Justin and Lara

The Story of Us

2011-05-01T14:53:00.010-06:00

Once upon a time in a not-so-magical-land called Wyoming, Lara went to college as a musical theater student. Before classes started, the theater department had a get together at the professor's home with croquet and a bonfire. A cute croquet referee named Justin caught Lara's attention. It must've been the flattering black and white stripes. The deal was sealed when Justin picked up his guitar and sang country songs around the fire.

It was love at first sight.

From that moment on, Justin and Lara spent every waking moment together. Same classes, rehearsals, and lots of talking and flirting late into the night. Ten days later, Justin professed his undying love and presented his fair maiden with a glittering diamond ring. Ten months later, they were
married on a beautiful summer day.

After a few more year of college, Justin got his Master's degree and became a mental health and substance abuse counselor. Lara graduated with a psychology degree and started her career as a marketing writer for an international company. They bought a house, two dogs, and a cat. From the outside, it seemed like their
life was perfect.

But something was amiss in the kingdom.

Lara and Justin wanted nothing more than to bring a baby into their family. After about eight lonely years, Justin and Lara decided to adopt. It wasn't long before two amazing angels placed their perfect baby in Justin and Lara's
waiting arms.

The couple had never been happier. Sharing their love with their beautiful princess is the greatest joy of their hearts. They have so much love, they're ready to have another prince or princess join their kingdom and join their quest for happily ever after.

Being a Working Mother

2011-05-01T14:10:00.005-06:00

*written by Lara*

I am blessed to have a solid career as a copy writer. I have always loved writing and it is really special to be able to do what I love—be creative every day—and get paid for it.

One of the constant struggles I deal with every day is being a working mom. I grew up in home with a mother who didn’t work. I think stay-at-home parenting is important. The first few years of childhood are so formative and fly by so quickly, that it’s important to be there for them.

However, our circumstances right now require me to be a working mother. I feel very torn over the fact that I actually really like to work…and over the fact that I strongly feel that I should be at home with my daughter.

The company I work for is a forward-thinking, influential company with family-friendly values. As such, they have a daycare and preschool on site, which is where Jocelyn goes every day. When she was a baby, I visited her at least once a day to just hold her and play with her. As a toddler, my daily visits have diminished since it causes a meltdown whenever I leave, but I am grateful that we are so close if there is ever a problem. I also serve on the Board of Directors of her daycare and I am involved in how the daycare is run. It is the best daycare in town. I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

The truth is adoption is expensive and my job is essential in providing stability to our family. As we get more disciplined with our finances and fund another adoption or two, Justin and I would like for me to stay at home while the children are little. I will always have a chance to go back to work when they are grown.

Jocelyn loving on her daycare teacher, Miss Kira

To help offset my guilt a little J here are some of the benefits about daycare and being a working mom:

I get all the “me time” I need at work, so when I am at home, I am less stressed and I am devoted to being a mom.
Jocelyn is on a really good sleeping and eating schedule, which doctors say is important for health and development. Her schedule probably wouldn’t be as good if I could stay up every night and sleep in every day. J
She is not a picky eater. She has learned to love a huge varieties of food and always eats what is offered to her.
Jocelyn loves other children.
The daycare teachers are phenomenal teachers. I never knew that a 1 year old could count to ten or identify shapes. I don’t think she would know as much without their fabulous teaching methods.
Jocelyn watches zero television at daycare.
Jocelyn gets to play and learn with other children her same age.
I enjoy what I do every day and feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride in my work, which makes me happy. And being a happy mother is the best gift I can give to my children.

Our Open Adoption

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We have an open adoption with Jocelyn’s birth parents. We always wanted an open relationship. When they chose us, they wanted to meet us, but they weren’t sure if they wanted to continue contact after placement. After spending three days in the hospital getting to know each other, it felt natural to swap telephone numbers and email addresses.

Baby Jocelyn with her birth family during a visit

It’s been over two years and we still communicate regularly with Jocelyn’s birth parents. We call on birthdays and holidays, we send letters, pictures, and crayon scribbles from Jocelyn through the mail, we email, we text, and we are on Facebook. We have even visited them on a couple of occasions when we’ve been on their side of the state.

Eating out with Jocelyn's birth mom and birth sister.

