Welcome! Meet:

Zach + Emma

Athletic Development Officer / Corporate Wellness Manager

Missouri

Caucasian

Christian

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

All About Zach & Emma

Hi. We are Zach and Emma! We live in mid Missouri and have been married almost 5 years. We’re best friends and enjoy pretty much anything we can do together, but a few of our favorites are being outside, being active, attending or watching sporting events, traveling, and finding a new movie or show to watch together. We both have jobs that we love but it’s important to us to balance work and home life well; and our top priority is always our family. We have two dogs, Finn and Phoebe, and our nightly ritual is a big walk around our neighborhood together (I think we enjoy it as much as they do). Emma grew up in northern Arkansas and Zach in Atlanta, so we have family and friends we’re close with and enjoy visiting throughout the southeast and midwest. We also enjoy being involved in our church and community and giving back wherever we can. We appreciate you taking the time to learn about our family!

Why Adoption?

We’ve known since before we got married that adoption was something our hearts were open to and was one of the ways we envisioned growing our family. Originally we thought we might start with biological children and then adopt, but after a few years of struggling with infertility and pregnancy losses we felt the pull toward adoption being the right way to start growing our family. The most important thing to us is having children in our home to love and we can’t wait to learn about who our children have been uniquely created to be.

Family & Home

We own a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a large backyard. Our neighborhood has lots of kids, sidewalks, and a neighborhood pool. One of our favorite things about where we live are the beautiful sunsets! Our overall goal is for our home to be cozy and inviting to our friends and family. Our community is a “big small town” that has everything you need but is still small enough where you know your neighbors and life feels simple. We’re involved in our local church and meet with our small group weekly.

Emma grew up in northern Arkansas and Zach in the Atlanta area (where both of our families still live) so we have family and friends spread throughout the southeast. We stay close through calls, Facetimes, and frequent visits and always make the most of our time together. Zach has a smaller family that includes his parents, twin brother, sister-in-law, and our almost 1 year old nephew. You’ll oftentimes find us out on the lake or watching sports when we’re all together. Emma has a larger family that includes her parents, sister, and brother-in-law but also numerous grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We all love being together and that typically includes a big family potluck and game night! We both grew up with close knit families and it’s important to us that our children have that as well.

How others describe me

Zach described by Emma: Zach is the definition of “glass half full” person and lights up any room that he’s in. He’s positive, joyful, encouraging, driven and loves to laugh. He’s the guy who is always checking on those around him and has been my rock in some of my hardest moments. I have no doubt his playful spirit, consistency, and intentionality will make him an amazing dad.

Emma described by Zach: Emma is one of the most caring people I know and is always finding ways to make people feel comfortable whenever she interacts with them. She wants the best for other people and always provides a listening ear to her family and friends. I believe her loving nature and desire to encourage others, while being confident in who she is, will make her a fantastic mom.

How We Met

We met through a mutual friend almost six years ago. The first night we met we both showed up wearing almost the exact same shirt and it was an immediate conversation starter. We hit it off from the start and haven’t spent many days apart since.

Advice to Future Child

If we could say anything to our future child(ren) it would be that they are uniquely created to be exactly who they are and that they are such a blessing to our family and the world. Some of who they are will come from their birth parents, and some of it will come from being raised by us, but every part of them is beautiful and important. Their story is one of love - love in our hearts for them long before we knew them and deep and courageous love from their birth family who chose adoption. Be kind, be humble, and be exactly who you are. We’ll always be by your side supporting you however we can.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

As we start our adoption journey, we are committed to being genuine and trustworthy. Our hope is to build a relationship with our child’s birth parent(s) based on mutual respect and love for the child we all care so deeply about.

We think openness is important and want to work together to determine the level of openness that best supports all of us, most importantly the child. We plan to to follow the lead of our child’s birth parents and their wishes but are very open to pictures, emails, and yearly visit. If their birth parents are open to it, we want our child to know their birth parents and for their birth parents to feel confident they are deeply loved and cherished by our family.

We plan to share our child’s story with them in age-appropriate ways from the start and will always talk about their birth parents and them choosing adoption as a loving and courageous decision.

Favorites

Zach

Favorite Movie: Remember the Titans
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: My family has always made gingerbread houses around Christmas and it’s one of my favorite holiday traditions. We see who can make the craziest or most elaborate house and then let our family and friends vote to see which one is their favorite - a little friendly family competition. We can’t wait for our child(ren) to join our gingerbread house team!
Hobbies/Interests: music, sports, being active, juggling
Dream Vacation: Iceland
If I Could Choose a Superpower: time travel

Emma

Favorite Movie: The Parent Trap
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: On Christmas Eve my extended family gathers at my grandma’s house for dinner and plays cards, games, does a white elephant exchange, and sometimes even breaks out the karaoke machine. We stay until we’re all about to fall asleep and then come right back the next morning for breakfast. It’s such a sweet time just enjoying being together!
Hobbies/Interests: reading, cooking/baking, hiking, yoga
Dream Vacation: Greece
If I Could Choose a Superpower: teleportation