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 and Richard’s favorite college team, the University of Texas. Gretchen has a love for soccer, as she played in college. 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 find 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. 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 and see all parts of our beautiful country here as well.

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Meet Gretchen!

I believe meeting Gretchen and marrying her was one of the greatest things to ever have happened to me. Gretchen is a very loving and thoughtful person who literally would give someone the coat off her back if they needed it. She is always looking for ways to help our community, and in 2025, she handmade over 40 baby blankets for a charity to disperse to families in need 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—if she is in the kitchen, you know the meal will be amazing.

Gretchen is very competitive and athletic. She was a college soccer player and has completed four Ironmans. She brings this “can do” attitude in raising our family. She 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 also has an artistic side, and loves photography, crafts, and other forms of art.

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Meet Richard!

Richard is a very outgoing and loving guy, and I do not know a single person who 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 know that 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.

Hobbies that Richard enjoys are gardening, golfing, and hiking. He is always outside trying to make our home look perfect.

Richard has been involved in the Big Brother Program and is very passionate about his service there. He was paired with a young man who was twelve-years-old at that time. That boy is now a young adult, and Richard is still a part of his life. Richard has had a positive impact on this young man, and they remain very close. When Richard commits to something, he goes all in. It is a really great quality to have.

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Our Fun Traditions

We love family traditions! It is important to us that we use traditions from both sides of our families, but also create some new traditions together as a family. We have daily and weekly traditions, as well as holiday traditions.

We eat together as a family. All electronics are turned off and dinner is a time that we can gather together and spend some quality time talking and listening to each other as we share about our days. Meals always start with a prayer. Bedtime prayers are also important. When putting Henry to bed, we pray for things that are on our mind, and find a lot of peace in this practice.

A weekly tradition as a family is game or movie night. We make popcorn and this evening is a huge highlight for Henry. While he looks forward to the game or movie we choose, and often is more excited about the popcorn!

Then we have holiday traditions, which have a special excitement because they come only once a year and create a lifetime of memories for us all. At Christmas time, we all put our Christmas tree up together. We have a variety of ornaments and love the inevitable conversation surrounding the memories that arise when we unwrap each one. We play Christmas music and watch Christmas movies while we get the house ready for the season.

For Easter, we love to decorate eggs, enjoy egg hunts, and happily anticipate the Easter bunny delivering baskets to our house. To us, our family traditions are about being together as a family, while creating lasting memories.

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Our Home

We moved to our home in 2025, with the idea of growing our family. We wanted a house that we could make our own and a neighborhood that was safe and enjoyable, and we feel that we have succeeded with these goals. Our house is on a lake where we can enjoy the beauty of being surrounded by water and nature just outside our backdoor. We have a big backyard, porches for playtime, and space for entertaining family and friends. In the summer, we enjoy taking our boat out and getting some sun.

We love our home, but the highlight for us is our neighborhood. We love seeing kids and families out and about. When we take Simon, our dog, for a walk, we pass neighbor after neighbor. Frequently, many groups of kids are running around and enjoying playing outside.

One highlight we experienced in our neighborhood during our first fall there was Halloween. Many houses in our neighborhood have elaborate Halloween decorations, and there are hundreds of kids out trick-or-treating. The sense of community is palpable as is the joy on everyone’s faces. This has made Halloween so special for us and we know that we have moved somewhere special. We can’t wait to include a future little one in these amazing festivities.

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Meet Henry!

We adopted Henry in 2023. Henry is such a gentle and happy boy. Very active and curious about everything, he is completely fearless. He loves to climb up slides, balance on things, and is always pushing himself to do new things. He is very independent and a problem-solver.

A highlight of our life has been watching Henry grow and develop into his own person. If music is playing, Henry will be found dancing and clapping along. He loves sports and tends to gravitate towards any toys that are sports-related, such as soccer balls, baseballs, and golf balls.

Our favorite quality of Henry’s is how affectionate he is. He has such a big heart and at such a young age shows such empathy towards others. Henry will be a wonderful big brother one day.

Henry’s Favorites:

• Food: Cereal Song: “Take me Out to the Ball Game”
• Ice Cream: Vanilla
• Stuffed Animal: An Orangutan he named “Joe”

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Our Sweet Pup Simon

Simon is our white lab mix puppy, who is around 9 months old. He was adopted from a shelter in Texas as a baby. He is great around everyone that comes over and welcomes all our guests with a big kiss and wagging tail. Simon is very gentle around children and will be such a great playmate for your child. He is so funny because he is far from being athletic and is a bit clumsy, but he definitely is a very smart for a dog. He is very good at distracting so he can sneak a snack from the counter. He loves to play with his toys. His favorite toy is a toy banana. Simon loves to be around people. He has been such a great addition to our family and he will be an excellent four-legged big brother.

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Our Extended Family

We grew up in different family settings. Gretchen is the youngest of three siblings. Her parents are still married and live five minutes down the road. Richard is the youngest of two siblings and has a single mother. Both of our families are extremely supportive of our adoption journey, and are very excited to welcome another child into the family. All of our siblings have families, and we frequently get to see and spend time with our family members.

For us, family extends beyond our blood relations. We have a very diverse group of friends from all different races, cultures, and backgrounds. Spending time with friends is important to us, and we enjoy getting together with them for dinners, boat trips, hikes, movie nights, and game nights. Our friends are also excited to add another child into the mix.

Lastly, we consider our parish community as part of our family. Our faith is very important to us, and we have found that when things are hard, our parish community is always there for us. We love being active in our church, and have met some of our best friends through this community, which is an integral part of our family.

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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. 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.