We believe open adoption is a right that every adopted child has—as well as every birth parent. We cherish our open adoption and know all our future adoptions will be just as special.

Why We Want to Adopt

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After seven years of marriage and no kids, we finally pushed aside our denial and saw several specialists about our inability to have children. We both went through tests and Lara had surgery, hormone therapy, and numerous procedures. As we searched our hearts and prayed, we felt strongly that adoption was how we were meant to build our family.

Our doctors pushed us to continue with fertility treatments. To us, it didn't matter that we hadn't exhausted everything. Being pregnant and giving birth wasn't important - becoming a family is what mattered.

Where We Live

2011-04-30T21:38:00.009-06:00

When we bought our house, it didn't have a sign out front so we made our own.

Our House
Our home is our sanctuary and our haven. We always try to make our home a peaceful place filled with love and laughter, a place where we like to linger. We make our home a place of strength for our marriage and family. We enjoy reading together regularly and we always make time for regular family nights.

We love our house. We bought it five years ago - it's our first home. Our home is pretty standard - a ranch-style house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, two living rooms, and lots of extra space in the basement we don't know what to do with!

We have a fenced backyard with large cottonwood trees, vegetable and flower gardens, a giant swing, tons of grass, and a deck for summer barbeques. Lara loves to garden and works hard every year to bring color to the yard with beautiful and fragrant flowers. We love hosting family get-togethers and parties. They are always filled with laughter and joy.

We have plenty of room in our house for more children. Your child will have his or her very own nursery and be able to grow up in a safe, quiet neighborhood.

Justin carving the Thanksgiving turkey

Our Neighborhood

We live at the back of a quiet cul-de-sac. We love it. It is the gathering spot for all the neighborhood children to play. Most of our neighbors have young kids and you can almost always spot children riding their bikes and playing with each other in their yards. We know practically all our neighbors. We are surrounded by the best people!

Lara grilling steaks

Our Town

We live in a small farming community in southeast Idaho. The population of our town is about 3,000, but we live about fifteen minutes away from a bigger town of about 55,000. People are very friendly and helpful - it's like taking a step back in time.

We live two hours away from Yellowstone National Park and lots of amazing wilderness areas in the Rocky Mountains. Just a few hours in the other direction is Salt Lake City. Lara has a sister, cousins, aunts, and uncles who live there, so we visit Salt Lake a lot. We like to go to good theater, concerts, and museums there.

When we decided it move here, we were afraid the town would be to small for us. We have fallen in love with it though. It's close enough to bigger towns that we are never bored and we just love the heart and soul of this small town.

Jocelyn helping plant flowers

Willingness to Become a Multiracial Family

2011-04-30T12:35:00.004-06:00

We would like to adopt another baby. Boy, girl, any ethnicity, twins or triplets - it doesn't really matter to us.

Becoming a Multiracial Family

If we were given the opportunity to adopt a child from a different ethnicity, we would gladly jump at the chance! We do understand that there would be a lot of education and unknown challenges, but we are willing to learn and prepare our kids for that. Our community is primarily Caucasian with a sizeable Hispanic population. The African American population is small but growing.

We know many multiracial families - some through marriage and some through adoption. If we adopted a child from a different race and culture, we would embrace the new rich heritage in our family. We would seek out friendships with other families that share similar backgrounds. We would research the culture and incorporate traditions, special holidays, and recipes into our daily lives.

We would teach our child about how every person is beautiful because of our differences. We would teach our child that the love we share as a family is more important than sharing physical features.

Our Family Motto

2011-02-08T16:59:00.001-07:00

Lara’s family descends from a very old, powerful Scottish clan. The clan motto was Serva Jugum, which is Latin for Keep the Yoke.

An ancient story tells of a time when the Danes invaded Scotland. The king’s army went out to defend their lands but the Danes broke through their lines. Scared, the king’s army scattered before the invaders.

A man and his two teenage sons were plowing their fields and saw all this happen. The man and his sons placed ox yokes on their backs and stood at the entrance of a ravine, barring the escape of the fleeing Scot soldiers. He and his two sons led the Scottish army back into battle and they triumphed over the invading Danes. Because of this peasant’s bravery, the king awarded him some of the best land in Scotland and he became a rich and powerful leader.

