Chad & Stacy
Chad & Stacy
Our wedding day describes us perfectly as a couple. We love to have fun, are a little goofy, and are most fulfilled when we’re with our family. We are also pretty opposite people; Chad is laid-back and easy going, while I am quick-witted and pay much attention to detail… I like to plan.
We were surrounded by our family and had our very best friends to stand beside us. As my mom helped me get ready, Chad’s mom tried to keep the boys on schedule. About a half hour before the ceremony was to start, Chad’s mom burst into the bridal suite to announce that Chad forgot his entire suit 40 minutes away at his house and was not wearing pants!
We had two members of Chad’s band playing nice melodic guitar music while everyone waited on us and we found out later that while some friends were driving Chad’s suit up to the church so he wouldn’t walk down the aisle in his underwear, his band mates were actually playing slowed down Metallica tunes to entertain the congregation.
But hey, all in all we got started only ten minutes late and had such a beautiful day celebrating our two families coming together with everyone we love!
Our Story
We’ve been together more than half our lives! We met in elementary school but started dating in high school. It’s an odd version of the high school sweetheart story… our first date was after a football game when Chad heated up a day-old pizza on the engine of his truck and drove us to have a picnic in the Meijer parking lot.
It wasn’t the stuff romantic movies are made of, but we were crazy about each other and dated 10 years before we got married in 2014!
We went to college in different cities and really grew as individuals during that time, and once we graduated and started our careers, we knew it was time to really begin our happily-ever-after!
We adopted our son James in 2020, and he’s been the greatest joy of our lives. He’s a happy, energetic, easy-going, and goofy kid that is going to make such a great big (or little) brother someday. We value our time together as a family and we’ve learned so much about what it really means to be partners as we try to be the best parents we can be.
What we love about each other:
Chad always puts his family and friends first and is eager to offer help when someone may need it. He is easy-going and fun, and truly enjoys his career and working on things at home to build our gardens and fix anything that may need it.
He also likes to goof around and is such a great dad; he relates so easily to kids and loves to teach them how to build things and enjoy the outdoors. -Stacy
Stacy loves to soak up summer days going on walks with James, takes time to enjoy the moment like snapping a picture of our day’s catch while fishing with her dad, or preparing dinner for us and our friends on holidays. She is warm and caring and careful with James.
She also works hard to keep our family happy and healthy. – Chad
P.S.
Our adoption video is old and awkward… we’re working on a new one ;-)
Our Relaxation & Fun
We love spending time with our family and friends! Stacy’s parents live on a lake and many summer weekends are spent floating around on the boat, swimming and fishing. We also have a very tight-knit group of friends and we really enjoy spending weekends with them and their kids.
We regularly have big home-cooked dinners with movie nights together and really enjoy vacationing with our family and friends. We also love to spend quiet time at home, cooking together and baking, gardening, watching movies or cooking dinner over a camp fire.
Chad has a retro golf cart we like to ride on our property and the neighborhood, “zooming” around and just spending time outdoors!
our adoption hopes
Gender: Any Gender, including an Ambiguous or Transitioning Gender Child
Ethnicities: Any Race and Ethnicity
Age: Newborn to an Older Child
Total of: 1 to 3 Children
a snapshot
of us
We Live In: Hastings
Our Faith: Christian
Pets: Cat(s)
Kids Already: One Child Now
Child Care Plan: Stay-at-Home Parent
Our Family & Friends
We have the very best family and friends! We spend much of our free time with them and always look forward to holidays when we can get together with our extended family as well. Weekends are often spent at Stacy’s parent’s house swimming at the lake or hanging out with our group of friends and their kids at parades, shows and festivals. Chad is an only child and Stacy has an older brother, so we both have very close, small families.
Our Home & Neighborhood
We have a cozy home that is warm, inviting, and tidy. We live on almost 10 acres, so there is a lot of room to run, play and go for walks! We also have two friendly barn cats and six chickens that provide us with fresh brown eggs. We don’t have indoor pets anymore but hope to get a dog in the future. Many of our neighbors are also good friends and we trade our chicken eggs for their fresh vegetables and fruit they grow in their gardens. There are often kids playing out in the neighbors’ yards and everyone is very welcoming.
We have been looking for a little larger house with more property in the same area of our community and hope to find the perfect home soon! Until then, we are in the final stages of finishing our basement for more room to live and play.
Education
We are both very passionate about education. Right from the start, we value the idea of spending as much time as possible reading, playing, and learning with our children. We also believe it is so important that children are provided with every opportunity to receive a good education and learn about things that are of interest to them as they grow up, whether it’s through a trade school, certificate programs or university. It is our goal to help our child build a foundation that will allow them to be successful throughout their life.
Correction & Discipline
We believe that discipline is very important and it helps children to grow and eventually be respectful and responsible adults. We feel that positive reinforcement, a reward system and praise when children correct their behavior help them become confident and empowered. When disciplining is necessary, we will use the “1-2-3 Magic Positive Parenting” technique that helps to discourage negative behavior without arguing or spanking. We will never hit or spank a child.
Our Faith Views
While we don’t regularly attend church and often only go on holidays, we both have a strong faith in God and try to live our lives in a way that is in service to others.
