A year after we were married, Eric’s best friend and family’s exchange student came from France with his young family for our wedding reception. After getting to know Barbara for a week, they decided they wanted to go shopping at the mall and have us babysit their 2 and 4 year old kids.
What we thought would be 2 hours, unknowingly (to us) turned into 6 or 7! After one lunch, 2 naps, many snacks, and a full dinner later, we were able to get to know their kids much better, even with the language barrier! We laughed, ate, colored and watched French cartoons! They called us aunt and uncle after. This experience helped us come together more as a couple, and also see what our future could look like as parents!
We met at a little coffee shop near John Ball Zoo on a hot Labor Day. We connected over our love of family, laughter, food, and the beach. We spent many dates over tea and dinner, getting to know each other’s backgrounds and passions. We found out Eric’s love for Jordan sneakers makes him a great shopping buddy, and Barb’s stories from living in China have encouraged Eric to try new foods and seek out new experiences.
Our honest conversations about life and love led to us being quite a match! Little did we know, 6 months later, we were about to be forever grateful we had each other during 2020. Barb taught English and reading from a computer for almost a year, while Eric could always count on a great new recipe that was cooking when he got home from work every night.
From there, our relationship grew, and just a couple years later, we were getting engaged and planning to get married on the sandy beach of Ludington. Between our first date, and our wedding on Lake Michigan, we grew to love being in the kitchen cooking together, marathoning Netflix series, and leaving each other little surprises around the house.
Together, we love to not only go to the beach to swim, read and listen to the waves, but we like to be homebodies and relax on the couch, too. We walk, play basketball and swim at our local YMCA gym, and appreciate that it has awesome childcare for the future. We love going to get ice cream on a hot day, or a quiet walk in the woods when the leaves are changing colors. Nephews’ baseball games are a highlight of our summers, too.
We also love discovering new foods with friends, and taking time to try out new recipes. Family gatherings often involve a basketball tournament in the driveway, or a card game that leaves us all in tears laughing. We are 10 min. from Eric’s parents and nephews, and just a drive to Grand Haven for Barb’s family.
Sex: Any Gender, including an Ambiguous or Transitioning Gender Child
Ethnicities: Any Race and Ethnicity
Age: Newborn to 18 months
Total of: 1 to 2 Children or 2 Siblings
Child Care: Family Member Child Care Â
We Live In: Grand Rapids Area
Our Belief: Open to All Religions
Our Pets: No Pets
Our Children: No Children Now
We are so lucky that so much of our family lives close by in West Michigan. We spend a lot of time cheering on our nephews at their baseball games, playing grill master at evening cookouts, and debating pizza toppings and what movie to watch together. We know each other’s parents and siblings so well, we feel like they’re our own.
We’ve had Qdoba picnics with both our parents after finishing painting our lofty living room walls. Birthday parties may include a basketball or cornhole tournament, with some ending up in a game and the rest of us cheering them! We like to go out for a nice dinner with friends, or they enjoy coming to our place to sit and talk in our sunroom, or playing games at the table.
We live in a quiet condo neighborhood not far from schools and parks. It’s a great place to walk and listen to the birds, too. It’s an older community, but it’s quiet and peaceful! We have put a lot of time and work into our home to really update it (from the original 80s decor) and love living here. Our nephews love to sleepover, and their favorite place is in the cozy loft above our living room! Our favorite place to sit with friends or each other is in our sunroom. We like the perks of condo living, but can see ourselves moving to a home with a larger yard in the next 10 years.
We have many former teachers in our family, and Barb is a teacher now. Education is an important part of how our child will explore and choose a profession to contribute to their community and world. We understand our child will be learning outside of school, as well. Developing their character is vital to learn qualities like individuality, responsibility, community, respect, integrity, creativity, and compassion. Our children will have many opportunities for education and be taught from an early age the value of learning and its role in their development as a person.
We believe discipline should be used when parents want their child to stop or start behaviors. Positive reinforcement and encouraging appropriate behaviors is what we will strive for. We do not believe in physical discipline, but rather a counting and timeout method. Although we have a plan for discipline now, we know each child is different and we will learn to accommodate our child’s specific needs. Discipline is important for a child to learn right from wrong, safety, respect and also how to treat others.
