Thank you for taking time to read our profile and learn about our family. We are Aaron, Kari and Matthew (plus two cats Duke and Dutch) and we are truly honored that you are considering us as

your child’s adoptive family.

We are looking forward to bringing a new baby into our home and family- a place filled with love, laughter, adventure, play and stability.

The choice you are making now requires a great deal of courage. We want you to know that if you choose us to be your baby’s adoptive parents we will give everything that we have. We will share all the love and care and adventure that he or she could ever ask for. Your hopes and dreams for the future are very important to us, and if you wish, we would love the opportunity to visit with you about them.

Our story begins in the fall of 2000. We met in college

through Kari’s brother, became good friends and started dating about a year later. During our dating years we quickly learned that we both were madly in love and were meant to spend the rest of our lives together.

In the fall of 2004, surrounded by family and friends, we were married in a little country church that we still continue to be active in today. Still to this day, people comment to us that they have never seen a happier bride.

In our newlywed years, we had a blast together. We took trips, bought a home, spent time with friends and many weekends at the lake.

After a couple of years, we decided it was time to fullfill a shared dream of ours... to become parents. After a few years of trying, little did we know that our stars were aligning for something truely amazing... the gift of adoption.

Aaron is your all-American guy. He is honest, smart and has a way of making people feel warm and

welcome. He is an amazing husband and wonderful father to Matthew... I am so proud to be his wife.

Aaron, like myself, grew up on a family-owned and operated farm. They raised livestock and farmed small grains and soybeans. He has a strong work ethic and knows the challenges of rural life.

Currently, Aaron works as a marketing manager and loves the fact he still gets to help his dad on the farm from time to time. Aaron’s hobbies are NDSU football, reading novels, playing with Matthew, hunting and spending time with friends and family.

It has been an amazing journey watching Aaron so naturally fall in to the role of fatherhoood. It was one of the many things that first attracted me to him.

Movie Hoosiers

Food Grilled pork chops

Smell Alfalfa

TV Show Big Bang Theory

Color Blue

Season Fall

Sports Team NDSU football

Pastimes Taking care of the yard, computers, football, baseball, working in the garage, farm toy collecting

Favorite Computer Program Excel

Children’s Book Curious George books by H.A. Rey

Children’s Movie Monsters Inc. (Disney)

Kari and I met in college through her brother, became good friends and started dating about a year later. Kari’s bubbly

personality, wonderful laugh and fun loving attitude are a few of the many things that I LOVE about her.

Kari is a fantastic mom, seeing her with Matthew makes me realize yet another thousand reasons why I love her so much. She is a kind, gentle and nurturing person, putting the needs of family before her own. Kari is always there to pick Matthew up when he stumbles, read to him whenever he plops down in her lap with a book, patiently teach him the ways of the world, and yet is firm and consistent when it comes to her parenting values.

Kari can often be found taking photos of the many things she loves in life - a few of her many subjects are Matthew, sunsets at the lake, our crazy cats and me with my eyes closed. Summer weekends (and even a few in the winter) are spent at the lake where you’ll find her in or on the water - swimming, boating, or her favorite, water skiing. I know she can’t wait to teach the kids her fail-proof method.

Movie Princess Bride

Food Popcorn, Cheese

Sport to Play Waterskiing

TV Shows Glee & cooking shows

Color Pink

Season Summer

Weekend Getaway The Lake

Hobbies Sewing, Photography, Making Jewelry, Cooking and Baking

Computer Program Photoshop

Children’s Book I Will Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Children’s Movie All Disney’s Classic Movies

Interesting Fact I am CPR/First-Aid Certified

Matthew Aiden is an amazing and beautiful boy. From the moment we laid eyes on each other we

knew that we were ment to be his family.

Matthew has brought more love and happiness into our home than we could have ever imagined. He has made every bump in the journey, every day longing to have children, worth the wait! We love and cherish him.

Matthew was an incredibly happy baby and is now a happy and spunky toddler with big brown eyes and a head full of curly hair! He loves to play outside, go swimming, go on walks, follow his daddy around, sing at the top of his lungs, and play with our two cats, Duke and Dutch.

Toy Anything with wheels

Food Bananas

Outfit NDSU Football Jersey

Animal Kitty

Song Itsy Bitsy Spider

Pastimes Playing with trucks, playing ball with Daddy, reading with Mommy, swimming at the lake with cousins

Time of Day Bathtime

Book All of them!

Words Outside, No, Momma, Daddy, Car, Kitty, Apple

Our first family photo!

Matthew Aiden was placed in our arms at the age of 4.5 months old & 17 pounds... a true bouncing

baby boy. We have never felt so honored and humbled as we did the day we met Matthew and his birth family.

