Hello we are Darren & Julie - Graceful Adoptions · Our Hopes and Dreams... Our hopes and dreams for our child are that we can give him or her love, knowledge, and life experiences

Hello we are...

Darren & Julie

Our Hopes and Dreams...Our hopes and dreams for our child are that we can give him or her love, knowledge, and life experiences they need to grow up and become happy, healthy, and successful. For them to find a career that they love doing and to create a family of their own one day.

Like most people, we have had some struggles in life. We have a biological son - it took over a year and a half to conceive. We had always wanted more than one child so when our son turned one we started trying to have another child. We tried fertility treatments with no success.

Just a few months shy of our son Owen’s fourth birthday we got the most devastating news. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was a very aggressive form of brain cancer. Despite all of our prayers, and the best doctors and best treatments, he passed away in our arms just seven short months later. We have taken the past few years to grieve the loss of our son. With the care and love of family, friends, and support groups, we are excited and we are ready to move forward to grow our family once again.

We have several friends and family members who were adopted or have adopted a child. We know firsthand that a child doesn’t have to be born to us to be loved unconditionally by us or to be a part of our family. We know adoption is the right path for us.

We will offer our child many things. Unconditional love, financial stability, and a stable home just to mention a few. Our child will always have clothes to wear, good food to eat, a warm loving house to live in and plenty of room to run around. They will also have the love and dedication of Grandma and Grandpa, as well as lots of cousins and aunts and uncles.

However, we know that for us to grow our family a loving mother must make an adoption plan for her child. Although we don’t know firsthand how difficult this might be, we do understand what it’s like to grieve the loss of a child. We are confident it takes courage and strength. If you choose us to be the adoptive parents for your child, we assure you that your child will be loved beyond words. We commit to you that we will always honor and respect you, and we will continue to do so for a lifetime.

Respectfully,

Julie & Darren

515.225.6351 / 877.628.1415 GracefulAdoptions.com

We focus on what matters to make every adoption a beautiful experience.

Family: We are very close with our families. We have learned not to take anyone or anything for granted and to cherish life and everyone in it. Our parents taught us about commitment and have prepared us well for our marriage and our family. Darren’s parents have been married for over 40 years, and mine have been together for over 20 years. We enjoy our time together whether we’re having dinner, talking, just hanging out, or working on projects. We can’t wait to share the unconditional love and dedication of our families with our child. Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles on both sides can’t wait to play and teach our child everything they know.

Education: We believe education is a lifelong journey. We will be our child’s first teacher and help them explore the world around them. We know each child learns in his or her own way and we will be their advocate to help find what works for them. We will read with our child to help expand their mind and vocabulary. We will help our child grow his or her imagination with lots of play time. We will go on trips to see and experience different cultures, people, and places. And when the time comes, we will provide our child the opportunity to go to college if that is the choice they make.

Having Fun: We believe having fun and being happy is great for your health and well-being. It gives you a better outlook on life. We enjoy life and have learned that it’s the small things that matter the most. Things such as being goofy to make one another laugh, watching movies, and trying new things. We will have lots of fun with our child, from playing peek-a-boo to tickling to playing games. We will find fun in everything we do!

Being Thankful: We believe it’s important to appreciate what you have in life and not always look for something else. We are very thankful to have our loving family and friends, stable jobs, our beautiful home and our future child. Although our child will have plenty of clothing and toys, we will teach our child that you can’t always have everything you want. However, they will always have what they need.

Open Minded: We believe it’s important to be open minded to different cultures, people, and to try new things. You don’t know if you like something unless you try it. The same goes for people. You don’t know who someone is unless you talk to them and get to know them. We will encourage our child to try a new food and activities before saying they don’t like it. We will also encourage our child to say “Hi” to the kid at the back of the classroom that no one else is talking to.

Honesty: We are a very honest couple. We were both raised to be hard working, trustworthy and to be “who you are.” Don’t try to be anyone else. We all make mistakes and need to learn from them. If you make a mistake, you need to own up to it. The truth is respected so much more then covering up a mistake. Our child will learn this quality from our actions when we admit when we make a mistake.

Our values and beliefs

as parents...



We live in a small town in a quiet neighborhood. It’s equal distance between two larger cities that have lots of activities - from a children’s play station, to parks, museums, roller skating, swimming, a splash pad, and plenty of restaurants to choose from for a night out. We are far enough away from the hustle and bustle that we can enjoy our quiet and peaceful neighborhood, yet close enough to a number of attractions to have fun on a moment’s notice. It’s the perfect place to raise a child.

We have lived in our home for about 10 years and feel very safe and comfortable. The neighbors are friendly and always ready to lend a hand. The neighborhood kids are very active and play together all of the time. They enjoy riding bikes, sledding, walking on the nature trail that goes through town, and playing at the park. We pass many kids enjoying wagon rides and being pushed in strollers as we walk around town with our dog.

