US
We make the best team. We have each other’s backs, support each other, and are each other’s number one fan. We take a team approach to life and because of that, we never feel alone in what we’re facing. Whether it was our struggle with infertility, job changes, career moves, and now as parents, we know we can depend on each other.

Both Brent and Amy are former teachers. Brent taught elementary special ed and middle school math, and Amy taught kindergarten and pre-k and both of us changed courses. Brent went back to school for graphic design and now, even though we live in Indiana, he works remotely as a graphic/web designer or a news station in Las Vegas. Amy started working with kids and families in a church setting about 10 years ago. She is now a pastor and gets to work with kiddos and families on a daily basis, supporting new parents, single parents, moms and dads in recovery, and helping all families connect in a community. Both of our jobs give us a ton of flexibility to work for home, flexible hours, and time to be at home during the week.

FAMILY
Family time is incredibly important to us. Eating dinner together, spending evenings at home with each other and our two dogs (Porkchop and Piper), walking to the playground in our neighborhood, or just reading stories and playing together…all of these happen on a regular basis and even though it’s so simple, it’s some of our most favorite time together.

We love Indiana and the Indianapolis area and a lot of that has to do with the family and friends nearby, who are a big part of our lives. Each of our moms come over one day a week to watch Mya and they all LOVE their time with each other. Needless to say, our moms are so excited to get to have that time with the baby we will welcome as well! And our babysitter is the same. She and her family are Venezuelan and they are also very excited to care for our new little one! They speak Spanish in the home, and it is becoming more and more common for Mya to use the Spanish words for ‘thank you’ and ‘I like it’…which is awesome (and adorable)!

We have close relationships with our families and nearly everyone, from great-grandparents to cousins, lives within 90 minutes of us. Birthday parties, yearly Christmas cookie baking, strawberry jam and applesauce making, Christmas Eves and Thanksgivings…all of these traditions are a huge part of our lives and revolve around our families being together.

When we knew adoption would be our family’s story, it wasn’t new to our families. One of Amy’s closest cousins and her husband have adopted 4 children from across the United States. It has truly been a gift as we’ve dreamed of our own family, to have family and extended family that understands and embraces adoption.

Our friends and the community we live in also play a large role in our everyday lives. We appreciate and value the diversity of family structures and race in our neighborhood. We are grateful that, for several of our friends, adoption is also a part of their families’ stories. Our friends have adopted from around the world, including Ghana and Ethiopia to across the country.

ABOUT BRENT, FROM AMY
Brent is the most loyal and funniest person I know. He’s calm and steady, not much frazzles him, and that makes him the perfect balance for me. Watching Brent become a dad when we adopted our daughter has been one of the most amazing things of my life. The way he loves and plays with her, the way her talks with her, sings and dances with her, it’s the sweetest! It’s a side of Brent I knew was always there.

ABOUT AMY, FROM BRENT
It’s hard to describe Amy in a few sentences. She’s inherently sweet and kind to everyone. Before we had even adopted Mya, it was obvious to me that Amy was born to be a mom. She’s naturally great at it. She is patient and always knows what to do in teachable moments with our daughter. Amy’s sweetness is definitely visible on Mya’s personality. I’m honestly not sure how I got so lucky, because I get to live in the same house with the two best people I know.

OPENNESS
Our experience of adopting our daughter was really great. We had the opportunity to meet her birth parents shortly after they had chosen us. During our first meeting, we started to get to know them and they shared a little about their lives….things we treasure and wrote down so we can share them with Mya as she gets older. During that first conversation, they invited Amy to all prenatal appointments…and we can’t express how much it meant to be able to get to know them during that time, in the waiting rooms of doctor’s appointments. We will always value the time we had with them. Now we continue to keep her birth parents updated through pictures and letters several times a year. We are open to visiting with them in the future if they decide they’d like to meet her and we are supportive of Mya as she grows up and decides what kind of relationship she would like to have with her birth family.

It’s our hope in our relationship with you that we can have an open adoption that focuses on loving this child well!