Tim & Sarah
Tim & Sarah
What do Nick Jonas, Angelia Jolie, Weird Al Yankovic and America Ferrera all have in common?
Us, of course!
Tim and I have had some interesting (and some not so interesting) brushes with fame during our travels. Our favorite celebrity encounter was at the Colosseum in Rome in the fall of 2019. We were just two of maybe twenty thousand people wandering around the ancient ruins that day. It was crowded and abuzz with excitement.
Our tour guide mentioned that the Colosseum had a special VIP visitor there that afternoon. And so it seemed that around every corner, we kept running into a swirl of stern faced security people and elegant entourage. In the middle of this VIP crowd, Angelia Jolie herself. Researching a movie perhaps? Who knows!
Tim and I love to travel and adventure. For our wedding we were gifted a scratch away map of the world so that we can document all the countries that we have visited together. We hope that as our family grows we will continue to have the opportunity to explore new places and learn about different cultures across this beautiful globe.
Our Story
We are a true Millennial love story!
We met online while I (Sarah) was serving my first church in Illinois. The weekend I drove up to Michigan to interview at my current church, we squeezed in our first in-person date (it was a rather momentous weekend).
Because I was traveling through, I had my dog with me. Brewster was more than a little curious about Tim! Brewster insisted on being on top of the table at the coffee house where we meet up! Right in between us, belly up for pets right next to our cups of coffee!
We married a year later, on the most perfect and rainy day in June of 2018. Since then we have been working on our home, traveling the world, playing endless board games, and building relationships with our neighbors and community.
Our Relaxation & Fun
Our latest relaxation craze is enjoying the Holland Aquatic Center. We swim laps, then rotate through the hot tub, steam room, and sauna! We could spend hours poolside. We look forward to the day when we are able to take our child to Preschool Splash Time and ride the zip line into the pool!
Tim is getting ready to start working on his first-degree Black Belt! He has been practicing Taekwondo for three years and has reached the advanced rank of RedBlack Belt. Through the summer of 2022, he will be in training (body and mind) for the big test in the fall.
I enjoy taking Brewster (our AussieDoodle) for hiking adventures throughout West Michigan, together we check out the state parks and top off the experience with ice cream cones.
Tim and I are both avid readers, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, enjoy traveling the world and trying new recipes. During the summer months, we spend a lot of time at Tim’s parents’ home in Holland, they live on a beautiful lake and we get our own private little beach! We build sandcastles, bob around in the warm lake water, kayak, and play yard games on sunny days.
our adoption hopes
Gender: Any Gender, including an Ambiguous or Transitioning Gender Child
Ethnicities: Any Race and Ethnicity
Age: Newborn to 12 Months
Total of: 1 to 2 Children or 2 Siblings
a snapshot
of us
We Live In: Holland
Our Faith: Christian
Pets: Dog(s)
Kids Already: No Children Now
Child Care Plan: Family Member Child Care Licensed Child Care Center
Our Family & Friends
Tim and I both come from close-knit families. Our parents have all been married for well over 40 years!
My parents live about an hour away in the Lansing area. They are both recently retired and eager for adventure. Tim and I see them about once a month. They often drive our way to attend worship at our church and spend the day with us. Or we head their way for a little bit of time in the country.
My sister and her family live near Nashville, TN. We spend time with them every Christmas and for a couple of weeks over the Fourth of July. When they are here we spend lots of time at the beach. It is such a joy spending time with my niece and nephew!
Tim’s parents live close by in Holland, we see them at least a couple times a month for meals or fun. Tim’s dad Larry enjoys coming by to take Brewster for long walks. They are best buds! So it is not unusual for us to see Tim’s parent multiple times a week. Tim’s sister lives in Denver, CO but there is some chatter about her moving closer to Michigan! Fingers crossed!
We also have some great friends. Most of whom have lots of kids! Our nursery is already filling up with hand-me-down items from our friends who are beyond excited about us adopting a child. We get together for pot-luck dinners, apple picking, game nights and will attend local festivals together as a group. Since most of our friends have children, our gathering are always pretty family friendly.
