Photos

Here is a random collection of photos of our family's past comings and goings... (new photos added occasionally, so check back! :)

(You can click on any of the photos to make them bigger.)

While Daddy & Caleb went camping...

Mommy & Ella visited the Farmers' Market

Easter Egg Hunt at the cousins' house, Spring 2012

Buddies on the backyard swingset

"Cheese!"

Favorite Aunt Lindsay's bday party

Fun with hats

Loving Grandma's trampoline

Snow--a new experience :)

Meeting Maggie, Aunt Donna's doggie

Summer beach trip 2011

Riding the ferry

Family fun!

Our big little helpers

Zoo train ride--they loved it!

Silly Caleb :)

Helping Mommy make bread

Best buddies

We love to swing!

Wake up, Daddy!

We love reading books!

Caleb and Mommy flying to Grandma's house for a visit

December 2009

Visiting nephews in El Paso

April 2009

Joe & Sally, April 2009

At Daddy's graduation June 2009

(Sally made Caleb's robe/cap)

Watching a movie with the cousins

Joe's family at family reunion, August 2009

Sally's family at family reunion, May 2010

Adoption and Us

We love adoption in our family. Our children are the light of our lives and the joy of our home. We are so thankful for the miracles that have made us a family! And we wouldn't trade our experiences for the world.

In early fall of 2007, when we'd failed to become pregnant and were still frustrated over it, Sally had the thought one day that we should adopt. At first, Joe did not agree, and he felt that meant we were giving up on ever conceiving. But as he prayed about it, he came to understand that it was the right path for us to take to grow our little family. We started the process that winter, and first heard from Caleb's birthmom on September 22, 2008. We were going to be parents in January-!

We have a good relationship with Caleb's birthmom, M., as well as with Ella's birth-grandma, A., and our birth families are dear to us. We look forward to having a similarly open relationship with the birthparent(s) of any other child that comes into our home and our family (and of course our hearts!).

We exchange emails with M. on a regular basis, we have kept a special blog with pictures of Caleb just for her, and have occasionally mailed her pictures of Caleb and our family. We text or talk on the phone once in a while, and we hope that one day M. will feel ready to get together with us in person. She knows that we are open to it when she is.

In the fall of 2009, when Caleb was still not crawling, Joe mentioned that he felt like we needed to start the adoption application process again. As we started working through the application process, Joe felt that we needed to hurry, and that we would receive a girl. We hit many "speedbumps" and obstacles in the process that time around, but finally got approved in April of 2010. We realized if we'd delayed acting on the feelings Joe had, we'd never have been ready to adopt when we got the phone call May 7 that our little Ella was going to be born at the end of June. We are so very grateful that we did not miss her--we truly cannot imagine our family without her!

Though we don't have as much contact with Ella's birthmom, our main contact with Ella's birth family has been her birth-grandma, and we enjoy occasionally exchanging emails with her. We hope to one day enjoy more communication with them, once they feel comfortable with that.

As our kids grow older, they will come to understand the love that their birthmoms have always had for them. Adoption will always be part of their stories, and they will always be free to ask us any questions. The birth families of our children will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we know our children will come to love them as much as we do!

We haven't had a chance to meet the birthfathers of either of our children, but we will always welcome the opportunity to have a good relationship with any birthparents (or birth family members!) of any children in our family.

Ella

Ella was born June of 2010, and we were able to take her home just 2 days later. She is a sweet, sassy, and independent little girl who is full of energy and fun!  She runs everywhere she goes, and loves to climb things--whether it is on the swingset out back, or up the refrigerator door handles!

Some of Ella's favorite activities include playing in water, looking at books, pushing her doll stroller around filled with balls, swinging on the swingset, and helping Mommy in the kitchen. At almost 2 years old, she is learning so fast and doing new things almost every day it seems!  She just started saying "look!" and "watch me!", and they sound like "yuck!" and "watt uh-me!" This keeps Mommy guessing and also laughing :D  She loves to play with Caleb and do exactly whatever he is doing, and they love to laugh together--the sweetest sound is when Caleb is making Ella laugh! We love our sweet little girl!

Caleb

We adopted Caleb as a newborn in January 2009. He is now almost 3 1/2, and he is such a happy, intelligent, friendly, and loving little boy! He loves his sister, his mommy & daddy, and his cousins. He loves to be silly & make us laugh, whether it's making up silly things to say, making funny faces, or trying on hats, sunglasses, mommy's headbands, etc.

He loves to sing and dance around, and he loves to help mommy, especially in the kitchen. He is currently into dragons and pirates, and he also likes trains and helicopters. He is a sweet and wonderful big brother, and he and Ella are really becoming good little buddies. We sure love our little boy!!

 A glimpse of Caleb's favorite thing to do --pretending! Here we are trying on costumes at a children's museum during a trip to visit family in Utah :)

About Us

We met in late April 2004, at the beginning of what proved to be a wonderful summer! Sally was moving into the apartment complex where Joe had lived for a while, and Joe spied her moving in. He came over to introduce himself that evening and we soon became friends. We saw each other nearly every day over the next two months, and had fun doing things such as canoeing, hiking, night games, swimming, and just hanging out with friends. By the end of those two months, Sally realized that Joe was her best friend, and wished that she could date him, because she knew she wanted to marry her best friend. Little did Sally know that Joe had been waiting to date her! Well, the truth finally all came out, and after two weeks of "officially" dating, we began discussing marriage. By August we were engaged!

December 2004

We were married in December, and have been loving life together ever since! We will soon celebrate 7 years of marriage, and now live in Texas, where Joe works as a medical resident and Sally stays at home, taking care of Caleb & Ella and running the home.

June 2009

Waiting for a SeaWorld show, Spring 2012

In addition to being a mommy, Sally loves to craft and sew; cook and bake; read books; paint; and just be together as a family. Most recently, Sally started taking swimming lessons from her sister-in-law, and she is excited about that. She also has a new goal of writing and maybe illustrating her own children's book, and is loving working in her spring garden. (And she just realized that the two of us almost never take pics together!  Need to work on that... ;)

Daddy & kids time, at SeaWorld, Spring 2012

Joe loves his work in the hospital, but when he is not working or studying, he especially loves to spend time as a family, whether it's going to the zoo, going swimming, or just playing in the backyard together! When he can find the time, he also loves to play sports, especially basketball; read books with Sally; and go camping.