American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency
 They say adversity builds character. We believe adversity reflects character. Although we don't know you, the fact that you're considering adoption speaks volumes about the type of person you are. We can only hope that if we faced such challenging circumstances our actions would reflect the same courage and selflessness you are demonstrating. We recognize that selecting parents for your child must be tremendously difficult and heart-wrenching. We can assure you that if you choose us, we will do everything in our power to provide a loving, stable, happy and fun-filled home for your baby.  |
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We are not the most conventional of couples. We met at a business meeting in Atlanta when Kent was working as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Team and Melissa was working for Olympic sponsor Budweiser's theme park division (Sea World and Busch Gardens). At the time, we lived in different parts of the country (Kent in California and Melissa in Missouri). Following a long day of meetings, a big group of people went out to dinner and we ended up seated next to each other. During the course of the conversation, Melissa mentioned that she had a birthday coming up. She had made a list of new things she wanted to try in the next year. Sailing was at the top of her list. Unbeknownst to her, Kent had grown up racing sailboats in Alaska. As luck would have it, Melissa was going to be in California the next week for work. So on a Friday afternoon, we had our first date -- sailing at sunset on Mission Bay in San Diego. Kent even brought a bottle of champagne to celebrate Melissa's birthday! That was the beginning of a fun and adventurous courtship.
We waited longer than most to get married. We like to joke that we each had a lot of living to do before we "settled down." The best thing about us is now that we are married the adventure has continued and is twice as much fun.
We have shared some incredible moments; so it's almost impossible to pick just one. One of our adventures included white water rafting with 28 family members and friends the day before our wedding. We were married at a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies. Then we took our first-ever helicopter ride up to the Continental Divide to get photos taken after the ceremony. For our honeymoon, we chartered a sailboat in the Caribbean - just the two of us. It was awesome to get up each morning, look over the horizon and decide which island we wanted to check out. We have also gone dog sledding, swimming with sting rays, zip-lining through a rainforest, and sea kayaking. We hope that someday soon we can continue our lifelong adventures with a little one or little ones in tow.
We have a dog named Kenai. (He is named after a famous salmon fishing river in Alaska where Kent is from.) He has been a great source of happiness and laughter for both of us and we couldn't love him any more than we do. Whether Kent's team wins or loses, whether we've been gone ten minutes or ten hours, he is just as excited to see his people as he was the day we first brought him home. He has taught us a lot about unconditional love, loyalty and living in the moment. He is also an eternal optimist. Even though we never feed him from the table, he patiently sits by our side just hoping that this will be the day. He never holds a grudge, greets each day with enthusiasm and relishes family time above all else - preferably on the couch. These are lessons to live by.
