Welcome! Meet:

Trevor + Racheal

Mechanical Engineer / Education and Psychology

Michigan

Caucasian

Christian

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

All About Trevor & Racheal

So, how many of these profiles have you read now? Are they all starting to blur together? Let’s be real with each other from the get-go:

In all likelihood, you probably would rather be anywhere but here right now.
Our family is not perfect.
Life doesn’t look like Instagram…for either of our families.

I wonder – have you been hurt by people before? Had your trust broken? So, how on earth can you be expected to trust a family with your baby by just reading about them on a webpage?

With all of the above things in mind, I want you to know that you’re being brave right now.

What you’re going through is hard. I can’t begin to imagine the pressure of the choices you’re facing. I do want to introduce our family to you, but I don’t expect that this page will “sell” you on our family or even that you’ll trust us after reading this book. I do hope, though, that you’ll know after reading this that:

-We respect you.

-We want to get to know you.

-We understand that you’re probably. not exactly jumping up and down with excitement about this whole process.

-We are praying for everyone who reads this page.

No matter what, we pray that God will give you wisdom to choose what’s right for you and your baby.

A little bit about us:

We’re the Holloways, and we live in the frigid northern state of Michigan. Racheal and I (Trevor) grew up here, got married here, and are now raising our family here (we have one son, who we adopted almost four years ago). It’s a great place to raise a family, but we certainly enjoy escaping on vacations to more temperate climates, preferably ones with beaches and palm trees. Racheal has a degree in psychology, and I am working as an engineer. Racheal loves teaching kids, so she is currently using her gifts to homeschool our son.

Racheal and I met in church, and our church is a big part of our lives. Racheal started a ministry for single moms at our church last year, and I’m now working to start a ministry there for single dads. We were foster parents for four years and had four foster kids in our home. We ended up adopting the final foster child who came to our home, at which point we stepped away from being foster parents to focus on forming our family.

Why Adoption?

Our motivation for adopting is multifaceted. First and foremost, we believe that we have been blessed to be a blessing. We believe that our God has shown us love in many ways, and we want to show that same love to others. Adoption - especially open/semi-open adoption, which we are pursuing, offers a unique opportunity to show love to not only the child, but the child's birth family. Having already adopted out of foster care, we are aware that adoption is both a blessing and a loss. We desire to be an encouragement to the birth parents in the midst of their grief while simultaneously celebrating the arrival of the child in our home. Secondly, we have not yet been able to have children biologically and have endured two miscarriages. From our vantage point, it appears that we may be unable to have biological children. Our hope is that we would be able to have another child close enough to our adopted son's age that they would be able to form a close relationship with each other. Given the uncertainty of us being able to have another child biologically, we are pursuing adoption, in part, to improve our chances of having a child close to our adopted son’s age.

Family & Home

Our house is in a suburban mid-size town. We live in a subdivision with a park, trails, a library, and downtown (including an ice cream store!!) all in walking distance. Our subdivision is safe, quiet, and full of dogs and children. The town is family-friendly and hosts lots of festivals and events downtown (roughly one per month). We have four bedrooms in the house- we use one as a playroom, one for ourselves, one for our son, and the baby will have their own bedroom right next to ours. Our home is a split-level house, about average size for our neighborhood. It has been recently renovated and has a fenced-in backyard with a grassy lawn and a patio. Our home is full of creatures-we have a cat, a dog, and a turtle. Our dog, Jewels, is friendly and loves company (she gets depressed when guests leave our house and will lay by the door, whining for them to come back).

We are blessed to have both sets of our parents in town, and we have a good relationship with both sets of parents. They have been loving the role of adoptive grandparents, and they love getting involved in our son’s life by playing with him, reading to him, and having overnight sleepovers with him.

How others describe me

Trevor is a hardworking, dedicated, and loving husband and father. He has a degree in aerospace engineering and is currently working full time as a mechanical engineer. Trevor’s hobbies include spending time with his family, running, and studying for his master’s degree in Biblical studies with a focus on Greek and Hebrew languages. He is also preparing a ministry for single fathers that will launch at our church in the spring of 2024. I admire Trevor’s patience, ability to listen well to others, and his ability to fix our cars and provide home maintenance when needed. Trevor is currently working on his time management skills and his ability to prioritize his many commitments.

Racheal likes to travel (as do I). She has been as far away as Switzerland to the east and Los Angeles to the west. Racheal has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and loves to learn and read. She wants to work on her master’s degree, preferably a master’s of Biblical studies with a focus on women’s ministry. Racheal is currently dividing her time between homeschooling our son and running a ministry that she developed at our church called Grace at the Well (a support group for single moms). She is smart and kind. I know she would be the first to say she isn’t perfect, but I’ll be the first to say that she is a great friend.

How We Met

We met in our church’s youth group in our freshman year of high school, but only in passing. We really began talking in our senior year of high school, and began dating long-distance in our freshman year of college. We dated for two years and were engaged in July 2011. I (Trevor) prepared a scavenger hunt for Racheal at our favorite park, which ended with me on my knee with a ring. Fortunately (surprisingly?) she said yes, and we were engaged for two years before getting married in 2013. We have now been happily married for 10 years! We enjoy talking, walking, going on trips together, playing games, and spending time with our son.

Advice to Future Child

To find joy in life, you have to go the opposite direction of where most other people are going. Find joy by serving others, putting their needs ahead of your own, admitting when you are wrong and seeking forgiveness as soon as possible, giving more than you receive without expecting anything in return, living responsibly, handling money and possessions wisely, being respectful to authority, and above all loving others and treating them as you would want to be treated.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

In our experience, an open adoption is where the birth family and adoptive family are in direct contact with each other and meet together at times agreed upon by both families. A semi-open adoption is where the adoptive family and birth family have contact with each other through the adoption agency but do not have each other’s contact information. As mentioned above in the “why adoption” section, we believe that adoption is an opportunity to love both the child and the child’s birth family. We would partner with the child’s birth family in whatever way they feel most comfortable (through semi-open or open adoption).

Favorites

Trevor

Favorite Movie: Star Wars Episode VI
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Easter - decorating eggs with our son and then watching our son collect Easter eggs on egg hunts is a favorite pastime of mine.
Hobbies/Interests: running, repairing cars, working on house projects
Dream Vacation: Costa Rica
If I Could Choose a Superpower: flight

Racheal

Favorite Movie: The Chosen
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Each year my family gets together with my in-laws for Thanksgiving breakfast. We watch the Macy’s parade and eat breakfast together. We also spread a large piece of paper on the table and draw/color pictures on it while we spend time together.
Hobbies/Interests: reading, swimming, spending time with friends and family, taking walks with family, baking
Dream Vacation: Australia
If I Could Choose a Superpower: water breathing