ABOUT YOU
ED: First, thank you for considering adoption. Adoption has been a huge blessing in our lives. Even before we adopted our son David, it played an important role in our family, both on my side of the family and Angie’s. My father and one of his sisters were adopted. Growing up he was just my dad. I never really thought of my grandparents as any different from anybody else’s grandparents. My dad has had a wonderfully normal life. Our family is very close. The first time Angie and I were preparing to adopt, I went to talk to my dad about his thoughts about his adoption. Words on a page really can’t recreate the feelings of that conversation. He talked about how grateful he was to his birth mom for deciding to place him in his family. It may seem a bit funny, but I was also really struck with feelings of gratitude for my birth grandma. Her choice has not only blessed my dad’s life, but has also blessed my brother and sisters’ lives.Adoption has also blessed my mom’s family. Three of her siblings were adopted. Angie’s sister was also adopted and so were many of her cousins. Having David in our family has been one of the greatest joys of our lives. Simply put, adoption has been a huge blessing for us for a long time. What you are doing is selfless and incredible. Generations of people will be grateful for the sacrifices you are making. Thank you.
ANGIE: When I found out that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant, I was remarkably at peace with it. I knew it didn’t mean that we would never have children; it just meant that we would form our family another way. The first time I saw David I knew that he belonged in our family. He is such a part of who I am, and I love him so much that I can’t help but feel grateful every time I look at him. His birth mother has given us a tremendous and eternal blessing.
ABOUT HOW WE MET
ED: I guess it is the same story for hundreds of people. We lived in the same apartment building at BYU. My roommate threw some oranges at Angie’s car; her roommates sought revenge by waging a thermo nuclear water fight against us (which my roommates and I completely won). After a few dozen country dances, tons of hiking, reading in the park, a very unfortunate trip to Tijuana, and about a year, we were married in the San Diego Temple. We were later sealed to David in the same sealing room at the San Diego Temple.
ABOUT OUR FAMILY
ANGIE: We love to spend time together as a family. The three of us love to wrestle, laugh, play chase, go to the park, build forts out of the couch cushions, build towers out of David’s toys and blocks, and make a lot of noise. Life is a lot of fun, and we like to enjoy every minute of it.
We are very affectionate and like to talk a lot; even little David is quite a talker. For someone with a limited vocabulary he sure has a lot to say! We really enjoy music and almost always have some on at home. Ed and I also like to go to concerts and plays together. I was an English major in college so we love to spend time reading together. David also loves books. About the only time he sits still is when we are reading to him. Ed’s mom used to read out loud to them while they did dishes after dinner. It is one of his favorite memories, and it has been a lot of fun to start similar traditions in our family.One of my favorite memories growing up was going camping with my family. My parents took us to just about every national park west of Colorado. I loved spending time with my family and getting to see so many amazing things. Ed and I have continued that tradition and love to camp and hike.
ED: Our family is very important to us. We live about 60 minutes from my family and 45 minutes from Angie’s. We love having them close. I have one older sister and three younger sisters. It was just me and my four sisters until I was 20 years old and serving a mission in England. That’s when my younger brother joined the family.
Angie has a brother and a sister. Her sister lives close by, so David enjoys seeing his cousin every week.
ABOUT ED
ANGIE: People had always told me that there was no way that I was going to meet a guy that was smart, responsible, and fun. I had resigned myself to a life of just settling, until I met Ed. I had never met anybody like him before or since. When people are around him for any length of time, they walk away saying, “that is one smart guy.” But he is also a ton of fun. He has a joy for life that is contagious. He gets this deep laugh when he thinks something is really funny that makes me want to just kiss him. It is one of my favorite things in the whole world.
The biggest impression that Ed made on me while we were dating was the way he treated his mother and family. He would help his mom with whatever was needed and would always tell his family that he loved them. I thought if he does this with them, he will do it with me. And he has. He is one of the most considerate people I have ever met. I trust him completely because I know that he always puts my welfare above his own. He tells me constantly that he loves me and how beautiful I am. After seven years of marriage he hasn’t changed, he still treats me like a queen.Ed is a wonderful father. He is very patient and spends a lot of time playing with David. David thinks his dad is the best thing in the world. When Ed comes home from work, David gets almost breathless with excitement. The other day I heard Ed coming home, so I grabbed David and started to sneak up behind the wall to scare him. David got really excited because he knew we were up to something, but when we jumped out at Ed and David saw it was his dad he just started to scream with laughter and excitement. It was so over the top that Ed and I were just dying with laughter.
Ed loves the scriptures and knows a lot about the gospel. He taught seminary full-time for a couple of years in Utah and is now the Young Men’s president in our ward. I’ve had a couple of parents come up to me and tell me how funny their sons think Ed is. Ed also likes to do woodworking. His next project is to make some wood blocks for David.
Ed is wonderfully stable and makes people feel very safe and secure. When somebody in his family has a problem they always go to Ed, and he helps talk them through it.
ABOUT ANGIE
ED: In a word Angie is amazing. As you can see from the pictures Angie is super cute, but she is more than just the prettiest thing out there. She is very kind. I first noticed this when we would go out on group dates, and she was really concerned about how much fun the people around us were having. Watching her with David has been a miracle. She is incredibly patient (even during the long months where David was convinced that 3:00 a.m. in the morning was a very good time to start the day). One of the really moving parts is watching David develop kindness as he watches his mom. Angie is a wonderful example to me, but I also love the example of patient kindness that she is for David.
Angie is also very crafty. She loves to paint, sew, and even reupholster furniture. She has taught all my sisters to crochet (for all the guys who are reading this, that’s sort of like knitting). When David was only a few months old he would make a cooing/hooting noise that sounded exactly like an excited monkey (it was insanely cute). So Angie designed and made three huge monkey faces for the wall of his nursery. She also does a little bit of Web and graphic design while David naps, which means that she is paid a ton of money to do electronic scrap booking.Angie is also brilliant, in a non-nerdy sort of way. It really comes across when she is teaching. She never gives boring sacrament meeting talks. Her talks are always really funny, but also full of thoughtful insights. Angie is an award-winning writer. She has been published quite a bit, but I think that my favorite aspect of her brilliance is watching her teach kids. I love watching her help David figure the world out.
Angie has an incredible smile, and she uses it often. She is always happy. Angie is just one of those people who seem to have a lot of fun even doing the most mundane everyday things (like changing diapers and cleaning up the latest David mess). She also makes everyone around her happy too. Life just never seems to get old while she is around.
ABOUT FAITHWaiting for children was not easy, but we learned to trust Heavenly Father absolutely, and it has brought a peace and joy to our lives that we would never want to live without. Now that David has joined our family we recognize that the difficult times in life serve to give greater meaning to the joys of life. We are grateful for the role that the Lord has played in our lives. We believe that when we have decisions in front of us that affect His little ones, that He blesses us with an extra portion of His spirit. We know that He will guide you as you make these important decisions.
We admire and respect you for the thought and care you are putting into the life of your child. So far this conversation has only been about us. If you would like to join the conversation, send us an email at angieanded@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you.
Ed and Angie
