Mitchell's Mom and Dad Visiting in Our Home

Mitchell's parents refer to his dog as "The Grand Dog". They are already the grand-parents of five boys and look forward to the arrival of another grand-child. They are very proud of the man Mitchell has grown to be and are sure that he will be a great father. Mitchell's younger brother, wife and three sons live about four hours away. Work schedules do not permit getting together as often as desired. They are very supportive of Mitchell's desire to adopt. Mitchell's younger sister, husband and two sons are three hours away. We don't see Mitchell's youngest sister as much as we’d like because she also spends holiday's with her husband's family.

Mitchell, Peggy and his parents enjoy spending time together whenever possible and especially on Thanksgiving Day. Time is spent playing cards, dominos, or just reminiscing about the past.

Us with Peggy's Family at Her Youngest Brother's Wedding

Peggy has one sister and three brothers. They are all married and live within thirty minutes of her parents. The oldest brother and his wife have four children, the youngest in high school. The next brother and his wife do not have children. Christmas was celebrated in their new home last year. Peggy's younger sister and her husband have three children, two (twins) who are college age and one in high school. These three visited almost every summer from the time the twins were seven until they graduated. The youngest brother and his wife currently have one son, age seven, who is very involved in sports. Since Peggy is two and one-half hours away, she cherishes the time she spends with them. They all await the arrival of a new little one with great anticipation.

Peggy's father is a retired crane operator. He continues to be very active, so much so, that Peggy says when she wants to spend the day with him she must wear her tennis shoes to keep up. Peggy's mother was a part-time retail clerk before she retired. She now has some major health concerns. When Peggy tells her mom that she has a new pair of shoes the search begins for a matching purse.

Our Home

Our house is located just ten miles from downtown, in a small middle class subdivision, just outside of the city limits. We are blessed to own a brick home with three bedrooms and two baths. Our neighbors of seventeen years are very encouraging about our decision to adopt. Many of whom we have come to meet through walking our dog. Some of the children have come to visit requesting to play with him. It's funny to find tired ten year olds laying around the yard while our little Rat Terrier is still running strong.

The "Untouchables" Playing a Little Jazz at a Local Park

The city offers much in the way of community support. There are six parks within eleven miles of our house. Popular sports in the area are soccer, basketball, football, baseball and tennis. Downtown is host to the Main Library, Children's Museum, Natural History Museum and Planetarium. We recently attended an Art Auction at one of the local galleries, viewing art donated by children of area schools. The auction benefited "The Grief Center", a local non-profit organization helping families deal with loss.

Being in a parish with a population of one hundred ninety thousand, we are very fortunate to be in a school district that has the only public school where students attend kindergarten through eighth grade. There are seven hundred students in thirty-six classrooms this year. The school performance score on the Iowa Leap Test was 118.6. This score puts our school at a high three star rating only 1.4 away from the highest rating of four stars. We have heard nothing but great things about this school from our neighbors.