We have taken this ancient motto as our own. To us, keep the yoke means to never give up, even when we think there’s no way to go on. It is a reminder to me that three peasants changed the fate of a nation through their determination and action. I can do the same. When faith and hard work combine, impossible things can happen.

About Lara

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Eyes: Green

Hair: Natural color is dark blonde, but I enjoy changing it

Height: 5' 2"

Age: 30

Birthday: October 21

Hometown: Idaho Falls, Idaho

Education: Bachelor's in Psychology

Occupation: Senior Copywriter at a wellness company

Place in family: Youngest of five children with two older brothers and two older sisters

Ancestry: Caucasian - Danish, Scottish, English, and Irish with a few other western European countries

Hobbies: Blogging, reading, writing, singing, playing video games, crafting, and gardening

Dreams come true so far: Work as a writer - a paid writer :), wrote a novel, walked the Colosseum in Rome, bought a home, started a family

Future hopes and dreams: Publish a novel, own a cabin in the mountains, see the Egyptian pyramids, and have a home full of kids

Embarrassing fact: I was in a beauty pageant as a teenager and I did a mime for my talent

About Justin

2011-01-13T00:20:00.003-07:00

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Light brown

Height: 5' 8"

Age: 31

Birthday: May 20

Hometown: Cody, Wyoming

Education: Master's in counseling, bachelor's in psychology

Occupation: Mental health and substance abuse counselor

Place in family: Oldest with one younger brother

Family heritage: German, English, Cherokee and Osage Indian

Hobbies: Writing and playing music, singing, reading, playing video games, and watching movies

Dreams come true so far: Finishing my Master's degree, traveled a lot, finally beat my brother-in-law at a Wii game

Future hopes and dreams: Sell a composition, go to Europe

Embarrassing fact: I love Judge Judy.

About Jocelyn

2011-01-13T00:05:00.005-07:00

Eyes: Bluish Gray

Hair Color: Brown

Height: Two and a half feet

Age: 2 years

Ancestry: Caucasion - Norwegian, Irish and German

Hobbies: Playing Ring-Around-the-Rosies, watching sing-along videos, eating crayons, helping around the house
Nickname: Joci - pronounced like Josie
Personality: Joyful, easy-going, intelligent, and obedient with a stubborn streak

Jocelyn was adopted.
We have an open adoption with her birthparents.

Jocelyn's Adoption Story

2011-01-12T23:54:00.002-07:00

We had made up our minds to build our family through adoption early in the summer of 2008. We looked at a lot of adoption agencies as well as different adoption avenues before deciding on an agency that fit us. We sped through the paperwork and had everything ready to go in six weeks!

We were officially on the wait list in September 2008. We didn't hear much until the next spring. In March, 2009, our agency contracted with a secondary agency in Utah and our profile was shown to several expectant mothers. One mother in Alabama liked us and we arranged a conference phone call for April 1. The phone call went well and we were excited that someone was so interested in us. Within ten minutes after hanging up the conference call, our caseworker from our original agency called. I thought she was calling to see how the conference call went. Nope! She was calling to tell us that we had been selected by a family through their agency as well. It took a lot to convince us that this wasn't an April Fool's Day joke - two expectant mothers loved us!

We were overwhelmed with excitement and weren't sure which path we should pursue. Together we decided that for 24 hours we wouldn't talk about it at all, we would just think about it independently, then the next day we'd share our feelings. When we began talking about it again, we both knew that the second situation was right for us. We called our caseworker to tell her the good news.

We learned that Jocelyn's biological parents had gone to the agency that previous Sunday. It is normally closed on Sundays, but the director happened to stop by just to grab something and heard them knocking on the door. She spoke with them and showed them all the profiles. The next day they returned and had our profile memorized. We were the family they were searching for. The director encouraged them to pick a backup couple since she knew we were working with that other agency and there was that mother from Alabama who liked us. They refused. They said we were it.

Our baby was scheduled to arrive via C-section in late April, but she decided she didn't want to wait. On April 17th, our caseworker told us that our baby was on the way. We freaked out a little, rushed to the store for last minute supplies and a last minute oil change, and spent a sleepless night at home. The next morning we drove across the state and met the birth parents, their children, and our daughter.

our first family picture

We had the privilege of giving Jocelyn her first bath and hanging out in the nursery as much as we wanted. Five days later, we took Jocelyn home.

