Amber & Jay

Jay is gentle, kind, and compassionate. I think of Jay as an old soul. He grew up in the country with both his parents and his older brother. He also has an older half-sister. Jay's brother is 12 years older than him, and he moved out of the house by the time Jay turned 6. He was basically raised as an only child. Jay's dad is a former team roper in the rodeo. He spent his weekends traveling with his parents to Old Timer's rodeos. Spending time on the road with a bunch of older cowboys led Jay to form his old fashioned southern values. He is still extremely close to his parents. We talk to them on a weekly basis and get to visit them at least once a month. Jay enjoys being outdoors. His favorite outdoor activities are fishing, kayaking, and golfing. Jay also likes to watch sports and attend sporting events. He loves the Baylor Bears and the Texas Rangers. He is also a huge WWE fan and loves professional wrestling. Jay is a sports turf manager. This means that he beautifully manicures all of the sports fields for a local private school. He works very hard and is loved by the community at the school. On weekends, Jay loves to cook Saturday breakfast for Amber and bring it to her in bed where they enjoy Saturday morning cartoons. Jay's favorite is Batman. He even had a Batman cake at our wedding. Jay is an excellent father to Annemarie. They love to spend time together. Since she was born, he has carried her to bed and tucked her in after telling Mommy goodnight. Every day when we get home from work, Annemarie is waiting for him to help feed and walk our sweet dog, Pazely.

Amber is passionate, loving, and nurturing. God has given her a passion for caring for people, especially children. She grew up as the middle child with two brothers in a strong Christian home with parents that attended church regularly. During college, she spent her summers on an East Texas camp located on a cattle ranch that would impact her life forever. Her experiences there exponentially grew her love for God and sharing his love with children. She is now able to combine her passion for sharing Christ with students and helping them learn in her career as an elementary teacher at a private Christian school. As a mom, Amber is patient, empathetic, and intuitive. Amber loves to wear matching outfits with Annemarie. She enjoys letting Annemarie cook with her in the kitchen. She uses this as an opportunity to teach Annemarie and she rarely gets upset when Annemarie makes a giant mess. Amber is an excellent communicator and because of that, Annemarie has an amazing vocabulary for her age. They are always reading and singing silly songs together. She can always calm Annemarie down when she is upset, she always knows how to make her laugh, and Annemarie always runs to Mommy for comfort when she is hurting. Amber is the type of mom who is always going above and beyond to make sure that our family has the best that we can provide.

Annemarie is four-years-old, and she is such a joy and so much fun. We adopted Annemarie through Gladney in 2018. We have a relationship with her birth family, and she even has an older birth sister. Annemarie loves to sing, play outside, travel to visit family and friends, and cuddle. She is very loving and affectionate. When we are leaving for work or putting her to bed, she always asks for "more love and more kisses!" Annemarie cannot wait to be a big sister. She loves playing with her baby dolls and is constantly drawn to and enamored by babies in public. When we ask her now what she wants to name her future sibling, she excitedly yells "Centipede and I want to call them Peedy!" We have no idea where this came from, but it definitely makes us giggle. We also know that she will be a loving and helpful big sister to her new sibling.

Pazely is our ten-year-old Labrador and Golden Retriever mix. Amber got Pazely during her days as a camp director on a working cattle ranch. Pazely is very lazy, quiet, and friendly. She loves people and other animals. While on the camp, Pazely loved to be with the children. She even slept as a guard dog outside the camper's cabins some nights. She is so patient with Annemarie. Annemarie loves to help feed her everyday with Jay. She loves to pet her, chase her around the house, and climb all over her. Pazely tolerates it all, and just walks away when she has had enough. Annemarie calls her "sweet girl" or "my Paley girl!" Pazely is the most well-mannered and loyal dog we have ever been around.

We love our home. We purchased it in December of 2017, two days before we found out that we would be adopting Annemarie. It sits in a quiet neighborhood full of sweet older couples, and several young families. Our neighborhood has 3 community pools, it sits on the lake and is equipped with a boat launch. It is located outside of the city and away from the hustle and bustle. Wildlife runs free in our neighborhood; we always have deer, beautiful birds, and the occasional fox in our backyard. We are really close with a lot of our neighbors. Annemarie's best friend, Rex, is only a month younger than her and lives just down the street. We have a weekly Bible study with a few neighbor couples and we spend time with lots of other families in the neighborhood. With the help of one of our neighbors, Jay built a beautiful back deck in our backyard and we love spending time out there with our family, neighbors, and friends!