Letter
Hello!
We are all about family time.
On the gondola!
Our names are Gordon, Jessica, and Burton, and we are the Hardcastle Family. We hope you can get to know us a little bit better as we share some things about ourselves.
We are all about family time. On the daily you can find us playing outside, reading chapter books together (we have so many favorites it’s hard to name just one but right now we are enjoying Geronimo Stilton books), rough housing, playing games like Uno, and walking or riding our bikes around our neighborhood to “the bike ramps” or around our town’s lake. We enjoy talking about our day each night at dinner time together. Our dad usually tells us about his work day, and Burton and mom share what fun things they did which usually involves playing with friends in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is full of families with kids. You can find Burton with his friends bouncing from house to house playing on each other’s trampolines, swing sets and climbing domes. Gordon built a clubhouse for Burton in our backyard and they spend a lot time there, too. It’s the best thing ever! On the weekends we try to do an activity together. Burton is learning how to ride a dirt bike. His need for speed makes his mom watch with one eye open, but it’s been exciting to see him enjoy something his dad also likes doing. They are now trying to convince Jess to join the fun. We also like to go snowboarding together and teaching Burton this skill has been so amazing. He’s quite the little shredder and gets better each time we take him. This winter, he started riding on the gondola so our riding terrain just got so much larger! Sometimes our weekend activity is simply grabbing take out and going to a fun park for dinner. We also spend a lot of time with our extended family. Burton loves playing with his cousins who range in age from 27 to 5 years old. We go on yearly trips with them to Jackson, Wyoming and to Bear Lake in Utah. We also get together on Sundays for family dinners.
We are all about family time. On the daily you can find us playing outside, reading chapter books together (we have so many favorites it’s hard to name just one but right now we are enjoying Geronimo Stilton books), rough housing, playing games like Uno, and walking or riding our bikes around our neighborhood to “the bike ramps” or around our town’s lake. We enjoy talking about our day each night at dinner time together. Our dad usually tells us about his work day, and Burton and mom share what fun things they did which usually involves playing with friends in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is full of families with kids. You can find Burton with his friends bouncing from house to house playing on each other’s trampolines, swing sets and climbing domes. Gordon built a clubhouse for Burton in our backyard and they spend a lot time there, too. It’s the best thing ever! On the weekends we try to do an activity together. Burton is learning how to ride a dirt bike. His need for speed makes his mom watch with one eye open, but it’s been exciting to see him enjoy something his dad also likes doing. They are now trying to convince Jess to join the fun. We also like to go snowboarding together and teaching Burton this skill has been so amazing. He’s quite the little shredder and gets better each time we take him. This winter, he started riding on the gondola so our riding terrain just got so much larger! Sometimes our weekend activity is simply grabbing take out and going to a fun park for dinner. We also spend a lot of time with our extended family. Burton loves playing with his cousins who range in age from 27 to 5 years old. We go on yearly trips with them to Jackson, Wyoming and to Bear Lake in Utah. We also get together on Sundays for family dinners.
A little more about us…
We want our son’s adoption to be a strength for him.
We enjoy bicycle rides together.
Gordon and Jess have been married since 2007 We met in college in a public speaking class. Gordon didn’t ask Jess out until the last day of the semester just in case the date didn’t go well. Well it went great, we dated for 2.5 years and the rest is history! We always look forward to date night when we can reconnect. Spending time just the two of us is extra special these days and we work really hard to make sure we get regular quality time together. Some of our date nights include doing service in our church’s temples, going out to eat at restaurants with Thai or Indian food, and cozying up for a movie night. When we have individual free time Gordon likes to build or restore things (he built our home and put in our yard with all the fixins like garden boxes and a chicken coop), go riding on his dirt and mountain bikes, or plan his next guys trip with his friends. Some things Jess likes to do are hike, play pickleball, practice Pilates and yoga, listen to podcasts (some favorites include Inklings with Emily Belle Freeman, Revival with David Butler, and This is Kingdom), and get together with her friends for laughs and quality girl time. You can also find her helping in Burton’s class at school or walking the town with her “mom friends” chatting about life and Jesus.
Our family values our faith, compassion and empathy, trust, forgiveness, individuality, fairness, serving others, balance, patience, sincerity, connection, and fun.
When biologically creating our family wasn’t a possibility for us, we explored other avenues to begin a family and chose to pursue adoption. We feel so blessed to have been able to start our own family through adoption. The adoption of our son, Burton, has been one of our greatest joys. We love his birth parents and their families so much. Our adoption is open with them, in varying degrees. We try to be available to their desires and work together to make sure our relationship always has Burton’s best interest in mind. We want Burton’s adoption to be a strength for him. The more people in his life supporting and loving him the better. Our own families have also been supportive of our choice to grow our family through adoption. Burton is treated exactly the same as all the other family members. He is deeply loved.
We are hoping to grow our family again and believe siblings are one of the best things in life. We have strong sibling relationships in our families. We believe if we are able to add to our family through adoption again our family connection will only grow deeper and stronger.
We really appreciate you taking the time to read this and get to know us a bit. Please reach out to us if you’d like to get to know us even more or if you have any questions for us.
Our family values our faith, compassion and empathy, trust, forgiveness, individuality, fairness, serving others, balance, patience, sincerity, connection, and fun.
When biologically creating our family wasn’t a possibility for us, we explored other avenues to begin a family and chose to pursue adoption. We feel so blessed to have been able to start our own family through adoption. The adoption of our son, Burton, has been one of our greatest joys. We love his birth parents and their families so much. Our adoption is open with them, in varying degrees. We try to be available to their desires and work together to make sure our relationship always has Burton’s best interest in mind. We want Burton’s adoption to be a strength for him. The more people in his life supporting and loving him the better. Our own families have also been supportive of our choice to grow our family through adoption. Burton is treated exactly the same as all the other family members. He is deeply loved.
We are hoping to grow our family again and believe siblings are one of the best things in life. We have strong sibling relationships in our families. We believe if we are able to add to our family through adoption again our family connection will only grow deeper and stronger.
We really appreciate you taking the time to read this and get to know us a bit. Please reach out to us if you’d like to get to know us even more or if you have any questions for us.