Hello there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at our blog. We cannot begin to imagine what you're going through and we admire you for considering adoption. We have been blessed by the miracle of adoption in our lives and wouldn't have our beautiful son if not for his birth mom's great sacrifice and love. We hope our blog helps you get to know us better. Thanks for visiting!
About Us
Carl
Age: 34
Height: 6'0''
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Ethnicity/Ancestry: Caucasian/Scottish, German
Shauna
Age: 34
Height: 5'2''
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Ethnicity/Ancestry: Caucasian/English, Scottish
Garrett
Age: 6
Height: Tall
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Dark Brown
Ethnicity/Ancestry: Hispanic - Caucasian/Mayan Indian descent
Shauna
Carl
Garrett
Garrett is awesome. He is such a special little boy. He is very active and energetic, and loves running around whenever he can. He loves playing outside and going for walks. He goes to a weekly gymnastics class and does the best handstands in the class! His gymnastics teachers are always impressed by his skills.
Garrett also loves reading books. From the time when he was very small, books were always his most favorite things. He learns a lot from all of his books. Some of his favorites books are about sharks. He is fascinated by sharks and sea creatures and knows so much about them. We love visiting aquariums together. He also loves learning about animals, dinosaurs, and bugs.
Right now his very favorite toys are his beloved Legos. His favorites are Star Wars Legos, but he loves any type of Legos. He plays with his Legos so much every single day, and knows so much about Star Wars just from his Legos, and from playing Star Wars Legos on the Wii. He is often exasperated with his mom when she calls a Star Wars character by the wrong name! He also loves playing with trains, playdough, cars and trucks, and action figures.
Garrett can’t wait to be a big brother. He talks about it often and always tells us about the many things he’s going to teach his baby sister or brother. He is going to be an excellent big brother.
Carl Describes Shauna
I love Shauna with all my heart! She is my best friend and my soul mate. From the first day I met her when I was 12, I knew I wanted to be with her. When I finally got to go out with her, it was a simple date - looking at Christmas lights at Temple Square and just hanging out and talking. That really describes our relationship. We simply love each other's company. Shauna is so easy to talk to and get along with. Even now, after 12 years of marriage, we never run out of things to talk about and will often talk late into the night.
Shauna is so passionate about so many things and loves sharing her passions with her family. She loves music, movies, books, and animals. She enjoys going to libraries and bookstores with Garrett and to be surroundeed by books. She loves to sit with Garrett in her lap reading a book together. Shauna also loves all animals and loves cuddling up wiith our cats while she reads or watches a movie. She also loves singing and enjoys anything that has to do with music. She cares about her family so much and is always quick to be there to comfort us in any time of need.
I love her so much and I don't think it's easy to convey the wonderful person I know. To sum it up, she's loving, caring, passionate, funny, quirky, insightful, smart, and beautiful. She is such a wonderful wife and wonderful mother.
Shauna Describes Carl
There are so many things I love about my husband, Carl. He is such a wonderful person! He is very friendly and is always kind to everyone. He is so caring and supportive and is always a great source of strength for me. I am so grateful and blessed to have him as my husband.
Carl loves all kinds of sports. He loves playing basketball, football, and golf and loves watching all sports on TV. Carl also loves music. He is very talented musically and loves singing, playing the piano, and playing the clarinet. He has sung several solos in church and in choirs, and they always bring tears to my eyes. He is very funny and has a corny sense of humor, which often has me rolling my eyes, but also makes me laugh. He is such an accepting, beautiful person, and I love that I get to spend every day with my best friend.
Carl is such a wonderful and loving father. He always makes time for our son Garrett. Carl and Garrett love building Legos, building towers out of blocks, and playing video games together. They often go on father-son outings to parks, arcades, and for walks. They also love riding their bikes together. Every week Carl takes Garrett to a gymnastics class and after the class they go to dinner. I love watching the two of them together. Carl loves being Garrett’s dad.
How We Met
A few months after we graduated from high school, Carl decided to ask Shauna out again, and she accepted. It was Christmastime, and we went to look at the lights at Temple Square. We had such a great time talking and being together, and Carl asked Shauna out again 2 days later. We went ice skating and had a blast. As we were skating, Carl was singing Christmas carols, and Shauna kept pretending to forget the words so that she could listen to Carl sing. It was very fun and romantic.
After that, we started dating regularly, and fell in love with each other quickly. We loved dating, and enjoyed going to movies, to the symphony, to the opera, and just being together. We knew right away we had something special.
