Adam:
My name is Adam, and I am a 37 year old engineer in Ohio with a background in glass & ceramics engineering. I was born and raised in upstate New York, attended college and graduate school in New York, and spent the first 8 years of my professional career in New York. Back in 2007, I decided to change that with applying to work outside the state for the first time. Since 2007, we have lived in both Texas and Ohio and have loved it!
My name is Adam, and I am a 37 year old engineer in Ohio with a background in glass & ceramics engineering. I was born and raised in upstate New York, attended college and graduate school in New York, and spent the first 8 years of my professional career in New York. Back in 2007, I decided to change that with applying to work outside the state for the first time. Since 2007, we have lived in both Texas and Ohio and have loved it!
We started the process of adopting a girl from China back in 2007, thinking that we would have a little baby girl added to our family by 2010 at the latest. It's now 2012, and our family make-up has shifted with the addition of our youngest son Austin - who was born 2 months prematurely back in late 2010. Thankfully, he has grown through all those early struggles and is now a perfectly healthy, rather large 2 year old boy with beautiful red hair like his mother. So now, we are in the process of adopting an older girl from China that is ~ 6 months younger than Ashlyn (our 7 year old daughter). She is currently living in the city of Guiyang in the province of Guizhou, a poor but absolutely beautiful part of China. We are so excited about the prospect of going to China and bringing her home in the next couple of months.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to travel and that I enjoy adventure. And, that's what I see that adoption ultimately is... an adventure! It's about adding to and expanding your family, it's about seeing another part of the world, it's about adding another culture to your own, it's about helping someone less fortunate than yourself, it's about helping to make a slightly better world, and it's about showing God's love to someone in a very similar fashion that He has shown to us.
Ginny:
So my wonderful husband has been after me to write a bio page. So here goes... I grew up in Lima, NY. If I were to describe my childhood in one word it would have to be "consistent." I lived in the same house and went to the same school from K-12 grade. Vacations were always the same. Easter week we piled up in the car and drove the 20 hours or so to Florida. My father worked the same job and provided our family with a very stable life. This type of upbringing stands in stark contrast to the type of life I live now with my wonderful and adventurous husband of 14 years. I can't complain, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into:) Before I said, I do, my mother-in-law warned me that I would need to keep my suitcase close at hand. 10 days after saying, I do, my new husband and I traveled to Europe for 2 and a half months. He had some work to do for school but that didn't stop us from seeing London, Paris, Scotland, Venice, and of course Germany where we spent the majority of the time. Now, 14 years later we have lived in 3 states (New York, Texas, and now Ohio) and have had our share of adventures. We had the opportunity to spend a summer in California when our older kids were 4 and 1. We lived in a hotel for 8 weeks and went to Legoland nearly everyday. If that doesn't spell fun.... I am not sure what does!
Speaking of summers, I spent the entire summer of 2010 in the hospital with my 3rd pregnancy after my water broke at just 20 weeks pregnant. That little guy is still trying to break free to this day. At almost 2 years old there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't try to escape our house. He is giving us a run for our money! Oh, and if you are wondering what I do for a job...well, that depends on when you talk to me. I have worked in 4 school districts (substitute teacher, 6th grade special ed. teacher, and the last two jobs were teaching high school math). Currently, my title is a stay-at-home mom but my husband likes to remind me it isn't forever. I will enjoy it while it lasts. All of the fun and excitement of our last 14 years don't come close to the adventure we are about to begin.
This fall my husband and I, along with our daughter Ashlyn, are going to travel to China for 2 weeks to adopt a beautiful 7 year old. If you lost count that will make 4 children for our family ages 10, 7, 7, and 2. You read that right.... I will have 2 seven year olds! That is so cool!!! I have always wanted twins:) People ask us if we will move again. They ask if Adam is happy with his job (Adam has also worked for 4 different companies). I can only assume they are wondering if we will feel the need to change jobs/move again. The honest answer is, yes, he enjoys his job very much! He has enjoyed all of his jobs! But will we live in Columbus, Ohio for the rest of our life???? Ha, not even close:)
Ginny:
So my wonderful husband has been after me to write a bio page. So here goes... I grew up in Lima, NY. If I were to describe my childhood in one word it would have to be "consistent." I lived in the same house and went to the same school from K-12 grade. Vacations were always the same. Easter week we piled up in the car and drove the 20 hours or so to Florida. My father worked the same job and provided our family with a very stable life. This type of upbringing stands in stark contrast to the type of life I live now with my wonderful and adventurous husband of 14 years. I can't complain, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into:) Before I said, I do, my mother-in-law warned me that I would need to keep my suitcase close at hand. 10 days after saying, I do, my new husband and I traveled to Europe for 2 and a half months. He had some work to do for school but that didn't stop us from seeing London, Paris, Scotland, Venice, and of course Germany where we spent the majority of the time. Now, 14 years later we have lived in 3 states (New York, Texas, and now Ohio) and have had our share of adventures. We had the opportunity to spend a summer in California when our older kids were 4 and 1. We lived in a hotel for 8 weeks and went to Legoland nearly everyday. If that doesn't spell fun.... I am not sure what does! Speaking of summers, I spent the entire summer of 2010 in the hospital with my 3rd pregnancy after my water broke at just 20 weeks pregnant. That little guy is still trying to break free to this day. At almost 2 years old there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't try to escape our house. He is giving us a run for our money! Oh, and if you are wondering what I do for a job...well, that depends on when you talk to me. I have worked in 4 school districts (substitute teacher, 6th grade special ed. teacher, and the last two jobs were teaching high school math). Currently, my title is a stay-at-home mom but my husband likes to remind me it isn't forever. I will enjoy it while it lasts. All of the fun and excitement of our last 14 years don't come close to the adventure we are about to begin.
This fall my husband and I, along with our daughter Ashlyn, are going to travel to China for 2 weeks to adopt a beautiful 7 year old. If you lost count that will make 4 children for our family ages 10, 7, 7, and 2. You read that right.... I will have 2 seven year olds! That is so cool!!! I have always wanted twins:) People ask us if we will move again. They ask if Adam is happy with his job (Adam has also worked for 4 different companies). I can only assume they are wondering if we will feel the need to change jobs/move again. The honest answer is, yes, he enjoys his job very much! He has enjoyed all of his jobs! But will we live in Columbus, Ohio for the rest of our life???? Ha, not even close:)
HI Ginny,
ReplyDeleteThis is Amber Leggio we used AWAA to adopt our first daughter Mia in 2012 from Gansu.I followed yalls journey to get your Mia. We are on another Journey and using Lifeline this time. I am contacting you because God has led us to our sweet daughter Cora who is nine. I know you just went through an older child adoption and I wasn't sure if you would be willing to share with me some of your story or offer any wisdom for our family. My email is aleggio@gmail.com and I have a blog firetrucks and fairytales.