Shawn & Elizabeth

After 10 years of marriage and dreaming of becoming mom and dad for so long, we are beyond excited to think that dream may soon become a reality. If you choose to place your child with us, you can be sure he will have involved, engaged parents to provide lots of love, encouragement and financial stability. We will give your child an opportunity to travel to interesting places and to get a great education. In our home, your child will find the sound of music, an emphasis on faith, a close-knit extended family, and a community of caring friends. We look forward to seeing a child develop into the unique person God has created him to be, and to guiding and nurturing him along that journey - a journey that began with your love. Preferred Gender: Male

Shawn Elizabeth Job Description Founder & President of a Company that Serves the Meetings Industry Homemaker Education Bachelor of Business Administration Two Classes left to earn a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry Favorites Actor Jim Carrey Actor Johnny Depp Dream Job Author/Speaker Dream Job Mother Sports Star Emmitt Smith Sports Star Eddie George TV Show Character Jim from The Office TV Show Character Jack Shepherd from Lost Video Game Madden Football Video Game Guitar Hero Children None

Elizabeth with Our Little Nephew

Shawn: I love Elizabeth's perseverance, compassion, and maternal nature. Due to circumstances, her life has never given her the smoothest road to travel, yet she has been strong and determined and has persevered every step of the way. I believe it is because of the challenges she has faced that she is very compassionate toward others who face adversity. She may be moved to tears by hearing someone's story on Oprah, or she may have trouble sleeping at night after learning about some struggle one of our friends or family members is facing. And related to that compassion, perhaps, she is a natural born mother. She is the mother of our house, taking care of me and our dog. And when we visit friends who have a baby, she is always eager to step in and hold the child, change the diaper, or do whatever is necessary to love and care for him or her.

Elizabeth: I could list a thousand things I like about Shawn but I'll narrow it down to three: Shawn is kind and has a heart of gold. He's also very creative in many different ways - musically (he plays piano), in business (he's owned his business for five years and always has ideas on how to continue growing it) and in life in general (he's a visionary and a dreamer). And last, but definitely not least, he has a great sense of humor. He makes me laugh all the time and all our friends think he's really funny. All the qualities I love about Shawn will also make him a great father. He will be kind and fun but also a wise counselor and the rock a child will always be able to lean on.

We have had several friends who chose adoption as the way to grow their families but the adoption that is closest to our hearts is the one of our niece Melissa. She was adopted as a baby all the way from China. She is 17 now and we have seen her grow into a beautiful young woman who is proud of her heritage but also feels completely at-ease being part of her family, who happens to be Caucasian. Her parents (Elizabeth's sister and husband) made sure she learned about the rich Chinese culture and history and therefore, Melissa grew up with a really positive image of her country, race and culture. Seeing what a blessing Melissa's adoption was to our family made our decision to adopt an easy one. We had even talked about adopting some day before we knew we couldn't have biological children. We feel very strongly that adoption is the way God chose to build our family and we are looking forward to be called mom and dad.

Distributing Christmas Gifts at an Orphanage in Europe

As a trans-cultural family, we will celebrate all cultures. We will teach the child that every ethnic group is valuable and that diversity is this country's and our family's strength. While we will embrace our differences we will also cherish our similarities, always focusing on the fact that we are a family and family transcends differences.

Shawn Making Cookies

We also want the child to have a positive image of his race as we know that will influence his self-esteem. We live in a culturally diverse community and will make sure he has positive role models of many races, including his own. There are a number of groups and great activities we can plug in with so he can identify with children who share a similar heritage.

Also, his racial background and his adoption will be spoken about very openly in our home. We will respond to his questions and concerns in an age-appropriate manner so he can understand. Above all, we want him to know that our love for him is unconditional and he can be free to be the unique person God created him to be.