We were engaged about a year after dating, and we got married about 6 months after that, in May 1997. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and it was such a beautiful day. The sky was so blue, and there were gorgeous tulips everywhere. We have now been married for over 12 years, and we have loved every day of being married. We are best friends, and we love each other so much.
Why Adoption?
After we started trying, we waited, and waited, and eventually we were told we would have a slim chance of conceiving even with fertility treatments. We tried fertility treatment after fertility treatment anyway. Finally, 6 years and many tears later, we decided to at least get started on the adoption process while still pursuing fertility treatments. As soon as we started the adoption paperwork, our hearts were at peace. We immediately forgot all about our fertility treatments, and knew adoption was the right path for us.
We are now so thankful for our infertility. We wouldn't have our beautiful son if not for our infertility, and for the miracle of adoption. We know adoption is the way for our family. We are eternally grateful for the blessings of adoption in our lives.
Garrett's Adoption Story
We were approved for adoption through LDS Family Services for 6 months when we got the call from our caseworker. Our caseworker left a message to give her a call, and Carl looked at Shauna and whispered, "What if this is it?"
When we called our caseworker back, she said that a birth mom had chosen us to be the parents of her baby, and to check our email to find a message from the birth mom, Korinne. Korinne wrote that she felt really comfortable with giving us the opportunity to raise her son, and wanted to make sure we were okay with a transracial child. We immediately had our caseworker give her a big “Yes!” and wrote her a letter expressing our gratitude for her.
About a month later, we flew to North Dakota to meet her. We were so excited about meeting her, but we were so nervous. As we were driving to the ward house where we were to meet, Shauna was suddenly overcome with anxiety about how to greet Korinne. How do you greet someone who already means so much to you? Shauna immediately began praying that the greeting would go well.
As soon as the door opened, we both started crying, and walked right up to Korinne and hugged her. She was crying too, and all of our anxiety and fear immediately melted away. We spent the next four hours talking and getting to know her. We discussed our lives and families, baby names, and lots of other things. She gave us ultrasound photos of her sweet little baby boy. We couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to her, and how much we instantly loved her. We felt so comfortable being with her, and so at peace. The caseworker kept trying to wrap things up, but none of us wanted to stop talking.
Finally, we went back to our hotel, and we were so excited and euphoric. The next day, we went to the temple with the family that Korinne lived with, and they told us that Korinne seemed more at peace and happier after meeting us than she had earlier. After the temple, we went back to their house to spend more time with Korinne, and to get to know her even better.
The next day we were flying home, and we had breakfast with Korinne before our flight. We had a hard time leaving her, and knew we would miss her terribly. We made plans to send emails, and talk on the phone.
A few weeks later, she came to Utah with her family, and we got the opportunity to spend more time with her. Again, we had so much fun and our love for her continued to grow. We had a hard time saying goodbye, but she reminded us that she only had 10 weeks left before the baby was due.
We prepared the nursery, shopped for baby clothes, and made arrangements while keeping in contact with Korinne. At one point, we began to realize that while we were so excited and couldn’t wait for the baby, it would mean that Korinne would soon have to go through heartache. When we mentioned to her that we were excited but sad for her, she said, “It will be okay. It will be the hardest thing I ever do in my life, but it’s meant to be.” We couldn’t believe how fortunate we were to have such an amazing and strong friend in Korinne, who could reassure us while going through her own difficulties.
Near the end of September, we flew to North Dakota to wait for the baby’s arrival. We spent a couple of days with Korinne, and then took a little 2 hour road trip to visit the Peace Gardens in Canada. The next morning, we got a call from the family Korinne was living with to come to the hospital. She didn’t say that the baby was here, but we knew he had to be. We were so excited and anxious on our way to the hospital.
Once we arrived, we walked in to see Korinne holding the most beautiful baby we had ever seen. We sat with her for a while, and asked questions about her labor and delivery and how she was. After a bit, she let us hold him, and it was the most wonderful thing in the world. He was so tiny and perfect. Carl got to feed him a bottle, and we both got to help give him a bath. We were so happy, but also worried about Korinne. It was a very emotional day.
The next day was placement day. We had made arrangement to meet at the ward house we had originally met Korinne at for the placement. We didn’t know what time it would be, because they told Korinne she was free to check out of the hospital, but could stay as long as she wanted to that day. We waited and waited for our case worker to call us. Around 7:00 that night we finally started to get a little bit worried that something had gone wrong, but we had confirmation that this was supposed to be our baby, so we weren’t too worried.
