Our Family

Family is very important to us. We enjoy getting together and having fun. Jake's family is unique in that he was adopted himself as a teen. In his biological family, he has 9 siblings. All but 2 were adopted out, mostly in pairs. Jake and his biological brother, Kyle, were adopted together as teens into this wonderful family you see here on the side. His parents here also have 5 of there own biological children. So, needless to say, Jake has a BIG family and he keeps in touch with nearly all of them, even his birthmom. We feel that with this experience, he'll be able to better relate to our children when we adopt them. We feel that it will be beneficial to our children to maintain relationships with their birthparents, if possible.

Alisa's family is smaller, but very close. She only has 2 younger sisters. Both of her sisters have children that we adore and have fun playing with. With them both living in a different state, we call eachother often and stay in touch. We even take road trips to visit once in awhile. Alisa's parents live nearby and get together often. We have a once a month get together at her grandma's house where all the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids come together for dinner and chatting.

Alisa with her sister's two kids, Grant and Zoe. We take a trip to New Mexico once or twice a year to visit them. We talk to the kids on the phone all the time. Alisa is there "Aunt Seesa".

















On our European trip, we visited Scotland since it is in Alisa's ancestry. We love hearing the bagpipes. We were in a store when we heard them playing, so we ran out to watch. After they played, we asked one of them if they would take a picture with us.










Further north of Edinburgh, Scotland in a town called Stonehaven, Scotland there is a castle that Alisa's ancestors (Keith Clan) lived in and saved the Scottish Crown Jewels from being stolen. We just had to visit. It's called Dunnottar Castle and unfortunately is in ruins, but it is open to the public. It was amazing to know that your ansectors once touched the same walls and walked where you were walking. I just love knowing where I came from. We can't wait to teach our children where they come from too, with the help of their birthparents.







Here we are inside a huge fireplace in one of the Towers at Dunnottar Castle.