Daniel and Lynne

>

<

From Us to You

We are so thankful for you and will always remember your love and courage. More than anything we want you to know that your baby will receive unconditional love, and their life will be filled with laughter, joy, and meaningful opportunities that nurture their natural curiosity.

Though we’ve been married over a decade, our family has only been able to grow through adoption, and family is everything to us. Our children are super close, constantly cheering each other on, and they can’t wait to have another sibling to share their lives with.

We’ve always been open and honest with them about their own adoptions, and each of them knows that they came from the strongest and most amazing women ever. We regularly send photos, letters and updates to the beautiful families that previously chose us but only as they are open to it. We completely honor and respect your decision on this matter and would be happy to share if you prefer that.

Before becoming parents, we were both teachers at different schools as well as caregivers for our many nieces and nephews. It has always been our dream to have a big family of our own, and we know very well that raising well-rounded people “takes a village”. Our community is full of loving families, and our surrounding family is huge, kind and caring. We are fortunate to have families and friends that reflect our values and endlessly support us.

Since Daniel works from home and Lynne is a stay-at-home mom, we’ve been able to build a life that nurtures our family in all ways. Your child will be at the center of this and will be adored and cherished beyond measure. Watching our children grow and celebrating their lives has been the most wonderful gift ever, and we are all so happy and ready to grow our family again. With all of our hearts, we thank you for considering us.

With love,
Daniel and Lynne

>

<

Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

Adoption is the most precious gift we could ever imagine or ask for. We are not able to conceive, and have been through multiple miscarriages, but we adore children and have always wanted a big family. Adoption is how we have grown our family and how we have expanded our hearts. It is everything to us and we are so thankful for this opportunity.

Our Relationship with Our Children’s Birth Mothers

We are forever extremely grateful of our children’s birth mothers. They are the strongest, most courageous and loving women we’ve ever known. Though they live in different towns, they are in the same state as us and from the beginning we followed their lead and communicated as much as they liked. Per their requests, Lynne was able to take them to doctor’s appointments and help them through their births. Abraham’s birth parents like to receive regular updates, so we happily share tons of photos and letters with them. Olin and Elora’s birth mother likes to see occasional photos, which we gladly share with her anytime she asks. With immeasurable respect we honor their personal wishes around this and share any photos and information they are comfortable to receive. It is always their choice to make, and we support them no matter what they decide. It humbles and awes us to think about the immense love and strength they have.

>

<

Lifestyle

More than anything, we love being together, and we’ve built our lives and home to support this. We created our family business from the ground up, a successful blacksmith shop here on our property, so Daniel could work from home and Lynne could be a stay-at-home mom fully dedicated to raising our family. We embrace every moment as precious and take nothing for granted.

We love being in nature! We have a small boat, canoe, kayaks and we are just a short drive to several rivers and lakes. When we’re not outdoors on our own farm, we’re spending time swimming, playing and hiking in the greenbelt.

At home, we dig in our gardens, play with our farm animals, grow veggies and fruits, collect fresh eggs, cook delicious meals together, climb trees, run around our big property and have fun getting messy. We built a huge playscape for our kids, and we eat lunch and play all over it almost every day. Indoors we create art, play games, read books, learn, laugh and play together.

We have extended family and friends all over the country and love to travel. We are so excited to show your child the world and to create beautiful, lifelong memories.

As a family we love jiu jitsu and attend the most amazing family-friendly gym. We’re an active bunch, and we love to challenge ourselves with obstacle courses, new experiences and fun adventures. We’re also a part of a warm church community that is filled with close families and friends.

>

<

About Daniel by Lynne

As cliché as it sounds, the moment I met Daniel I knew I was looking at my soul mate. Everything about him gave me butterflies and my feelings grew stronger every moment we were together. He’s handsome, strong, and brilliant. Over a decade later, I still get butterflies, but now they’re settled in knowing that we’ll be together forever. He’s the best father I’ve ever known and puts his entire heart into being a dad. From the moment each of our children were born, Daniel was every bit as involved as I was, with every aspect of nurturing and upbringing. He’s responsive, intuitive, patient and understanding of other’s feelings. He stays calm even during stressful times and keeps our home peaceful and balanced. Daniel is also extremely talented and can seriously do anything he tries! He teaches our kids to swim, play musical instruments, do jiu jitsu and make tools in his metal shop. Daniel built a huge playscape for our family, beautiful decks on our property where we can watch the sunset, and awesome furniture for our kids. He is our rock that provides for us in every way imaginable and I thank God every day for him.

>

<

About Lynne by Daniel

When I first met Lynne, I fell in love. She was so angelic in presence and uncommonly kind that I was mesmerized. I thought surely, I had no chance with such a beautiful person and often still wonder how I came to be loved by her. She is beautiful, intelligent, and giving. Her kind heart and logical brain make us the perfect team. She is my soulmate and every day I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together growing our family. Lynne is naturally encouraging to all around her and elevates our children to believing they can accomplish anything, knowing that there will always be loving arms to fall back upon. She is dedicated to the well-being and education of our children and promotes the whole child: body, mind and spirit. Before we met, she owned and operated a local restaurant. Hence, she is an amazing cook and spares nothing in her own kitchen. She is passionate about nurturing the health and happiness of our family and is adored by our community. She also puts a conscious effort into taking care of our many animals, me included. With her limitless grace and kindness, she is truly a great wife and mother.