Chad's Career
I work for our local energy company repairing the aerial lift trucks, fleet vehicles and a lot of equipment the electric and gas crews need to keep the power on for our community. I enjoy knowing I’m helping to keep my colleagues safe and learning skills to help maintain our own home and vehicles.
I will qualify for four months of parental leave following placement to bond with the child and help our family come together as a whole. Once my paternity leave is over, I will continue to work full-time to provide for my family. My shift is four days a week and I will get to stay home three days a week with long weekends.
Stacy's Career
I use ultrasound to image a patient’s organs to try and figure out what is causing their symptoms, like kidney stones or blood clots. I also perform ultrasound exams to evaluate babies before they’re born to ensure they are healthy. It’s very rewarding to be able to work closely with patients to calm their fears, provide comfort, and ultimately be a part of a team that can lead to a diagnosis and save lives!
Thanks to Chad’s hard work and income, I am very fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom. I occasionally work a few hours on an evening or weekend rotation to maintain my skills and registries, but love getting to spend every day helping James to learn and grow and look forward to sharing that with his future sibling. We are also very close with my mom who is able to stay in our home and help provide childcare when we need her.
Chad
I was adopted as an infant, so I’m not sure what my cultural and ethnic backgrounds are; I’ve been told my birth parents may have had a European and Croatian history.
My family traditions have always revolved around spending time together, especially on birthdays and holidays. The guys in our family golf together every few weeks during the summer, and my mom’s family gets together for annual reunions and family breakfasts. We also enjoy going to car shows.
Stacy
My ancestors are English and Irish, but we have very American traditions. Our family loves to get together for cookouts and barbeques in the summer and celebrate as many holidays together as we can.
My favorite traditions are when my dad’s side of the family gets together every Christmas Eve for a beautiful meal, slideshow of favorite pictures from the year and a gift exchange that always comes with surprises!
My mom’s family then puts together a delicious Christmas Day brunch while my dad throws on his Santa costume for all the kids while they open their gifts, and the guys try to figure out how to put all the pieces of the new toys together (for there being a bunch of engineers and mechanics in the family, this seems to take much more time than one would think and is always a good laugh)!
We don’t know each other yet, but we already have great respect and admiration for you. Your courage, selflessness and the loving, difficult decisions you are making are pretty amazing. If you want to be a part of all our lives, we welcome an open adoption and whatever level of involvement you’re comfortable with, and this child will know how very loved they are by you, right from the start.
We hope to grow our family and are thankful you are considering us. Chad was adopted as an infant and we believe his experiences will help us to raise children with openness and a strong sense of identity. Our dream is to provide children with unconditional love in a warm and happy home. We look forward to beginning our journey together.
Much love,
- Child Separation, Attachment, and Bonding
- Child Development, Including Safe Sleep Practices for Children
- Behavioral and Emotional Needs of Adoptive Children
- Impact of Adoption on the Family
We would love to have a big family and that includes you. We see something really special in the idea that a child could have another person in their life that they know loves them with everything they have. The more positive, loving influences a child can have in their life, the better!
We welcome whatever level of involvement and communication you are comfortable with, and this child will always know how much their birth family loves them no matter how involved you choose to be. Our “dream open adoption” would be to have a relationship with you that continues to grow, creating a bond and friendship that allows us to spend time together, and celebrate holidays and accomplishments! We have an open, strong relationship with James’ birth mother and his siblings and we cherish every conversation and the time we’ve been able to spend together.
We would love to be involved as much as you’re comfortable with throughout your pregnancy and would be honored to be present at prenatal medical visits or the hospital. As you move forward with such loving and difficult decisions, we hope we can be a source of support and comfort to you.
OUR COMFORT LEVEL WITH DIFFERENT ADOPTION OPTIONS
- Very Comfortable
- Mostly Comfortable
- Unsure
- A Bit Uneasy
- Not Comfortable
We would love to have a big family and that includes you. We see something really special in the idea that a child could have another person in their life that they know loves them with everything they have. The more positive, loving influences a child can have in their life, the better!
We welcome whatever level of involvement and communication you are comfortable with, and this child will always know how much their birth family loves them no matter how involved you choose to be. Our “dream open adoption” would be to have a relationship with you that continues to grow, creating a bond and friendship that allows us to spend time together, and celebrate holidays and accomplishments! We have an open, strong relationship with James’ birth mother and his siblings and we cherish every conversation and the time we’ve been able to spend together.
We would love to be involved as much as you’re comfortable with throughout your pregnancy and would be honored to be present at prenatal medical visits or the hospital. As you move forward with such loving and difficult decisions, we hope we can be a source of support and comfort to you.
Just one more thing...We would love to have a big family and that includes you. We see something really special in the idea that a child could have another person in their life that they know loves them with everything they have. The more positive, loving influences a child can have in their life, the better!
We welcome whatever level of involvement and communication you are comfortable with, and this child will always know how much their birth family loves them no matter how involved you choose to be. Our “dream open adoption” would be to have a relationship with you that continues to grow, creating a bond and friendship that allows us to spend time together, and celebrate holidays and accomplishments! We have an open, strong relationship with James’ birth mother and his siblings and we cherish every conversation and the time we’ve been able to spend together.
We would love to be involved as much as you’re comfortable with throughout your pregnancy and would be honored to be present at prenatal medical visits or the hospital. As you move forward with such loving and difficult decisions, we hope we can be a source of support and comfort to you.