We both went to church from an early age, learning about Christianity and religion. Religion does not play an active role in our life now, but we are respectful of other peoples’ beliefs and spirituality. We feel it’s important to have faith in others and be present in the here and now. We have friends and family with different beliefs than us, and we understand and respect those differences. We hope our child will learn to approach religion and spirituality with an open mind, with us supporting them along the way.
I am a Grocery Team Leader for a Meijer store in Grand Rapids, less than a ten minute drive from our home. I really enjoy working with a team, and I like the fast-paced nature of my work, but I think it’s really important to take time to develop a personal connection with the people I see every day. Meijer is a great company that supports families who adopt. It has been a really nice place to work the past 7 years.
I plan to take paternity leave, following placement, and will play a big part in the role of our child care plan. Once I go back to work, I will probably be with our child once Barbara goes to work, or care for them until my mom gets to our house. My schedule can vary weekly, but I plan to help care for our child as much as I can.
I have been a teacher for 16 years! I get to work with students who speak more than 1 language, every single day. I love what I do and am proud of my students for having fun while they learn English. I was an English teacher in China for 3 years and came back to get my degree to teach English learners here, because I fell in love with this area of teaching.
I currently work with kindergarten to high school students, and the age difference truly makes my job interesting and exciting. I’m usually at 3-4 schools in my school district on a daily basis, starting everyday at the middle school, and ending my day with my high schoolers. The families my students come from have amazing stories and are a joy to work with! I love having a big impact on their education and future life.
I plan to have maternity leave, following placement, and will play a big part in the role of our child care plan. Once I go back to work full-time, I will probably wake up with our child, as I’m up very early, and get them ready for ‘grandma’ or dad, before I go to work. I get home mid-afternoon everyday, so I will have a great amount of time with our child, from morning times to afternoon, evening and bedtime! Plus, being a teacher means every weekend and summers free!
My parents were born and raised in the Midwest, Michigan and Ohio. My younger brother and I were each adopted as infants from South Korea. Much of our extended family lives in different parts of the country, and we have used that as an opportunity to travel and visit lots of different places. Holidays were often spent with family, especially Christmas in Arizona, as both sets of my grandparents lived there.
We still have our extended family stay Thanksgiving weekend at my parents. I had many opportunities to learn and experience authentic Korean traditions, foods and customs, but we also created our own traditions as a family. My parents were both teachers, so having summers off meant we could take road trips all over the US, exploring many cities and national parks and creating family memories! We all still have a love for traveling today.
My family is from Grand Rapids, and my parents are from Grand Haven and the U.P. Our ethnic backgrounds are Finnish and German, and we enjoy cooking and eating foods like cinnamon rolls and quiche at Christmas. My family celebrates holidays together with special traditions like the first kid to find the German pickle in the tree at Christmas gets the first gift.
My parents also started and continued traditions like Mexican Mondays, cooking and eating pasties the day after Thanksgiving and opening pajamas every Christmas Eve. We love to take family hikes or play and watch many sports that my nephews play (my favorite is baseball).
Thank you for stopping by our page and learning who we are! We have dreamed of adoption since our first date. With Eric having been adopted into a loving family as an infant, we hope to do the same for your child. We hope you see the love and joy we have to give! We understand this may be a difficult time, but we would be honored to be a part of your journey.
We want to be open and honest with our child about their adoption story. We hope you will continue to be part of their story, if you’re comfortable with that. We hope to have an ongoing relationship with you, with regular texting, sending pictures and making plans to meet for lunch at a park or mall, having time to enjoy our child together. We envision monthly activities with all of us together, so our child knows you as part of the family!
We want to be open and honest with our child about their adoption story. We hope you will continue to be part of their story, if you’re comfortable with that. We hope to have an ongoing relationship with you, with regular texting, sending pictures and making plans to meet for lunch at a park or mall, having time to enjoy our child together. We envision monthly activities with all of us together, so our child knows you as part of the family!
Just one more thing...We want to be open and honest with our child about their adoption story. We hope you will continue to be part of their story, if you’re comfortable with that. We hope to have an ongoing relationship with you, with regular texting, sending pictures and making plans to meet for lunch at a park or mall, having time to enjoy our child together. We envision monthly activities with all of us together, so our child knows you as part of the family!
