Welcome! Meet:

Joshua + Mershanda

Senior Technician / Registered Nurse

Tennessee

Caucasian

Christian

All About Joshua & Mershanda
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Joshua & Mershanda

Hello! We are Josh and Shanda from Tennessee. We live in a beautiful city with our amazing son and two dogs. We recently forgot our 8th wedding anniversary but had a great laugh about it afterwards. We absolutely love being parents and pray for the opportunity to expand our family. Josh has worked as a Senior Technician for the past 10 years and Shanda is a Registered Nurse.

Carson is our wonderful six year old who just started Kindergarten at a forest school. He has been eagerly asking Santa Claus for a sibling for two years now. Carson is always checking in with us, wondering if his baby brother or sister is on the way. When he's not dreaming of expanding our family, he enjoys playing Nintendo and racing toy cars. He also has big plans to work for Amazon when he grows up, packaging all sorts of exciting things. Together we share two hilarious dogs Vader and Wednesday. We are lucky to have two lovely dogs who are eagerly waiting to snuggle with a new little human.

In our marriage, faith wasn't always present. Even though we both grew up in Christian homes, we had stopped practicing our faith as adults. We held some negative feelings toward our faith, but we eventually found our way back to it. When our son Carson was born, we discovered the Episcopal Church. We were drawn to the structure and cadence of the prayers and felt a strong pull toward Christ. We are now active members of our church and strive to be responsible caretakers of our faith. Shanda helps teach Sunday School, and serves as a Lector during some services. Josh enjoys lending a hand when the preschool stable animals need some guidance during the annual Christmas Eve pageant.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family. We feel honored to even be considered. We hope that you have gotten a good sense of who we are as a family and that we will always provide love, support, and guidance to our children. We are thrilled for the opportunity to embark on this journey with you and think and pray for you often.

Why Adoption?

Adoption has always had a part in our relationship. Shanda voiced a desire to adopt very early in the relationship and Josh quickly agreed.

Family & Home

Our community is a serene place that's safe and easy to navigate. We are blessed to reside near a picturesque lake, a state park, and various playgrounds. Family time is filled with kayaking, fishing, and hiking. On Saturdays, we relish visiting the local farmer's market. We are conveniently located just two hours from both Nashville and Atlanta!

Our home is cozy and inviting, with plenty of natural light. We adore our enclosed backyard and flourishing vegetable gardens. Shanda's passion for interior design shines through her holiday decor that fills every room. Our spacious dining table serves as the centerpiece for gatherings with loved ones.

Living just fifteen minutes away from Josh's entire family is a true blessing. We cherish our weekly family dinners, birthday parties, and holiday get-togethers throughout the year. Our annual family beach trip to Destin is always a highlight.

Shanda's dad and stepmom reside thirty minutes away, in the home where Shanda grew up. We love spending time there and can't wait to show our future child how to pick blueberries in her family's orchard. Sadly, Shanda's mother passed away in 2021 after a long-term illness. We miss her dearly.

How others describe me

Growing up, Josh always looked up to his grandfather. It's no surprise that he ended up pursuing a career similar to his grandfather's. Josh is highly motivated and works tirelessly to provide for our family. He also supported me in pursuing my dream of becoming a nurse. During my time in nursing school, Josh selflessly took on the role of being the sole provider for our household and homeschooled our son during quarantine. I will always be grateful for the opportunity he gave me.

Josh is loving, funny, and everyone's friend. He is my best friend, an amazing husband, and an incredible father. Josh's fun-loving nature is evident in how he interacts with our son. Carson thinks the world of him. Josh is an outstanding father. Despite working from home full-time, he still manages to devote a great deal of his time to building a strong relationship with Carson. I have never met anyone as devoted to a family as my husband. He is always there for his grandmother and helps his family with whatever they need. We make it a priority to have dinner with his family once a week.

In his free time, Josh enjoys kayaking, working on cars, or playing video games in his man cave. I am truly lucky to have him as my husband and to share our life together.

My wife, Shanda, is an amazing person. She is a caring and devoted mother to our son and a loving and committed partner. I am constantly impressed by her thoughtfulness and dedication. Shanda goes above and beyond to create fun experiences for our son, like making jam with her dad using berries from her family's orchard, and even teaching his Sunday school class. She is always involved in his life as much as possible.

What I admire most about Shanda is her drive to achieve her goals. Despite the challenges of raising a family, she pursued her dream of becoming a nurse and succeeded, even in the face of personal loss. Shanda's strength of character and compassion are evident in our son, and I am so proud to be her husband. Shanda is the glue that holds our family together, and she is my best friend. I am grateful to have her in my life and can't wait to see our family grow together.

How We Met

In 2014, we were introduced by a mutual friend at a movie theater. We were pleasantly surprised at how effortlessly we clicked and engaged in conversations. Since that day, we have been inseparable and our relationship has brought us so much joy. Josh proposed just four months after our first date and we tied the knot a year later. Over the past nine years, we have built an amazing life together. We are blessed with a wonderful son, two hilarious dogs, and a beautiful home.

Advice to Future Child

Love and be yourself. Our love for you will always be unconditional.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We are open to as much as you feel comfortable with. We want full transparency with our children and that includes speaking openly about adoption.

Favorites

Joshua

Favorite Movie: Star Wars
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my family
Hobbies/Interests: video games, working on cars
Dream Vacation: somewhere tropical
If I Could Choose a Superpower: the ability to fix anything

Mershanda

Favorite Movie: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or The Shining
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: I love decorating for Halloween and Christmas. As a family we collect a Christmas ornament each year that is representative of something we shared as a family.
Hobbies/Interests: gardening, baking, reading
Dream Vacation: Thailand
If I Could Choose a Superpower: time travel or the ability to speak any language