Hello! We’re Craig and Courtney and we truly feel honored that you want to get to know us and our story.
We don’t know how you are feeling or the journey that brought you here today. We humbly want to sit with you, listen to you, and support you in whatever you feel is best for you and your child. Taking the time to consider all of your options shows how much love you truly have and we want you to know that whatever you decide we fully believe it will be right. You are the best and only person that can make that choice, and we pray that you find comfort in knowing that. No matter what your decision is, this season of life doesn’t define you. You are worthy and have a story that is being written for you.
Adoption has always been how we envisioned growing our family and we’re so excited to be doing it again! Having adopted before to have our daughter, we’ve experienced the emotions that it brings. The joy & sorrow, the love & pain, rejoicing while also grieving. Adoption is complex and we are still learning and growing in it every day. It has brought us two of our greatest joys, our daughter and the lifelong relationship we now have with her birth family. We look forward to being a family of 4 and the start of a new and unique relationship with our second child’s first family.
Thank you for allowing us into something so personal and giving us the opportunity to be a small piece of it. We hope, by looking through our book, you see how much love we have available that is ready to be shared.
With love and appreciation,
Craig & Courtney
About Us
We first met through the college group at our local church in the fall of 2006. On the night that I (Craig) was baptized, a large group of friends went out to dinner after the service. I ended up sitting right across the table from Courtney. Up to this point we had never met, but after introductions the first thing out of Courtney’s mouth was “I think you have a pretty face”. Of course I loved it and from that moment on, she had me. After a couple months of friendship, we decided to go out on a date and the rest is history!
In December 2009, Craig asked if I (Courtney) wanted to go grab lunch with him at our favorite restaurant after he got out of class that day. There is a sweet little fountain with a couple benches next to the restaurant, and throughout our dating years, we would go to that spot to talk, dream about our future, and pray together. That day, Craig got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes, and we got married a few months later!
We’ve now been married over ten years! In 2018, we welcomed our daughter, Navie, into the family through adoption. Having another person in our family to love and encourage and watch grow has been so incredibly rewarding.
Our hearts are open and ready to love and welcome a second child into our family!
Learn More About Us
Our Home & Community
We live in Illinois in a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath with a partial finished basement and a big back- yard. We love our home. With my (Courtney’s) career being in design, we love making our house our own. Above all other things, we want our house to be one that feels cozy, welcoming, warm, and functional. We love just hanging out in our house together. Navie can sit at her little table and read books or color while we sit and chat in our den. We often play on the swing in the backyard or sit on the back patio while Navie plays with her bubble machine!
Our hope is that our home is somewhere people come and want to stay for a while. Our house is meant to be lived in, and it is great for having personal conversations, watching movies, hosting small groups, or having dinner with friends or family.
Our neighborhood is centrally located, has low traffic on our street, and is generally quiet. It is a great place to take walks and there is a little park down the street with a playground. Our neighborhood is pretty diverse in age and race – everyone is very friendly and definitely watches out for each other.
Words by Navie’s Birth Mom, “Mama R”…
“Every morning when I wake up and think of the precious baby girl I once held in my arms, I am reminded that I made the right decision when I chose Craig and Courtney to be her parents. The day that we matched I didn’t realize that I would also be gaining a family. We have a special relationship and a forever bond, formed by the love that we share for Navie Joy. Craig and Courtney not only fulfilled my hopes and dreams for Navie, but they have gone above and beyond to make me a part of their lives. I love them so much!”
Why We Are Adopting Again…
Adoption has always been the way we hoped to grow our family. It’s some- thing we’ve felt called to and, so far, haven’t felt that same calling to have biological children. We want to adopt another child to be a friend to our daughter and add to the diverse beauty that is our family. We hope that Navie and her future sibling will both benefit from having shared experiences with adoption as well as their heritage. In these things, being able to resonate from personal experiences may not ever be something we can fully understand but we will support, encourage, and come alongside our children in this. We take our role as transracial adoptive parents very seriously continually educating and submerging ourselves into our families biological culture.
Welcoming Navie into our family was an incredible blessing. We have such a close relationship with our daughter’s birth mom and consider her just as much family to us as our daughter is. We are so excited to not only grow our family through having a second child but also the new & unique relationships it will bring with their birth family.
A Few of Our Favorite Snapshots….
In Closing
Thank you again for taking the time to get to know us. We hope you feel how much love we have and know how excited we are to be growing our family again through adoption. Our hearts are completely open and ready to nurture and love another child.
If you chose to move forward with us in an open adoption, we have several commitments we want to make to you…
- Raising our children to know & love Jesus above all other things and teaching them bible-based values.
- Striving to have a steadfast marriage so they can grow up in a committed household.
- Giving them a life of unconditional love.
- Showing & teaching them grace & forgiveness when faced with mistakes.
- Being proud of their biological culture and incorporating that into our family’s life.
- Guarding their story and allowing them the choice to share it.
- An open relationship that’s healthy and meets the needs of everyone in the adoption triad.
- Ensuring they know how loved they are by their birth family.
We love you and are praying for you..
CRAIG + COURTNEY
