About Us

Jonathan is a thirty-three year old Senior Sales Manager for a beautiful hotel and I am a twenty-seven year old Accounts Receivable and Inventory Control Clerk for the county. We met a little over ten years ago in 2014. Jonathan saw me through a mutual friend and at church and a few weeks later we were dating despite the age difference. We took things slow and were engaged in 2016 and married in 2018. I may be biased but I love our marriage. We both respect and honor one another and we have both grown into stronger individuals because of our life together. We have been through some tough times, but through it all we stick by one another and give each other the love and space we need. And nearly seven years into our marriage, we both seek out ways that we can be joyful each day that God brings even when things are not going our way. I admire that Jonathan is unwavering, self-sacrificing, and constant in each aspect of his life. He loves me fiercely and he is a man worth honoring. What I admire about Raquel is that she is very honest and down-to-earth. She is a true friend and is a great listener who is always willing to take the time to hear you and pray for you. She is also very intelligent and driven and she honestly can do just about anything she sets her mind to. Raquel is my best friend and I couldn’t do life without her.

Our Home / Community

We live in a single story home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a screened in porch, an expansive backyard, and a kitchen that is always at work. Our home is at the end of a cove filled with young kiddos that ride bikes and play every afternoon together. We live in a very safe area and we often go on walks in the evening through our neighborhood. Our home is very cozy, overflowing with crocheted blankets and comfy chairs. Since we have both been in and are in the hospitality business, we strive to make our home an inviting, safe place for all who come and need a little solace from the world. Raquel cooks pretty much every night and we eat a yummy home cooked meal more often than not. She also owns a cake business and we get all of the scraps and leftovers as the official taste testers! We are located in the best school district in our state. Our small town is full of events, multiple parades, Friday night football, and more. We see our church family every week and will often have them or other friends over for game nights where we will all unplug and enjoy good food and laughter. Even though we are in a small town, our friend group is made up of many different races and ethnicities which will allow your child to be surrounded by people from all over.

Family Activities / Traditions

Jonathan doesn’t necessarily come from a large family, but both of his parents remarried after they divorced which gave him a large family. We know we are blessed with the unity that his family has; from the start his four parents decided they would be one big family. Though it was challenging at times, Jonathan now has four parents that neither of us could imagine our life without. We look forward to how they will continue to teach us that family is built on love, not blood if we are blessed with a child. My family is large. I have my parents who have been together my whole life and four brothers to start. Three of my brothers are married and all have children of their own. We are close with all of my brothers’ families. Then I have more cousins than I can count on my dad’s side who are all largely in San Antonio Texas where he is from. He is one of six so I have multiple aunts and uncles and we do our best to travel at least once a year to see my Texas family. On my mom’s side, she has a brother and a brother-in-law that are both close with our family. Most of them live locally and we see them often. Jonathan’s mom and stepdad live in Missouri and his dad and stepmom live in Florida. We travel multiple times throughout the year to either meet them halfway or to travel to where they are. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in our family and friend circles are so excited to see our family made complete. We have a huge support system and any child entrusted to us will be surrounded with constant love and joy. 

As far as the things we love to do – we love to spend time with friends and enjoy our home and our puppies. But we also love to travel and try to go somewhere every other month. Our favorite places to travel are places with beautiful scenery but specifically mountains. We both love to kayak and to go hiking and we look for places that offer these. We both enjoy history, too. We love to go and visit museums and old Victorian homes that are converted to allow visitors. We have traveled mainly in the Southwest region but we also have friends in South Dakota, Colorado, and Michigan and do our best to travel to see them as well. We hope to create a spirit of adventure for a child placed with us and provide them with an abundance of memories that are centered around quality time together.

Our Adoption Journey

Not long after we were married our concerns of infertility were confirmed. I never had the average womanly systems and knew we might have problems but we both knew adoption would be an exciting adventure and were ready to travel whatever road God had for us. Even still, we could not have been prepared for what was to come. The doctors weren’t sure what was wrong in the beginning and it led to numerous visits and procedures and they finally found that I had some abnormal anatomy, endometriosis, and severe PCOS. We were told we would have to undergo ten major surgeries to even get to a healthy point. So we prayed, saved up, and prepared to undergo the first. Can you believe that they were able to correct the major issues in ONE SURGERY! We couldn’t believe we were done with that part but then we had to move directly into fertility treatments since my anatomy would be in the best state right after the surgery.

They all failed and through the clouds of all that grief we had clarity about one thing – this was just a chapter and adoption is more and more our exciting hope. Then they told us we only had one more chance through IVF which would cost a lot of money, may not work, and there is a high probability that I myself could not survive a pregnancy, not to mention a low chance that a baby could survive.

So we knew. God had placed adoption on our hearts from the beginning and now we knew. We then took time to mourn the loss of my womb and draw near to one another through the grief. We strove to give one another time to grieve as we still do today. It is hard to encapsulate all of the sorrow these six almost seven years have had. The pain of feeling alone, the sting of being alienated by well-intentioned people who just don’t know how to handle the messiness. The difficulty of trying to be joyful for others who are moving on with their lives.

But please know this, through all of those heartaches came strength, unity, togetherness and humility. We have both been challenged to let go of destructive traits that we wouldn’t have seen if the Lord hadn’t led us through infertility. He continues to grow us and comfort us and give us a hope that parents or not, He has a plan for our lives and He is a good, good Father. And now here we are talking to you. We have prayed for this opportunity for so long and we are so grateful for the ways in which the Lord has patiently prepared us for this chapter. We still have so much to learn and are so thankful you’ve taken the time to get to know us as we know so very deeply how precious life is.

A Little More About Us…