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Michele and Tim
Florida

Basic Info

Michele

Age: 58
Sex: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Native American
Religion:

Tim

Age: 52
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Religion:

Child Preferences

Age: Infant to 12 years old
Sex: Either
Max Number of Children: 2
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Mixed, Bi-Racial, Unknown

Special Needs the Family is Open To: Animal Allergies, Asthma, Drug Allergies, Environmental Allergies, Food Allergies, Physically Aggressive to Other Children, Defiant, Difficulty in Attaching, Difficulty Making Friends, Lying, Stealing, Suicidal Attempts, Tantrums-Severe, Wets the Bed, Overeating, Academically behind due to poor attendance, Cognitive Delay - Mild, Mild Learning Disabilities, Suspension(s), One/Both Parents Diagnosed with Depression, One/Both Parents Have Alcohol Addiction, One/Both Parents Have Drug Addiction, One/Both Parents Diagnosed with Bipolar, Exposed to Domestic Violence, Child has had a disrupted adoption, Multiple Placements, ADHD, Arthritis, Diabetes, Adjustment Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Requires Medication For Psychiatric Condition/Mental Health Diagnosis, Requires Counseling/Therapy, Willing to Maintain Contact via Mail with Bio Family, Willing to Maintain Contact with Bio Siblings, Child Identifies as LGBT, Sexually Abused in the Past

Environment

State: Florida
Neighborhood: Suburban
Residency: Single Family Home
Years Together: 3
Children in the Home: 0
Pet(s): Dog(s)

Work

Michele

Occupation: Instruction Designer/System Analyst

Tim

Occupation: Truck Driver

Adoption Agency

Agency: Impower Florida
Worker: Bill Marallo
Worker: wmarallo@impowerfl.org
City: Rockledge
State: Florida
Zip: 32955

Family Description

We are down-to-earth and easy going. We are adventurous but not extreme types. Both of us ride motorcycles for fun. We like fishing, four-wheeling, festivals(music, art, home), art, cooking, being home, family time and movies. We have an Old English Bulldog named Skeeter who is 3 who thinks he is only 10 pounds... (he weighs 80!). I work from home as a contractor so my time is very flexible which I think is very important for school aged kids. My own kids never had me around as I was a single parent and owned my own business, so we all missed a lot. This time around, things are much different so I look forward to the after-school time. Tim usually has 2-3 days a week off but works full time hours that start very early in the a.m. (3-3:30). We enjoy our weekends doing things around the house, or going places. We enjoy eating out when we can and trying different places. We are expecting our first grand-child (my son) next summer so our new kid(s) will immediately be and aunt or uncle! We have a cozy home -- cottage like -- in an older established neighborhood, but there are plenty of kids around. Music and being creative is important in our lives... and we love to give surprises!!

Preference Description

Physically healthy, ambulatory, auditory, optically correct (glasses ok) able to attend normal public schools, ride the bus, participate in sports, attend events. Special needs such as behavioral, or school/learning needs are ok as we will advocate.

Share Our Lives and Love Forever

We are interested in a sibling group of 2 to 3 and prefer little to no contact with bio family unless it has been shown to be in the best interest of the children.

Our children will be ages 4 to 12 and enjoy being involved with many activities. Our goal is to keep a group of siblings together so we are not currently interested in a single child, or one who has siblings they were not placed with.

We are open to various behavior, education, and loss/attachment issues, as all things can be addressed with the proper services, lots of unconditional love, encouragement, and strong committment. Children with major physical restrictions would be difficult for us as we are a very active family.

Our active life!

A loving, close, and committed family relationship with our children and with God is the most important aspect of our lives. We share a small comfortable home with with our bulldog Skeeter and our Corgi/Chihuahua mix Lexi.

Our kids will instantly become little brothers or sisters to big brother Josh,and his wife Autie Jackie, cousin Luke, and big sister Malia with a new baby cousin on the way. They also have two sets of elderly grandparents, an Auntie Christine and cousin Jacob.

