Looking to Adopt Again

Welcome Eliza Jane!

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We have a new addition to our family, Eliza Jane!

Thank you, Zoraida (Eliza's birth mom) for the wonderful gift you have given us by placing Eliza with us!

Hello!

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We want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to tell you a little about our family. We recognize you are reading this blog with the weight of one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make. We feel much love, gratitude, respect, and empathy for you. We realize the great courage and love you have to place your child for adoption. We pray that the Lord will be with you, that He will give you comfort, and that you may feel His love. Although it is impossible to tell you everything about us, or show you all the love we share and have in store for your child, we hope this blog gives you a glimpse into our lives.

We are excited to add to our family though adoption and to possibly bring your child into our lives. We hope that as you read about us that you have the chance to get a feel for who we are and for whether you feel that letting your baby become part of our family is the right choice for you. We look forward to getting to know you as we share the adoption process together!

Your Friends,
Hallie, Mike, and Landon

About Us

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We have been married about 12 years, and during that time we have been on many adventures. The two of us met in a peculiar way. One day Hallie saw Mike in a church class, and she thought to herself, “Hey, I want to date that guy.” Two weeks later Michael and a friend were sitting by each other. Hallie thought this would be her chance to get to know him. By the end of the evening, we had talked until midnight and had a date set up for that weekend. Just twelve weeks after our first date we were married. Hallie was sick on the day we got married and doesn’t remember much. What she does remember though is being very happy to be marrying Michael. We are best friends. We tell each other everything and have complete trust and faith in each other. We are truly committed to one another because we want to see each other succeed in life, and we want to see the other be fully and completely happy. The two of us want to experience all that life has to offer with each other and with the children we hope to bring into our family. In October of 2007 we added to our family through adoption. Landon was placed in our home by a wonderful birth mother who chose us to raise her darling son. He has been a wonderful addition to our family. Every day is an adventure that we truly cherish.

Michael about Hallie

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I think the most important thing to know about Hallie is that
she is a really genuine person. When she is happy, you can tell. She can’t hide it! Hallie is also the oldest of her siblings, so she takes on a lot of responsibility. She cares for her friends and is very loyal. She does an excellent job caring for other people in her family and at church. She is a wonderful mom to Landon. She always has some exciting or dramatic story to tell about her day’s events and their activities together. I never have a boring time when Hallie is near. Hallie loves music, and she gets super excited whenever her favorite band is in town. She plays the piano, and she usually either has music playing on the radio, or she can be found humming a little tune. She loves to explore new places and revisit favorite haunts. She has taken me to visit some of her favorite parts of the world, and she has been brave enough to come with me to some of my favorite places too. She makes an effort to improve herself each day, and she doesn’t let the fact that she’s not perfect stop her from changing herself for the better.

Hallie about Michael

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Michael grew up in Southern California as the oldest of four kids and the only boy. For me that has paid off because he really knows how to treat a lady right. During his growing up years, Michael babysat a lot and was one of the few boys in his area to do so. Serving a mission in Argentina has been a highlight of his life. Michael speaks beautiful Spanish, and he feels it important to share his love of language and culture with Landon and our future children. Being on time is important to me, and on our first date Mike was arrived right on time, which impressed me. From the time Michael was little he has always done very well in school. We joke that he liked school so much that he got a PhD! But there is more to Mike than just being a good student. He is kind to others and is willing to help others. He also loves to decorate and do maintenance on the house. Some of the things I love about Michael are that he is willing to take risks with me, and he supports me in all that I do even if it means making a mistake. Michael is a gentleman. He holds the door open for me, is willing to go clothes shopping with me, and knows the little things in life that make me happy, like cleaning the house. Michael is a hard worker. He will not stop working on a project until he gets it done. Mike loves it when I laugh, and he is willing to put himself out there to be silly enough to get a smile on my face. Michael is always concerned for our well-being. He helps us eat healthy, exercise, write in our journals, attend church, and be the best people we can. Michael loves our son. He has so much fun with Landon showing him all of the neat things in this great big world around him.

Mike and Hallie about Landon

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Landon is 3 years old and is so very active. Each and everyday he is developing new skills that amaze us. Love shines through this little guy's eyes. He's a special little man, and people of all ages seem drawn to him and his engaging personality. Our families are so excited to be around him when we go to visit. Landon has tried at least all of the foods we have given him, even if they do make his face pucker. He's a little daredevil and fearlessly climbs over any obstacle in his way.

Travel

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Our life together today is one full of rich adventure and great excitement. We enjoy traveling and have traveled to many places together. We spent two months in Argentina and have made several trips to Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Montreal, Calgary, Ontario, and Newfoundland). We have visited several states and look forward to seeing many more. Both of our families live in Southern California, and we make many trips there. Plus Hallie’s grandma lives in St. George, Utah, so needless to say we don’t sit around the home for very long.

