Welcome! Meet:

Michael + Lauren

President, Inspire Inc. / Project Coordinator

Oklahoma

Caucasian

Christian

All About Michael & Lauren

Hi! We are Michael and Lauren! We have been married over 13 years and are best friends. Together we have a kind and joyful four year old daughter through adoption. As a family, we love going on adventures, investing in our community, and making the most of every moment. We have a lot of similar interests, such as reading, drinking good coffee, trying new things, and investing in people. We both grew up in Oklahoma, and other than a brief season living in New York City, have always lived in this great state. We both went to the University of Oklahoma and studied history, literature and philosophy. We both went on to earn Masters degrees, and are both now PhD students. We love learning new things! We don’t want to learn for the sake of knowing more, but hope to grow through learning so that we can better serve their community. You can typically find us and our daughter hanging out with friends, exploring new places in our city, or just hanging out at home as a family.

Why Adoption?

Adoption has always had a special place in Lauren’s heart. Lauren is a third-generation adoptive parent. Lauren’s grandparents adopted her aunt, and Lauren’s parents adopted her sister. Having an aunt and a sister through adoption, as well as now having a nephew through adoption, Lauren always had a desire to pursue adoption as well. Michael also quickly got excited about the possibility of adopting after we got married, and together we have one daughter through adoption. 

While we always wanted to pursue adoption, our infertility experience only further deepened that desire. Having gone through the adoption of our daughter, we are so grateful for the privilege of being called “mom” and “dad” to our precious girl. We are excited to pursue adoption again, and are praying for the birth mother and for the child that might become a part of our family.

Family & Home

We love our community. We live in Oklahoma City, which is a wonderful city with many things to do. The city has wonderful people and is a lovely place to raise a family. Our home is in a central part of the city and we have easy access to many local restaurants, shops, and attractions. There is a wonderful park in our neighborhood and we often walk together as a family to the playground on weekends. Our faith community is an incredibly loving and supportive group of individuals. 

Our extended family is very close, and we are grateful they live nearby. Michael’s mother, and his brother and brother’s wife each live within a 10 minutes drive of our house. Lauren’s parents, and all five of her siblings live within a 10-20 minute drive of our house. We spend time with our extended family often, as our siblings are some of our closest friends. 

As a multi-racial family, we enjoy going to events in the city that celebrate different ethnic and cultural holidays to learn and embrace a diversity of backgrounds. We feel we are enriched with the opportunity to be educated on other cultural experiences.

How others describe me

Lauren would describe Michael as a natural leader who is humble and focused on serving others. Michael is funny, quick-witted, warm, engaging, and thoughtful. He has an adventurous spirit and enjoys creating experiences for friends and family to enjoy together. He has always been a wise and mature person, who is not afraid to stand up for others. 

Michael would describe Lauren as the perfect combination of having fierce strength and being a nurturing and tender mother. She is smart, patient, kind and hilarious. She is always ready to turn something mundane into a fun memory and she has great instincts. She is the most disciplined person I know and I couldn’t imagine having more fun walking through life with anyone else.

 

how we met

How We Met

We met when we were seven years old, in Sunday school! Lauren started attending the church that Michael grew up at, and are still at that same church all these years later. We grew up together, and became best friends in middle and high school. Then, eventually started dating and four years later while we were still in college, we got married.

Advice to Future Child

We pray that our child will always know how loved they are. We value the importance of being a person who cares well for others and living a life that is generous, kind, honest, and filled with adventure.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We are excited about the possibility of not only bringing a child into our family but also seeing the birth parents as a part of our family as well if they would want to have an open relationship. We will always have a special place in our hearts and lives for the first parents of the child we will bring into our family.

Favorites

Michael

  • Favorite Movie: The Dark Knight
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church
  • Hobbies/Interests: OKC Thunder, Oklahoma Football, golf, fishing, coffee & brunch
  • Dream Vacation: Fiji
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: power of flight

Lauren

  • Favorite Movie: Harry Potter
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas! We love family traditions and spending time together at Christmas. We decorate our home with lots of Christmas trees, and we make gingerbread houses, decorate cookies, watch Christmas movies, and make fun memories together. We also appreciate the opportunity to focus on the meaning of Christmas by celebrating Jesus’ birth.
  • Hobbies/Interests: reading, trying new restaurants, traveling, and spending time with people
  • Dream Vacation: taking our kids to Orlando to visit Disney World and Universal Studios, then traveling to Paris to explore my favorite city
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: ability to remember everything I learn

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