Us with Gavin's Mum and Dad and Karen and Darren at His Parents 40th Ruby Wedding Anniversary in England
Gavin was born in England (just outside of London) to Margaret and Brian. He has an older sister, Karen. She is married to Darren and they have two boys, Alex and Cameron.
Gavin had a fun childhood vacationing in all parts of Europe via camper. His parents were teachers so they had the summer holidays to travel. Gavin and Karen still tell childhood stories about those trips and how Mum still can't remember which one doesn't eat beans or peas!
Gavin was very into Track (400 hurdles) and his parents were very supportive and traveled great distances to allow him to participate and to watch him in the events.
Cyndie was born to Kay and Jack in New Jersey. She is the oldest of five girls: Stefanie, Melanie, Jennifer and Jacqie all have children: seven nieces and nephews - Briellyn, Blake, Quinn, Cooper, Gannon, Sierra and Peyton -who by the way are all very excited to meet their new cousin! Quinn even wrote a letter to say so! Her parents always instilled the importance of family. Her mom always made sure the girls were friends and shared a close bond - so much so that two of them live across the street from each other now and all five of them speak nearly everyday!
Cyndie was active in cheerleading, gymnastics and softball. All of which she excelled in. Mom and Dad were very supportive in all of the activities she participated in. Her parents worked very hard: Mom was a registered nurse and Dad managed a car dealership. Family was and will always be important to Cyndie.
Her family spent many summer vacations at Rascal Ranch (rented cabins and spent the week fishing, swimming, catching frogs and sitting by campfires). Although the immediate family was large - we always did things in even bigger crowds. Family, friends and cousins were always around. Once there were 37 of us that went to on a vacation to Ocean City, Maryland.
While we live several hours from our immediate families we are very close...we visit often and talk to Gav's family once a week and to Cyndie's family practically every other day. We also are lucky that we have really close friends and fabulous neighbors in Michigan who are like family to us.
Cyndie with Her Mom, Sisters, and Niece at Her Bridal Shower
Our House & Neighborhood
Our Home
We have a beautiful home on a 300-acre private lake, with a large yard perfect for children to play and grow in. Our home is two stories with a finished basement and four bedrooms. We live on a quiet street where the kids can play out front when they are not playing basketball, on play structures, or in sand boxes in our back yards.
We bought a house on a lake for a few reasons: 1. We wanted to live in a nice neighborhood and do the things we love - in our backyard no less! 2. So our families and friends would have a fun place to visit in addition to getting to spend time together. 3. So that as our children grow, they would have a nice place to call home and a place their friends could enjoy and have plenty of things to do!
Kierah with Appie at Christmas
We like to think we have the best of both worlds where we live, in that, we live in a quiet community but are only a short drive from a large city. We can go to "Hockeytown" to watch the Detroit Red Wings play, Comerica Park where the Tigers play baseball (a great stadium that even has a small ferris wheel to keep kids entertained) or Greenfield Village which has many interesting learning activities, museums and the history of the motor city.
Ours is a wonderful neighborhood where we all have close relationships (we even mow each others yards!) There are no fences in our neighborhood as we are all a "close-knit" bunch who share in each other and enjoy many things together. There are plenty of children around so play-mates will not be hard to find! The neighborhood children play together, sharing all their toys and "play stuff".
We also have local parks, nature trails and two large state parks in our area. We love to go there to walk Appie, roller blade or ride mountain bikes.
We live in a community with a state award winning school system. The recreation and sports programs offer a broad range of activities available to children. We think our township and the state of Michigan are a perfect place to start and raise a family.
American Adoptions, a private adoption agency founded on the belief that lives of children can be bettered through adoption, provides safe adoption services to children, birth parents and adoptive families by educating, supporting and coordinating necessary services for adoptions throughout the United States. For more information on American Adoptions please call 1-800-ADOPTION (236-7846).