>

<

Our Home

We love our beautiful 5-bedroom, 2-bathroom home in the gorgeous Texas Hill Country. The interior is lit by the natural light through our many windows and usually smells like fresh-baked goods and home-made treats (Lynne loves to cook!). We’re on 3-acres, and just a short drive to several parks, rivers and water holes. We have a large front porch, huge and covered back patio, a playscape that Daniel built, swings and lots of fun activities and games set-up at all times. There are potted herbs and flowers on our front porch and vegetable gardens in our backyard. When talking about our home, we feel it’s important to mention our sweet dog, our flock of chickens and our goats. Many of our neighbors also have animals, and we commonly see horses, cows, donkeys, deer, pigs and longhorns on the drive through our neighborhood. We’re members of a beautiful church that is filled with our friends and other families. We’re also members of an awesome jiu jitsu school, where our children train and Daniel coaches. We’re blessed with a huge community of friends, and live close to our families, all of which have children, so our social gatherings are always family friendly.

>

<

Our Kids

Abraham is 10 years old, and he is one of the funniest, most playful kids ever. We adopted him as a newborn and got to be there when he was born. He had a small hole in his lung, and we spent the first 2 weeks in the NICU with him, by his side until he was released. Now he’s strong and healthy, and you’d never know what he went through by looking at him. He does jiu jitsu, climbs trees, rides his bike all over and loves animals and outdoor adventures. And he’s the best big brother.

Olin is 6 years old, and he is sweet, snuggly, smart and super helpful. We adopted him as a newborn, and we were able to be in the room with him when he was born. He does jiu jitsu and loves to be outdoors, but he also has a huge love of books, music and “chill time”. Family story time is his favorite. He is so kind with his little sister and can’t wait to have another sibling. He asks every day when he’ll have another brother or sister to play with.

Elora is 3 years old, and she is brilliant, expressive and full of life. We adopted her as a newborn, and though we weren’t in the room for her birth, we were joyfully waiting for her arrival. She’s extremely creative and loves art, pretend play, music and dance. She carries her baby dolls all over, feeds them, changes their diapers and gives them bottles. She can’t wait to be a big sister. Every time we’re around an infant, she tells us that we need another baby.

>

<

Racial & Cultural Diversity

We’re a mixed culture home, with Scottish, Polish, Irish, Lebanese, English, Mexican and German backgrounds, and we celebrate each of our heritages in fun and meaningful ways. Our kids are mostly Mexican, and as a family we’ve been learning to speak Spanish. We go to museums, try authentic cuisine, read books, watch shows and movies and intentionally learn about each other’s backgrounds. For the kid’s birthday parties, we usually bust open a pinata and on Dia de los Muertos we put out marigolds and colorful decorations. We each have Scottish kilts, and at our wedding we did a handfasting ritual with Daniel’s family tartan. Lynne knows how to belly dance, and we keep Middle Eastern instruments around the house. Many of our extended family members are first and second generation, so we’re lucky enough to hear about their cultures directly from them. We love each other’s unique differences and can’t wait to bring even more culture and traditions into our family.

>

<

Our Family

We are each very close with our siblings, all of which have multiple children, so family reunions are filled with laughter and super cousin fun time. Fortunately, our parents and extended families live close by, and we are with them any chance we get. Both of us have strong bonds with our parents and good memories of our own childhoods, but our parents are even better grandparents than we could have ever hoped for. Moreso, they all get along with each other so we can have huge get-togethers with both Lynne and Daniel’s families present. Our sweet little town is known for being family friendly and we are blessed with many good friends, all of which have children. “Our village” is so supportive and made up of wonderful families from all backgrounds, all sharing the same value of prioritizing God and their families above all else. In addition, all of our friends love to be outdoors, it’s one of the big reasons people move to this area. So, field trips and outdoor adventures are usually with lots of friends and other kiddos.

>

<

Traditions

We have a ton of traditions and daily routines, and we regularly find meaningful ways to build on them. Every evening, we sit down around our table and enjoy homecooked meals and catch up on everyone’s day. Most holidays we make special meals together and invite extended family and friends over to feast with us. New Year’s Eve and the 4th of July (which is also Lynne’s birthday), we watch beautiful firework displays and roast marshmallows. For Easter, we host our families on our farm and put on a huge egg hunt for the kids. Every Halloween, we decorate our entire property, trick or treat with friends and then come home to divide up the candy and watch Scooby Doo mysteries. We host Thanksgiving at our house, a delicious banquet, and we always set up fun games and craft projects for the kids.

We make sure to get to the Renaissance Festival at least once a year, take at least one summer family trip with our cousins and siblings (usually to a water destination) and take an annual trip or two to the beach. In the fall, we visit local pumpkin patches, and in the spring, we hit up nearby farms to pick strawberries. Having our own farm, we think of our traditions by the season.

In addition to replanting gardens and sprucing things up outdoors, each new season we redecorate the inside of our home to reflect the outdoor colors and surrounding holidays. The kids love helping change out the decorations and make art and creative trinkets to make our home look even more beautiful.

>

<

Our Promise to You

We are so thankful for you and will always remember your love and courage. Our promises to you are that:

• Your baby will receive unconditional and never-ending love
• They will know where they came from and that you are the strongest and most loving person
• They will be the center of our world and our family, and they will have a deep sense of belonging
• They will be endlessly cherished, supported and encouraged to be themselves
• Their life will be filled with laughter, joy, and meaningful opportunities that nurture their natural curiosity
• They will be raised to be kind, loving, honest and thoughtful

You are amazing and strong, and we are so thankful that you are taking the time to get to know us and consider us. We can’t express enough how much we admire your strength and love of life. A million times over, thank you. Family is the most important thing to us, and we have built our lives around being the best parents we can be. Adoption is the gift by which we can grow our family, and we are so grateful for this opportunity. We promise you with every bit of love in our hearts that your baby will be raised in love and support and will be treasured and adored beyond measure.