We are Karen, Don and Ethan! We are honored you are reading our story and we deeply admire your decision to place your child for adoption. We hope that our story will give you some comfort in knowing there are loving, caring and compassionate people in the world who will share everything they have with your child.
When Karen and Don are at work, Karen’s parents do the babysitting. Before Ethan started kindergarten, they watched and bonded with him and your child will do the same. These fun, loving grandparents live on a lake right across the street. Babysitting adventures take place with lots of time spent outside and in the lake, at the parks and in storybooks. Education is very important to us. We have a huge collection of story books that we read from every night. We started a college fund for Ethan when he was born, we contribute to it monthly and will do the same for your child. We sneak teaching into all of our moments together so learning is fun and always happening!
I grew up in a family of five. I was a natural when it came to swimming and spent every day in the water from Kindergarten through high school. At age 12, I started babysitting for all the families in my neighborhood! Unfortunately getting pregnant was very difficult. After many years of fertility difficulties we were blessed with Ethan! I have enjoyed every moment being a mother and cannot wait to share my love with another child! I am a self-taught engineer and work for an automotive company. I went to school to x-ray people, but found a career I love x-raying and analyzing car parts instead. We often get to x-ray fun stuff from museums and universities like dinosaur fossils and even a baby woolly mammoth! My career provides a wonderful work life balance. I work from home three days a week and can make my own hours. This has allowed me lots of time with Ethan and to be home most days with him when he was young. Now that he is in school, my flexible job schedule allows me time to help in his class, attend parties and go on field trips.
Karen’s childhood nickname was Carebear, I found it fit her well and quickly adopted it. She is incredibly caring and always willing to help others. Her example and helpful nature has rubbed off on our son who is following in her footsteps! Karen keeps us engaged in activities and family events. She is motivated, competitive and a problem solver. I’ve witnessed several times where she can take one look at a problem and she has it solved, leaving her peers scratching their heads. It makes me laugh every time. Karen is full of energy, thoughtful and nurturing. She is a natural teacher with patience to work with children at their pace. She loves to play with kids, make them laugh and encourages them to try new activities. One of my favorite things is when Karen plays with a baby. She has this ability to make a baby laugh like nothing you’ve ever seen.
I was an only child. My parents stressed the importance of a good education and to get involved in extracurricular activities. I loved sports from an early age and played baseball, basketball and swam. I was a member of the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and was class president for a year. I found an IT job out of high school and have worked my way from an entry level job to subject matter expert in IT Security over the course of my career. I went to night school and graduated with a Bachelors in Computer Programming. One of the nice benefits to working in IT is that I can usually work from home and watch Ethan when needed. I love spending time with our son. Part of me has never grown up. I love reading books, building Legos and playing games with Ethan. I enjoy teaching him, introducing him to new subjects and experiencing the world from his point of view. I love being a father to Ethan and I will always be a loving, caring and guiding influence for your child as well.
I gave Don the nickname Tripp when I learned he was the third generation of his name. He is on top of the current events in our world and also fascinated with history. His dream job is to develop video games, but for now he is mastering IT Security at a financial services company. Tripp can speak miles over my head, but cal also have adorable conversations with the youngest children. Children have always been drawn to him. When we were dating we attended a Christmas party with his work friends and their families. I was thrilled to see how all the little people at the party flocked to him. I was instantly in love and knew he would make a wonderful father! Tripp is easy-going, intelligent and always in the middle of the fun. He is full of love, smiles and happiness and shares all his joy with us! He can mend a scraped knee, turn tears into smiles and he still gives me butterflies. When he is not at work, he’s at home spending time with us, playing, teaching and being a wonderful role model for our family. He is passionate about travel and looks forward to exploring the world as a family.
He is a fun, loving, silly, happy seven year old boy that adores the water and nature! He is always willing to help out and full of smiles and hugs that brighten everyone’s day! He is very excited to be a big BROTHER and can’t wait to meet your child!! He often tells us all the fun things he wants to teach a new baby! Ethan started elementary school in 2018. When he is not in school, we are spending time together. We run errands together, play outside, make forts, play hide and seek, watch movies and always eat meals together!
Ethan enjoys going to parks and playgrounds, the zoo and having friends and family over to play in the lake. Ethan is very interested in sports and chooses what he would like to play. He has baseball and soccer practices once a week. When he grows up he wants to be a Science Teacher or soccer player!
Karen has always been drawn to water and in 2001 found a cozy little cottage on one of Michigan’s many inland lakes. We made it our home together after we were married in April 2004. Six years later, we tore down our tiny starter home and rebuilt a larger home with plenty of room to grow our future family. Since we live on a lake, it was important for us to start swim lessons and water safety right away with Ethan and we will do the same for your child! When you open the back door the lake is less than 25 feet away! At the water’s edge, the lake is less than knee deep. Even with Ethan’s advanced swimming skills, he is never left alone, we are always with him and watching. We often go swimming and fishing right in the backyard. We have a boat for water sports, fishing and joyrides. There is a sandbar in the middle of the lake that is alway a busy place full of friendly faces on hot summer nights! Our subdivision has five parks a very short walk away: two are open fields we use for soccer, baseball and Frisbee as well as kite and drone flying; one has a sandy beach, horseshoes and a basketball court and two have playground equipment.
Karen’s sister and her family of five live outside of Chicago, Illinois. We take turns making trips to visit and also have fun together in downtown Chicago! The rest of Karen’s immediate and extended family live less than a thirty minute drive away. We see one another many times a year for holidays, birthdays and also random get-togethers. There are 23 of us in all. We are a close-knit extended family and enjoy spending time together!
Don’s immediate family includes his Mom, Ethan’s Gigi! She is less than an hour away and we see her at least once a month. She is fun, loving and showers Ethan with love and attention. We enjoy BBQ’s and finding new places to eat out with her. We also visit local museums and go to art exhibits together. She is super excited and anxiously awaits the arrival of our newest family member. Don has a very large extended family who all live here in Michigan and we see them several times a year!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. Adoption is a wonderful blessing and a gift we hope to share with you. We admire and respect whatever decision you make! We want to thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.
We are very excited to have the opportunity to welcome a baby or babies into our family and share our lives of love, adventure and happiness with them. We take this very seriously and want you to know we will give your child every advantage in life that we possibly can. We will love your child unconditionally and enjoy every moment of our new life together.
