The LIND Family Profile

Introduction

Our names are Andrea and Christopher Lind. I am currently 33 years old and was born in Iowa. My partner is currently 44 years old and was born in Iowa. We have 11 children. Our children's names are JoyAnna Lind, Micah Lind, Hope Lind, Elaina Lind, Maya Lind, Naomi Lind, Jaedyn Price, Margaret Lind, Melody Lind, Hannah Lind and Ryli Lind and they are 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14, 14, 16 and 19 years old, respectively Like us, our children have a caucasian ethnic background. My favorite pastime is definitely being a mother. I love reading to, teaching, playing and cooking with the children. I enjoy taking the children on bike rides, and to the park. I love going to the library weekly to help them pick out new books. I am very involved in my church, singing, volunteering in the nursery and teaching the Jr. High youth group. Beyond parenting, I love to sing and play instruments. I enjoy being active outside on our farm, taking care of the animals. I enjoy painting and pottery. My husband is an excellent father, and always aims to spend the majority of his evenings engaging the children. Beyond being a father, his main hobby is music. He is definitely a gifted musician. He plays guitar, and sings well, and is part of our church worship team. He enjoys working on cars and being outside. He also enjoys riding bikes with the family, going to parks and other family outings. I am a stay-at-home parent and have a flexible work schedule. My partner works full-time for USPS as a USPS Letter Carrier and has a flexible work schedule. Be believe that God and his word, the Bible, defines truth, and what is right and wrong. We believe to love God with all one's heart, mind, strength, and soul, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, and "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12) We are Christian. We believe in the one true God. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and that we are saved through his dying on the cross for our sins.

While we don't typically watch sports, we would encourage and support that in a child that wishes to do so. As far as musicians, we enjoy Steven Curtis Chapman, Big Daddy Weave, For King and Country, Mercy Me, Toby Mac, and many other Christian contemporary artists. We enjoy watching The Voice together as a family. When we gather, we usually gather in living room, and every meal and the dining room table and I spend the majority of my time taking care of our children. This includes bathing, dressing, and helping them with personal hygiene. My children are very active in helping with daily upkeep of the home. We work together to keep it neat and tidy. We spend a good amount of time outside each day, playing and riding bikes. We enjoy playing with our outdoor cats and collecting chicken eggs. I home school our children, and so after finishing morning chores and breakfast, we start on their schooling and are often finished by lunch time. We enjoy playing music and singing together in the evenings and watching family movies. We spend Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings doing church activities. We also like to go on family outings at least once a week. We take time to travel together as a family.

Home and Community

We live in the State of Iowa. Our home is a large 2 story farm house. We live in a Country/Rural neighborhood. We know our neighbors. We have one or more cats and some farm animals .

We play out doors, ride bikes and go on weekend vacations. We enjoy reading with our children, and playing hide and go seek. We love to watch family movies together as well. During the summer we go to the swimming pools almost daily. Each summer we also attend Village Creek Bible Camp's family camp. We spend a week at camp, as a family. We enjoy swimming at the beach, horseback riding, archery, crafts and so much more. There is a large park about a mile from our home. This park has a large fishing pond, playground equipment, and butterfly gardens. There is a public library and swimming pool just a few miles from home as well. In Waverly, just 15 miles away, there is a skate park, movie theater, and several more parks. We also have a very large yard with a large play structure for our children to play on. Children in our area are interested in having friends over to play. They enjoy going to local parks and swimming pools. My children also enjoy going to church sponsored events. They also enjoy going to the $1 movie theater on occasion to watch movies. There is a small consolidated school, North Butler, that buses to our home. This school has approximately 40 children per grade level. There is another school district, Waverly-Shell Rock, just 8 miles from our home. This school district is well known for it's his test scores. Waverly-Shell Rock is also well known for outstanding music and arts programs. They offer free college courses to select high school students as well, at a number of local colleges. I choose to home educate our children, and by doing so, they are all at least one grade level ahead. They also participate in private art lessons, and are involved in the University of Northern Iowa Children's choir. We are both very involved in our church, in both the child discipleship classes, worship team and teaching the Jr. High youth.

Parenting Experience

Over the past several years our parenting experience has primarily come from raising our 11 children. When we were married 11 years ago, my husband brought two daughters into the marriage and I brought in one. Through this, we have learned to love and care for children not born to us. One of our oldest daughters has been diagnosed with ADHD and some learning disabilities. We have learned how to encourage her and help her through these difficulties. Therefore we have learned skills that will be helpful with adopted children that have these types of diagnosis as well. We also currently lead the Jr. High youth group at our church and lead in the nursery and child discipleship classes as well. We have also adopted a teen out of foster care recently.

Support

I will provide all care for my children, since I stay at home full time. Our church family is very tight-knit and willing to step up and help any time it's needed. In the past, several friends from church have brought meals over or babysat our children during busy seasons of life. We also have a lot of extended family that live locally that support us. We have access to excellent medical care locally and access to the nationally known University of Iowa Children's Hospital, which is just a few hours away.

Motivation to Adopt