Welcome to our Adoption Journey

We met in the fall of 2006, when we both started attending a church congregation for singles in our area. We became good friends and often hung out with the same group of people. It wasn’t until about a year later that we began to notice each other more and Mike decided to ask Lindsay out. Our first date was going to Village Inn for pie and hot chocolate. We really enjoyed our first date as we got to know each other better. As a second date, Lindsay invited Mike to play indoor soccer with her family around Thanksgiving time. Soccer is a favorite pastime of Lindsay’s family. We dated for six months and were engaged in April 2008. Mike proposed by having Lindsay’s nieces and nephews each bring her a purple rose before presenting her with the last rose and asking her to marry him. We were married in August. Lindsay insisted on having an outdoor reception, and Mother Nature decided to rain on us.  

About Mike Mike was born and raised in Orem, Utah. He loves Utah. Aside from a two-year church mission in Chile, he has lived his entire life here. He is an avid sports fan. His favorite sport is baseball, and he cheers on the Los Angeles Dodgers. His grandparents lived in Southern California, so when they would go to visit during the summer, they would always attend a Dodgers game or two, instilling his love for baseball. Now by default the rest of our family are Dodger fans. He also enjoys playing basketball and attending the Jazz games. At nighttime, just before bedtime, he loves to wrestle with the kids. He is a big teaser, and the kids have come to expect it whenever Mike begins to speak.

Mike attended Utah Valley University studying biology. He’d always wanted to be a medical doctor with a focus on cardiology. After marrying Lindsay, having children, and finding a passion for teaching, his focus changed from pre-med to teaching. While working on his BA, he received a promotion at work and found that he enjoyed what he was doing more than being a teacher and his teaching degree was put on hold. In the next couple of years, Mike plans to go back to school to pursue a degree in international business and then earn an MBA as well as a master’s with a focus on employee development. 

After a long day of work, he likes to spend time playing video games and watching movies with the kids. Growing up Mike would read Marvel comic books, so he’s a big fan of the Marvel movies. Recently we have been watching all the movies with our kids, and it is a joy to see the excitement on their faces while they are watching and connecting with their dad. Occasionally Mike likes to tackle woodworking jobs. About two years ago he framed our basement and did all the finish work. Mike is able to work from home at this time. He works as a manager of Latin America support services and operations for Nu Skin. His job sometimes requires him to travel to South America, where he is able to use his Spanish more often.  

What does Lindsay say about Mike?

 “When I first met Mike, I thought he was a nice guy and a little annoying. It was fun hanging out with him and the other guys in his group of friends. We would play ultimate frisbee, video games, and cards. After about a year, I texted my friend saying that I thought I was starting to like him. So I was really happy when he decided to ask me out. He wasn’t the country dancing cowboy I had dreamed of marrying, and that was okay because he was the right one for me. We both served in similar positions in our church assignments, and I was able to see the spiritual side of him and knew that he and I shared the same values. I love that he is so unconditionally loving and forgiving. He will forgive me in an instant when I am being a little stubborn. He is one of the best helpers and constantly jumps in to help with the dishes. I really lucked out when marrying him.” 

Lindsay was born in San Jose, California, but was raised mostly in Boise, Idaho. Lindsay is the eighth of nine children. After high school, Lindsay attended Ricks College for three years. After graduating, she moved to Salt Lake and attended LDS Business College, completing a degree in executive assisting. Later she attended Utah Valley University completing a one-year certificate in early childhood education.  She worked for Head Start as a teacher’s assistant until she gave birth to Brooklyn.  

Lindsay is kind hearted and empathetic. She loves Hallmark movies, digital scrapbooking, audio books, quilting, and crafts. She has run over a dozen half-marathon races and almost as many marathons. She loves enjoying the outdoors with our family. We like to hike (as long as the kids aren’t complaining. :) ) and to camp. Lindsay finds great satisfaction in completing puzzles. There is almost no greater satisfaction than finishing a 1,000 piece puzzle while watching a Hallmark movie. 

Growing up playing soccer and other sports, Lindsay is very competitive when it comes to playing just about any game. One of her favorite games is Five Crowns. She takes no prisoners, which includes her children, when playing.

Lindsay thrives being a stay-at-home mom, and she works hard at it. She focuses all her energy in making sure that our children feel safe and loved.

What does Mike say about Lindsay?

“When it comes to reserved but amazing people, Lindsay is a star. As our young adult group hung out and went on different adventures, she was always there and ready to have fun. That was one of the first things that I really liked about Lindsay; she loved to go and have adventures. She wasn’t the loud one in the group, which coming from another reserved person, was something I really liked. As we got to know each other, I found that we had a lot of the same ideas and thoughts, and our goals for life matched up. I saw in her the characteristics of the perfect spouse. I saw that the more time that we spent together, the better I wanted to be. And so when it came time to take our relationship to the next level, it was an easy decision to ask her to be my wife.”