Education and Work

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Hallie currently is a stay-at-home mom. She has so much fun trying to keep up with Landon all day long. In May 2006 she graduated with honors with a business degree. Michael teaches at the local university, and he is also the first of his siblings to receive a college degree or two. We believe in working hard to achieve our goals, but we also believe in taking time to relax and enjoy life.

So Much to Do!

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We try to spend as much time together as we can. We like to try new restaurants in the city, and we love to go to concerts, musicals, parks, and museums. Finding humor in life is important to us, and we can always find humor when we are hanging out with Hallie’s family. Both of our families live out of state, and we enjoy traveling to see them. When we go to visit family, we love to hit all of our favorite stores and restaurants we don’t have back at home. Both of us like to read. We have more books than we know what to do with. We also love to cook together.

Traditions

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We really enjoy celebrating the holidays throughout the year. Mike is famous for hanging up all different kinds of lights in the window. On St. Patrick’s Day we celebrate Landon's Irish heritage and eat corned beef, cabbage, Irish soda bread, and some kind of fun green dessert. Our favorite holidays come in the fall and winter when we start decorating in October and don’t stop until Easter. If you stop by our house on Christmas day you will find a hint of Christmas everywhere, including a working Lego train underneath the tree.

Our Favorite Things

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	Mike	Hallie	Landon
age	36	34	3
height	5’ 10”	5’ 7”	3’
hair color	light brown	brown	light brown
eye color	blue	hazel	blue
education	PhD in educational leadership	AAS in small business	he’s schooling us in parenthood
job	college professor	full-time mom	full-time explorer
fun facts	cuts elaborate paper snowflakes	1st grandbaby on both sides of her family	budding gymnast, ¾ caucasian, ¼ asian, adopted, open adoption
favorite food	pizza	nachos	what's on your plate?
favorite dessert	cookies	ice cream and brownies	what's on your plate?
favorite color	blue or red?	green	orange
favorite drink	a tall cold glass of water	diet Cherry Coke	milk
favorite TV Show	Dirty Jobs	The Office	Cars on video
TV channel	Hulu	NBC
loves . . .	to walk, ride his bike, or fly his kite chocolate and peanut butter podcasts	flowers fall her baby blanket music	to run around or play with balls and blocks to ride his toy train music and dancing
siblings	3 sisters	2 brothers, one sister	none (yet)
amusement park	Disneyland	Disneyland
amusement park ride	Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	The Haunted Mansion
three words	Love conquers all	Hope, Laugh, Service	ball! cars! bus!
three fruits	apple, orange, berries	clementine, strawberry, watermelon	strawberry, banana, watermelon
three vegetables	carrots, peppers, tomato	broccoli, sweet potato, onion	carrot, squash, potato
artist	Maud Lewis	Eric Dowdle
author	Roald Dahl	Nicholas Sparks	Dr. Seuss
school lunch	PB & honey, apple, pretzels	PB & banana, chocolate milk, chips	whatever mom and dad are eating
snack chip	Cheez-its	Cheetos	goldfish
sports team	Detroit Red Wings	Wings	Wings
crappy part time job	sports arena custodial	florist	soiling his diaper
top three guilty-pleasure movies	Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Happy Gilmore, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory	Wayne's World, Billy Madison, Tommy Boy	Cars, Cars, Cars
store at the mall	Restoration Hardware (at Christmas)	The Children's Place	the mall play area
time in history	Medieval Times (only if I were king)	late 1700's
two Sesame Street characters	Oscar and Kermit	The Count and Big Bird	Elmo and Cookie Monster
tree or plant	wheat	cherry or dogwood	pumpkin
wild animal	tiger	dolphin	Tigger
kid's cereal	Lucky Charms	Lucky Charms	Frosted mini-wheats (chocolate flavored)
childhood prank	“Your shoes are untied!”	TP the neighbors	pretending to be asleep
80's cartoon	The Real Ghostbusters	Smurfs
80's fashion	sweatshirts with the necks cut out	scrunchy socks
fashion decade	1930s	1780s
drink at Starbucks	thick sipping chocolate	double chocolate chip frappuccino	shaken passion fruit iced herb tea lemonade
place you have lived	Buenos Aires	Southeast Michigan	Southeast Michigan
fast food restaurant	Tommy’s or In ‘N Out	Paradise Bakery	Wendy's
vacation spot	Hawaii	Nova Scotia	Route 66
flower	rose	tulip	sunflower
vehicle color	cherry red	dark blue	red