This is the Family Book I Did The Night After Earlene Told Me About The Possibility Of Adoption

OUR FAMILY BOOK MADE EXCLUSIVELY FOR

S

S, Hello I hope you are doing well.  Let me introduce myself and my family.  I am Lisa.  I am first of all a wife to Jeff my high school sweetheart.  We have been happily married 23 years.  We dated in high school, finished college and then got married.  He has a finance degree and I have an elementary teaching degree.  Jeff worked for a cattle company for 10 years before buying his own business that we now run together.  I taught second grade for 5 years and then chose to stay home and raise our three children as a stay at home mom.  I also later taught two years of preschool and have done many summer church programs with children.  We have been blessed with three biological children and two adopted children from Guatemala.  We have owned our own business for 14 years.  During this time we have been blessed to be able to add to our family through adoption.  In 2006 we traveled to Guatemala six times to eventually bring home our precious angels.  They have been a blessing not only to my husband and I but also to our three older children and my parents who live next door to us.  We feel that as much love as we can give we can share that with another child.  My little five year old and four year old have been praying for a baby sister every night for over two months.  I believe they can understand the blessing of another child in the family much like my older children did when we brought them home from Guatemala.

    I grew up on a farm with three brothers.  We raised cattle, cotton and wheat.  My dad was a school principal and my mother was a special education teacher.  In the summers I hoed cotton with my brothers.  For fun we rode horses or motorcycles.   I was very active in school and have enjoyed watching my children become very involved in school activities as well.

   Jeff grew up on a farm as well.  He lived near his grandparents and had a close relationship with his grandfather.  He enjoyed all sports.  His favorite was football, but he also played baseball and basketball.  He had a close family and many cousins lived nearby.

We live in the home my grandmother and grandfather built in 1935.  Of course we have added on to accommodate our growing family.  It is on the farm my family homesteaded.  It is a wonderful farm with many acres to run and explore on.  My older children know every inch of the farm and spent many hours discovering nature and spending time outdoors.  They rode horses, camped out under the stars and enjoyed many cookouts.

In 2010 we bought another house in the city.  This was to make better school choices for our children.  Now we casually go back and forth to both homes and enjoy the best of both worlds.  The country offers quiet and calm while the city offers entertainment and easy access.  Having two homes has not been near the struggle one would imagine.  We spend most weekends on the farm and stay in the city during the week for school.

I would describe our family as fun and adventurous.  We all enjoy the lake and love to ski.  We enjoy the mountains where we all snow ski.  My 16 year old loves to cliff jump.  We live very close to a river on our farm and love spending time there with four wheelers.  We have cattle on our farms and enjoy checking them every time we get a chance.  We have a pool in our backyard but have chosen to keep it closed until the little ones are good swimmers.  It is not open this year.  We like to be spontaneous.  When the weather got to 110 degrees this summer we all got up one morning and decided to head for higher ground.  We ended up at Breckenridge, CO where the weather was 70 degrees.  It was a welcome break from the heat!  I believe we work hard, but play harder.

Happy faces speak volumes about a family.  Our family believes in being courteous and polite.  We love to wrestle and joke with one another.  We are one of the few families today that still sits down to home cooked meals in the evenings and discuss the day together. 

My oldest son is 23.  He is my pride and joy.  He is studying in his senior year at a major university where he will graduate in the top 7% of his class with a chemical engineering degree.  He played football in high school, and was selected to play in the Senior Bowl.  He also played basketball and was the class president for six years.  He was an honor student.

My oldest daughter is 18 and she will enter college this fall.  Her plans are to pursue a history/philosophy major and obtain a law degree.  She loves to read, spend time outdoors, and help others.  She has a special place in her heart for adoption.  She graduated with top honors.  She has been active in dance, cheerleading and softball.  She has won many beauty pageants and that will pay her way through college.

My next son is 16.  He will be a sophomore in high school.   He just got his driver’s license and had his first fender bender! He is on the wrestling team at his school. He also has played football.  Being the baby of the family for 11 years he still enjoys being mommy’s little boy.  He enjoys spending time with his friends.  He is also an honor student.

My little daughter is five.  She will be in kindergarten this year.  She is looking forward to going.  She is a perfectionist who takes her time with her work.  She is a very good artist.  She plays t-ball and she has been taking dance for two years.

My little son is four.  He went to the three year old school program last year and did very well.  He is compassionate.  He tells me at least 20 times a day that he loves me from infinity and beyond!  He’s is a happy and fun boy with enormous potential.  He is looking forward to taking wrestling this fall so he can emulate his big brother.

We now feel there is yet another child to join our family…………………..

We have been considering adoption again for several months.  Ultimately we feel that every child deserves a loving and nurturing home.  As long as God provides we feel a need to make that happen.  We feel we have adequate space to provide a loving and safe home.  We have the resources and the time to care for another child.  I have hired a secretary and have tried to free more time to allow for another child to be a part of our family.  We enjoy the large laughter that a big family brings to the table in the evenings and would love to set a place for yet another little angel.  I hope you will give us consideration in your decision.  God Bless you!