Finally at around 9:00 PM we received the call that Korinne was ready, and to meet her for placement. As we drove there, we were overcome with excitement and anxiety. We knew we were about to go through the most emotional time we had ever gone through in our lives.
When we walked in, Korinne was very somber as she held her baby boy. She kept her eyes on him and wouldn’t look up at us. We were very quiet too. After a while, in a broken voice, she told us about all of her hopes and dreams for her son. She told us about how she wanted us to give him an extra kiss from her every time he fell and scraped his knees. She told us to tell him how much she loves him. She told us that she was honored that we would raise him and be his parents. After talking for a while, she finally looked up at Shauna and asked, “Are you ready?” Then she stood up, and placed her beautiful son in Shauna’s arms. We sobbed and hugged her. We couldn’t let go of her. We told her how much we loved her and we told her, “Thank you.” Then she and her family turned and walked away. We couldn’t believe how hard it was to see her leave. We felt like our hearts were being ripped out of our chests at her pain. On one hand, we were so excited to finally be holding our son, and to be parents, but we were so heartbroken for her. We went back to our hotel room with our sweet little baby, filled with love and amazement for Korinne.
We spent the next two days enjoying our new little baby. He was the cutest, sweetest, best baby in the whole world. Before we left North Dakota to go home, we had the opportunity to meet with Korinne again and give her some pictures that we had taken in the two days since placement.
At first we were a little nervous, because we didn’t know how Korinne would be, and if it would be too hard for her to see the baby. We didn’t need to worry. While we knew Korinne was still having a hard time, we were able to see her smiling and happy. We were able to take a couple more pictures of her with Garrett with a big smile on her face. It made us realize that she would be okay, and we didn’t need to feel guilty.
Since then, we have enjoyed an open adoption with Korinne. Although she decided she didn’t want any contact a few months after Garrett was born, later she changed her mind, and we were able to talk to her and send pictures again. We have been able to see her several times, and we were honored to attend her wedding in the Ogden Temple. She now has a beautiful baby girl, and she invited us to her daughter’s blessing. We are so happy to be able to share in Korinne’s life, and for her to share in ours.
We are so grateful for Korinne. She will always hold a special place in our hearts and in our family. Garrett knows how much Korinne loves him, and we love her so much. We are so thankful for birth moms, and for adoption. We know that adoption is one of the most powerful things on Earth. We are so humbled by the fact that we are able to be parents because of someone else’s sacrifice and love. We are eternally grateful for Korinne, and for the miracle of adoption.
Shauna's Family
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Carl's Family
What We Like To Do
A Few of Our Favorite Things
Shauna:
Movie: Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge, Return To Me, Joy Luck Club
Music: Radiohead, Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists
Book: Harry Potter series!
TV Show: Phineas and Ferb and So You Think You Can Dance
Color: Yellow
Holiday: Halloween
Animal: Kitty Cats
People: Garrett and Carl
Season: Fall
Carl:
Movie: Lord of the Rings
Music: Radiohead
Book: The Shining
TV Show: Modern Family
Color: Red
Sport: Football
Food: Lasagna
Thing to Do: Sleep
Place to Be: With My Family
Garrett:
Movie: G-Force
TV Show: Kim Possible & Phineas and Ferb
Music: Backyardigans
Book: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell (at the moment)
Color: Blue
Toy: Star Wars Legos
Thing to Do: Not sleeping
Animal: Sharks (okay, so sharks are fish, but still)
Saying: Mama Mia!
How We Feel About Adoption
We are so happy for the open relationship we share with Garrett's birth mom, Korinne. She lives in a different state than we do, so we only get to see her a couple of times a year, but we have a lot fun when we see her. She was married a couple of years after Garrett was born, and she now has a beautiul daugter named London. Korinne and London were able to come to Garrett's 5th birthday party, and it meant a lot to have them there. Even though we don't see her all the time, we love her so much and are fortunate to know her and to have her in our lives.
We are also so grateful for the temple and for being able to be sealed to each other forever. We rejoice in having an eternal family and can't wait to welcome a new member with gladness and open arms.
Thank You
We promise to love and cherish and appreciate your child with all of our hearts. We promise to always let your child know how much you love and care for him or her. We promise that you will always hold a special place in our hearts. Thank you so much for reading our blog. Thank you for being you, and for even considering adoption. We have so much respect and awe for birth moms and birth families. We look forward to meeting or talking to you if you desire and getting to know you. We love you already, and we are thinking about you and praying for you. Take care.
Love,
Carl, Shauna, and Garrett
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