4531 Alex and Staci - Adoption Support Center...4531 Alex and Staci Dear birth couple, We want to !rst thank you for considering the courageous and brave decision of adoption. There

4531Alex and Staci

Dear birth couple,

We want to first thank you for considering the courageous and brave decision of adoption. There is no way we can understand what you have been through and how you are now feeling as you try to make the best decision for you and your baby. What we do understand is the blessing you could be to a family like ours. You see, in 2012 a very special mother chose us to be parents to her precious daughter. Selah has been nothing short of a gift from God. We are so thankful for the gift and sacrifice that her birth mother, Abigail, gave to us. We are literally at a loss for words to describe how much we love Selah, and how much she and her birth mom mean to us, and our extended family. Selah brings so much joy and happiness to us and to our family, and has literally changed our lives.

Our greatest hope is for our child to always feel loved not only by us, but also by our family, our friends, and by their birth family. We desire the chance to get to know as much as you are willing to

share about you so we can share that with our child. It is important to us that our children know that the decision to place them for adoption was one you made out of love and sacrifice for them. We feel so blessed to have Selah’s birth mom in our lives and would love to embrace a a loving and growing relationship with you as well. We would be comfortable committing to at least 4 visits a year, if you are comfortable with that. We are happy to text quick updates & pictures with you or send printed pictures and letters in the mail. We want to respect you and your needs as you process this decision.

Our daughter is ecstatic to be a big sister and all of the grandparents can’t wait to meet the second grandchild in the family! We wish you all the best on this journey whether we get to meet you or not!

With many prayers,

Alex and Staci

© 2016 Adoption Support Center, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

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StaciMy parents did a phenomenal job of establishing our own family traditions and building a treasury of warm memories. Each fall, we would pick out our own pumpkins at a local orchard and enjoy an apple cider slushie yum! To this day, I still look forward to Thanksgiving weekend and visiting a local tree farm to pick out a live Christmas tree. My mom always decorates the kitchen table for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day with candy goodies and green pancakes! My brother, sister, and I make a competition out of Easter egg decorating and who could make the best egg. We still enjoy these traditions together, and I feel so blessed to share these experiences with Selah. My family absolutely adores Selah and loves taking her on new adventures to the zoo, aquarium, farm, museum and whatever else sounds fun!.

AlexMy mom lives a couple hours away from us, but we try to see her around once a month for a day or two over a weekend. We love to do different activities with her and sometimes she and Selah will go off an adventure together, just the two of them. My brother lives with his wife in Austin, TX so seeing each other is a little tough. We try to get together once or twice a year for Holidays or family get togethers. In between, we like to face time with them so Selah can show off her latest dance moves. My dad and stepmom live in Georgia. We try to see them once or twice a year as well, either for holidays, or spring\summer trips. When we get together, we like to keep busy. We play games, do crafts with Selah, try new restaurants, or just hang out and catch up. When we go to Georgia to see my dad and stepmom, we get to see Selah’s cousins (my stepsister’s kids) who Selah’s crazy about. We see my mom the most and we like to do things like splash pad, the zoo, and Children’s Museum with her.

SelahSelah Belle is a B-E-A-UTIFUL soul. She is silly and playful yet an amazingly kind and considerate little lady. She truly loves interacting with other kids. Selah LOVES to play. Dress up and dolls are her favorites right now. She has quite a collection of wigs and costumes and changes “character” many times a day. If you ever see Elsa or Moana or Ariel walking through Target, it might just be Selah. She also enjoys quiet activities like coloring, jigsaw puzzles, reading books, playing Candy Land, and snuggling with her “dog brothers” Iggy and Rudy. We so appreciate her adventurous spirit. She is taking a dance class right now and is doing well learning all of the sassy dance moves. Singing and dancing are right up her alley. Selah loves, loves, loves to swim, so we have made excellent use of our neighborhood pool! Selah is very excited to be a big sister, and has even said she wants to help with diapers!

