time with James. This is an example of his love and commitment and how he will be committed to your child as well.

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Fun Family Traditions

We love family traditions! We believe in taking and using traditions from both sides of our families and also creating our lasting traditions together. A tradition that Gretchen has grown up with was celebrating St. Nicholas day. This is where you set out a stocking or a shoe on December 5th and St. Nicholas leaves a little present on December 6th when you wake up. This is a German tradition and Gretchen loved it growing up.

Another tradition that Gretchen’s family did was a yearly camping trip where they explored different parts of the country. This is where Gretchen got her love for the outdoors. It was also a great family bonding tradition.

Richard has a cute Christmas Eve tradition growing up where his mother would put on bright red lipstick and give him a kiss while he slept. He would wake up in the morning and run to the mirror to see if he had a kiss from “Santa,” and that is how he and his brother knew if Santa came. She continued the tradition and she would give him a kiss on the forehead even as an adult when she could catch him!

Richard also remembers Saturday mornings as family time watching Saturday cartoons. His mother would lay a blanket out and let him play on the blanket while he watched his cartoons. This memory has always stayed with him. Sometimes the smallest traditions are the ones that stick the most with us.

We plan to take traditions from both of our families, but it is important that we also create our own. One tradition that we foresee is waffle Sundays. We enjoy on the weekend doing a day of waffles and we would like to continue this with our family so our child remembers growing up and each Sunday having this family time. At Christmas, we always give back to the community, and we will have your child be a part of this too. We choose two children from the giving tree at our church and provide these children with toys to have at Christmas. We want our children to help in the shopping experience for nice presents for the children so they understand the importance of giving and how that means even more than receiving. Your child will be a part of this tradition to see how each of us can help the community and those in need. These are a few ideas we have for our own traditions.

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Our Home

Our home was built with the idea of having a growing family. We live in a nice neighborhood, with other neighborhood children. It is a very active neighborhood with many people walking, running, and riding bikes throughout the day. We have a backyard and porches for playtime and space for entertaining family and friends. We are two blocks from a lake. We have a full lake view, so the love of water and the outdoors is in our front yard. On Sundays, our road shuts down for “Family Day” and you will find the neighborhood out and about riding bikes, running, swimming at the beach, and enjoying time together as families.

Your child will have a room to call their own. Gretchen loves art and being artistic, and is looking forward to working on your child’s room to make it special. As they grow, they will be able to participate in the decorating and room ideas. We can imagine the sleepovers your child will have when they get older. We look forward to these days. We love the idea of filling our home with the sounds of children’s laughter.

Our neighbors are amazing and there are children for your child to have as playmates. Just a block away is the neighborhood basketball hoop where you can often find kids playing. It really warms our hearts as we watch the neighborhood children growing up. We live on a biking lane so on the weekends we can see hundreds of bikers and runners using our road throughout the day. It’s great to be able to sit on our front porch and look at the lake and visit with neighbors as they are out and about. We are excited to share these times with your child and watch them to grow up with neighborhood friends.

The neighborhood has a large community of families and many parks for children to play sports, and partake in arts and crafts, music or other activities. There are lifeguarded beaches just blocks away from us. We love attending baseball games and football games. Gretchen is an avid swimmer and is looking forward to teaching your child how to swim. Richard is looking forward to holding a hand to cross the street and leading them through life. Our love is endless.

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Meet Henry!

Henry is a gentle and happy boy. He is very active and right now curious about everything. He is an adventurous sole. He climbs up slides, balances on things, and is always pushing himself to do new things. He is also a problem solver and does not want help on things but rather he wants to figure out how to do what he is trying to do by himself. It is so much fun watching Henry grow. He is into hugs and kisses right now. If music is playing, you will catch Henry dancing and clapping along. Henry will be a wonderful big brother one day.

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Our Extended Family

Gretchen grew up the youngest of 3 siblings. She adores her parents and is close to her brother and sister, as well as their children. Gretchen has been a part of her niece and nephew’s lives since they were born. Her family is a tight-knit family and they cannot wait for a baby to join in all the fun. Her mother always believed in eating together as a family at the table each night, as this was the only time she could get all five of them together, as each sibling was very active with busy schedules. Dinner was very important in her family. Gretchen wishes to continue this tradition of eating together as a family. With so many activities happening on a daily basis, this is one time that the whole family can sit and be together, listen to each person’s day, and grow together as a family.