We enjoy camping (we have a pop-up camper with AC!), football, skating, biking, the beach, kayaking, fishing, cooking, quiet time at home, bowling, movies, golf, family, friends, BBQs, going out to dinner, church, car shows, air shows,motorcycles, 4-wheelers,mud events, mud trucks, and travelling to fun places.

Tim loves to build things and work with wood projects as he has remodeled our kitchen, built our back porch, the ramp to our bikes, and all kinds of other cool things. He will enjoy having a building and fishing buddy!

I make time for after school homework and getting kids to ball practice, art class, school meetings, and church youth group activities or whatever they like doing becuase I work from home. Tim works through the week outside the home but is home every night.

We ride motorcycles and would love to get the kids into dirt bikes and possibly even motorcross competition.

Home and Community

We attend church which has great kids groups. Being involved in the community where we live is important to us.

We have a public pool less than a mile a way (we can walk or bike ride to it) that is open to the public but also hosts swim meets throughout the year. We live near the Indian River (within half a mile) for fishing, kayaking, boating etc., and are only a few miles from the beaches for surfing, wind surfing, fishing, and other ocean sports.

We have various sports, dance, art, and martial arts studios in our community and are open to allowing the children to partake in whatever they would like to do. We highly encourage involvement to bring a sense of belonging, help to build character, and to teach discipline and reward for working hard at things they enjoy. There is a lot to do in our community, I can't possibly list it all, but we have outstanding libraries, book clubs, biking clubs, surfing clubs, sailing clubs, and the list goes on.

The elementary school is 1/2 mile away and rated a B+ school in our county with excellent services available for the children. The junior high and high school are farther away to travel by bus. All of the schools in the area are really good schools and offer a lot of servies, clubs, activities, and special needs education.

Parenting Experience

We completed PRIDE training earlier this year. As a single parent of two children, one being ADD and multiple diagnosis, the other not having those issues, it was a real balancing act to ensure they both got the attention and support needed on various levels. They both are now stable, successful adults following their own paths and careers, and big brother Josh had his first child in August. My daughter is expecting her first child in July 2016, is in college as a Junior working on a Psychology degree with an emphasis on counseling children who have had the same types of issues she did growing up -- loss, rejection, abuse, and attachment from a father who was absent, and when he did come around was mentally and emotionally abusive to her. Coupled with her own behavior issues: ADD, Oppositional Defiance, Bi Polar, Depression, and others, she struggled and challenged me. But I never gave up on her, continued to help her, advocated with the county for services, with the schools for proper education, and with extra curricular activities to allow her as normal of a growing up period as possible. To this day,we still check on her to ensure she has medication, and is taking it on a regular basis. She still challenges us although she is 23 and living on her own, but she has grown into a well adjusted adult leading a normal life with ups and downs. Through it all she discovered that she can make it on her own with love and support.

Support

We have a great network of close friends and family along with two grown kids to help out as needed. Our friends are supportive of our journey and our parents, although elderly, are in support of our adopting and are willing to lend a hand or help us in any way as needed. We are all in it for the long haul.

Motivation to Adopt

My husband has never had children of his own, although he has always wanted to be a daddy. I am unable to produce children as I had a full hysterectomy at 26 for various issues going on at the time with my female organs. Our marriage is strong and our relationship is amazing... built on trust, love, loyalty, honesty, and commitment. Our desires to adopt are two fold: we want to have children together because we know what kind of family we can offer children, and we want Tim to experience the amazing feelings, the ups and downs, lows and highs, of being a parent to children that will not be in his life for a few months, but forever.

We are ready to take on any and all challenges with raising a family. We are the advocates, supporters, cheerleaders, and proud parents.

I am not the Kool-Aid mom type who bakes cookies after school and throws perfect parties. I am the cool mom who understands kids and meets right where they are having fun if it means getting muddy, digging in the dirt, on the roller coasters (Tim does not do roller coasters), and running around laughing and playing. Our house is where all the kids hang out because we are down to earth, stable, loving, spontaneous, fun, and outgoing.