Brian & Katie
Hello!
We are Brian and Katie. We are thrilled and honored that you are taking the time to get to know a little about us and hope this page gives you a look into our lives. Figuring out how to introduce ourselves to you was nerve-wracking and we can't imagine how it feels for you to be reading this right now. To consider adoption is a scary, emotional rollercoaster to be on, but we want you to know first and foremost that we are praying for you and the decisions that lie before you. Our struggles might look different, but we are hopeful that we can somehow be the answer to each other's prayers. Regardless, just know that we'll be praying for you. Whether we become family to you or not, God will carry us all through this wild, scary journey.
Our plan always involved the idea of one day adopting although we assumed we'd have kids biologically first. (It is easy to see now that God was starting to prepare us for adoption years ago. Katie wrote her final undergraduate paper on the Guatemalan adoption system and started learning about adoption before we even met.) After years of trying (over ten years of marriage), we have never been able to conceive a child. This has been an incredibly difficult journey for us full of many ups and downs along the way as we have seen friends and family announce pregnancies while we continued to prepare for the children we hoped to have one day. Through years of trying and not being able to have a child biologically, it became evident to us that God's plan for us to have a family would come through adoption
Today we are excited to see how far God has brought us and for the future! We look forward to raising our child in a fun-filled, safe, goofy, love-abounding home where our child will know their story and of your sacrificial love for them! If you give us the honor of raising your child, we would consider you part of our family too. We are praying for the best for you and for your child as you navigate these decisions that lie before you.
With our love and prayers,
Brian and Katie
Married in 2015
Reside in Virginia
Brian’s Occupation: Assistant Ombudsman for a University
Katie’s Occupation: Quality Assurance Specialist for Transfer Credit for a University
About Us:
We attended the same college, but didn’t meet until we both started working for the university after we graduated. A “Muppet Treasure Island” movie night that Katie hosted for a group of friends at work is how we first started getting to know each other. We’ve been married since 2015. We have two golden retrievers that will befriend anyone as soon as they meet them. These days, we love finding new adventures to go on and finding joy in the little things. Some days that is taking our dogs for a walk on the local college campus to see how many people we can make smile. Other days it is a trip to the beach exploring how many places we can walk to on our trip. We also enjoy going to the local minor league baseball games and catching a Braves baseball game when we can. Seeing family is a common activity for us since both sides of our family live within twenty minutes of us. Our child will get lots of family time, especially since our child will be the first grandchild on Brian’s side of the family. We look forward to continuing our adventures with our child in this next chapter of our life.
About Katie, by Brian:
Katie’s most important attribute is that she values her relationship with God, and it shows through the way that she loves others. She loves and cares for family and friends to the point of being willing to give of herself to try to help them. Her gentle love and care for others is one of the many reasons why I know that she is going to be an amazing mother to our child.
Katie has a great sense of humor, she is kind, beautiful, adventurous, and she is always looking and dreaming of the next destination that we should consider for a family vacation. She is a great planner and helps to keep both of us organized in the busy seasons of life. She loves and supports me in all of our goals, plans, and ambitions (even if they may be a little challenging sometimes). She balances me so well and is always there if I'm having a hard day to reassure and encourage me to keep pressing forward. I can truly say that my life is so much better having Katie as my wife, and that I am truly a blessed man because of it.
About Brian, by Katie:
What should you know about Brian: He’s my goofball in the best of ways. He’s the extrovert to my introvert, the one who reminds me to enjoy the moment and makes me smile when I get stressed. He is super patient and doesn’t easily get angry. Since he’s also a sports guy, some of his dreams with kids include taking them to their first major league baseball game, their first nascar race, and to the local mini golf course. Brian has played in bowling leagues since he was a kid, so I’m sure he’ll love taking them to the local bowling alley. If it isn’t sports, he’ll be the one building blanket forts and rolling on the floor with our kids. Brian lights up a room with his infectious personality and will be the fun Dad for our kids.
The biggest takeaway about Brian is that he is a family guy. He cares deeply for family and is always giving of himself to take care of family. He’ll be present for our kids. Brian will be at the tee-ball games and the dance recitals. Our kids will never question how much he loves them. The way he cares for people, especially family, is one of the first things I noticed about Brian and one of the first things that attracted me to him. I told Brian when we were dating that I knew he’d be an amazing Dad one day. After over ten years of marriage, I’m more confident of that than ever, and I still can’t wait to see him be Dad to our kids.
10 Quick Facts:
1. Even though we both grew up around four hours away from where we live today, both of our immediate families have in recent years moved within twenty minutes of us! They will be very involved in our child's life. Brian’s mother has even offered to help with childcare while we both work from home during the day.
2. In 2021, we had the amazing opportunity to go to Game 4 of the World Series (the year our favorite team, the Braves, won). After the Braves won Game 4, we decided to get lawn chairs and watch Game 5 outside the stadium. Great memories!
3. Both of Katie's grandmothers helped make all of the Christmas stockings used by her side of the family and even made one for Brian when he married into the family. Recently, Katie's maternal grandmother made us two stockings for our future kids in case she wasn't able to do it later.
4. We love to enjoy vacations together as a couple or with our families. In recent years, we have made a few trips to the beach at Topsail Island, NC where we have been able to bring our dogs and go with both sides of our family.
5. There is a Christmas lights display that we go to each year with our dogs. It is a mile long walking path (stroller friendly too) and when you are done you can make smores. It will be a blast doing this with kids!
6. Our church family is filled with many adoptive families and strives to support adoptive families well. Your child will not be alone in having an adoption story in our church.
7. Katie made a baby book for each of our three nieces to give their parents around Christmas following their first birthday. She plans to make a similar baby book for our kids. We'd love to give you one if you'd like.
8. Since we work at a local large university, they provide our children with free college and technical training at the university. They could get training to be an electrician, plumber, HVAC mechanic, etc. If they'd like a college degree, they can get an Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, and possibly even a Doctorate. We hope this allows our kids to avoid the burden of student loan debt.
9. We would love to talk with you about baby names and see if there is a family name that could be incorporated into the baby's name!
10. It would be great for the sake of our child if we could have an open adoption; although, we want to respect your needs and desires as well. We'd love to chat about what you'd like our relationship to look like!
