Hi! We are Emanuel and Kendra
Thank you! Thank you for your bravery and love. Reality is, that if you are looking through this profile, you are walking through your own journey. We want you to know that we are praying for clarity and wisdom in our hearts, as well as for your peace and strength in the coming days.
As you look through our profile, we hope that you get a sense of who we are. We are far from being perfect and we work hard at learning and growing with our kids. Life is full of so many ups and downs. It is our goal to walk through the twists and turns of life together. We enjoy laughing as much as possible, but hold on tight to one another when difficult situations arise. Thank you for taking the time to consider our family as a part of your adoption journey. We want you to know that we have been praying about our adoption. We have been praying for you!
About Us
The Lowcountry has been an amazing place to plant roots and establish our family.
We crossed paths while living in Chicago, IL. Emanuel was coaching college baseball. Kendra was working full time while completing her Masters degree in Education. Shortly after meeting, Emanuel left for the summer to coach a summer college program and then that fall, he moved to Savannah, GA to pursue a different coaching job. This meant that the majority of the time that we knew one another, we lived in different cities or states! That didn’t matter though! We knew that they were going to end up sharing our lives together. We spent the next year having many phone conversations with a few visits sprinkled in. This distance and time laid a solid foundation for the open communication and dedication to our relationship. In July of the following year, we were married. We began life together in Georgia and about four years later, moved closer to Kendra’s job in a nearby school district.
Emanuel is a physical education teacher at one of the local high schools. He has been working in the educational system for the past ten years. Before teaching, he spent many years as a Division 1 baseball coach. Emanuel also serves as the assistant athletic director and baseball coach at his school. He takes his job very seriously and loves being able to help students navigate through high school and into the next chapter of their lives.
Kendra has been an art teacher for 14 years. She spent the first twelve years working in middle school and moved to teaching high school last year. Using her talents as an artist to connect with students is one of her greatest joys! When there is some spare time, Kendra loves to create paintings too.
As educators, we love working with young people. We both love having a positive impact on our students and take that role very seriously. We both really value the time that we are able to spend with our students. Working as teachers provides the whole family the opportunity to be on the same schedule. Summers and Christmas breaks are spent being together and are cherished memories for the whole family! We have three amazing and active young boys. We adore our kids and love watching them grown into exceptional young men.
Learn More About Us
Fun Facts etc.
- Family reunion–Kendra’s family gathers together each summer for a week of family time. The location changes but it is all about being together!
- Baseball—we spend a lot of time at the field! All of the boys have a strong love for the game!
- Monthly Framily gatherings…we strive to have a monthly gathering with our family and several others. There are a lot of kids and we all hang out at our house, playing outside and being together!
- Musicals! The boys LOVE watching musicals with me! Their favorites are Hamilton, Newsies and The Greatest Showman!
- Birthday Traditions! We have monkey bread for breakfast and angel food cake with homemade icing for birthdays….and the birthday boy or girl gets to pick where they want to go eat for their birthday dinner! AND…there is an extra special birthday song that we sing! Birthdays are always fun at our house!
A Few of Our Favorite Snapshots….
In Closing
We hope that this information has helped provide a glimpse into our everyday life. Hopefullly, you have been able to see that we really value each other and stive to make each day a good day together. Each member of our family is different, made with different characteristics. We love that. Regardless of our differences, we want you to know that we are working each day to be a loving, supportive, open and safe place for everyone in our home. I can only imagine how difficult it is to pick a family based on a handful of pictures and a few sentences. We know that the decision you are facing takes an enormous amount of courage and strength, so thank you for looking into our family. We pray for your strength and peace in the days ahead!
