Karine (the stay at home Mom) was born in Virginia and lived up and down the east coast growing up. She grew up considering herself a southern/city girl but appreciated the different cultures around her. Karine loves music -she has a great love for a wide variety of music and loves to dance to anything with a great beat.She also loves movies, singing, painting ceramics, baking and decorating cakes, animals and most of all children – not just ‘her’ children but all of God’s beautiful children. Her only goal and desire in life was to be a mother.
Todd (the Dad) was born and raised in Idaho and then left Idaho shortly to serve in the Navy on a submarine as a sonar technician. Todd was your average ‘American country boy’ who played football in high school and dirt biked the country trails. He had no problem getting dirty and doing the dirty jobs because he was a hard worker from the start. Hunting, fishing and camping were always something fun to do; being out in the country made it easy to do these things as if they were his back yard. Todd really enjoys motor cycles and dirt bike riding. Todd is a big kid and is always playing with the children. He enjoys inventing things and he loves remote control airplanes, cars, tanks, and boats.
Our family has a lot to offer a child:
· A lot of love and siblings.
· Two very involved parents who have a strong marriage
· A father who works very hard to make sure the mother can stay at home and raise the children.
· A Father who also puts family first and goes on field trips and activities with the children, whenever possible.
· A loving and creative Mother who encourages the children to explore the world around them.
· Two parents who teach their children to make choices for themselves and to always strive do their very best in whatever they choose to do.
· A family that will be there to cheer each other on in games or anything someone in our family chooses to do in life.
· A family that is gospel oriented.
· A family that is willing to have an open adoption: letters, pictures, email, phone calls & visits.
We (Todd & Karine) have been married for almost 20 years. We met in church and were sealed for all time and eternity in the Washington D.C. temple. We have been blessed with five beautiful and amazing children, four girls and one boy, ages 9 - 18. However, we have always felt there was at least one more child meant to be included in our family to make it complete. We have waited so long for this one special child to be a part of our forever Family. We have not been able to over look these promptings and we pray for his or her arrival every day and night. With that said, we are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to adopt and bring this special child into our lives. We have always known our family would be completed by the gift of our Birth Mother's love
Our family motto is, "WE CAN DO ANYTHING WITH THE LORD AT OUR SIDE.” We believe this to be true and know that Heavenly Father is with you during this difficult time. We hope and pray that you will feel of our love and the love that we have to offer.
We are a close family, a family strong in love; Love for the gospel and love for each other. We are a fun and creative family. Our children are our world!! Family is our first priority after God. We truly strive to have a one on one relationship with each child individually and to really know our children personally. We often take all our blankets and make one big tent and spend the night watching movies together. We spend a lot of quality family time together, with one on one date nights with Mom or Dad, or family outings. We encourage all of our children to have close relationships with their siblings by doing activities together. We have always taught our children that friends will come and go in their lives but family will always be there no matter what. So having these close relationships really mean a lot to all of us. Todd and Karine (the parents) also strive to have a date night once a week.
We are not perfect... our children still have normal sibling disagreements and we all have our pet peeves, but each of us know the value of Family. My children still fall down and get bumps and bruises. They still have upsets in life like everyone else, but what is important to us and what matters most, is that no matter what happens in life, we always have a refuge and place that is safe called Home. Where we know the people there will always accept us and love us for who we are... always :)
We are also a family that loves animals. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds and 2 bunnies. We hope to someday find a place with land so we can have more animals. We are a family that also loves music. Our children are very talented, each with interests in different instruments from the drums to the violin. We spend many family nights with friends and by ourselves just singing songs on our karaoke machine. Often you will hear one of the children singing around the house.
We love to go camping in our camp trailer as often as possible. We have found that sometimes a quick road trip, decided at the last minute are the best family trips and make the best memories. Some of our favorite vacations so far are… going to Nauvoo, Carthage jail, Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, Oregon coast, and going to Salt Lake City. We have also enjoyed in state trips to the Bruneau Sand Dunes, Craters of the Moon and a quick day trip to McCall to see the ice sculptures during the Winter Carnival. Todd and the two older girls really were moved by going to Martin’s Cove; it was a ward pioneer trek. We have also enjoyed attending the temples open houses and dedications as a family. However, when we are not able to go on trips, we will do silly fun family camping with the grandparents at their house... roasting marsh mellows and camping out under the stars or in our trailer parked in their drive way. It’s the simple silly things that can be fun to do too! :)
We are a family that loves children and enjoy our children’s friends coming over to our house often. 10 kids in our house may seem like a lot but to us is nothing except a great time. That is one friend for every child. The more the better.
Your loving choice to place your child with a family is a selfless love that we greatly admire you for. May you feel His love always surrounding you. It is our prayer that Heavenly Father will bless you with the peace and knowledge that you're seeking, to help you make the best decision for both you and your child.
Your courage is overwhelming.
Our children are our joy; let me share with you a little about each one….
Virginia is our oldest. She turned 18 on Dec 14th. Her interests and talents are as follows: sings, theatrical (loves to be in plays and musicals), dances, paints, draws, plays violin, self taught piano, a great leader, her favorite color is yellow, she collects hats, and can sew.
Kalene is our second daughter who turned 16 on Jan 8th. Her talents and interests are as follows: she draws, she is currently writing a book and hopes to publish it before graduating high school, loves to read, sings, self taught to play guitar, loves plants and gardens, loves star gazing, her favorite color is teal green, she loves puzzles, she collects rocks and pictures of temples, learning to play the flute and is currently learning Spanish in school.
Cally is our third child born on July 7th, she will turn 13 this year. Cally’s talents and interests are as follows: she writes beautiful poetry, she loves to sing, dances, draws, She loves animals and babysitting. She has tried violin didn’t like it, she wants to learn piano now. Her favorite color is white. Cally collects baby dolls and is learning sign language. Cally was homeschooled for a year just because she wanted to try, but now with her younger siblings are in a great charter school. She is a cheer leader for her school this year and loves that!
Taylor is our fourth child born on Aug 19 and is going to be 12 this year. She is our very theatrical/dramatic child, loves to draw and sing, she loves to play the drums, loves babies and wants to babysit now, her favorite color is pink and blue. Taylor collects Littlest Pet Shops toys, loves puzzles, and also loves school. Taylor also enjoys writing stories. She has a great sense of humor and keeps us all laughing and on our toes.
Jaden is our fifth child and only boy who was born on June 14. He will be 10 years old. Jaden is very good with his hands, loves to build things and fix things, he is very sentimental, loves to sing, wants to learn the guitar, loves animals, is learning to speak spanish, is learning to play the guitar from her sister and is adventurous. His favorite color is green. Jaden collects marbles and cars. Jaden also loves to make paper airplanes and to fly them. Jaden loves our family bikes rides and trying to play many sports with his Dad. Jaden really loves cub scouts and camping.
