We began exploring the path of adoption in December of 2021 and began working with JustChoice in late 2022. We fundamentally believe in the work they're doing to support pregnant people and parents. We're grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside them and support their mission. We've spent our time waiting trying to learn and grow to become better adoptive parents for our future child and partner to their first family. Regardless of if we have the opportunity to meet, we're sending you love throughout this journey. We appreciate you taking the time learn more about us.
We've been together since 2018 and genuinely just love being together. Sometimes that looks like going to Costco to get a pizza to eat on while we binging a TV show. Sometimes that looks like an epic road trip out west to see a new National Park or to catch a concert. Sometimes it looks like exploring a local metropark. During the week, you're likely to find us playing cards, learning a new board game, baking bread, or catching up with friends in the evenings. Depending on the week, you may find us alternating which one of us is making dinner or who's ordering Chinese, Mexican, or pizza. On the weekends, we're typically tooling around Columbus at a farmer's market, hanging out with friends/family, or exploring somewhere new for a long weekend.
We have one dog, Hank. He's a gentle giant at 95 pounds who loves nothing more than loafing around, laying in the backyard, or sitting in our front room watching the neighborhood pass by. Hank is very sweet and patient with children. We have lots of kiddos in our lives so he's gotten comfortable with babies crying and exploring his home. He's going to be a great big brother. We also foster dogs through a local non-profit to help them become guide dogs for a person who is visually impaired. They typically live with us for one year while Beth trains them and Shannon spoils them. We're not currently fostering a dog.
Shannon worked in high-school English education for 15 years. She recently changed careers in an effort to prioritize more work-life balance. She's now a corporate trainer at a local logistics company. She enjoys building curriculum and seeing it "click" for people who are new to the company. Beth has worked at a healthcare IT company in Columbus since 2017. She started as a customer service representative and has worked her way through operations leadership. She enjoys the opportunity to help people learn and grow in their career and developing new leaders.
Shannon's family lives just over an hour away. She has a close relationship with her family and we see them often. She had a relatively "typical" childhood and often recalls fondly memories with her parents who were hands on and supportive. She often shares memories of her fathers extravagant memory making like when he put their bikes on the roof at Christmas since santa couldn't get them down the chimney or how he went all out for halloween. He has since passed, but lives on in the hopes Shannon has for her own parenting.
Beth's family lives about two hours away. They are huge Ohio State fans and her family stays with us most weekends in the Fall but we also see them often throughout the year. Beth's childhood was a little less stereotypical, but that's helped her to reimagine the parent she'd like to be to a child. She had a very hands on dad and ultimately a step-mom who became her mom. Their commitment to unconditional love and patience has helped to rewrite some of the harder parts of her formative years.
We're looking forward to making memories with our child in the big and small moments. We both grew up having family dinners and look forward to committing that time to connecting as a family. We want to be hands on and active parents. Sometimes that looks like evenings walking to the local park, a Saturday at the pumpkin patch, or prioritizing a bedtime story (or 5). We love to travel and intend to share that passion with a child. As we wait, any travel is planned with the potential of a kiddo in mind.
We moved to a suburb of Columbus in 2022 to be in a more family friendly area with a strong school district. We both grew up in small towns, and while we love living near the city, this allows us more of a small town community with the convenience of a bigger city. We see ourselves here longer-term, but are interested in having a space to visit out west in the future.
We hope this can share a glimpse of who we are, what we prioritize, and the adoptive parents we look to become. We live our lives with a great deal of intention and this journey is no different. At the forefront of our conversations of being adoptive parents is the role we hope you'll have in our lives and the life our child. We believe in open adoption and and whole heartedly believe in the benefits it has for the relationship we intend to grow with you and our child overtime.