Richard was raised by a single mother and has an older brother who is married with two small kids. Richard is the favorite uncle to them and they know that when Uncle Richard comes the fun begins. He is very close to his mother and brother and keeps in touch with them regularly. Richard’s family is also excited for a future new member to join the family as well. One activity Richard’s family is looking forward to doing as an extended family is staying in a cabin together so the cousins can spend time playing together. We are all looking forward to the cousins growing up together making many memories.

We have a very diverse group of friends from all different races and cultures and many different backgrounds. Spending time with friends is important, and we enjoy getting together for dinners, boating trips, hikes, movie nights, and game nights. Our friends are very excited to be a part of your child’s life. Our friends’ children are already a part of our life and our children are also welcomed into their lives seamlessly.

Racial and Cultural Diversity

We have friends from all different ethnicities and cultures and friends in the LGBTQ Community. We are accepting of all backgrounds and diversity is very important to us. Our parents raised us to not judge any person from the outside but to look to a person’s heart. Gretchen’s dad used to tell her, “I don’t care if you marry a blue, pink, green or orange person. The only thing that matters is that they are a good person who treats you with kindness and respect.” Gretchen loves that quote to this day.

Richard was raised with the same beliefs in his home growing up. Maintaining diversity is important to our family and it will be important that your child have a sense of belonging and unity. Your child will learn about their heritage, and we will incorporate that into our daily lives. With so many of our friends and family from all backgrounds, your child will learn early on the importance of diversity. We all do not have to think and be alike. We will ingrain this in your child to be an individual. Individuality is something that is important to us.

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Our Relationship with Henry's Birth Mother

We adopted Henry in 2023. We were able to meet Henry’s birth mother before he was born. That was a very special day for us. We flew to her city and spent a day together. It is something we will always be able to share with Henry. She made a very hard, but courageous decision. When it comes to our relationship with Henry’s birth mother, we wanted to do what she was comfortable with. She asked us to write her a letter every year to share what Henry is up to and any milestones he has experienced. We also have a shared file that we are able to upload pictures of Henry and his birth mother can log in at any time to see Henry and watch him grow. We will always honor this as we want her to see Henry grow and see all the amazing things he accomplishes and does. We want to share what an amazing baby and gift Henry is to our family.

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Our Faith

Our faith is very important to us as a family. We find opportunities to pray together and practice our faith. Gretchen grew up in the Catholic Church and Richard converted to Catholicism in 2018. We attend mass regularly at our parish and when we travel, we go to the local Catholic Church service. Being able to attend church together as a family every weekend is very special. It is time set aside for just us as a family. We often will either do dinner after, if we attend on Saturday evening, or we will do brunch if we attend on Sunday morning. It is really nice to have that quality time together. Some of our favorite activities include the parish school fundraisers/events and shopping for the Christmas Angel Tree. The giving tree at Christmas is important to us to provide some presents to children in need during the Christmas season and your child will be part of this wonderful tradition. Our faith creates stability around a set of shared family values that we feel are important to have as a family.

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Our Thoughts on Parenting

We love watching a child’s mind work. When we watch our son playing and exploring, nothing brings us more joy than to see him conquer a challenge and problem-solve. We are parents who want to provide a safe environment where the child has the opportunity to problem solve and self-discover their own potential. We are here to help our children along the way, but we want them to develop the skills to grow as an individual. We love to see this in Henry and look forward to also watching your child become an individual. We will encourage our children to explore and participate in multiple activities and experiences to discover their passions. We want our children to be individuals and each will have their own passions, whether it be sports, arts, music, youth clubs or more. We want each to explore and find what they love.

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Our Promise to You

• We will love your child with all our hearts and be positive people for your child.
• We will raise your child to be kind and compassionate.
• We will make sure that your child always feels loved, safe, and cared for in every way. We want what is best for your child and will be supportive of any interests they may have.
• We promise you that your child will be our priority in life, and we will help your child to grow to become an amazing adult.
• We will provide your child with every opportunity to explore what they enjoy, and we will give your child an education, in the best schools that will support your child’s interests.

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A Final Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about our family. We look forward to learning more about you. We want you to know we will always provide a safe and secure environmental for your child. We look forward to watching your child grow into a loving and compassionate person. Your child will always know where they are from and how much you love them. This is a difficult decision and we will be praying for you. Please feel free to reach out to us. We are happy to connect and learn more about you and share more about us.