Our Story

Camie and I met in college our senior year. When I took summer classes in college, I generally took a light load. This allowed me more time to look at dating prospects in my classes. In my grammar class one summer, I noticed a bright, pretty blonde girl sitting in the back corner. After a while I decided I needed to sit by her, so I moved seats. If that wasn’t obvious enough, I invited myself to study with her. Those study sessions led to a first date, and then lots of other dates, and then a best friend to spend my life with. Who knew that grammar could be so romantic?

I never thought I would meet someone in an English class since most of my classes had very few boys in them! About halfway through the semester, one day Michael just appeared in the seat next to mine. Later, I would find out that he moved over because he wanted to meet me, which I thought was sweet. My first impression of him was that he was very smart and cute and had a great sense of humor. After the class ended, we started dating. Soon, we were spending almost every day together, and it wasn't long before I knew that he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I knew very early on that Camie was a keeper. We felt absolutely comfortable together—and I had never had more fun with anyone else. I tried to be patient as she fell in love with me too, and it worked! One night we walked by that classroom where we had met. We went in and sat in our old seats and talked about how glad we were that we had that class together. That’s when I pulled a ring from my coat pocket and asked her to stay by my side forever.

Michael and I were married in March 2005. We've learned a lot about each other and feel that we have a strong marriage. We feel lucky to have each other to go through the ups and downs of life's challenges. As time goes by, we have been amazed at how our relationship has grown as a couple and now as parents. Even though we have our challenges as all families do, we love each other and are happy that we can be a family.

We enjoyed being a family of two but were ready to have a sweet baby join us. We were thrilled to be picked by our daughter’s wonderful birth parents in 2010, and that October our little girl was born. We welcomed Shay home just a few short days later. It was a surreal experience, but one we will always treasure. It’s difficult to put into words how precious those days were with Shay’s birth family, and we are forever grateful to them for the decision they made. {To learn more about our open adoption, click here.} Shay is a very sweet little girl and has brought an immeasurable amount of joy into our lives.


We were so happy to be picked by Ivy's birth mother just this past May. We were overjoyed to be able to go through this adoption experience again. Although each experience was different, each was very special to us, and we are so grateful for both of our girls and our open adoptions with their birth families.