Hello, we're Tyler and Abigail!

We are so excited to start this journey with you! Thank you for taking some time to review our profile! We hope our positivity and quirkiness shine through.  

Our story is a tale as old as time. He was a beast; she was a beauty. Just kidding! We met at church in Colorado. It was not love at first sight but a friendship that grew into courtship, love, and very happy marriage. We are quite the example of how "opposites attract" and how complimentary that can be. 

On our first date, we went to Chipotle! This was followed by many dates, including hikes, camping trips, and movie nights. We dated for about one year before getting engaged.  

We were married in the springtime of 2015. It was a backyard barbeque wedding reception, and it was perfect. We only got a few drops of BBQ sauce on our wedding clothes. A couple of weeks later, we celebrated our honeymoon in Costa Rica. It was the first time either of us had traveled that far from the U.S. It was not the last! 

We have been married for over seven years, and from the beginning, we have been trying to have children. We have not been able to conceive, and we would love to grow our family through adoption.

Tyler's Thoughts: Abigail (aka Abbey) is the most interesting, driven, and intelligent person I have ever met. A staple characteristic of Abbey is always attempting to improve and learn new things. Abbey's favorite things to learn about tend to be of an academic nature, but she also enjoys a variety of interests. A recent example of this is Abbey learning how to cut hair so that she could give me haircuts.

Since being married, Abbey has worked hard to learn new and exotic food dishes, practice new crafts, and expand her academic interests. 

Abbey graduated top of her class in college with a degree in Biology. While dating, she got accepted into Medical School but ultimately decided that was not the path for her. She has since obtained a Master's Degree in Business Analytics. Currently, Abbey is working from home doing administrative, and legal work for a university in Connecticut. She recently got accepted to law school with a full-ride scholarship to get her Juris-Doctorate Law Degree.  

Abbey is also incredibly thoughtful and caring. She tends to be more introverted, but when she has connected with someone, she gives a lot of herself to them. 

My family does a gift exchange for Christmas, and Abbey is the most sought-after gift-giver because everyone knows she gives the best gifts. Abbey has done everything from making custom D&D boards and fantasy-inspired bookcases to finding activities tailored to an individual's interests. 

Fun Facts About Abigail: 

• She speaks Spanish, having worked with Latinx in Arizona for two years for our church. 
• She likes to woodwork; most of the furniture in our home was built by Abbey. 
• Abbey loves Harry Potter! 

Abigail's Thoughts: Tyler is an incredible man. Sometimes I feel silly talking about him to friends and family because I feel like I am bragging. Tyler has taken the advice to "treat his wife like a queen" extremely seriously. Recently I was feeling sick, so he drew up a bath for me and then washed and brushed my hair. He shares all the responsibilities of maintaining the home, which include cooking dinner some nights, doing laundry, cleaning, and maintaining the outdoors.  

Additionally, he shows the same level of kindness to his friends and family. He once took a week off work to return to his parent's house and finish remodeling their bathroom when his father broke his arm. He visits retirement homes 2-3 times per month to play piano and visit the tenants. He calls all his siblings regularly. He has eleven siblings, so this is impressive!  

I am so proud of how much he has accomplished in his professional career. I had the opportunity to "ride along" with him for a shift while he was on duty as a police officer. This experience was incredible. My husband remains kind and level-headed despite difficult situations. For example, he had to bring someone to jail while on my ride-along. He spoke to this person about their family, life, and advice on moving forward. 

Tyler is a big kid himself. I love that he has been able to keep a sense of whimsy and silliness even into adulthood. 

Fun Facts About Tyler: 

• He collects jokes, both good and bad ones! 
• He is a beautiful piano player and very musical in general.  
• He wanted to be a police officer as a child; now he is a police officer! 

We are dog lovers, and we have two amazing dogs. Our dogs are a huge part of our family. We enjoy activities with our dogs, such as hiking with them, taking them to the dog park, and playing with them in the backyard.

Roman is six years old and a german shepherd/lab mix. He is strawberry blond and a handsome dog. We inherited Roman from our good friends who left for work in Japan. Roman was still a puppy and needed a new home, so he became part of our family. Roman is a big baby. He can be very dramatic and thinks he should be pampered more. Roman loves other humans and goes out of his way to see all the humans at the park and especially loves little kids and is very gentle with them.  

Gladius is four years old and supposedly a rottweiler/lab mix, but we are not sure. He has black fur with white paws. He is a mama's boy and a bit of a pushover. Every night he waits to snuggle with Abigail before bedtime. He needs his snuggle time. Gladius can be very goofy and likes to sleep completely on his back with his legs sticking in the air. Gladius is a very happy dog, and almost nothing seems to bother him for more than a few minutes. Gladius is also wonderful and patient with children.  

Our House: We love our house! It is a farmhouse-style home with a wrap-around porch. It was built in 1996, so we have slowly completed small renovations to update the home, such as new paint and updated bathrooms. One of its best features is the windows. Our home has a lot of natural light, making it light and inviting. Our house borders a golf course, so our yard looks bigger than it actually is. Our dogs love the backyard. We installed a dog door, so our dogs can freely wander.  