One weekend every summer our town has a festival with a parade that circles through town. Main Street is blocked off for all the kids’ activities such as bounce houses and face painting. At dusk fireworks light up the sky. Following the fireworks, a band plays on Main Street. The kids have so much fun!

We spent the first few years working on many remodeling projects, making our house our home. We finished our basement, remodeled our kitchen, and painted all the walls in our house. We had lots of fun doing these projects together, it was a great way to bond as a newly married couple.

Our living space is very open, warm and inviting. It’s a home to be lived in. The colors, as well as lots of family pictures, warm up the space. The basement is divided between a TV area with plenty of seating, and a recreational area with a ping pong table and a dart board for hours of entertainment. Our family and friends are always very comfortable and make themselves right at home.

Another favorite area is our fenced-in backyard. It has plenty of room for our child to run and play, and includes a swing set with a slide and a sand box to dig and build fun castles. In the evening we sit around the fire-pit to share stories and roast marshmallows. Our backyard also has a garden area. Some of our favorites are tomatoes, green peppers and squash. We can’t wait for our child to plant something of their own. We imagine our child will like strawberries the best.

We have a nursery all ready for a child. The room has pale yellow walls with light blue/green stripes. There are pictures of whimsical animals on the walls that create a warm and happy feeling. There is also a little reading area with a rocking chair and shelves for plenty of books. It’s perfect for a boy or a girl.

We can’t wait to create lasting memories. The first words, the first steps, the first holidays. We are most looking forward to the laughter, the giggles and watching them grow. Life is precious. It’s the little things in life that count. Story time, bath time, dinner time... Showing them how to brush their teeth, tie their shoes, and zip up their coat. Honestly, we are looking forward to it all!

Our home...

• Both non-smokers

Hobbies:

Adoptive Mother:Going for walks, bike riding, crafts such as

pottery, simple sewing projects, going to the

movies, family vacations

Adoptive Father:Family vacations, going to the movies, restoring

old cars, working on model cars, going for walks,

hanging out with friends

Professions:

Adoptive Mother: Physical Therapist Assistant

Adoptive Father: Truss Designer

Education Level:

Adoptive Mother: Associates DegreeAdoptive Father: Associates Degree



Our family...We met almost 11 years ago through Match.com. We communicated through e-mail for a couple of weeks and decided to move our relationship to the next step. We met for dinner and bowling in a town halfway between where we each lived. We had a great time and good conversations. We seemed to really connect.

We knew early on we were meant to be together. Darren proposed at midnight on New Year’s Eve in 2005. He gave me a card filled with heartfelt words. The last line read, “Will you marry me?” I looked up from the card and he was down on one knee with my engagement ring. It was the best ending to an already great day.

We are best friends and our love grows stronger every day. We both have a calm spirit, are a bit goofy at times, and like to have fun. Darren is very caring, honest, patient and quiet. He tells me that I’m very loving, honest, quiet and organized. We like to go out to eat and to the movies, but we are also very content to watch a movie at home or play a game. When we play ping-pong, Darren always wins! When it comes to darts, I get my chance to win. Uno and Sorry are two of our favorite games. We are good at compromising and finding something that works for the both of us. Life is too short for anything else.

We knew we wanted to be parents, thus after building a strong foundation in our marriage we started trying to have children. It took 1 ½ years to conceive our son, Owen. When he turned one we started to try to conceive our second child. We even tried infertility treatments a couple of times with no luck. We knew at that time we were going to adopt. We knew a child didn’t have to be born to us to be our child.

However, when our son got sick right before his fourth birthday we put everything on hold. After visiting doctor after doctor to find the answer for his illness, our son was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was treated at a top-rated hospital in our state where they operated and then was transferred to St. Jude’s Hospital for treatments. We spent more than six months in Tennessee at the hospital hoping for a cure. Unfortunately, even the best hospitals and doctors couldn’t fight this cancer and seven months after he was diagnosed, Owen passed away in our arms. Of course Owen will always be a part of us and our family. We are not trying to replace him. He can’t be replaced, or forgotten.

We have spent years grieving the loss of our son and healing. Now it’s time to expand our family once more with the hope and dream to share everything life has to offer with another child. A few of the traditions we would like to share: Color and hide Easter eggs at Easter, make May day baskets on May day and hang stockings at Christmas . We get together with family for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. We celebrate Birthdays with family, presents and cake. We also enjoy going to car shows throughout the year.

We will continue all of these family traditions, as well as create new ones. We will start new traditions like going to a favorite amusement park, the zoo, and anything else our child enjoys. Seeing life through the eyes of a child is priceless. We can’t wait to be parents again!



Hello we are Darren & Julie - Graceful Adoptions · Our Hopes and Dreams... Our hopes and dreams for our child are that we can give him or her love, knowledge, and life experiences

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