American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency

Jon Gives His Team Instructions During a Time Out

Our lives revolve around a few important areas including God, family and our careers. We grew up in Baptist churches where we learned to put our faith and trust in God. We are active in our church, and our faith that God plans for us to be parents is what brought us to adoption. We are also actively involved in our families. We make it a point to see all of our family as often as possible and are always there for the important events. In fact, we are the official hosts of Christmas for Teresa's family. We both have jobs that involve working with kids and we enjoy helping each other. Part of Teresa's job is planning summer camps. Jonathan often serves as a counselor and is a big help with recreation. Jonathan is a PE teacher and basketball coach. He is great with the kids, especially the younger ones. He is always willing to help with those pesky shoe laces. He is also a great role model to the high school boys on his basketball team. He loves to win as much as most people, but he teaches the boys that the skills they learn about teamwork and perseverance are just as important. Each season Teresa becomes the team mother and cooks for the boys. Her favorite tradition is the homemade cinnamon rolls she makes for the first official early morning practice.

Our families have many traditions, but we'll focus on two. For Jonathan, his dad's family reunion takes center stage. Jonathan's grandfather had four brothers and it is mostly the families of these men who gather every other year. They take their reunion very seriously; there is a board that is in charge of the plans and they even sell clothes with the family crest and have a raffle to raise money for upkeep of the grounds. The guest list is quite extensive and features almost everyone who was ever born or married into the family. This is possible because the reunion is held in the family cemetery! Teresa's family tradition involves Christmas. As a child, the best part of the gathering on her Mom's side was opening the stockings. We enjoyed the other gifts and catching up over the meal, but the stockings were the main event! Grandma did the stockings herself, and they usually included a craft item she made and many other treasures. The year Teresa's oldest cousin got married she didn't get a stocking because she was an "adult." She was very upset and the next year her husband's name was added to her stocking and that's what happened as each granddaughter got married. When Grandma passed away a few years ago the oldest granddaughter kept the tradition going that year and now each granddaughter takes a year so Grandma's stockings will continue.

Christmas with Sam and Esther

In St. Augustine with Jon's Parents

We love to travel and have so many places we still want to visit and can't wait to see. We have a goal to see all 50 states and would love to go to Ireland and the list goes on. We also enjoy being a tourist in our own state and seeing all it has to offer. There are two things in particular we are excited to share with a child. One is a campout on the field where the St. Louis Cardinals play and the other is a night at the zoo. Since we want to see so many different things we don't usually go back to the same spot, but one place we have visited several times and would consider our favorite vacation spot is St. Augustine, Florida. We like to stay in a condo on the beach and can't wait to share this great place with a child. St. Augustine has a great beach and it isn't crowded. It is the oldest city in the country and has many historical buildings to explore. There is great shopping downtown and Jonathan loves all the golf courses. We also enjoy the fresh seafood. St. Augustine isn't far from Jonathan's parents so they usually come to visit while we are there. Our favorite thing to do is sit on the beach, listen to the waves and watch the ocean. We are excited to share sand castles and sea shell hunts with a child.

Jon Playing Golf