Our Home & Neighborhood
We live in Holland, MI, just a stone’s throw from beautiful Lake Michigan.
Our home is situated in a family-filled, edge-of-town kind of neighborhood. Several of our neighbors have gotten really into backyard chicken raising, and we probably have as many chicken neighbors as human neighbors!
One thing that we love about our community is that every house is different. Homes range from being built in the 1950s to the 2000s. Each one has a boatload of personality. Our home is a traditional brick style with a lot of living spaces and unique touches.
We have a huge multi-level fenced-in back yard, complete with a swing set, garden, fruit trees (lemon, apple, mulberry, and raspberry), and fire pit for entertaining. We love spending time outside!
During the COVID months, our neighborhood established driveway meetups. Throughout the summer, each Wednesday evening, all the families from the block are invited to get together for a driveway party, complete with sidewalk chalk and s’mores. It’s a blast!
Education
Both of our mothers are teachers. Tim’s mom is a retired special education teacher, and my mother retired from a career in elementary education. Our mothers instilled in both of us a deep respect for life-long education, both in the classroom and at home.
Educational environment expands our minds, develops our self-esteem and confidence, and encourages our self-awareness.
When the time comes for our child to attend school, we have several fantastic options within walking distance of our home. Depending on the child’s unique needs we have options like a language immersion school, a school with a fantastic special education program, a forest preschool program, a school that emphasizes art education, and another that allows for semester of international travel once a student reaches high school.
The Holland area schools are becoming more and more racially diverse each and every year. There are so many wonderful options to help any child thrive and become their unique selves.
Correction & Discipline
Discipline provides structure and boundaries for children so that they can thrive in this world.
Tim and I do not believe in spanking, hitting or corporeal punishment in any form. Discipline is not about fear, but about safety and respect.
For young children we prefer redirection and calming techniques to help us all get back on track together. We also believe that disciple and consequences should be tailored to the child’s ages and situation.
Tim and I are grateful to Greater Hopes for providing classes on navigating discipline, we continue to add new tools to our tool belt for when we need them.
Our Faith Views
We are both individuals of deep Christian faith.
Being a part of a church community is very important to both of us as well. A church community to us is about being surrounded by God’s love, beautiful timeless and holy traditions, receiving the support and wisdom of elders, encountering God’s grace through fellowship, opportunities for stretching our giftedness, and justice work.
For children, we especially believe that church is about building a friendship with Jesus and developing a sense that they always have a loving home that will support them and protect them no matter what.
Timothy's Career
I work for a company that makes furniture.
I stay super active loading trucks and carting around supplies each and every day. Something really special about where I work is the company’s emphasis on supporting families. They do all that they can to create a loyal, healthy environment.
Through my employer, I am granted 4 weeks of paternity leave. After which I’ll return to work to help provide for our family. We are blessed with family close by, and so we plan on utilizing a licensed child care center close to my work and family support.
Sarah's Career
I pastor a family-sized church in a small lakeside town. It is bliss!
I get to teach, love, care for, engage, invite, nurture, dream, serve beside and grow spiritually with people of all generations and backgrounds.
I especially enjoy opportunities to incorporate art into the worship space. Paintings, theater, poetry, tapestries… sharing the love of Christ through colors and textures and word art fuels me.
The Board of Ministry at my church has already approved me for a 10 week maternity leave following placement. After which I’ll go back to work ministering to the congregation I love.
For child care, we have options! Tim and I have family that live close by who are eager to help, and Tim’s work has a day care available right next door. It is likely that we will utilize a combo of family help and a licensed child care facility.
Timothy
It’s a little complicated… I was adopted by my parents at four months old. My birth family is from St. Louis, but I’ve never met them and really don’t know anything about them. I’m of mixed race, part Black and part White. I’m still learning about and exploring my ethnic heritage.
My adopted parents are White Dutch people, and my sister is of mixed race like myself.
Back in the 1980s when I was adopted, American culture told us all to be “color blind.” But today, some 30 and 40 years later, my family is pushing back on that. Today I can happily say that we are all on a journey to learn how to celebrate our ethnic differences.
