For further information, please call 877-343-2856 or email matching@afamilyforeverychild.org

We are a fun-loving, outgoing, and busy family. We love sports, games, movies, camping, and spending time together. We still dance in the kitchen after 16.5 years of marriage much to the embarrassment of our teenagers and love the family that we have, even when it's hard and messy :)

We have fostered nearly 65 children between 0 and 18 and have hosted 24 exchange students from around the world. We have both adopted and birth children and children of mixed races. We are certainly not perfect but we have battled through mental health issues, the long-term (and short term) affects of abuse and neglect, and have felt the pain of losing a child to suicide. We have walked through major medical issues and emerged stronger and wiser. We love deeply and unconditionally, and forgive often. We laugh and cry and wouldn't trade this crazy, fun life for anything.

We are a very active family. All of the kids participate in a variety of extracurricular activities including basketball, baseball, football, volleyball, cheer, music lessons, youth choirs, and 4-H. As parents, we are your biggest cheerleaders. We have also coached, participated as team parents, and been on school boards to help support our children and community. Every night we have family prayer and family counsel (what are we doing the following day, etc.) and we just generally love spending time together. We try very hard to eat dinner together around our 14 foot dining room table which is also the hub for homework, crafts, computer games, and family board games.
We live in a FABULOUS community with easy access to arts, entertainment, outdoor recreation, and excellent medical facilities. Our children attend one of three schools: Compass Public Charter School, West Junior High School, or Borah High School and we have a YMCA membership. Our children participate in 4-H, Club Idaho Volleyball, Riot Cheer and Dance, our YMCA, and Cantus Youth Choirs. We have completed foster care training through both our state agency and with Casey Family Programs. We have fostered nearly 65 children and been a host family for 24 exchange students from around the world. We have raised three teenage relatives and have adopted several times through our state's foster care program. We have served in various capacities related to youth for our church and have been coaches for volleyball teams, football teams, and soccer teams. We have attended a variety of conferences and trainings including Love and Logic, the Power of Positive Parenting, and post adoption support.
Because we have adopted and fostered before, we are definitely not strangers to the resources available in our community, including medical professionals, mental health and family counseling, special needs supports, and of course our church and extended family. We also are familiar with IEP/504 resources and how to advocate for our children. Essentially, we are ready, willing, and able to access whatever resources our children need to be successful, happy, and healthy!100% committed. Although sometimes that is easier said than done. Because we have had such extensive experience with children from a variety of backgrounds and types of abuse and neglect, we do not go in to adoption with rose colored glasses. We know it is a long road and there will be bumps, bruises, and pitfalls along the way. However, we know it is the right thing to do and will stay 100% committed to our child and family when we encounter those problems and reach out for help when the come.