I became best friends with Jerad’s sister while I was in nursing school. She and I played on a kickball team with nursing school friends, along with Jerad and some of his friends. Jerad and I became friends, started dating, and quickly fell in love. Our relationship has always had a strong foundation based on faith and family. We still consider ourselves lucky to share the same values and opinions on the most important aspects of life: religion, prioritizing family and wanting children.

About a year after we began dating, Jerad cooked a steak dinner at his house for me. After dinner, we were going to watch a movie, but he proposed instead! We sat and talked for an hour before we called anyone which was special to us. We then called our family and close friends and met some friends out that night to celebrate. It was a fun, low key night—the way we like it! We had a large wedding in the church I grew up attending. All our family and friends were there to celebrate with us. It was a beautiful and perfect ceremony. Afterward, we had a reception with dinner and a band. It was one of the most fun nights we have had together. We felt so loved, and we talked to and celebrated with the people we loved and even had time to dance and enjoy the night ourselves

We have been married for 12 years, and we have two amazing, biological daughters. Kenlee is 8 years old, and Taylor is 6. We have always dreamed of having a house full of kids, but when we tried to conceive our third child we began suffering recurrent miscarriages. We have endured 7 miscarriages in the last 2 years with the latest being at 14 weeks gestation. We’ve sought treatment from fertility doctors, but the cause of our losses remains a mystery. Our infertility journey has been heartbreaking, but we believe God has good plans for our family (AND FOR YOURS TOO)! We feel strongly that God has led us to adoption to grow our family.

Hello, we are John and Alisa Rachan.

We met in Spanish class in college at Olivet Nazarene University. We were acquaintances at first, but reconnected after graduation. John reached out to Alisa to get together since he worked at an engineering company close to where she lived. During college, she had a crush on him from afar, so instantly accepted the invitation to dinner. We spent 3 hours talking that evening and felt as if we had known each other for years. Alisa then went to live in Mexico City to do missions work with her nursing degree for a year. God was always working during this time, however, and we reconnected once again after she returned. We started dating a few months later, were engaged after 6 months of dating and married 9 months later. 

We have 2 children: Eliana, who was adopted, is 4 years old, and Ava, who is biological, is 3 years old. We have always desired to have a large family and first considered building it through biological means and later through adoption. However, when we struggled getting pregnant and were diagnosed with unexplained infertility early in our marriage, we decided to pursue adoption instead of extensive medical treatments. Eliana’s name means God has provided, and we truly feel that her life was an answer to our prayers in many ways. We have an open adoption with her birth family, and we are so blessed by this relationship. Ava was a surprise gift from the Lord as well, when we did not think that we could conceive. She was born to us about 6 months after Eliana was born. Her name means breath of life, and we are thankful for her life and for the friendship that our two daughters have with one another. They are truly best friends. We have been trying to grow our family for a few years now and are feeling led to pursue adoption once again because of secondary infertility and because of the joy that adoption has brought to us already. 

Together as a family, we enjoy playing in our backyard, going to parks and meeting other young families, going on walks/bike rides, exploring the outdoors, doing bonfires, playing board games, and hosting friends and family in our home regularly. 

In our lives, there have been both trials and joys. Through it all, we have seen God's faithfulness to provide for us and give us His peace. We are eager to participate once again in the beautiful gift of adoption because we also have been adopted as children into God's family. We hope to provide the best possible loving and caring home for another child, and will strive to teach our children to love the Lord, to be kind and compassionate to others, and to cherish every moment that God gives us. 

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. 

Thank you for taking the time to learn about us. We are Rony and Kcristell, and we are honored to share a little about our lives.

We met in 2013 through our church's young adults ministry and were married in 2019. Our faith in Jesus is the foundation of our marriage and our greatest hope is to build our family through adoption.

Adoption has always been close to our hearts. Rony was adopted as a child, so we understand the beauty of adoption in a personal way. We are committed to raising a child who always knows their story and understands that both their birth family and ours deeply love them.

We are proud of our Hispanic heritage. Kcristell's family is from Honduras, and Rony's family is from Nicaragua. We look forward to sharing our cultures through traditions, food, language, and family celebrations.

We love spending time outdoors, whether we're hiking, biking, sightseeing, camping, or working in our garden. We grow our own fruits and vegetables, enjoy baking together, and love opening our home to family and friends. Our two dogs, Olivia and Bruno, bring lots of fun and are ready to welcome a little one into the family.

Our prayer is to provide a home filled with faith, laughter, adventure, and unconditional love. Thank you for considering us and allowing us to be part of your story.

Howdy! We are a quiet and slightly nerdy family of three. Our home is full of love, laughter, and play, and we are looking forward to increasing in these wonderful gifts as our family grows.

We met in 2010, while we were both graduate students in Chemistry. Tyler was shy at first, but he eventually asked Carrie out for a date in 2011. We married in 2013 and have lived in Texas, Indiana, and Illinois since then. Our son Caleb joined our family through adoption in 2022, and life has never been the same!

Carrie is creative, scientific, and an avid reader, while Tyler is more interested in playing sports and games. Together we cherish our time with family and friends, whether we are in person or connecting through video calls or greeting cards. We travel for work and for pleasure, but we love being together at home as a family best of all!