Justin & Terri

First and foremost, we promise to love this baby unconditionally. We promise to teach them to be kind and caring of others and to teach them to always be their most authentic self. And we will love them for who they are and who they grow up to be, no matter what! We promise to always be there when they need us and be their biggest supporters. We promise to always provide for them to the best of our ability and make sure they always have what they need. This baby will know they are so loved and have been loved from the very beginning.

Let us introduce you to Miss Maggie Moo! Maggie is our three-year-old beaglier. She is 75% cavalier king Charles and 25% beagle. She loves walks, treats, ice and snuggles. We rescued her when she was four months old from an organization in Ohio. Every year we meet up with her siblings, mom and their owners for a playdate and puppy frozen yogurt. Maggie is a very kind dog who loves scratches and play time.

Our family and friends mean the absolute world to us! They have been there for us through so much. We live in a community that allows us to have many friends. It is rare that when we are out and about that we don’t run into someone we know. Each of us also has best friends that we have had since childhood. We know that we have people we can trust and rely on. Justin’s family consists of his parents, himself, and his sister. His parents live just a short ten-minute drive away, while his sister and her husband live in a bigger city about an hour and a half away. His mother is a retired nurse, and his dad is also retired. They are both extremely kind. Justin gets his sense of humor from his mom, no doubt. His dad loves to cook and always makes sure everything is taken care of properly. Both of his parents have always given us great advice. Justin’s sister is an assistant athletic trainer for a university. His sister has always been great at sports and at school. Justin’s mom has three siblings while his dad has one. He has ten first cousins and most of his family is local. Terri’s family consists of her dad, mom and two brothers. Her dad is a retired home remodeler. He still will come over occasionally to help with home projects. He loves history and geology. This is where Terri gets her love of rocks and fossils. Terri’s mom has the biggest heart. She would do anything to help anyone who needs it. She is also the first person out on the dance floor. Both of Terri’s brothers, along with her dad, can build just about anything. Terri considers both of her brothers some of her best friends. Terri’s mom has four siblings while her dad has seven. She has twenty-two first cousins and most of her family live in the same area.

To say that we love our home is an understatement. When we were house hunting years ago, we were notified by our realtor that a house had become available and hadn’t even been put on the market yet. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, we knew it was for us. Our home looked like a cozy little cottage, covered in snow. The outside looks small, but in truth the home has three large bedrooms, two full baths, a full basement and even a sunroom. While walking through the house we realized we knew the previous owners. We rushed back to our real estate office to put in our offer and emailed the owners. The house would be a perfect place to one day raise our family in. We are really blessed with not only our home, but our neighbors as well! They are all so kind. There have been several instances when our neighbors have volunteered to help us with projects, and we have done the same for them. Our next-door neighbors own a beautiful and larger piece of land behind our property, and they allow us to walk Maggie back there and have said they can’t wait for us to have children so that they can play and enjoy mother nature. We can not wait for that day!

We absolutely love our traditions, and we have quite a few. Usually in the summer, we take a yearly trip to see my (Terri) brother in Florida. There we spend time with him, our sister-in-law and two nephews and two nieces. Every 4th of July we go to my other brother’s home, and he puts on an amazing firework show just for us and our family. We also enjoy visiting the same fairs and festivals throughout the summer. Our town has a lot of festivals. In the fall we decorate our home and love to visit a pumpkin patch. Every Halloween we go to Justin’s parents to hand candy out to the kiddos. Every Thanksgiving we have lunch at Justin’s parents’ and dinner at my grandma’s. Holidays at my grandma’s are always fun because I have a very large family. My grandparents had five children and then fifteen grandchildren. Now the grandchildren have significant others and children. This leads me to Christmas. Every year since we began dating, we have driven through a park that displays Christmas lights. We even pack up Maggie Moo and take her with us. She loves the lights! On Christmas Eve we go to my aunt’s home on my dad’s side and spend it with the family. My aunt makes some of the best cookies and fudge every Christmas. On Christmas day we open gifts at home in the morning before heading to Justin’s parents. There we have lunch and open gifts. Then it’s off to my grandma’s for dinner and gifts. The funny thing about Christmas at Justin’s parents and my grandma’s is how completely different they are. Justin’s parents it’s just us, his parents, his sister and her husband. We sit down for lunch together and we each take turns opening our gifts while everyone else watches. The complete opposite happens at my grandma’s. All the aunts, uncles and cousins are there with their families. We can’t fit in one room at the same time. My three uncles pass out the gifts and sometimes they must be tossed in the air and passed back to the next room. It sounds chaotic but it is something that is so special to our family. Though we have many traditions already, we are so excited to start new traditions with our future children.

Our lifestyle is full of variety. We can be on the move, but we also enjoy our quiet time as well. We live in a very active community. There are many events, fundraisers, festivals, and volunteering opportunities. We take part and attend a lot of these. Being a part of our community is very important to us because it’s our home and we believe if you pour into your community, it will pour back into you. We have found this to be true. Another thing we enjoy is live performances. Whether it be a concert, play or comedian we are all for it! Recently, bands from when were in high school have begun touring again. It has been great to finally be able to see them perform in person. Our town has a local theatre that Terri volunteers for. She has not been in a show but has been a production assistant, assistant director and will director her first show soon, working with kids. We also enjoy a quiet evening at home. We love to have classic movie nights with pizza and popcorn. Our home is a place that we like to be. The neighborhood is quiet, and we have such kind neighbors all around us. Occasionally we will just sit outside and chat with them. It is very peaceful.