Hi! We’re Colleen, Ian, and Levi. Colleen and Ian got together in 2009 and then married in 2012. Levi was placed with us through foster care in December 2017 when he was 4 days old, and it became official in 2019 through adoption. We’ve lived in Nashville for over 10 years and have two dogs and a cat. We love to eat peaches and plums from the fruit trees in our front yard, grow veggies in our garden, and walk to the Y to swim or a local playground to see friends. Our home life with a 2.5-year-old is busy and fun! We listen to lots of music and play lots of silly games. Levi has biological siblings in Nashville and we like to meet up with them when possible.
Colleen is studying to be a speech-language pathologist so she can help students in the school system who need speech and language therapy. She teaches English part-time to children in China online. Ian is a social worker and works as a crisis-counselor, meeting with people who are struggling with suicidal thoughts and helping get them connected to the support they need. Levi works as a professional dinosaur-lover. He constantly reads books, reviews flashcards, and watches tv shows all about dinosaurs. Our favorite thing to do together is to go to the zoo and see all the animals there. Levi keeps hoping we’ll find a dinosaur at the zoo, but we haven’t yet.
Before we were even married, we talked about becoming foster and adoptive parents in the future. God must have been listening, because when we eventually tried to grow our family the old-fashioned way, we didn’t have any luck. At the time, our infertility was heart-breaking, but in hindsight we’re so thankful that we were never pregnant. We can’t imagine our life without Levi, and his future sibling! When we ask Levi whether he’d like a little brother or a little sister, he always answers, “Both!”
We understand that making an adoption plan is likely an incredibly difficult decision to make. We are humbled by the strength that it takes to consider adoption for your child. If you’d like to learn a little more about us, we’ve made a small photo book of our family for you to check out.
With love,
Colleen, Ian, & Levi