Christian Adoptions Alliance

Matt & Shae

Marriage Length

10 Years

Home State

Oklahoma

Denomination

Baptist

Pets

Children

Karsten

4 yr

About Us

We both attended Oklahoma State University and started dating after we graduated and moved back to our hometowns, in September 2011. On our second date we had a pizza baking competition, since Matt is the pizza connoisseur! Other favorite dates included going to museums, taking the dogs to dog parks, Thunder games, annual trip to the State Fair, and going to the local drive in movie.

We were engaged in December 2013 on a ski trip. After discussing with Shae's mom how to do it, Matt decided he just couldn't wait any longer and proposed while our group was playing cards - right after Shae ate a blue sucker and had changed into her comfy clothes for the night. Shae's blue sucker caused her mouth to look like a Smurf, but love is blind!

We were married on May 3, 2014 in the church that Shae grew up in and where we are now members. We asked our guests to wear orange, black or white and had Pistol Pete as a surprise guest at our reception!

Karsten was born in the crazy year that was 2020! Her birth mom choosing us to be her parents is truly a gift and an honor. Some of our favorite things to do as a family include going to OSU football games, visiting the zoo, and playing outside!

Thank you for taking time to look through our family's profile. We know the magnitude of the decisions you're making right now, and although we do not know your name, we are praying that you are safe and healthy, and that you feel loved, supported and at peace.

With love,
Matt and Shae

We are looking forward to growing our family through any of the following adoption opportunities:

Type

Open , Semi-open , Closed

Gender

Any gender

Race

Any Race

Circumstances

Matt's TESTIMONY

Shae's TESTIMONY

Letter to you

Dear friend,

We are Matt, Shae, and Karsten, and we are honored to have the opportunity to introduce ourselves and tell you about our family. As you make decisions for your future and your baby’s future, we are praying that you will feel loved and supported, no matter what your decision may be. We admire your bravery and courage.

Matt and I have been married since 2014. We both attended Oklahoma State University and are big fans of our team – go Pokes! Matt works in IT and enjoys woodworking, volunteering at church, and being the commissioner of his fantasy football league. He put his woodworking skills to great use by building the crib and changing table for our nursery! I work in marketing and enjoy baking, reading, singing, and volunteering. Our daughter, Karsten, is four years old, and she loves checking cows, playing outside, Minnie Mouse, and entertaining us! We have two dogs, Thabo and Hashtag, several chickens, and raise cattle with our family.

After a few years of trying to grow our family, we received an infertility diagnosis, and with much prayer, in 2019 we decided to pursue adoption instead of medical procedures. We will never forget the call telling us that we had been chosen to be Karsten’s parents! Our lives changed forever that day; our world suddenly had more fun, more sparkle, and more giggles than we ever imagined. When we decided to grow our family again, we agreed that adoption was the path we wanted to take. We desire not just to grow our family with a baby, but to include you, too – we hope to build a relationship and get to support you as we all navigate this journey together.

Home for us is outside of a small town in central Oklahoma. The school system has great academics, athletics and agriculture – there will be opportunities to be involved in whatever your child dreams of as he or she grows up. Some of our family’s cattle and horses live in the pasture right behind our house. As your baby grows, he or she will always have the chance to ride horses, feed baby calves and learn about where our food comes from.

We have a large extended family, and most of them live within 30 minutes of our home. We are very close with our family and spend every holiday together. We also enjoy gathering for Sunday Dinners, birthday parties and “just because.” Our parents and siblings love being grandparents, aunts and uncles, and are so excited to have another little one join our family! Karsten has two cousins close to her age who we see often, and several older cousins and family friends who are great examples. Your baby will have no shortage of family and friends to spoil and love on him or her!

Our weekends are usually spent with family and friends. We have season tickets to OSU games, and when the Cowboys are away, we get together with a group to watch the game. We can’t wait to introduce your baby to our favorite OSU traditions! There are several toddlers and babies in our church, and we love knowing that your baby will have lifelong friends to grow up with in the nursery.

While we both enjoy our jobs, we agree that a good vacation is where it’s at. We especially love snow skiing, and visiting Mickey Mouse at Disney World!

If you choose adoption for your child’s future and we are part of that plan, we assure you that we will respect you and honor your wishes for whatever level of openness and ongoing contact you want to have with your child. We will provide a safe, happy home for your child, love him or her with all our being, and provide them with every opportunity possible. Most importantly, your child will always know the depth of your love.

With love,

Matt and Shae

Read Less

Our Christian Commitment

We are active in our church, with Matt serving on the AV team and Shae leading the young adult Sunday School class. Karsten loves to attend her Sunday School class and learn about Jesus with her friends - she has great teachers!

