SEARCH RESULT
Hello! We’re Ethan and Marina, and we’re so grateful you’re taking the time to learn about us.
We’ve been married since 2021 and have always known that adoption would be part of our story. For us, adoption isn’t a backup plan to start a family, it’s our Plan A. We love how adoption reflects God’s love for us and His invitation into His family, and we feel incredibly thankful for the opportunity to build our family this way.
We love spending time together, whether we’re hosting friends for dinner, hiking, traveling, playing board games with family, drinking good coffee, spending time at the lake in Washington state, or simply enjoying a quiet evening at home with our two cats.
The things that matter most to us are our faith in Jesus, our marriage, our families, and the relationships God has given us. We want our home to be a place where laughter is common, questions are welcomed, grace is freely given, and everyone knows they are deeply loved.
Our promise is simple: if we’re given the privilege of raising your child, we will love them unconditionally, celebrate who God created them to be, and provide a stable, joyful, and supportive home where they can flourish.
A quick snapshot of us:
• We live in rural Iowa.
• Bryan is a pastor of a Reformed Presbyterian Church.
• Olivia is a stay at home mom.
• We value: faith, joy, and love.
• In our home, kids are safe, wanted, guided, and deeply loved.
We're Bryan and Olivia. We've been married for 16 years and are raising five very different kids in rural Iowa. Our home is full--sometimes loud, usually busy, and filled with: meals around the table, read-alouds, friends, church, outdoor adventures, family vacations, and plenty of enjoyment. Bryan is a pastor and Olivia stays home with the children. With the older 4 in school she has lots of one on one time with our toddler. Our Christian faith is at the center of our family, and it shapes the way we try to love each other: telling the truth, apologizing when we get things wrong and working on heart change, forgiving quickly, and treating each person with kindness and respect. We realize that seeing five children may make you wonder whether another child could really receive individual attention in our family. We think that is an important question. Our five kids have taught us that children aren't interchangeable--they have completely different personalities, interests, strengths, struggles, and needs. Welcoming another child would not mean simply adding one more to the group. It would mean getting to know a whole new personal and making room for their personality, their needs, their story, and their birth family.
How we met:
Bryan is from Southern California, and Olivia grew up in Ohio. We met at a Christian student conference in Virginia while Bryan was serving in the Navy. What started as a long-distance relationship eventually became much more. 18 years later, we still genuinely enjoy spending time together, and protecting our friendship in the middle of raising a large family is important to us.
Why Adoption:
It's been a long-held desire since we were both kids. We are deeply grateful for the five children already in our home but we are pursuing adoption because we believe we still have room in our lives and our family to love another child well.
Adoption can bring something beautiful, but it also begins with real loss for a child and birth family. We don't want to minimize that. If you decide parenting your child is best, we respect that. If you decide adoption is best and choose our family please know that your baby will be safe, cared for, and deeply loved in a stable home with open hearts and open arms. We want your child to grow up knowing the truth about their story. We want them to know that their life began with a mom who courageously and selflessly gave them life.
Our faith deeply shapes our decision to adopt. In the Gospel, God welcomes those who were not His children and makes them His beloved children through Jesus. We see adoption as a reflection of that love.
We have always felt called to adopt, and passionate that families can be defined by LOVE as well as biology. We are grateful to be considered as you make such a loving decision for your baby.
*Links to our Instagram and Profile Book are in the "Letter" Section* =)
"Adventure is out there!" UP is our favorite movie. It would be awesome to talk more with you and see if you'd like to go on this adventure together!
We met in 2013 at a birthday party for a mutual friend. After a brief introduction, I went home and “stalked” Brendon on Facebook. After looking through his profile and thinking he was the cutest guy I had ever seen, I quickly added him as a friend. A week later he sent me a message and asked me on a date. The rest is history! We dated for two and a half years before we got engaged. Brendon surprised me by having our entire family waiting for us at dinner after he proposed and then surprised me again after dinner by having an engagement party with all of our friends waiting to celebrate. Brendon always goes above and beyond to make me feel special and he pulled out all of the stops for our engagement. We were married on February 6, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Our wedding was the most memorable day of our lives. We celebrated our love for each other surrounded by all of the love of our family and friends. It was truly unforgettable! Since our big day, we have been through some highs and lows, but through it all, we have become stronger. We live each day together as a team and as best friends. We work to encourage one another daily, we respect and value each other’s opinions, and we do and we do a lot of laughing which helps to make our days bright!
We are each other’s missing piece, extremely different but alike in so many ways! We met through a dating app when Daniel gave it one last shot before deleting the app and coincidentally was Rochelle’s first match. The timing was meant to be! We hit it off immediately and started dating in early 2019. Daniel proposed in 2020 in Florida at Marco Island when we were walking along the beach. He had asked a kind stranger to take a picture of us on the beach but quietly asked her to record everything. After posing for the picture, Daniel got down on one knee. We were married a year later right after everything open up after Covid. It was a small intimate wedding on the beach in Key Largo, Florida. Rochelle’s Grandma was the flower girl and our pup was our ring bearer.
Getting married when we were older helped us start our relationship strong because we knew who we really were. Our life experiences helped shape us into adults who know to communicate effectively and appropriately. We are able to truly understand each other and tell each other what we need in our relationship. We are both hard workers and love to have fun and enjoy each other’s company.
Hi mommas! We are Sean and Jeanette, high school sweethearts who have been married since 2010 and live in Texas with our 3 children and 2 sweet doggies. We are a Christian family and have always been interested in adoption but have not been able to adopt until recently. We are praying for each of you and are hoping that we can provide a great home for a baby girl who can be a beloved daughter and sister. We are working with an agency that can do adoptions in Texas or Arizona and will provide no cost counseling to you if we match.
If you want to learn more about us, here is a link to a youtube video with our adoption book. We are so eager to learn more about you and see if we would be a good fit for you and your precious baby!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md5bqFr44Ds