Nancy’s Extended Family

We both are fortunate to have loving and supportive families. We live about five minutes away from Nancy’s parents who we see often. We lived about 12 hours away from them for a number of years, and it is wonderful to now be living so close. Nancy's sister, brother-in-law and two nieces are a short 20-minute drive away. Nancy's brother, sister-in-law and nephew live in another state but we are fortunate to see them several times a year. Nancy's sister's children were both adopted, so we have experienced first-hand the incredible love adoption has brought to our family.

Visiting Tim’s Extended Family

Tim’s parents, three sisters, his brother and their families live in another state, but we see them several times per year. They were ecstatic when our son was born and are looking forward to the newest addition to our family with the same anticipation.

When we are together with our families, there is always a lot of talking and laughter. We spend a lot of time outside playing ball or frisbee or doing things like making a batch of homemade ice cream. They are all very supportive of our plans for adoption, and are just as excited as we are to bring home a new bundle of joy.

We’re Enjoying Our New Home

We live in a small town in Missouri where Nancy grew up. The town is full of young families with one of the best school districts in the state. We are fortunate to have recently built our home on about 200 acres of family land, so we have lots of privacy but town is just at the end of our driveway. We spend a lot of time outside taking walks and looking for turtles or frogs with John and our dog, Abby. Last year was our first winter in the house, and we enjoyed many days of sledding and tubing around the property. We have three bedrooms and three baths with plans to finish our basement in the future. We designed the living room, kitchen and dining room to be very open so that we can always interact with each other and our guests. There is a half-story upstairs with a playroom.

One of Our Community Pools

We love to have friends over to barbecue, play games and "hang out". That usually means a lot of kids either running around inside the house or playing outside. It is wonderful to have the house full of laughter and fun. We have the best of both worlds in that we are in the middle of quite a few acres of land, but the end of our driveway is only one block from the school, a couple of blocks from the police station, park and post office. Our town is very safe with tree-lined streets with sidewalks and a lovely park. Because Nancy grew up here, it is nice to have the love and support of family and friends whom she has known her entire life. We are only 15 minutes from a larger city with wonderful shopping, theaters, museums, swimming pools, and libraries.