Family Story

In 2002, a tall drummer boy met a short little artist girl and they fell in love at a corn maze. Both of us were raised in Washington State, except at total opposite ends of the state. After high school, Julie went off to college (conveniently to the area where Zack’s parents live) and Zack went off on a 2 year church mission to Honduras. When he got back, Julie spied him from across the room at a church function and thought ‘he looks really nice!’. Then she put her master plan into action... she had mutual friends of theirs set them up on a double date. It worked. We can still remember holding hands for the first time as we entered that corn maze. Our lives connected that night and will never part again. We got engaged a few months later, and married a year to the exact day that we first hung out. It was a whirlwind first few years of marriage filled with lots of fun times, but also learning how to understand and communicate with each other, and how to best serve and support each other. It wasn’t long before we knew our lives were meant for more than just making each other happy... we wanted to start a family.

That proved to be a difficult thing. We tried on our own for over a year, got some preliminary testing done, but before we started any treatment, we got the strong feeling that we should adopt. We followed that feeling and the summer of 2007 our first birthmother contacted us. The strong feelings we had felt happened right around the time our future son was conceived. On November 15, 2007 we welcomed Kale into our home and it was one of the happiest days of our lives. Looking back we are able to see the hand of the Lord in every step of the way guiding us and our birthmother together. Then in 2011, we welcomed Makoa to our family through another amazing birth family.  Makoa's birth story is amazing and miracle filled as well... we'd love to tell you about it sometime! Kale is now 7 and in 2nd grade and Makoa is now 4.  They would love more than anything else to have another sibling!

Life has been so fun since our boys became a part of our family. It has been so awesome to watch them grow and learn and emulate the things we do and say. It’s especially fun when you have worked on learning things for a long time and then one day it clicks and they get it! You know... like learning your ABC’s, numbers, saying please and thank-you... etc. Learning to be good parents is definitely an interesting process. Truthfully there is a lot of trial and error... you have to find what works for that child and it may not be what would’ve worked for you. We take time to discuss what is or isn’t working with our parenting and be on the same page with each other in regards to rewards and discipline.

You can probably see where this story is going... :) We felt that incomplete feeling again, and really desired that Kale & Makoa would have another sibling to share their lives with, not only while they grow up, but when they are adults, and when we are gone. Our siblings are an important part of our lives and we want our children to be able to have that in their lives too. So here we are again ... waiting for another miracle to happen!