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Staci’s thoughtsabout our relationshipAlex is my best friend. He keeps me grounded and balances me in so many ways. He has a gentle, calm spirit and is so generous with his

love and time. Still catching me by surprise, he can whip out a witty one-liner with the best. He makes me laugh with his silly puns and nerdy math jokes and I love him all the more for it. I admire the way Alex’s mind works as we approach problems very differently and I think that strengthens our marriage. We are able to communicate through differences and solve challenges together utilizing our unique strengths. Watching Alex grow as a father has been so sweet and humbling. He is a phenomenal father and I learn so much from him everyday. Selah adores her daddy and he adores her. Alex is so patient

and loving with Selah, and he also loves to play with her. He will play beauty salon, baby dolls, Barbie – whatever Selah asks – and can do a surprisingly good “Barbie” voice ☺

Alex’s thoughtsabout our relationshipStaci is the kindest, most generous, and most thoughtful person that I know. She always puts others before herself; is more concerned

about what they’re thinking and feeling than herself. She can pick up on layers and nuance in conversation and people that I had no idea even existed. She is extremely creative and crafty, for example, spending weeks making decorations and activities for Selah’s 4th birthday party. She is a strong and sassy lady, and I’m extremely lucky to have her in my life. I love watching Staci as a mom to Selah. I always knew she would be a wonderful mom, even early in our relationship. She loves kids and is a kid at heart herself. She will play and play with Selah and they will be so silly together – playing dress up, playing with dolls, craft projects, making slime, finger-painting, and whatever else the two of them come up with. My other favorite thing about Staci

as a mom is how loving and tender she is. It amazes me that she seems to know just what Selah needs to hear and just when to give Selah a hug or her space. She goes above and beyond for Selah to make sure Selah knows, without a doubt, how loved she is. Staci is very much about family traditions and LOVES planning birthday parties. We’ve had a panda princess party, under the sea, and a Princess Jasmine party.

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Fun Facts• We met our Sophomore year in college at Purdue.

• We are a sports family, enjoying Purdue, Pacers, & Colts so Selah learned to say, “Boiler Up”, “Go Pacers” and “Go Colts” at a very early age.•Paint, sequins, yarn, fabric, cardstock – you name it – Staci loves to create with it! She absolutely loves creating her own home décor and tries Pinterest ideas all the time. •Alex enjoys playing fantasy football and is in 3 leagues – eye roll from Staci ☺ •Selah loves going to the Children’s Museum, the Zoo, and Chik-fil-a.

• Staci loves books and enjoys reading to Selah. We have lots of children’s books crammed into bookshelves and storage bins on every floor

of our house.

Staci Alex

Born: 1984 1985Height: 5’7” 5’11”Complexion: Fair FairHair/Eyes: Brown/Brown Brown/BrownReligion: Christian Christian Education: Bachelor’s Degree Bachelor’s DegreeOccupation: RN, QI Coordinator Software DeveloperMat/Pat Lv: Yes, 3 months then Yes work pt-time

We have been married since 2007. We adopted our beautiful daughter Selah at birth in 2012. We also share our home with Iggy, a Border Collie Mix and Rudy, a Black Lab mix.

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Home and CommunityIn October 2015, we moved into one of the highest rated school

districts in the state. The elementary, middle and high school are all within 5 minutes drive time from our home. Our neighborhood is extremely family and kid friendly – there are tennis courts, a playground, a neighborhood pool (Selah got to have swimming lessons there), walking paths, and lots of kids. Each July 4th holiday, our neighborhood hosts it’s own fireworks show and it is an impressive display! The neighborhood was a large selling point – Alex grew up kind of in the country in northern Indiana and there weren’t a lot of kids around. We didn’t want that for Selah. We also moved into a larger house with extra bedrooms specifically with our growing family in mind. There is lots of extra space for kiddos to play in our finished basement and outside with our fenced backyard. Our faith is important to us and we try to center our lives on God. We work hard to create a Jesus-filled environment for Selah and want her to see grace and love in

action. We attend church regularly, support it financially, and support it by volunteering Sunday mornings in the children’s ministry.

Why Adoption?After three years of trying, we started getting tested to see if there was a medical issue and eventually found that Staci had trouble ovulating. Staci went through multiple rounds of the fertility drug Clomid, and experienced some awful side effects, without a successful pregnancy. We attempted two unsuccessful artificial inseminations. Staci’s body had been through so much at this point and we were both emotionally exhausted after the repeated setbacks. Throughout the process, we had been discussing adoption. We had been talking and praying a lot, and felt a strong pull towards pursuing adoption. We had some friends that had

recently adopted through ASC, and we talked to them about their experience. We signed on with ASC and while the wait was not easy, we were blessed beyond measure when Selah’s birth mother chose us. We enjoy our visits with Selah’s birth mother, scrapbooking, going to the park, and even having her join us at Selah’s tumbling class.

Thank you for considering us!