ParentProfiles.com

Stan & Michelle are hopeful adoptive parents from Utah waiting to adopt a baby.

If you are pregnant and considering placing your child for adoption, please read the following Dear Birthmother Letter.

Hi there! Dear Friend(s)

We love you for choosing life and putting great effort into finding the best course for you and your child! Thanks for taking a look at our family. All of us, even our 3-year-old, love to quote favorite movie lines--they make us laugh. We'll use some of them to share a little about us.

"Adventure is out there!"
Ellie from Pixar's Up

For us adventure is "out there" and everywhere--both in work and play! As a family, we love searching for hidden treasure and weeds in the flower beds or mixing odd ingredients to make imaginary soup in one pot while mom makes our favorite soup in another pot for family dinner. Some of our favorite vacations have been road trips to explore sandy beaches and camp-outs with cousins in the nearby mountains. Extended-family dinners and play dates can be adventurous too--we're thankful to have fun, lively extended family and to live close enough to be together often.

We both had the special adventure of dedicating 18 months to 2 years in full-time missionary service - Stan to Germany and Michelle to Taiwan. Like other adventures, they blessed and stretched us as we learned new languages and cultures, but especially as we learned to live and work by faith and trust in God. These experiences helped us prepare for our grandest adventure of all--being parents!

Food is another form of adventure for us. We especially love Asian foods, but German and South American foods are not far behind on the list. Though Sam and Michael occasionally opt for the normal kid favorites, they enjoy exploring with us, whether we're experimenting at home or eating out. Food is definitely a family affair in our home!

A peek into our home "You are cooking?!?"
Chef Skinner from Pixar's Ratatouille

We should probably call our kitchen the real family room--we gather there most often. Sam and Michael want to help measure ingredients as we cook things. Sam's most recent solo effort was a banana-cashew smoothie--yum! Michael stirs and taste-tests everything and is especially happy mixing, shaping, and eating bread dough. Since working in a kitchen store as a teenager, Michelle has been interested in cooking foods from scratch, bread making, and family nutrition. Stan specializes in making cookies, omelets, stir-fry and soups. He and the boys are hopeless cookie dough snitchers, but we all love homemade food.

We love discovering the unique personalities and talents of our children! It's fun to feed their curiosity, then blend encouragement and structure to help them grow and achieve. They run to grab their tool kits and help Stan with projects or repair jobs around our home. At the table we share our daily discoveries about all kinds of things--the solar systems, art, how things work, and what happened at preschool and second grade. It's educational, but also lively enough to be very entertaining.


"Wreck? Shoot! I'm the world's best backwards driver!"
Mater from Pixar's Cars

Sam and Michael literally do 'drive' backward. Whether it is driving their Little Tikes truck (Sam) or walking (Michael), they just like backward better. When they aren't going backward they're busy spinning in circles. Both boys will dance around and squeal with delight as Stan turns a piece of piano music into a game of surprises. Then they lie down and rest while Stan plays quiet songs. Their favorite of song, "I Am a Child of God," reminds them (and us as parents) who they really are. It is requested almost every night as we we tuck them into bed.

It all started when... "So, this is love!"
Sung in Disney's Cinderella

We met one Sunday evening at the end of summer. Our courtship wasn't as fast as Cinderella and the Prince, but over the next few months we became best friends and didn't want to be apart. The next spring we were married. Since then, we've finished school together and supported each other in our roles--Stan in his career and Michelle in our home. Stan is a thoughtful, loyal friend. From the first time we met, his goodness won my heart. Michelle is a natural friend - she cares about others and wants them to be comfortable.

We like variety in our couple 'time out'--trying new restaurants, finding a quiet and beautiful place to talk and take in the scenery, target shooting at the range, game nights with friends, and hiking or skiing in the mountains. As much as we love being with our children, we know that our marriage is what holds it together and time out just the two of us keeps it strong.

Affection is a key ingredient in our family's happiness. Sam and Michael love to see us sitting together or giving each other a hug. They want a big family hug at the end of our family prayers each morning and night--it gives them a sense of peace and security, as well as reminder that we love them.

Our family "I love our family!!!"
Dash from The Incredibles

Sam has never wanted to be an only child, or to be alone anywhere for that matter. In his mind and heart he has known, even before Michael came to our family, that he would have two siblings. Though we weren't sure about our future family, we sensed that Sam knew what he was saying. He and Michael love each other and both pray for another child to come. We have mostly-open relationships with our boys' birth mothers, sharing things through letters, photos and a blog, based on their preferences and changing circumstances. The middle names for Sam and Michael have come from talking with their birthmothers--a tradition we'd like to continue.

'Ending credits'
(Every movie has them)

We thank you for taking time to get to know our family. We thank Sam's and Michael's birth mothers for their trust. In many ways they are part of our family. We all talk about and pray for them. The open communication we have with them is precious to us. We hope to continue that openness in a future adoption. We really do love and pray for you.

With love,
Stan & Michelle