We have an open adoption. We stay in contact with Jocelyn's birth parents through letters, phone calls, texts, blogging, emails, and visits. We believe it is really important for Jocelyn to know where she came from and why she was placed - especially since she has biological siblings. We also know how important it is for Jocelyn's birth parents to see how smart, beautiful, and happy Jocelyn is. We feel great love and respect for them and cannot imagine life withouth them.

a visit with Jocelyn's biological family

finalization day!

blessed and sealed

What's On Our DVR

2011-01-10T17:07:00.002-07:00

You can tell a lot about people by what kind of TV they watch. Here’s a glimpse at what you’d find on our DVR right now.

The Office
Ghost Hunters
Mysteries at the Museum
Judge Judy
Glee
Super Why
Dinosaur Train
Community
How I Met Your Mother
Grimm
New Girl
Cougar Town
The Bachelor/Bachelorette
Parenthood
Supernatural

How We Met

2008-12-25T01:33:00.014-07:00

Our wedding day, June 2001

We met in college where we were both in the musical theatre department and it was love at first sight. Well, almost. During the first week of school (Lara’s first year, Justin’s third), the theatre professor held a cookout at his home, which involved a competitive game of croquet. Justin was the judge or referee or whatever kind of official croquet games have. Lara noticed him in his striped shirt with a whistle hanging around his neck and thought he was pretty cute. During the game, she broke a few rules (a.k.a. cheated) and Justin thought she was so adorable that he let her get away with it.

Later as they were sitting around the campfire, Lara decided it was time to get to know this cute guy. She sat next to him and as soon as she sat down, Justin stood up and left. Lara took that as a pretty big hint that he was not interested. Though now Justin says he was just oblivious.

A week or so later, we sat next to each other at the campus café and started talking. There was instant chemistry and sparks were flying. Justin asked Lara out for that evening and we were inseparable from then on. After our date we stayed up all night talking. We spent every waking moment getting to know each other and falling in love.

After ten days, Justin surprised Lara with a diamond ring and a proposal. Though it was fast, we knew it was right (Lara will argue that ten days wasn’t too fast. We spent practically every minute together since we had all the same classes and the same schedule. So rather than looking at our courtship as only lasting ten days, you can say it lasted 240 hours or 14,400 minutes. It takes some couples months to spend that much time together. So there!). Nine months later, we were married in the Idaho Falls Temple.

We’ve now been married ten years
and are still madly in love.

Our Beliefs

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We are active members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). We have faith in God and believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ through his atonement. Serving others is very important to us. Our church affiliation gives us a true sense of community and friendship and helps us be better people.

We believe in honesty, kindness, and virtue. We try to be generous with our time and talents and help others. We donate monthly to charity to help those less fortunate than us. We don't smoke or drink. Our daily prayers and scripture study and visits to the temple have brought us together as a family. We know we'll never be perfect, but every day we try to be just a little bit better.

What We Like to Do

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At a local baseball game. Lara is holding a niece.

While most of the pictures on this site show us doing fun, exotic things, in reality we are pretty normal. We have our favorite television shows we watch religiously. Lara loves to cook and whether we eat dinner at the table or vegging on the couch, we always eat together. Our dishes aren’t always done and there’s always that dreaded mound of laundry that is waiting to be washed. But we have fun. We think it’s more important to enjoy each other than it is to have a perfect “magazine worthy” house.

Sight-seeing in nearby Yellowstone Park

We love to travel and see the world and we try to take a nice trip every couple of years. Our families are a bit spread out so we love to go visit and see where they live. We like going to concerts, musicals, and baseball games. We both love to camp and be out in the woods. We even have our crazy spontaneous moments like driving out to the lake in the middle of the night just to see the moonlight shining on it or pulling out the hide-a-bed on a Saturday and watching cheesy sci-fi movies all day.

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Some of our favorite things to do together:

Long drives in the mountains

Watching movies together

Going to the park

Having Wii parties

Having barbecues in the backyard

Going for frozen yogurt runs

Lara and Joci swimming

Our Parenting Philosophy

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Parents have a purpose and that is to teach, show, and nurture. We don't believe in physical punishment, humiliation, or authoritarian rule. We’ll do our best to be good examples for your child to look up to and respect. And we’ll love your child. No matter what his or her talents or passions are, no matter what arguments or struggles we have, no matter what trials lie ahead, as parents we will provide love and support.