Adoption is widely celebrated in my family. I have cousins from Korea, Columbia, and the Philippines. When we are together at Christmas, we like to joke that we are the “United Nations.”
My Grandparents on my mother’s side, before they passed, told the family that they hoped (more than anything) that the cousins would continue to spend intentional time together.
So for the past six years, our extended family has met up for a family holiday somewhere new across the country. It makes me smile knowing that we will have decades of adventures ahead with all of our growing families.
Sarah
My Great Grandma Maxine always said that our family is a “Dutch mix.” A little bit of Dutch, a little bit English, and a whole lot of who knows. This is the case for both sides of my family. So it is particularly fitting that Tim and I settled in Holland, where they celebrate Michigan’s Dutch heritage.
I was born and raised in mid-Michigan, as were my parents, and their parents before them. Growing up I was blessed to have grandparents and great grandparents galore on both sides of the family! Generations of family close at hand!
My father’s side of the family was particularly close while I was growing up. I have beautiful memories of softball games played in the yard in front of the big red barn at my grandparent’s country home. One year, my Uncle Tom hit a line drive straight at me while I was on second base, the ball smacked me right in the check! Ouch! But for the rest of the day, I was showered with popsicles from my cousins and Auntie check kisses :)
My Great Grandma Maxine (who I mentioned earlier), she was the spiritual stronghold of my mother’s side of the family. We had an Easter tradition growing up of making candy birds nests with her every year. Together we would build sugary pastel nests while recalling the story of Christ’s passion and resurrection. I still make them every year in her memory.
Ever since we began this journey, we’ve kept a journal to document each step of the way. We’ve done so in case the day comes when the child wants to know the who, what, when, where, and whys of it all. Throughout the pages are little notes squeezed in for you! There are sighs of gratitude, prayers for your health, shouts of thankful wonder at your bravery.
We’d like to share an entry with you:
“What an odd and hopeful feeling knowing that somewhere the love of Tim and I’s lives grows in the belly of a blessed woman we have yet to meet. While we cannot promise that brave woman that her child will live a life free of challenges, there are promises that we wish we could share with her now:
We can promise her that we will show up for all the elementary bake sales with cupcakes in hand.
We can promise her that we will be in the bleachers cheering during basketball games or dance recitals.
We can promise her that we will be diligent about “tummy time” and sunscreen.
That we will read all the Harry Potter books together.
That we will build all the pillow forts.
That when this baby is 12 and wants to dye their hair green, we will humor that request.
We can promise her that this child will be introduced to Jesus through songs, stories, and the church who is already standing by to welcome them in.
We cannot promise her that we will be perfect parents. But we can promise her that we will learn, that we will protect this child with the might of mama bears, and we will introduce them to a world of possibilities, beauty, and infinite unconditional love.”
May God bless you!
- 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
Tim and I would love to build a relationship with you so that you can continue to have a special role in this baby’s life. We hope that our future holds picnics during the summer, photo exchanges and video messages, being together at birthdays and celebrating milestones side by side. Our relationship might have it’s sticky moments, but we can all work together to make sure that we give this baby what it needs to feel whole and connected.
OUR COMFORT LEVEL WITH DIFFERENT ADOPTION OPTIONS
- Very Comfortable
- Mostly Comfortable
- Unsure
- A Bit Uneasy
- Not Comfortable
Tim and I would love to build a relationship with you so that you can continue to have a special role in this baby’s life. We hope that our future holds picnics during the summer, photo exchanges and video messages, being together at birthdays and celebrating milestones side by side. Our relationship might have it’s sticky moments, but we can all work together to make sure that we give this baby what it needs to feel whole and connected.
Just one more thing...Tim and I would love to build a relationship with you so that you can continue to have a special role in this baby’s life. We hope that our future holds picnics during the summer, photo exchanges and video messages, being together at birthdays and celebrating milestones side by side. Our relationship might have it’s sticky moments, but we can all work together to make sure that we give this baby what it needs to feel whole and connected.