Why YOU should pick US

I want to preface this post with: Many of the reasons why you should choose us will be similar to a lot of other couples. We wholeheartedly believe that it'll come down to your connection with the right family. But, how can you know if there is a connection, without learning a little about each family. So, though that is the oddest title for this post...let's be real...that's exactly what you want to know if you're birth parents...So, here it goes (in no particular order).

1. We are COMMITTED. We live by our word, and what we say we're going to do, we do. We expect the same amount of respect in return. This also goes for our commitment to people in our lives. We make family and God a priority, and we are committed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
   
2. We EMBRACE every moment. We are definitely those people that live by the statement, "work hard, play hard." When we are wrapped up in a project or job, we won't quit till it's done. At the same time, if we are playing, we really know how to have fun. For example, Richard and Mari (no kids) went to Europe for two weeks at the start of the summer. We had so much fun biking around Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, exploring Stonehenge in England, and singing the Sound of Music in Salzburg. But, then we came home to a whole yard that had been neglected for weeks. We had to bite the bullet and buckle down to get it all ready for the summer and our garden planted. It took weeks of only working. In this case...we obviously wish we had worked hard first before playing hard...but oh well. 
3. We will PROVIDE a stable (physical, emotional, and mental) environment for your child to grow up and thrive in. Period.
4. We have HIGH EXPECTATIONS for our children daily. They know the importance of responsibility and even at just four and two, both our kids help with jobs around the house-- unloading the dishwasher, setting and clearing the table after meals, doing the weekly laundry, just to name a few. In addition, we're not afraid to make our kids do hard things. Most recently, we were at a family cabin, and we made both our kids (not together) ride on the zup board (basically a little kids wake board) with Richard. We want them to know that trying new things allows them to find what they do and don't like, allows them to be brave in new and hard situations, and gives them confidence when they are able to do it. 
5. We value EDUCATION. Though, Richard and Mari both have masters degrees, that's really not the most important thing or the goal. It's more that we want our children to be educated,
   because education leads to opportunity and awareness, which leads to empathy and kindness, and potentially security and confidence.
   
6.  We're just plain GOOD PEOPLE. Like seriously, we live by the statements, "Treat others the way you want to be treated" or "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it."  We love teaching our children about our culture, but we also embrace all cultures and we are excited to add to our family culture, with that of a birth family. We love to do service, and look for opportunities to teach our children that. Most recently, we volunteered to help clean our local church. The time assigned was right around bedtime, but we knew it was important for our children to participate in cleaning a building they go to every week. We ended our cleaning service with some line tag around the gym. And they loved it.  We did too.  
7. We are REAL and NORMAL. If you've made it this far, you deserve to hear some truth bombs. TRUTH #1: We fight in our house, or it's probably better to say that we disagree. Let me make it clear right now, there's no physical fighting, but we've definitely raised our voices a time or two. We have no problem disagreeing, with a level of respect. Yes, like I said...we're real.  TRUTH #2. We'll ask questions that other people wouldn't...purely because we care, we're genuinely interested, and we're not afraid. And in return, we will give that same respect, and be truthful if you have questions you want answered. TRUTH #3: We're not ashamed to admit we have faults...For example, Mari is "appropriately pushy". That was the exact term used to describe her by her thesis chair in regards to getting Polynesian high school students to take her survey, that would allow her to do her thesis project, and thus graduate. She has some sort of tact and politeness to it though, so you may not even notice it.  If you'd like to hear more of our weaknesses, you'll have to contact us personally. 😉
8. And lastly, and probably most importantly....We have been PRAYING for you for months. Maybe not by name, but we have been praying that our birth mother would find us or that we
   
   would find her. We've been praying that our baby would be brave to join our family. And we've been praying that once we found each other, we would recognize that sweet connection. We sure love you already.  

There are obviously a lot more reasons we could share, but we felt these were the most important. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, please contact us on our Facebook adoption page--Richard & Mari: Hoping to Adopt. Or visit our About Us page to learn more about us.