About Brooklyn 

Brooklyn is our firstborn child and is 11 years old. She constantly reminds us that she is not a child but a tween. Her passion in life is drama. Her favorite role that she has played is Young Anna (of Frozen fame). She enjoys playing the piano, singing, and ballroom dancing. She is our bookworm and loves to read. Her favorite books are the Harry Potter and Keeper of the Lost Cities series. For Christmas, she received a Gabb phone and has enjoyed texting and talking on the phone with her friends. I think we are going to need to set some limits and boundaries with it. :)

About Tommy 

Tommy is our second child and is 9 years old. He is a talker—he doesn’t stop from sunup to sundown. He loves to play video games with Mike and his friends. Everyday he asks to go play with his friends. It’s fun to see them bring out their creativity in their play. He is very friendly and outgoing and will make friends with almost anyone. Tommy loves Pokémon and you will find him playing with his characters in the bath. His favorite things to eat are ice cream, salad (really!), and candy. His hunger never ends!!  

Our family lives in a family-friendly neighborhood in Vineyard, Utah. There are lots of children for our kids to play with. We live in a two-story home with plenty of room for the kids to run around and play. Several months ago we bought a hamster and we named him Snowy White. This has been the longest we have had a pet. Tommy considers Flash, his pet snail, to be the first real pet we ever had. :)

As a family we enjoy playing board games like Monopoly and Harry Potter Clue. Last year we purchased a recreation pass to the Orem Rec Center, where we enjoyed taking the kids swimming and playing racquetball. During the summers we enjoy going camping and hiking. Family vacations in the summer are one of our highlights of the year. One of our favorites was when we surprised the kids and took them to Legoland and Universal Studios.

Family dinners are important to us. We sit down at the table every evening and talk about our day. The kids really enjoy talking about what happened at school! Friday nights are family movie nights. We take turns in deciding which movie we are going to watch. We try to broaden the kids’ movie repertoire by watching oldies but goodies and less-known movies like Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Into the Woods.

With eight siblings, Lindsay has just over 50 people in her extended family, including her parents, siblings, in-laws, and nieces and nephews. You can imagine what family reunions must be like! They are spread out across the country, but several live here in Utah, where each Sunday we try to get together. Every other year they get together for a reunion. Our last reunion was at Bear Lake, where we had a lot of fun playing on the beach at the lake and boating. We find ourselves gathering as family for holidays and supporting each other in their sports activities, performances, and birthdays. Lindsay’s family is excited to hear that we are considering adoption and will be a great support when we finally do adopt. 

Mike is the third of four kids. Brooklyn and Tommy are the only grandchildren so far on his side and are quite spoiled by Mike’s family. Mike’s two sisters each live out of the state and come to visit on holidays and other special occasions. Each Sunday we visit Mike’s parents. We have been fortunate to travel with them. Our favorite trip has been to Island Park, Idaho, where we were able to visit Yellowstone. We are planning a trip to Disneyland soon! Mike’s family is also very supportive in our choice to adopt.  

Parenting and Adoption

We love spending time with our children and when we adopt we plan to continue the things we are already doing. We plan on having lots of fun together and allowing our children to find what interests them and to try new things. We will take them on different outings and vacations. 

We are members of the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints and take our children to church weekly. As a stay-at-home mom, Lindsay will have plenty of time to care for the children that join our family. Mike is working from home so he will be able to help when needed.

Adoption is new to us. A neighbor and good friends have adopted two children from completely different backgrounds. They have had an open adoption with both families and it has been a great experience for them. We would like the experience of open adoption. We have taken classes to help us learn more about adoption and plan on furthering our education and understanding on the subject.

Infertility

Growing up, all Lindsay ever wanted was to be a mother. Coming from a big family, she would joke about having fifteen children. Our actual plan was to have five. Even though we have two children, fertility has been a challenge. We had a miscarriage before Brooklyn was born. A year and a half after Tommy was born, we decided to try to have another baby join our family. It took us nearly a year to get pregnant, and then at about nine weeks we experienced a miscarriage. In the next six years we would experience five more losses. Unfortunately, we haven’t  discovered the reason for our losses. As a way to remember our angel babies, we participate in the Running with Angels 5k at Thanksgiving Point. Many of our extended family members come and participate with us to show their support.

Despite all of our losses, we have not wanted to give up on growing our family. We decided that the next step would be to pursue adoption. We would like to be able to have an impact on another one of God’s children here on earth.

Lindsay’s niece wrote a song for us called “There Is Peace to Be Found.” There is one line in it that really relates to how we feel: “There is peace to be found / When you look all around / In your life there is Light / So don’t give up the fight.” To help our angel babies seem more real to us and to help us process, we named each of them. We named the last of them Hope. We have Hope that we can one day have this dream of adoption come true.