Matthew means “Gift from God” and we are truly blessed to have him in our lives. Because of his age, we felt it was very important to keep his name, Matthew. Through conversations with Matthew’s birth family we all agreed is was ok for us to change his middle name.

WE LOVE OPEN ADOPTION! We’re not sure what kind of contact you’re interested in (before or after the birth of your baby), but we want you to know that we’re willing to have an open relationship with you.

Our relationship with Matthew’s birth family has been a positive experiece for everyone involved. We send updates and photos through mail, email and a private blog to Matthew’s birth father, birth mother and his birth father’s parents. One of our favorite parts of our relationship is that we all meet for regular visits. It gives us both such peace of mind knowing that everyone is doing well.

The day we finalized Matthew’s adoption

Posing with his proud grandparents

Our friends and family are very excited about our plans to adopt again. Our children will be surrounded by a community of adults including

grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, family and friends. We love our families...they mean everything to us. We have two exceptional nieces that can’t wait to have another cousin! We enjoy spending time together at the family lake cabin, at each others homes and on family trips.

Going to the game...MN Twins & NDSU!

Our precious goddaughter...only 1 day old!

Kari’s Grandma Phayme and Aaron’s Parents Alan and Peg

Kari LOVES to teach people how

to waterski and wakeboard

Kari’s goofy brother Scott

Aaron’s Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary

We are so excited to share our traditions with our children. We are blessed to live close enough to both our extended families that we

get to spend time at Christmas with everyone. Kari loves to use all of her Grandma Myrtle’s Christmas baking recipes (and Aaron & Matt enjoy testing them!) We always spend the 4th of July at the family lake cabin. We have a fireworks show and a huge campfire with s‘mores. In the fall we attend all home NDSU football games with family and friends. We can’t wait to share these traditions with our child, create new ones and, if you wish, incorporate your important family traditions as well.

Easter Sunday with our BIG

family at Kari’s Parents house

Matthew’s Cousins

Ina and Elsie

Aunt Jess, Uncle Scott and

Cousins Ina & Elsie

Kari and her Dad Dave

Grandma Myrtle and Kari at our

wedding

Mt. Rushmore, and Aaron helping on

his Dad’s Farm

Kari’s ParentsDave & Renee

taking a Christmas picture with the kids

On our way to a wedding with our

best friendsTom and Crystal

Our two cats Duke & Dutch joined our family

the spring of 2004. These brothers came from Kari’s parents farm and are still best friends!

We love to spend our summers (and winters too) with all our family and friends at the lake cabin in Minnesota.

We love to play on the water, eat amazing food and enjoy some rowdy yard games or a heated game of cards. Our motto is “Everyday is a good day at the lake.”

Our home is located on a large lot in a neighborhood filled with

kids! We are located only 2 blocks from an elementary school, park and pond. Our home is warm and spacious with lots of room to grow. We take pride in the fact that we did a lot of the ‘finishing work’ ourselves. We completed the basement, built the deck and added the landscaping. We have four bedrooms with one room perfect for a nursery that is located right across the hall from our bedroom.

Our faith is very important

and has been an integral role in both of our lives since childhood.

We believe that a strong foundation of spiritual beliefs not only provides structure, but also comfort during difficult times and provides a lifelong guidepost to assist in building morality and integrity.

We will raise our child to know the love of God and to know and understand other religious beliefs so they will have a respect of all humankind.

Our children will have a huge extended family in our church community, a literal village to help raise our child.

Our Church: 133 years old

Both our families have a strong tradition of stable marriages.

If you total all the years of marriage of our Grandparents, Parents and us... it is over 300 years!

The baptism of Ina Claire, our GodDaughter.

Matthew on his baptism day... he is wearing the 95 year old family baptism gown. Over 100 babies have worn this gown, including Kari!

“Around here , however, we don’t look backwards for very long.

We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps

leading us down new paths.”- Walt Disney

We promise to provide your child a safe, loving and stable home. Your child will have a big brother that will always protect & love them. We promise to embrace him or her with

the same unconditional love we have for Matthew and our extended families. Their life will be filled with love, laughter, hugs and kisses. We promise to raise your child with high morals, strong values, respect and compassion for others. We will support and encourage them to go to college and to pursue their dreams.

Your child will know how much you love them and know adoption is an important part of who they are. We would be happy to keep in touch with you through letters, pictures and visits.

We can’t wait to welcome your child into our family. Thank you for considering us as your child’s adoptive parents.

Please follow us on our blog:AaronKariAdopt.blogspot.com

This profile is dedicated to our parents, Dave & Renee and Alan & Peg.

Thank you for all of your love and support over the years. We know that because of the way you both raised us, we will continue to

be wonderful parents to our children.