Hi, we are Josh and Mandy! We want to thank you for choosing life for your baby. Your decision shows your love for this child. This must be a very difficult time for you so we want to thank you for looking over our profile.  We hope that you are able to see our excitement to adopt and the love we already have for our next child.

Our journey together began when we met at college in the Fall of 1997. Our friendship began with a walk on a frozen lake one January evening. We spent hours talking together and soon realized our love for each other was growing quickly. After praying about marriage and having God confirm it, Josh proposed to Mandy during a walk in the woods. We were married on a beautiful sunny day in June, twenty years ago, as we made a life-long commitment to one another. 

We have four beautiful children and have always wanted to expand our family through adoption. Mandy has six adopted siblings and we have eight adopted nieces and nephews.  Adoption is a blessed and celebrated part of our family. We love being parents and are excited to add another child to our family. We also recognize that God adopted us as his children. What better way to reflect God’s love for us than to show that same love through adoption!

I love Josh! He is a man of integrity. He is trustworthy, selfless, wise, patient, hardworking, and faithful. He is a loving husband and father. Having a husband who selflessly loves me and our family is a blessing. He puts our needs above his own and leads our family by example and by serving us.  

Josh is a missionary in Uganda. He is a gifted teacher. He trains church leaders to disciple people in their communities. Josh also teaches men at the prison about their identity in Christ and skills to prepare them to reintegrate into society. His passion for teaching overflows to marriage and youth. He is our family's favorite teacher!

No matter what, Josh keeps our marriage a priority. We love being together. We are best friends. He has always enjoyed sports and being outdoors and now we enjoy them together. Josh invests into our family and is involved in our daily lives. He does everything from playing with the kids to homework and chores. He especially loves playing ball in the yard and playing games with the kids.  

Most importantly, Josh loves the Lord with all his heart. He naturally leads our family spiritually and centers our marriage in Christ. I am so thankful for my husband Josh.    

Josh’s Favorites: 

1) Josh's favorite place to be is outdoors in the woods.

2) He loves food like ice cream, pizza, hamburgers, and chocolate chip cookies.

3) He enjoys playing sports and watching NFL football.

4) Favorite season is Fall time.

Mandy is my favorite person in the world! I admire her for the way her faith in Jesus touches every aspect of her life. I regularly thank God for the example she sets for our children to follow.  She loves being the mother of our kids and finds fulfillment in being a stay-at-home mom. 

Mandy is the foundation of our family. She makes holidays and birthdays special for all of us.  She home schools our kids.  he enjoys hosting people who come over for a meal.  She makes our home a place of peace, love, and refuge for all who enter. She feels people’s pain and shows love for others. I truly enjoy spending time with her. There is no one else I would rather spend my days with than Mandy.

Mandy’s Favorites: 

1) Holiday: Thanksgiving and Christmas...mostly Christmas.

2) Dance: Worship Dance with the girls.

3) Vacation: Going to the beach or mountains.

4) She also loves to bake, host guests, read and do crafts. 

We value family. We love spending time together.  

We have four wonderful children who are very excited to have another sibling. Lydia (15) loves singing in the church choir and participating in youth group. Grace (13) enjoys playing local village games and helping her friends with their work. Luka (10) loves anything that involves balls and teammates.  Emalai (6)  loves to play with our neighbors and dancing. They are fun, responsible, creative, flexible, happy kids. They will certainly be a great help with their new sibling too!

We are thankful for our Christian upbringing. Both of our parents have been married for over 40 years. Mandy grew up with eight siblings, six of whom were adopted. Mandy’s family taught her to love everyone. Three of Mandy’s older siblings have become transracial families through adoption as well. 

Josh grew up in rural Northern Michigan with his parents and two sisters. Being on the mission field has made our times with family very special. We visit Michigan every year and a half for a few months. Our parents and several siblings have come to visit us in Africa, as well.   

Time in Michigan is exciting for family. We spend time at the lake, walk in the woods, camp, play in the snow, or go to the park with our kids. We decorate the Christmas tree, cook blueberry pancakes New Year’s morning, and watch football. Our kids also enjoy attending Christian School while we are in Michigan.

Our home is a haven for our family. It is centered on being together. Mandy homeschools the kids during the week and Josh often works from home in his office. Our house is a gathering place for many of our friends and neighbors. It is a place of joy because of our family and friends. We value eating meals together. Our table becomes a place of conversation, sharing, and laughter. We love our home.

We live in a peaceful, beautiful village in Uganda. Most days are sunny, which works well to charge our solar system. The community is filled with lush gardens during the wet season.  People are busy in their farms most mornings. Cows, goats, and chickens graze nearby.

Our community is centered on relationships, leading to a slow pace of life. It is truly a community. Our neighbors all know us and know each other. We interact daily with our neighbors and join in as they work together and help one another.  Our children love to play with neighbor kids each day after school. Many of the youth come in the evenings to visit and talk. We love visiting people in their homes too, which is something they also value.  We appreciate that people have time for one another.

Josh enjoys playing with the kids in the yard – baseball, football, Frisbee, badminton.  He also enjoys hunting and hiking. Mandy enjoys visiting with other women and sharing her heart with people. We also enjoy special trips we try to take each year – often to a game park for a safari or to the coast of Kenya to enjoy the Indian Ocean. We enjoy snorkeling as a family whenever we get the chance. Last year, we also had the chance to visit Malaysia and England, learning about history, culture, and God’s creation in each place.

Mandy consistently makes daily life special. As part of her home school teaching, we have days reenacting some of the things the kids learn about in history class. Mealtime together unites our family daily. We also worship weekly at church and are often involved in service projects together as a family where we visit families in need in Uganda.

We also love to celebrate the holidays. Christmas decorations fill the house for weeks each winter. Carol sings and candlelight service helps us remember the true meaning of Christmas, that our Savior came down to earth as a baby. Thanksgiving and Easter are also big celebrations.  When we are in Michigan we love to attend Easter musicals to celebrate the death of Jesus.

Knowing what the future holds is impossible, but we do know that our commitment to our family will never change. We are excited to add another child to our family. We also want to acknowledge your place in the life of our next child. We will celebrate the life you have chosen for the child. We will tell him or her of your love. We will share stories or information about you if you make it known to us. We will send photos and letters, and make occasional visits, if you desire them. We will continue to pray for you.

We are excited to be moving forward in the process of adoption and have begun praying for our next child. We take delight in the idea that God may use your loving choice to answer our prayers. We also humbly believe that all of our children are ultimately God’s children, entrusted to us to care for them. We promise to raise our new child with unconditional love and to care for that child as a full member of our family.