Our Neighborhood: The neighborhood is the reason we bought our house. We fell in love with the area when we made our first drive-through. The houses are not "cookie cutter" homes, and the trees are big and well established. It's a perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating with children. We are right on the edge of suburban and rural. It's quiet but close to many great restaurants and entertainment. We have a great relationship with many of our neighbors, whom we now consider friends. 

Our neighborhood also borders a sports complex with multiple baseball fields, soccer fields, and a great playground. On Saturday mornings, we can sit on our porch and hear the cheers of the little league games. 

Our Community: We have found a lot of hidden gems in Tulsa. We love the taco trucks, the diversity, and the free activities. We love to take family and friends to the Gathering Place, Turkey Mountain, and our favorite restaurants.  

We love family and grew up with loving parents and siblings. Since we currently do not have any family living in Oklahoma, we must find time to spend with our families in other ways. Almost every year, we have a family reunion. Since our families live throughout the country, yearly reunions are a great way to stay connected. Our parents also visit us here in Oklahoma, and we travel to visit family.  

We take our friendships very seriously. Our close friends are family. We vacation with our friends, chat with them regularly and visit each other's homes. We have friends in different parts of the country and Oklahoma. We don't and have not always had families close by, so we have had to make our own family through friendships. We know that blood relations do not define family. 

Together, we have a big family with a lot of different personalities. Simple pleasures in life easily entertain Abigail's family. Sometimes things as simple as watching Weird Al videos or playing family games like Farkle are enough to occupy them for hours. Tyler's family is large and loving. During family get-togethers, multiple activities coincide: instruments, board games, and lively chatter are all common. We enjoy time with both sides of the family. 

Like many families, the holidays are a wonderful time for traditions. We are no different. We enjoy Thanksgiving with family, but we typically spend Christmas day just the two of us. We love to go to the movie theater on Holidays. We always grab popcorn and soda at the concession stand and dress in holiday-inspired outfits. 

We have dubbed the day after Thanksgiving "Treat Yo'self" day. We save up money throughout the year to shop on Black Friday. Then, we wrap everything we buy and put it under the tree to open on Christmas. Having to wait is our penance for spending more money than we usually would.  

One holiday that we like to celebrate is "May the Fourth." We celebrate the Star Wars-inspired day with themed treats like "BB8 Mix," "Baby Yoda Waffles," and "Jabba the Hummus." We watch some of our favorite Star Wars movies and play Star Wars-inspired games. This past year we set up Storm Troopers (small pieces of scrap wood with storm trooper faces taped on) around the house and practiced shooting at them with nerf guns.  

Every week, we set time aside for a date night. It is easy to get busy, so we take our date nights very seriously. We like to try a new restaurant in the Tulsa area each week. We also love to see shows at the theater, hike, swim, shop, etc. Some nights, we snuggle on the couch watching a new show or movie on Netflix or Hulu.  

We love to travel and have adventures. We have visited places like Japan, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Portland, Santa Fe, the Mall of America, and Hawaii. We don't always take large-scale vacations to new places. We also love to take weekend trips within driving distance. Last year, we visited a big flea market that takes place once a month in Canton, Texas. 

Abigail's Hobbies: I love to woodwork and refurbish furniture. Most of my day, I sit in front of a computer screen, and I love being able to create something beautiful from wood, or furniture pieces, that most people want to throw away. I particularly like to reuse wood from pallet crates. One of my favorite transformations was an Adirondack chair I built out of pallet crate wood. I also love to read. Every month I attend a book group online with friends and family. It is a great way to stay connected and read new books.  

Tyler's Hobbies: I love to play the piano when I get the opportunity. I have been playing the piano since I was eight or nine years old, and I even studied the piano in college. I have also thoroughly enjoyed adventure activities with Abbey, such as white-water river rafting, skydiving, hiking, and kayaking. I also enjoy doing things with my hands, especially fixing things around the house. I feel great accomplishment when I paint a wall, fix drywall, lay tile, or even just keep up with the yard work. 

We sincerely thank you for taking the time to read our story. We are a fun, active, and goofy couple. We have wanted to grow our family since the day we married. We have had many sleepless nights and so many disappointments along our journey. We are excited at the opportunity to welcome a child into our home.  

As adoptive parents, we promise to love your child with our entire beings. Your child would be nurtured and cherished to the fullest extent of our abilities. We both have a lot to bring to the table as new parents. We look forward to sharing our interests, hobbies, and love of learning with a child. While we have much we want to share, we are also excited to help a child become their own person with their own interests and personality.  

Whichever level of openness you desire in your adoption, we promise to always remind the child of their roots. We are committed to helping a child understand their heritage, community, and lineage.   

We are so grateful that you took the time to learn about us. This is an incredibly courageous choice that you are considering. We have been looking forward to having a child in our home for as long as we have been together, and we appreciate the time you took to look at our profile. 

With Love,

Tyler and Abbey