Krista is my best friend and the most genuine and kind-hearted person I have ever met. She makes me laugh every day! For that, I am forever grateful. I love how Krista is always up for an adventure. She is an amazing listener who devotes her full attention and open mind to every individual. Krista’s love for family and friends is tremendously inspiring. Without hesitation, she will stop everything she is doing to help someone in need. She is always searching for a way to make someone’s day. Watching Krista with Lena and our nieces and nephews brings me so much joy! She will crawl around the house, run around the backyard with nerf guns, let them climb on her for piggy-back rides, swing and play catch at the park, take the older kids on jet ski rides, help them fish, or shoot hoops for hours! My absolute favorite role to see Krista in is being one of Lena’s moms. The connection Lena and Krista have is truly unique. She can make Lena belly laugh harder than anyone in the world! Seeing them together is my favorite part of every day.Krista was born and raised in the same suburban area in which we currently live. Most of her family and friends still live very close in proximity. At work, Krista is a manager at an IT company. She is valued by her coworkers as an amazing mentor and coach with an unbelievably calming and encouraging presence. Krista’s work ethic is admired by all.Krista is an amazing cook! She loves making dinners in the kitchen or out on the grill! By far, her favorite place to be is outside in the sunshine. You can regularly find her doing yardwork, on a walk around the neighborhood, fishing at the lake, sitting in the driveway with our neighbors, or soaking up the sun at the neighborhood pool.

Lori is one of the strongest, most supportive, intuitive individuals I know. She is a pillar of strength, building a foundation of love for our family. Going through life with Lori is full of adventures, experiences, and unwavering source of joy. One of Lori’s greatest strengths is anticipating the needs of others through her extremely empathetic and nurturing personality. Lori is a great listener and makes anyone she is talking to feel valued. She leaves a lasting impression of warmth and kindness to anyone she encounters. Seeing Lori as a Mom brings me tremendous admiration as she has an innate ability to understand Lena’s needs. She has excellent parental instincts. When Lori and Lena spend time together there are rarely any tears because they are having fun on walks, blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk, reading, or embarking on a new journey. Lori is at the core of our family, and I could not imagine life any other way.One of Lori’s greatest joys is traveling to nice warm places. Although she is fair skinned, she is always sure to put on sunscreen for a pool day, or even a walk on a sunny day. Her love for warmth means we try to travel during the winter to somewhere hot typically through cruising. We share the need for Vitamin D! I love her desire to be outside and travel as much as possible.Lori was born and raised in a city not too far from where we live today. Many of her family and friends reside in the same city so we are often taking road trips to go visit Lori’s family and friends. At work, Lori is a pediatric audiologist and is amazing at her job. She enjoys completing research to gain more in-depth knowledge and then sharing that with others in the industry. Lori is often requested to be seen by her patients, and practices with nothing short of compassion.

Roxy is our 4 year old goldendoodle. She is the sweetest dog with an incredibly loving, playful, and loyal personality. She plays extremely well with Lena and other children of all ages, especially when they run around and play ball with her! Roxy’s favorite things in the world are sharing snacks with Lena, playing fetch with her football, adventures around the neighborhood, and running around with kids!She is a huge part of our family and goes with us on all kinds of outings and adventures. She especially loves car rides to the lake, the dog parks, or visiting with her cousins.

We have a large community of family and friends. We believe family is defined by more than our blood relatives; rather, it includes those that love one another, support one another, and are always there in a time of need or joy. We love getting together with family and friends weekly for game nights, grilling out, taco nights, or simply to enjoy being outside together. Some of our favorite evenings are spent in our cul-de-sac with our neighbors hanging out, playing yard games, or enjoying a fire night. There is never a shortage of laughter, hugs, and making memories!Together we have nine nieces and nephews with whom we share a special bond. Our weekends with them are spent swimming, running around the backyard playing basketball, soccer, or walking up to a local park for a friendly game of softball. This is usually followed by adventurous climbs on the playground, games, water balloon or nerf gun fights, and many times a family dinner.In addition, many weekends are spent down at the lake taking in the sunshine and beauty of southwest Missouri! Our favorite things to do are helping our nieces and nephews fish or sit on the dock with our family and friends talking the night away. Our family truly enjoys each other’s company, and we are all thankful for the unique bond we share.

Within our family we have many traditions that have lasted generations and some that are newer. One family tradition we have is spending Christmas Eve at Krista’s parents’ home. All of our local extended family gets together with the hopes that Santa might show up for the little ones. Around this season we also gather with family to have a Christmas lights tour around the city.A couple other traditions revolve around food celebrating Easter and Thanksgiving. At Easter we make Lebanese Easter cookies and knead the dough by hand as Krista learned from her Grandma. Thanksgiving is sure to have a large spread including lots of options, but our favorites are Lori’s family’s sweet potato casserole and homemade mac n’ cheese.Since adopting Lena, we have created a new tradition within the family to honor her heritage by celebrating Juneteenth with a seafood boil and games. In the fall, we visit the pumpkin patch, and host a Halloween party for family and friends complete with costumes each year!

Our favorite vacation spot is hard to narrow down. Traveling opens our minds and hearts to other cultures and ways of living. It allows us to create lifelong memories through many different experiences. Some of our favorite places we have visited on cruises include Venice, Barcelona, Barbados, Alaska, and Aruba. As much as we love warm places, visiting Alaska topped both of our lists. We love the vast wilderness, cuisine, and uniqueness of the towns. The views were incredible and full of colors, particularly at dusk. The trip gave us sense of awe and peacefulness. Alaska truly took our breath away!We believe that exposing your child to new cultures and places is one of the best ways to spark their sense of curiosity and desire to learn. In hopes of experiencing the world, learning about different cultures, and meeting new people, we often embark on cruises. We feel that traveling will create unique and tangible opportunities for your child to learn outside of school and their local community. An added benefit of traveling is, as a family, we will be able to spend time together through being brave while hiking in a forest, exploring different creatures in the ocean, or trying new foods at a local market. We are excited to embark on many different adventures with your child!