Welcome! Meet:

Tyler + Jackie

Workforce Management / Accountant

Kansas

Caucasian

Christian

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

All About Tyler & Jackie

Hello, we are Tyler and Jackie Kabbes. If you look up “goofballs” in the dictionary you will find a technical definition, but you could easily replace that definition with us. We are always laughing in our house and find entertainment in the littlest things. Jackie recently poured herself a glass of juice, realizing after the fact she grabbed a bowl instead of a cup. Her bowl of juice had us in tears from laughing so hard! Tyler works from home as a workforce management analyst and Jackie works for a local manufacturing company as an accountant. We tried for several years to have a child the old fashioned way but fate decided it was not the route for us. We realized adoption is going to be the best way to complete our family.

We initially became foster parents for two years hoping to eventually adopt our foster kids, but emotionally it became too much to handle over time and we decided private adoption would be a better fit for us. We are going into this journey with open hearts and are looking forward to the future relationships we will make with our child’s birth family. We have so much love to share and can’t wait to meet you both!

Why Adoption?

Less than a year after getting married we started trying for a baby. We then kept trying…and kept trying…and kept trying. After a few years with no luck, we figured God was telling us to go on a different path in life for parenthood. Loving children goes so much deeper than biology and we don’t need our child to share our DNA in order to love them unconditionally. We want to have an open adoption and keep the birth family in our child’s life, as much as the birth family is comfortable with. The more people who love a child, the better!

Family & Home

We live in the suburbs of Kansas City, MO. We live in a nice quiet neighborhood, the kind where if one of our neighbors doesn’t see us in a while it’s not uncommon for them to call and check up on us. Jackie is very active in roller derby and has created a large support group of friends through it. Tyler has several friends he meets up with, both online and in-person, to play board games and hang out. Both sets of our parents live in Illinois, about 4 ½ hours away. This means we can easily take a weekend trip to see them whenever we want, so we see our families several times a year.

We live in a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathhouse. We have a large fenced-in backyard where our future child can run around with our dogs, play in the sprinklers, and have fun. One of the bedrooms upstairs is currently Jackie’s office/craft room. The other bedroom is already set up to be the future nursery, conveniently located right next to the master bedroom. We have an open layout between our living room, dining room, and kitchen that allows our house to be inviting and we can easily see each other throughout the day. We also have a full basement which is being used mostly for storage and Tyler’s makeshift office, but Jackie has been known to roller skate in the basement.

How others describe me

Tyler Describing Jackie: She is the love of my life. A loving, caring individual that is not afraid to let you know what’s on her mind. Her hobbies include reading, and craft projects (cross-stitch, sewing, etc). She also LOVES musicals, and can usually be found listening to these tunes all the time. Jackie is a pet lover, especially dogs. At the end of the day, you can find Jackie cuddled up with our two dogs on the couch. Her capacity for caring for others is unbound, having worked with uniquely abled individuals in the past. She is a hard worker and takes pride in the work that she accomplishes. She also is perfect for being a mother. You can see it in her eyes, that the only piece missing is a little one to help raise.

Jackie Describing Tyler: Tyler is the most genuine person I know. He has a witty sense of humor and can always make people laugh. If I had a quarter for every time he told a corny “Bad Dad” Joke, I could retire at age 33! He is an extremely hard worker and prides himself on being dependable. He loves to play video games and listen to podcasts about the gaming industry. This past year he started his own gaming podcast with some friends and has enjoyed learning video editing in the process. I know Tyler will be a great dad since he’s so much fun to be around and his willingness to make his family happy knows no bounds.

How We Met

We met on a dating website. Instead of just going off our profiles, we played a fun game of two truths and a lie for several weeks. This was a great way for us to share our sense of humor and learn things about each other. On our second date, when Tyler grilled Jackie a steak, she swore that she would marry him for his cooking. He thought she was kidding, and about 3 years later this came to pass. One of our favorite types of dates is going to our musical theater and watching shows. During the intermission of “A Christmas Carol”, Tyler asked someone to take their picture, but instead of standing side by side he got down on one knee and proposed. Jackie does not really remember the second half of that show. We had our wedding less than a year later on June 26, 2015.

Advice to Future Child

Our advice is simple. Believe in yourself and follow your heart. The world is going to give you all the reasons you need to work harder, run faster, and be smarter. We are going to encourage you to be stronger, faster, and smarter to help you reach your full potential, but always remember that YOUR best is all that matters at the end of the day and we are proud of you. You are loved by so many people, especially your birth family. Your birth mom loved you so much, she decided to make the hardest decision of her life to make sure you could live the life she thought you deserved. If you ever feel the stress of the world coming down on you, just remember that it doesn’t matter in the end what others think of you. It’s how you feel about yourself. Know that you ARE enough. You don’t have to earn our love, it’s already there.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

Our personal perspective is nothing’s wrong with having more people to love a child. The more, the merrier! We want our child to know where they came from so we don’t see the benefit of closing the door on family if there is good to come from it. How open the door is all depends on one thing: safety. Once we adopt, that baby is our world and we only want the best for him/her. We honestly believe that involves keeping the birth family in the baby’s life as long as they can provide a safe environment for our child. We want to keep the lines of communication open and have the birth family included in our lives if that’s what they want.

Favorites

Tyler

Favorite Movie: Back to the Future Part II
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: My favorite holiday is Christmas. One of my favorite traditions is after all the Christmas presents have been opened, the big breakfast/lunch has been eaten, and everyone has taken their full belly naps, we go together as a family to the movie theater.
Hobbies/Interests: playing board games, video games, or pen and paper games, doing a podcast about video games, music, going to live shows to watch musicals
Dream Vacation: Japan
If I Could Choose a Superpower: the ability to freeze time to enjoy a moment

Jackie

Favorite Movie: The Sword in the Stone, Dumb and Dumber, Wayne's World
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Putting the Christmas tree up the night of Thanksgiving while watching a Christmas movie. I also love mailing out Christmas cards the day of Thanksgiving.
Hobbies/Interests: I love playing roller derby. I enjoy reading, puzzles, working on craft projects, and cuddling with our dogs.
Dream Vacation: London and exploring the sites around England
If I Could Choose a Superpower: giving all the stray animals loving homes and putting animal abusers in jail