More about our family!

Our hope is to grow our family!

A little more About us…

Dan and I have been married for 16 years, which might seem like a long time, but we feel like we are just getting warmed up! This is our relationship in a nutshell: we are each others best friend, we are open and honest with each other and tell each other everything ( except where the secret stash of chocolate is) We spend as much time together as possible and we’ve made it a priority to keep dating each other. We make each other laugh. We work hard together for the benefit of our marriage and our family. What I like most about our relationship is that we are both independent and have separate roles in our family but we work together as a team to accomplish our family goals. Our relationship is: fun, its work, it’s time, it’s sharing, it’s supporting, it’s smiling, it’s connecting and it’s believing in each other!

Dan and I met while in college. We were both playing basketball for the school that we were attending and fortunately for us the men’s team and women’s team traveled together for away games. Our first and best dates were spent getting to know each other on a charter bus.

Dan is a farmer. There is really so much more to his work than that simple title. He is really a great business man and wears many “hats” in his position on a family run farm. He is a very hard worker. He makes providing for our family one of his foremost priorities. I (Eden) have the full time position of Mom and wife…I have to say, I love my line of work! Taking the best care of my family that I possibly can, each and everyday, is my greatest priority, my greatest joy, and requires my most focused attention.
Dan and I have four children, and have for many years talked about adopting. We both have a very strong desire to welcome another sweet child into our family. We look forward to it, wish for it, desire it and pray for it to happen on a daily basis.

We love being parents and raising our children together. Our family is the most important part of our life. We love discovering, every day, the individual characteristics that each of our children possess. We feel so blessed to have been entrusted with each of the unique little people who we get to call “ours”. We love our family and we are so anxious to add to it!

The things we enjoy most, are the things that we do together!
Our fondest memories are made: celebrating birthdays, going on family vacations, having family movie nights with Dan’s world famous popcorn ( well, it’s famous in our little world) playing catch out in the yard, getting dressed up for Halloween and going trick or treating, sitting on the deck around the fire-pit and roasting marshmallows, cheering on the kids at their different events, decorating the Christmas tree and delivering Christmas goodies, going to church together every Sunday, sharing memories around the dinner table…we just love being together!

A few fun facts about each of us:

Dan: loves to travel, is a history buff, loves ice cream, played basketball in the NCAA tournament, has an adventurous spirit, loves his family above all else and loves his family farm.

Eden: loves taking pictures, finds re-doing furniture very therapeutic, has a thing for fabulous shoes, has a sweet tooth (has sweet teeth more like it), loves taking long, long walks, loves Halloween, would rather spend time with her family than anyone else
Brooklyn (15): loves cheerleading, loves her friends, really enjoys history( she wants to be a middle school history teacher some day) loves all things New York, loves music, is learning French, she loves to travel and loves to read

Cache (11): loves football, basketball and baseball…in that order, he loves a great hamburger, riding four wheelers/motorcycles on the farm, swimming, watching ballgames with Dad, and playing outside in the yard

Bellamie (9): loves to play basketball and volleyball, most of her friends are boys, she loves to read, she loves to swim, has a sweet tooth like her mama, has a really great arm…she can throw a ball so far, loves Halloween, is a bit of a tom-boy
Durham (5) loves school, riding his scooter, swimming, loves to paint, likes to put together puzzles and loves ice cream

We read a quote not long ago that said, “love is making space in your life for someone else.” For many years, we have felt that there is space in our life and in our family…a space that hasn’t been filled yet. We hope that very soon, we will feel through the addition of a very special and much wanted child that the space will be filled and that the love we have for each other will grow that much more. We can’t wait. We have been waiting and preparing our hearts for a very long time.

We appreciate you more than words could possibly express.
With Love,
Dan and Eden

Favorite things…

Durham was so excited to turn five and be able to go to school like the big kids! We love birthdays at our house! We start with gifts in the morning (the actual birthday) with the whole family gathered around. Then we do dinner out with grandparents (Dan’s parents) and then a dinner at home with grandparents (Eden’s parents) and cousins…sometimes our birthdays turn into a week long celebration.

The first day of school is always an exciting time for our family! The summer comes to a close with a school shopping and lunch date with mom (each child gets their own day) and the traditional pictures on the porch to compare to pictures from the year before is a must. Bellamie was so thrilled to start 4th grade this year!

Brooklyn cheers on her High School’s Varsity Cheer team. She discovered this new passion a year ago and we love to see her perform and do something that she enjoys. High School games have become a part of our family’s weekly routine.

Cache loves to play sports, football being his favorite. We look forward to Saturdays in the Fall when we can cheer on our favorite quarterback.

Dan and Eden at a stop near Big Sur, along the California Coast, on a recent trip for Thanksgiving break.

The day after Thanksgiving we took a bike ride, on three tandem bikes, through San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had lots to laugh about and made some wonderful new memories. As a family, we have a tradition to get away for Thanksgiving. We loved this trip!