In our short lives together we have been on many journeys, and on each trip we have seen new places and met new people. Our lives are never the same again, and we smile when we think about all of the memories we have made. We feel that adoption is a special journey we have been excited to take for some time now and we hope that we can join you in your journey. We have a great deal of love for you, even though we have never met you. We pray for birth parents in all of our prayers and we hope you are feeling the blessings of love and peace that we have been asking for in your behalf. We know that our Heavenly Father is watching over you and the precious little one you are expecting. We have been praying that our own special birth parents will know us when they see us. We are so excited that you are finally reading our letter!!!
Building Our Forever Family:
We have been hopelessly head over heels for each other for the last 7 years. We met at BYU-Idaho the first week of our freshman year in college and have been best friends ever since. Daren served a mission for our church in Paraguay for two years. After that we were married 3 months later. It is hard to believe that we have now almost been married for four years. Between all of our adventures and the swing of daily life, time flies when you are having fun!
We have wanted to welcome children into our home from day one of our marriage. We have had so many blessings in our marriage, and been so happy. The one trial we have had though is our inability to have biological children. We went through lots of testing, and the results showed that pregnancy is pretty impossible. As difficult as this point of our journey to parenthood was, it was an opportunity to strengthen our testimony in the atonement and our Savior. He is always here for us and leads us in the right direction.
Our family and friends were so sad that we could never have children. Our response to them is that we will have children; we just need a little help from two incredible people called birth parents. We are so indebted and grateful for you!!! We could not build our forever family without you! If there is one thing we have learned through all of this is that we receive the Lord’s miracles through each other. We are so excited to adopt!
Getting To Know Us:
Shannon’s Thoughts on Her Hubbster: If you were to walk into the room, the first thing you would notice about Daren is his incredibly happy countenance. He is an easygoing, cheerful, energetic, super guy and everyone loves him. He can often be seen doing things he loves such as yard work, tinkering with cars, enjoying the great outdoors, building something, renovating our home, or smooching his wife. He loves the gospel and has a beautiful testimony of our Savior. I think that he is one of the most Christ-like people I know because he is always looking for a way to serve someone. He loves to help out our neighbors, friends, and family. Daren may have inherited this quality from his incredible parents who are amazing examples to us. They raised 16 kids and are grandparents to 44 kids. Daren will be a great dad because he has this uncanny ability to make babies smile and giggle. (He has had lots of practice with all of those nieces and nephews.) He will always put his family first and would do anything for them. I couldn’t ask for a better man. I love him with all of my heart.
Daren’s Thoughts on His Wifey: I love Shan more than anything and I want to tell you about why I think she will be a super mommy. I’ll only give you three reasons to save you from reading twenty pages.
- Shannon is the most baby-hungry woman I have ever known. Her dedication and love for a child that may not yet even exist is incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that she will love any child the Lord gives her unconditionally. She would do whatever it takes to meet the needs of that child.
- Shannon is experienced with caring for children. She is currently a first grade teacher. She loves her little students so much and works hours each day to prepare meaningful fun lessons. I know once she gets the opportunity to quit teaching in order to be a stay-at-home mom she will be just as dedicated to our children. Shannon was born to be a mom.
- Very importantly, Shannon is a righteous woman. She will tell you she is imperfect, but don’t believe her. She puts so much time into her callings and never turns down an opportunity to serve when asked. To summarize Shannon, she makes me want to be a better man and is my ticket to heaven.
Our Hopes and Dreams for Our Baby:
Our minds are filled with questions about our first little munchkin. We don’t know what he or she will look like, what their sleeping habits will be, or how they will like to be held. The things we do know however are very special to us. We know this little one will always be so loved that frowns will be far and few between. We know this child will be taught from day one that he or she has double blessings in the family department and that BOTH sets of parents, grandparents, and extended family love them to pieces.
We hope that by raising our son or daughter in a forever family surrounded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they will be happy and confident in conquering their world. We want our children to have every blessing that our Heavenly Father has to give, and we give you our promise to help your baby have that.
One Last Little Prayer:
We are praying that this letter finds you well and full of hope. We love you and can’t wait to embrace you in a hug for the first time. We look forward to finding out what you have learned, seen, and felt on this miraculous journey you are on. If you ever want to see what is going on with our journey, please take a peak at our blog. We want you to be a part of our lives. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We are praying the phone rings with you on the other end!
Love and hugs,
Daren & Shannon
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