Hey! Welcome to our tiny little slice of the internet. We are Anthony, Lindsay, Taizly, and Navy.  I hope you enjoy this little snapshot into our crazy world we call FAMILY! You might be wondering who we are and just how we became what we call THE FANTASTIC FOUR! We are a wild and loving transracial family built by adoption. Anthony and Lindsay have been together for 18 years with over 30+ years in teaching combined. We have been blessed by adoption not just once, but TWICE and our family tree has turned into a family forest! Adoption, our girls, and our giant blended family makes us who we are and what we have become.  To say we are pretty proud…understatement!  If you have time and love a story like Taiz and Nav do…go ahead and read on. We hope you see the happiness and feel the love!  Thanks for stopping by, and we hope to meet you on this wild journey we call life!

We are Anthony, Lindsay, Taizly, and Navy. We met during a coaching event on a cross country course. A fellow colleague introduced us in the pouring rain! We both looked like wet dogs, but clearly that didn’t matter! We reconnected a few days later in a much drier spot and enjoyed dinner together. From that point on, and maybe a few years later, we tied the knot in 2008. Anthony is currently a 6th grade math and science teacher, and Lindsay taught 5th and 6th grade art before she decided to stay home to be a full-time mom. However, the best part of us are our amazing sidekicks! After years of struggling with fertility issues, adoption became our way to create a family. Never in a million years did we think we would be chosen by not only one birth mom, but TWO! Our family and the amount of people that love our girls has grown larger than we could have ever imagined. We feel beyond blessed to have open adoptions for Taiz and Nav and we communicate frequently with both birth families. Adoption is a journey, but it has also become us and who we are.

Linds, Taiz, and Nav Describing Anthony:

He is one funny dude, but a terrible dancer! Sometimes he has some good dad jokes, but he is better at cooking. He is our chef and the creator of meals, except baking because that’s Lindsay’s spot. He is loving, goofy, and gentle, and you can often find him playing guitar while we all break into a dance party! He loves a good adventure and is usually the one that does all the planning to get us there. He is firm with school and is always challenging the girls to a math riddle or science experiment. He is also the fixer in the home, and you find him floating around the yard perfecting his grass. He knows nothing about hair and fashion, but loves all the hairstyles and dresses that we come up with. He is our rock and, in our eyes, the perfect dad! As a husband, he is loving and gentle. A strong supporter for whatever big idea Lindsay has. He is confident in his abilities and never doubts himself, but comes in a way that isn’t arrogant. It’s a very admirable trait!

Anthony, Taiz, and Nav Describing Linds:

One word. MOM. To the max! When it comes to keeping the house, calendar, pets, and kids in order, she does it best. Lindsay’s creative spirit and huge heart sometimes gets the best of her. She embraces being a girl mom with all the hair and fashion and has taught herself how to work with textured hair. Loving, patient, and fixer of boo boos… She can do it! She likes to stay involved with school for Taiz and volunteers as room parent as well as keeping little Nav busy at home with outdoor adventures and art projects. She also loves a good workout and embraces health and fitness! Family is everything to her, and she loves hard! As a wife, she takes time to emotionally connect. She listens, asks questions, offers guidance and provides stability. If a problem needs solved, then she is usually the one to go to for answers. Sometimes she can be quiet and reserved, but it is usually to recharge after raising a family all day. Her emotions are best expressed in her artwork, and you can find various pieces that she has created hanging throughout our home. She feels most confident and at peace in adoption when she can connect with the expectant parent/birth mom. She enjoys having a relationship with the girls’ birth moms. There is so much beauty in sharing the mom space.

Our Values:

We have worked really hard putting a family together and truly enjoy being a solid unit. We believe in tough love, solid education, and being a good human. We are the type of parents that encourage open communication, even during disagreements. Our experience working in education has given us the opportunity to work with many different personalities, cultures, and beliefs that provide us with a creative set of parenting tools. Being kind, smart, and independent are a few of our core values that we push for each day. We spend a lot of time together as a unit of four, but with extended family as well. We believe that having a strong family support system can really get you through anything. We want our children to know each day that they are loved and supported, and we model that through how we engage as husband and wife.

Being A Transracial Family:

After reading all of that, you still might be wondering just how we work as a transracial fam. When we decided on adoption, we just wanted a healthy baby with a birth parent that wanted an open adoption. We honestly had no idea what blessings were coming our way. Yes, we came from diverse classrooms, but really had no idea what it would be like being a blended family until we had to be one. When Taizly was born, we learned A LOT! Luckily, her birth mom was by our side and gave us the support we needed. She trusted us and knew we could figure it out… from hair, to cultural norms, to finding her identity as a little brown girl growing up with white parents. It has opened our eyes, opened our hearts, and has pushed us out of our comfort zones. We embrace being different and talk openly with the girls about it. We help the girls connect with families like them as well as kids in the community. Our neighborhood is very diverse with a population of people from all over the world! Taiz recently performed on a cheer squad within the black community and Nav is on a diverse gymnastics team. Our niece and nephew are biracial and share in the many cultural experiences with the girls. While on a recent vacation, a stranger paid for our breakfast because he said our family was so beautiful to him and made him feel really happy. Kindness and acceptance does exist, but to us we are FAMILY. The most important thing is that we love and learn along the way; however, if we have questions or concerns about anything, we have our birth moms and family support by our side!

We hope you enjoyed this short version of getting to know us! Adoption is our story, it’s our family, and we have a lot more to share along the way! Just know the journey you are on doesn’t have to be traveled alone. We know your decision comes with mixed emotions and a heavy heart. We have walked this space with our birth moms and have laughed many laughs and cried many tears, so we understand how delicate and overwhelming this process can be. However, in this process, we have gained so many more people to love and to love our girls, and you will too! Adoption is a true journey and there is no superhero greater than a birth mom. We can’t wait to add a little one to our family, to make us the FANTASTIC FIVE!

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