We are Marcus, Katie, and Bowen! Our son Bowen entered our family by adoption through Deaconess in October of 2021 and we are excited to embark on this journey again. We are honored that you are reading this letter. We recognize how difficult this time must be, just know that you are a hero in our story and we love you already!

Our heart for adoption.

We will be celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary in July of 2023. We dreamed of being parents. Our plan was to have a biological child and then to adopt a younger sibling. We are both the youngest sibling and always felt that there were certain privileges associated with it. We first tried to grow our family in 2015 but suffered a miscarriage. Seven years later, we have experienced several more. We consulted countless doctors who repeatedly answered with shrugs and confusion. They told us that we are healthy and that there is not a medical reason for the losses to keep happening. They have even suggested some options to have a biological child such as IVF or surrogacy, but we both agree that sharing DNA with our children is not our priority. It has been a difficult journey and it certainly challenged our faith. But through these experiences we have grown together, and part of that growth is that we want to pursue adoption as the only means to grow our family. We have so much love to give and we want to share that with another child through adoption.

Not only are we excited to welcome a child into our family; we are also excited to welcome you into our family! We want a lasting relationship with you. In other words, we don’t want you to be a stranger in our life. We want to be able to send you pictures, invite you to share in our child’s biggest moments, and be able to visit. We understand that there may be times when you may need to take a step back, always remember that we will respect you and your decisions. We promise to always speak favorably of you, and we will always remember that your sacrifice has given us this blessing.

We are open to adopting a child of any race or ethnicity. We come from a family and community that is comprised of varying backgrounds, skin colors, and ethnicities. We take the responsibility to expose our children to diverse situations seriously. This includes ensuring that members of our community look like them. We are not afraid to advocate for our child and fight for them. Although we carry a culture of our own, we look forward to learning about, embracing, and teaching our child about their culture.

About us.

Marcus is an attorney in the Marine Corps, and Katie is a social worker and children’s therapist for a non-profit organization. Bowen is a silly and playful toddler, who enjoys playing basketball, going to the playground, and pretending to sneak up and scare us. He has an affinity for airplanes, anything that slightly resembles a ball, and animals of all kinds.

We love doing everything together and we are so excited to grow our family again. We are already looking forward to taking family walks around the neighborhood or to our favorite restaurants and having a backseat taken up by two car seats and children’s toys. While so much will change with adding another child, so much will stay the same. We are committed to making memories and learning that our greatest joy is in our legacy and ability to embrace every single day together. After our journey, we will never take parenthood for granted. There are still moments where we pause to thank God that we get this honor, and we recognize that it will be equally impactful with the addition of another child.

You may be wondering why we want to adopt from Oklahoma (again) when we live out of state. It is true that neither of us were raised in Oklahoma and we currently live in Virginia. However, Oklahoma is where we call home and where we plan to return once Marcus’ commitment to the Marine Corps is complete. A few weeks after we got married, we moved to Oklahoma for Marcus to complete his education at OU. We lived in Norman for nearly 5 years. During that time we made lifelong friends and memories. Oklahoma became our home. Since the Marine Corps called us away from Oklahoma in 2017, we have spent time in California, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Despite the distance, we always travel back to Oklahoma at least once a year. These visits have been made even more special because they are opportunities to spend quality time with Bowen’s birth family.

Our home in Virginia is in a quiet neighborhood near the middle of the city. It is centrally located near the beach, zoo, airport, and botanical gardens. Our neighborhood has a nearby park, a swimming pool, and several playgrounds. We love that it is comprised of families and friends of all different backgrounds and ages. Another aspect we love is the walkability. We are a five-minute walk from the grocery store, church, Bowen’s pediatrician, as well as several restaurants and libraries. Marcus has a fifteen-minute commute by car or bike. Katie’s commute is about fifteen minutes to include the time to drop Bowen off at school. Speaking of school, Katie stayed home with Bowen for the first year of his life. We cherished that time and we are planning to do the same for this second child in order to give them our undivided attention and love.

We have found comfort, peace, and rest along this journey, and pray that you are able to find that as well. Isaiah 26:3 tells us, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Our journey has taught us that thankfulness is the choice to trust the heart of God even when we did not understand the hand of God. We pray for you every day and look forward to being a part of your story.

Love,

Marcus, Katie, & Bowen