Unconditionally.

Teaching the right way to eat an Oreo is an important parental responsibility.

Being parents to Jocelyn has been nothing short of magical. There have been lots of surprises. Lara says the one thing that has surprised her the most about being a parent is how intimate it is - having a life so dependent on you. From baths, to shots, to diaper changes, to feedings, there are no secrets between a baby and her mother. It's intense and so beautiful.

Bath time!

Parenting has its challenges, too. It takes a lot of patience.
Sometimes we have to step back and see the world through our child's eyes to understand her behavior - try to grasp her frustrations and limited understanding
of a big, big world.

As far as discipline goes, we find we get better parenting results when we focus on and praise good behavior and give her bigger reactions for the good things than the bad. Of course time-outs are still necessary. We believe it's important to establish boundaries and never make exceptions so we don't confuse our daughter. Even when we must be stern, we are always kind and loving.

The cutest time-out ever!

As parents, we feel grave responsibility for Jocelyn. From learning to count to ten to knowing it's wrong to hit others, it is our job to teach her so many things. We drive a little slower, take a little longer, and fight a little harder. Our Mama Bear and Papa Bear instincts kick in automatically and we do all we have to do to take care of our little girl and keep her healthy, happy, and learning what she needs to.

A 3 a.m. breathing treatment when Jocelyn was very sick with RSV

Parenting is not easy. We have become more selfless, more patient, more fun, and more compassionate people because of it. We love it. It's the most important job we will ever do and we can't wait to do it again!

Making Valentine's for birthparents.

How We Feel About Adoption

2008-07-07T01:25:00.020-06:00

At Jocelyn's placement

We are so excited to adopt! It may be a less conventional way to build a family, but we’ve always seemed to do things a bit unconventionally anyway.

As a little girl, Lara collected porcelain dolls. Whenever she would get one for a birthday or Christmas, she would name it and draw up “adoption papers.” These papers would include a history of where the child came from and kind thoughts and memories from her family. It’s interesting to think now that Lara has always wanted to adopt and has been preparing for this her whole life.

We are both thrilled and humbled that we have the opportunity to be parents through adoption. We know in our hearts this is the way our family is meant to grow. Adopting Jocelyn was a really amazing experience...it was hard and emotionally grueling, but the most rewarding experience ever.

We view our responsibility as parents solemnly. We believe a child is a gift from God--or, in this case, a very loving mother--and placed into our lives for safekeeping, nurturing, learning, protection, and unconditional love. As adoptive parents, we will strive to do everything we can to make you proud of the decision you made. We truly feel it is the most treasured gift we will ever receive. It's an honor we can't ever take for granted.

How We Feel About Open Adoption

2008-07-07T01:15:00.028-06:00

We feel that open adoptions are a wonderful thing. The more people to love a child, the better! Open adoptions have many benefits such as giving the birth mother confidence in her decision (not only during the placing process but throughout life--what a blessing!), giving the child a relationship with the birth family, alleviating fears and answering questions the child might have, reducing identity issues for the child, and creating a unique support of love for the child.

Your child will know your name. Always. Your name will be spoken with honor and celebrated forever in our home. Your portrait will have a special place in your child's room. Your child will know who you are and the sacrifice you made. We will shower you with more pictures and updates than you know what to do with! This can be in the form of blogs (I love the ease and timeliness of it!), letters, phone calls, and photographs. We would like to meet you and have an ongoing relationship with you that would include occasional visits, phone calls, texts, and letters. You will be part of your child's life.

We have an open adoption with Jocelyn's birth parents. At first, they weren't sure how open they wanted to be, but our relationship has just naturally developed. We call each other on holidays and birthdays, we text, send letters, and we are Facebook friends. We have even made trips to see them a couple times.

Hanging out with Jocelyn's birth mom

If you prefer a closed adoption, we will honor those wishes. We would still let the child know he/she was adopted and how much love you have for him/her in making such a sacrifice. We will only disclose as much information about you as you choose.

No matter what level of openness you want, we will work with you in forming an honest relationship that is comfortable for all of us. No matter what, your child will know that he/she is loved, and we will forever be grateful for your decision.