OUR LETTER TO YOU         JACK'S ADOPTION STORY         SLIDESHOW         FAMILY RECIPES

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Our Letter to You...



Hi!
We are Jeff and Alison...and Jack and Drew, too! Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family. We say that our boys are both miracles! We feel blessed to have them in our lives and thought our family was complete until we all realized we were missing our family's little "pink" caboose.
We have great respect and appreciation for your desires regarding adoption. While your baby would be raised with all the love possible from us, they will also know they are loved by you. Your name will be held in the highest regard in our home, just as we have honored Jack’s birthmother. In fact, we chose a form of her name to be his middle name.
Together we enjoy playing games, reading to the boys and each other in the evenings, and taking walks to the nearby parks. We all love music! Our home and cars are filled with every variety of music, but children’s music is playing most of the time now :) We have seen many concerts over the years; our favorite thus far has been Rascal Flatts.

The bitter-sweet miracle of adoption has touched all our families’ lives. Our hearts are tender as we imagine the decisions you are facing. We pray that you will have peace as you make the best choice for you and your child and hope that you will consider us in that process.
We look forward to hearing from you by email, phone, or letter. Click on our email and send us a note.
Fondly,
Jeff and Alison
ALL ABOUT US...
After dating almost two years, we became more serious as our love and friendship grew. We married in Portland, Oregon in April 2002. Jeff graduated from BYU in December of 2002 and in 2007 graduated from Des Moines University Medical School. Alison graduated from Utah Valley University the spring of 2003. Alison taught 1st grade while Jeff attended medical school. But her desires were always to be a stay-at-home mom.
All four of us love to be with friends and family. We love music, movies, and attending community events. We usually eat at home but love to eat out once or twice a month. Some of our favorite places to eat are PF Changs, Texas Roadhouse, or any Mexican restaurant.


At least two or three times a week, Alison, Jack and Drew enjoy visiting fun places. We have family passes to the children's museum and aquarium and can spend hours at both places. We also get outside and play any chance we get! Many hours are spent outside exploring!

ALL ABOUT JEFF...

Jeff is a very fun-loving person. He grew up in a wide variety of states but calls Alaska home since he spent many summers as a child and teen working on fishing boats with his dad, uncles, and cousins. Most his family still live there. He enjoys finding new ways to make the boys laugh, singing in the shower, and playing the guitar and harmonica-at the same time! Jeff really enjoys athletics, too. He wrestled in college, but also loves football and basketball. He still finds time to exercise daily and plays basketball every Saturday morning with friends. Jeff served a mission to Spain, so he speaks fluent Spanish and uses it at any opportunity.
Jeff is the oldest of seven children. He has three sisters and three brothers. Twenty years separates Jeff from his youngest brother, so there was always someone to play with or entertain while growing up...and it is still fun to spend time with all his siblings. They all LOVE being aunts and uncles!
On Jeff's side of the family we have seen the blessings of adoption on both sides. Jeff has three cousins who are adopted and an aunt who placed her child for adoption. We feel fortunate for the opportunity to expand our family through adoption.
ALL ABOUT ALISON...

Alison grew up in Oregon and loves the Northwest. She is a creative person; she enjoys blogging, decorating the house, and changing her hair cut and color. Whenever she finds a spare moment she loves to pick up a good book and read. The last two years she served as a board member for FSA (Families Supporting Adoption); and considers herself an adoption advocate in every way. She was involved in dance, piano, tennis, and basketball while growing up and hopes to extend these hobbies to our children while helping them find their own pleasures. But above all, motherhood and parenthood has been her greatest joy.
Alison has one younger brother but there was always extended family close. Her aunts, uncles, and grandparents all live within minutes of each other. She talks to her parents daily and is excited to hopefully be very close soon.
Family is important to both of us and we hope to live even closer in the near future. We both feel strongly about the importance of our children knowing their grandparents and extended family.
ALL ABOUT THE BOYS...
Jack (5 years old) is a very smart, loving child. He adores his green satin blanket which was nicknamed "Linus" because of the way he holds it and sucks his thumb. From the moment he was born he has loved both music and water. Last summer we spend hours by the pool and anticipate many more summers spent the same way. Jack can count to twenty in English and Spanish, can tell you anything about dinosaurs and could read books all day long! Jack has brought so much happiness into our home and lives. The first two years we frequently mailed letters and pictures and had occasional phone calls with Jack's birthmom until she requested annual updates.

Drew (3 years old) is such a happy guy. Even when he is sick, you can make him laugh. We often find that he has sneaked into his brother's room and both of them are giggling uncontrollably. Drew wants more than anything to be like his big brother. He loves to crawl through our pop-up tents and tunnels chasing Jack. He is very energetic and loves to climb up anything.

We were very shocked and excited to find out Alison was pregnant when Jack was just 14 months old. After years of fertility treatment and procedures that never resulted in a birth, we had not been focusing on having a biological child for quite a while and had actually started the process to adopt again, as we felt there was another child for our family. We once again feel there is another child to join our family through adoption, and are excited to be on this journey again.

The bitter-sweet miracle of adoption has touched all our families’ lives. Our hearts are tender as we imagine the decisions you are facing. We pray that you will have peace as you make the best choice for you and your child and hope that you will consider us in that process.

We look forward to hearing from you by email, phone, or letter. We can be contacted through our email at: hope2adopt@live.com or our caseworker, Kimberly, can be contacted at 614-836-2466.

With Warm Regards,
Jeff, Alison, Jack and Drew

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008

On the Move & More...

After Jack crawled his very first time, he looked back and gave me this smile...it says it all :)
Our little man is starting to get into everything! Mom's make-up is so much fun.
Bring on the grub!
It was a rough nap...messy hair, unbuttoned outfit (how did that happen?!?), and missing a sock. Uncle Jacob (11 years old) thinks he looks like Peter Pan in this pictures. He kind of does :)
Jack is winning his independence. He loves to eat all by himself. I call this picture "Oatmeal a la Jacque."

Friday, February 8, 2008

Some Favorites...

I love this picture. It captures Jack's adorable grin! As soon as I picked it up from being printed last week, I framed it and put it on our coffee table.
Daddy and Jack ready to go outside.
Jack was quite happy with his "new" martian pajamas.
First time pulling up.
Gotta love those cheeks! I know we do!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Christmas 2007

We were able to spend Christmas 2007 with Alison's family in Oregon. We had such a great time.
Christmas Morning!!!
Alison's Dad, Jack, and Jack's special blanket that goes everywhere with him.
This is Jack enjoying some of his presents later in the day.
Jack and G.G. (Great-Grandma) playing together later in the week.