Dear Friend,
“From the moment they placed you in our arms, you snuggled
right into our hearts.” This is what it will say on the wall over the crib in
the baby’s nursery when we are privileged to adopt. We know this isn’t an easy
road for you to travel, as it hasn’t been an easy road for us to travel either.
But when we decided as a couple to adopt, we’ve felt so much peace in our
lives, knowing we are doing what we can to bring a precious baby into our
lives. We know this is the path our Heavenly Father wants us to be on right
now, and we are excited to see where it takes us and who it introduces us to
while we are following it.
We’d love for you to know about our past and what has led us
to the decision to adopt. We were married in July 2010, and not long after
decided to start our family. We tried for almost two years, when finally,
through fertility treatments found out we were expecting! We couldn’t have been
happier. We were in the process of buying a new home, and already had the
nursery planned out; we could not wait. At 24 weeks along, Jennifer started
having complications and ended up at the hospital. Six days later our precious
little son, Jaxtyn, was born. He was 11 inches long and weighed one pound.
Everything about his body was perfect. Everything seemed to be fine, and he
held on for almost two days, but when his little body couldn’t take anymore, we
got to hold him for the first and last time as he passed quietly back into
heaven. It’s been a long, hard road since that day and we have learned from
doctors that it is very risky for us to try on our own again anytime soon.
We wanted to share our story with you for a couple of
reasons. One is so you know we understand loss. We want you to know that what
you are doing for your child is the most admirable, courageous act of love a
person could do for another person. Leaving the hospital with empty arms is not
going to be easy (as we sit here in tears writing this because we know the
feeling all too well), but we hope that knowing your baby will go to a home
such as ours who will love him/her unconditionally and knowing how much we will
cherish your little baby will ease that pain a little. Another reason we share
our story with you is so you understand why we want to adopt. We want more than
anything to fill that void in our hearts, and are so anxious to start doing all
the things with children that we’ve always looked forward to doing.
We’d really like to tell you about ourselves as a couple and
as individuals, so we’ll get to that J. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and a enjoy spending time with ward members. We are very
involved in our ward with our callings, and attend all the different
activities. We have both been active members our whole lives and we both served
full time missions. We love to have fun. Since we’ve been married we have lived
in 3 different states, which has been a blast, but what’s been really fun is
how many we’ve had the opportunity to travel to. We absolutely LOVE road trips
and anything that involves traveling. Culture is one of our favorite things. We
both speak Spanish (although we need to find more opportunities to practice it,
we’re getting kind of rusty!!!) and have been to two different countries and 15
different states. Some of our favorite trips include Costa Rica, Canada,
Alaska, South Dakota, and Florida. We hope to always be able to plan out trips
(planning is half the fun!) and immerse ourselves in the culture of wherever we
decide to go. We are looking forward to involving our children in all these
trips and in the planning process; we’re so excited to make those fun memories
with our kids!
Evan is a mechanical engineer and he loves his job. He has
been there since 2012 and has done a fantastic job at whatever he is asked to do!
He is a hard worker and just recently was awarded “employee of the month” (I,
Jennifer, am writing this paragraph and I can brag about him a little J).
He loves the outdoors, especially when he has his camera with him. He goes a
little crazy with the camera sometimes, but we always end up with some pretty
awesome pictures. He will be such a great dad because I don’t know if I’ve ever
met anyone with so much patience and compassion as he has. About three months
after our baby passed away, we got a puppy. He has NEVER liked dogs so this was
a big deal, but he did it for me because I think he knew I needed something to
love and care for, something that depended on me. Let’s just say he’s a dog
person now; I think he loves that dog more than I do (But, he would deny it
that he likes dogs if you asked him, it’s a running joke we tease him about). I
can’t wait to see him play with our children and take them camping. He is an
Eagle Scout and has worked at scout camps and loves to be involved in those fun
outdoor activities. Evan served a full time Spanish speaking mission in Texas.
Jennifer is a certified elementary school teacher and loves
watching her students learn and grow. She has worked at schools in Nevada,
Idaho, Washington and now Utah. She has taught 5th and 6th
grade and is now working with kindergarten.
Jennifer is a wonderful teacher because she has a very tender heart and
wants each student to succeed. Her tender heart is one of many qualities that
will make her an excellent mother, she will see to every need of our child.
Jennifer loves to bake and decorate cakes. I look forward to the day when our
son or daughter can enjoy all her fun treats in both the creating process and
eating them. I love Jen very much, so much that I did put aside my fear of dogs
so that she could have something other than myself to take care of. Jennifer is
also the social bug of the family. She loves to get together with family and
friends and enjoy their company. Our child will be brought right along into
these gatherings. Her greatest desire has always been to be a stay-at-home mom,
looking for opportunities to play with, love, and teach her own children. Jennifer
served a full time mission as well, the first half was in Texas, and the second
half was in Washington D.C. Snickers is our adorable, little, just over 1 year old dog. She is a mini-Australian Shepherd/Springer Spaniel mix. She’s quirky and hilarious and always doing something that makes us laugh. She absolutely LOVES kids and other dogs. Jennifer’s sister loves it when we bring her over to play with her three year old and one year old, they both adore her. Her one year old calls her “pup-pup”. We named her Snickers because we got her on Halloween.
On both sides we have very supportive, involved immediate families
as well as grandparents and extended family. Every sibling (except one who
lives way too far away), every parent, and some grandparents made it to the
hospital to meet little Jaxtyn before he passed away, including some who lived
in other states and had to drive 12 hours. Extended families are involved a lot
as well, especially around birthdays and other holidays. Your baby will be
loved in every direction he/she turns!
As it said in the beginning, we are so excited and can’t wait for the
day we get to snuggle a little baby we call our own. Our greatest desire is to
have children in our home. We have been working hard and are blessed to be able
to have Jennifer at home full time once a baby comes, while Evan works to
support the family.
We hope you have had the chance to get
to know us a little, and will consider us for the family of your baby. Thank
you so much for taking your own time to read our letter. We wish you the best
in whatever decision you make!
Love,
Evan & Jennifer
Evan & Jennifer
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