Vision For Raising A Child

Even before our daughter was born, we had been praying for our future children for years. We continue to pray that our children will pursue a relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe that while the church helps lay a great foundation for learning about Jesus, the teaching starts at home and we are the biggest influences our children will have. We attend church and participate in church activities as a family, as well as studying our Bible, praying and honoring God with our lives. We read our daughter's Bible stories with her and pray together daily, so she is already learning about Jesus and building a relationship with Him.

ABOUT Matt

Career: IT Business Analyst

Hobbies: woodworking, volunteering at church, playing golf, and being the commissioner for his Fantasy Football league

Favorite meal: pizza, tortellini or hamburgers

Favorite color: orange

Favorite ice cream: chocolate chip cookie dough

On the radio: Christian music, sports talk radio, comedy podcasts

Favorite movie: Shawshank Redemption, John Wick, and The Batman

Favorite team: OSU Cowboys

EXTENDED FAMILY

Matt has one sister, "Aunt K," who is married to "Uncle J." They have a son who is a year younger than Karsten. We love spending time with them at Nana and Papa's house, where there is never a shortage of bubbles, sidewalk chalk and laughter!

WORK & EDUCATION

Matt is a Lead IT Business Analyst. He attended OSU for undergrad before getting his MBA from SNU.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS

Woodworking, exercising, volunteering at church, fantasy football and playing golf.

ABOUT Shae
EXTENDED FAMILY

ABOUT Shae

Career: Marketing Manager

Hobbies: Baking, reading, graphic design, checking cattle, singing at church and volunteering

Favorite meal: steak and baked potato

Favorite colors: green, orange and pink

Favorite ice cream: butter pecan from Braum's

On the radio: red dirt, worship music, showtunes & podcasts

Favorite movie: Sweet Home Alabama and Hallmark movies

Favorite teams: OSU Cowboys & Seattle Seahawks

EXTENDED FAMILY

Shae has two younger brothers, Uncle K (married to Aunt B) and Unckie (married to Auntie). Shae's brothers love to spoil Karsten and have such a sweet relationship with her! We can all often be found at Boom Boom and Papa T's house for breakfast on Saturday mornings before starting work on a ranch project.

WORK & EDUCATION

Shae graduated from OSU and now works as a marketing manager.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS

Shae loves being creative, reading, checking cows, baking, volunteering and watching sports.

ABOUT Karsten

Karsten

Karsten is our 4-year-old daughter, who joined our family through adoption. We never imagined the amount of sparkle she would add to our lives (literally and figuritavely - so much glitter!). She loves being outside, no matter if it's at a playground or checking cows. She loves Minnie Mouse, Bluey and Disney Princesses. At home, she enjoys playing in her kitchen, baby dolls, building with magnetic tiles and squishing play dough. She loves to help cook and even enjoys cleaning. Karsten is always singing!

Karsten is eager to be a big sister! She prays for "my baby" often and has big dreams of helping feed, teach and read to a younger sibling.

Career: Cattle Ranch Hand

Hobbies: checking cows, entertaining her family, playing with her friends, reading books, cheering for Pistol Pete, and playing with baby dolls, her play kitchen, magna-tiles and "pretend"

Favorite meal: chicken fried rice

Favorite color: pink

Favorite ice cream: all of it

Favorite team: "Go Pokes!"

ABOUT OUR HOME

We live in a rural area, where our next door neighbors include two horses, a bunch of cattle and Shae's parents. We built our home in 2018 on the land Shae grew up on.

We have two dogs Thabo, a French Bulldog, and Hashtag, a mini Schnauzer mix! We also have two cows (Ashburn and Pistol Pete), two chickens (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck), and we help with our family's cattle operation.

Our home has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a bonus room to watch movies and play! We love the sunsets at our house and can enjoy them from the living and dining room.

Matt built our crib and changing table for Karsten's nursery, and we plan to use them again! He put so much time and love into both pieces.

We love snow skiing with our family and friends!

Matt & Shae

Marriage Length

Home State

Denomination

Pets

Children

Karsten

About Us

Type

Gender

Race

Circumstances

Matt's TESTIMONY

Shae's TESTIMONY

Letter to you

Our Christian Commitment

Vision For Raising A Child

our family video

ABOUT Matt

EXTENDED FAMILY

WORK & EDUCATION

HOBBIES & INTERESTS

ABOUT Shae

EXTENDED FAMILY

WORK & EDUCATION

HOBBIES & INTERESTS

Karsten

ABOUT OUR HOME

ABOUT OUR WORLD