Insurance / Sales & Admin at Les Schwab
Idaho
Caucasian
Christian
We live in Idaho where we moved in 2020 from Seattle. Liz's whole family is here so it is nice to live so close to them now. We love the pace of life here much better than Seattle, despite having both grown up there.
We are both twins: Phil has an identical brother and Liz has a fraternal sister. Needless to say we are hoping to adopt twins!
We both love playing softball in the summer, going swimming, paddleboarding and just in general being outside. We have a puppy named Walker that we rescued just recently from Texas and take him on a walk every night. He's slowly adjusting to us and is so darn adorable!
In the winter we love watching movies and TV shows together after work. We love the snow but mostly enjoy it from inside.
We have a home church we love attending. We have been helping in the nursery as volunteers for the past couple years and it is so sweet to watch how much they change over time.
Phil works from home in insurance managing accounts and Liz works in Spokane at Les Schwab Tires doing admin work. We are both so happy in our positions and blessed in our work.
We have always wanted children as we both love them so much. We tried for years to have a baby but it didn't happen and though we both wanted to adopt we felt God was telling us it wasn't quite time yet.
In 2020 we decided to move closer to Liz’s family in Idaho. We knew we didn't want to raise a child in a big city so we made the move east. Here God has moved us to pursue adoption once more.
We live in North Idaho, in a new neighborhood with a good mixture of young families and older couples. There’s a park nearby that we walk past every night with our dog Walker that always has kids running around. But the kids also ride their bikes all around the neighborhood and play at each other’s houses. That’s how both of us grew up and that’s what we want for our kids: playing outside with all the neighbor kids until the sun goes down. We love knowing he will have that freedom and be safe. Not a day goes by that we don’t talk about how grateful we are to live here.
Our home was built in 2020 and we moved in at the very end of July. We got a big house with lots of space so that we can raise a child here and have people over. We both have family that live close by and we have family dinners at least once a month. Liz also likes to host themed events, like murder mysteries or holiday parties. We love people and family and we love having people in our home so it was important when we bought a house that it worked for that.
Liz describing Phil:
Phil and I got married when I was 21. He was my first boyfriend and I just adore him! He is the most selfless man I know. He is constantly looking for ways to “spoil” me - he does the dishes, goes to the store when I need something and cooks for me. He loves kids and is really good with them. He is caring and loving and they love him too because he’s so much fun to be with. Phil works incredibly hard to support us. He has a very busy job that is very demanding but he does it quite well. He has also started planning ahead toward our future so we can hopefully retire young and travel.
Phil describing Liz:
Elizabeth loves people. She gets her energy from people, and she invests herself heavily in all of her friendships. I appreciate how much she cares for her friends, as well as complete strangers. Her first thought is never about herself, rather, it is about how she can help others. She loves children, and kids immediately bond with her.
We met in January of 2002 at Pacific Beach, WA. We went with a group of about 20 friends to stay the weekend where we all played games, sang songs, had interesting discussions and wandered around the tiny town.
I definitely thought Phil was cute. We hadn’t met before and so didn’t spend a whole lot of time together at the beginning of that trip, but during one of our chats we discovered both of us were the second born of twins, something that made me a lot more interested in this handsome guy. Then, while walking on the beach with some other friends, I started singing an obscure Beatles song called “Piggies” and Phil finished it. I think everyone might have thought we were crazy and it wasn’t a real song but it was. No one knows that song unless they were a huge fan and because Phil did it meant he was perfect for me!
We became friends and stayed “just friends” for several months before it began to change into something more. We spent a lot of time together at Bible study and throughout the week, though we were always in big groups of friends.
Our work offices were quite close to each other so during the summer we began having lunch together every day. I would always get a caramel frappuccino with extra caramel and we would wander along the boardwalk beside Lake Washington. We talked about everything: family, faith, growing up. He was so smart and so funny - he could always make me laugh. One of our favorite memories from those lunch dates was about a bush with a speaker in it that always had music playing. He would call it the singing bush, like in Three Amigos (we both quoted or referenced movies in daily conversation so it was another thing we had in common). He is also quite romantic and had the best smile.
In October of 2002 I couldn’t wait anymore and told Phil I liked him. Turns out he liked me too, which made me so incredibly happy. So we started dating and almost right away started talking about marriage. I think because we had been friends for so long we already knew each other fairly well and so knew we wanted to be together.
In January of 2003 Phil proposed at Snoqualmie Falls in Washington. It was raining but I didn’t care. We went back to my house to tell my parents and chose a date. Though we picked a date for that same summer, waiting 5 ½ months to marry this man was so hard!
We married July 12, 2003 at a church in Bellevue. My three sisters and his two brothers were part of our bridal party. We had a ton of friends and family there and had the best time, even though it was quite muggy and it wound up pouring rain at one point. But it was fitting since it also rained when he proposed. I really do love the rain.
My prayer for you is that you love others and work hard, that you are kind and can learn to be a servant to those God has brought into your life. You were made on purpose for a purpose and God will show you what that is as you grow in wisdom and knowledge.
We are prepared to have a relationship with the birth mother while together we develop the unique bond of our own triune. Our lives will forever be entwined and we know it will take a lot of work but we are willing to work hard to make sure the child grows up strong and loved by all the people in his life.
Phil
Liz