Dear Friends,

Below is the blog we created when we decided to start the adoption process. The letter and information below was written to prospective birthparents.

Reid and I have been married for 7 fun years and just moved back to Montana after living in Alaska for 4 years. We are grateful to have each other and are looking forward to expanding our family through adoption. We know that God has a plan for us and that he will bring us together with the children that are meant to be in our family when the time is right. I can't imagine how hard this choice must be, but I want you to know that whatever your decision may be, I wish for you to find happiness and to feel comforted through this process. Please know that we are praying for your health, happiness, and well-being every day.

After many years of trying, Reid and I have not been able to have children and this has been a very hard and frustrating process for us. During these years Reid's sister and some close friends of ours were blessed with the opportunity to adopt. Seeing the blessing that adoption was to their lives inspired us to consider the possibility of expanding our family through adoption. We feel confident that this is the right choice for us and that we will be brought together with the children that are supposed to be in our family.

We are comfortable with either an open or a closed adoption, but would prefer it to be open as we feel it is very important that our children know where they came from. We are excited to teach them that their birthparents loved them and wanted them to be happy. We feel it is important to let them know that they have many people in their lives supporting them and cheering them on.

Reid and I are very outgoing, adventurous people who love to be involved in everything and love to spend time together outside. We love to spend time with kids and have spent the last four years coaching in Alaska. Reid coached the middle school boys basketball team and the JV girls basketball team and I coached the varsity cheerleaders. Growing up, Reid and I spent a majority of our free time with our parents and siblings camping, hunting, fishing, and horseback riding and we look forward to sharing these experiences with our future children.

Although we have many great friends we feel that our strongest relationships are and should be with our family members and that is what motivated us to return to Montana after living in Alaska for four years.

Thank you for considering adoption. I know that there are many loving families to choose from and that your decision is not an easy one. Please know that our thoughts are prayers are with you in this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Reid & Mishel

Family

Reid and I were both raised in Bozeman, Montana and our parents still live there. We are very excited to be back in Montana so that we can be closer to our families that we love so much. Reid has 3 sisters and one brother who all have children. We will be living 90 miles from both of our parents and Reid's brother Jesse and his family.





When we all get together we love to stay up late playing games and watching movies. The Stovall family traditions include fishing trips to the Big Horn River and Turkey Hunting in Eastern Montana. At Christmas we always wait until we are all together to cut a Christmas Tree (even if it means waiting until Christmas Eve). We love to play volleyball and basketball together as well.

There are 2 children in my family. There is a 12 year age difference between me and my brother, Ken, so our family joke is that there are two "only children" in the family. Ken and I are very close and talk on the phone often. We are now living less than 4 hours from Ken and his family and are looking forward to being able to see them more.

My dad and I are best buddies and love to spend time riding horses together (no matter how cold it is outside).

Mishel's mom, "Nanna Aleta" as her other gradkids call her, is very outgoing and always ready to play games, go to lunch or see a movie in the theater. She is a very fun grandma and drives to visit her grandchildren as often as possible.




Reid and I were both very fortunate to have HUGE extended families and are very close to our cousins, Aunts and Uncles. It is our hope that our children will be able to not only know their extended family members, but will be best friends with their cousins and will have the opportunity to share their lives with their eternal family as we have.

Fun in the Sun

As often as possible, Reid and I like to go on vacation to a warmer climate to get some sun. This year we went to Mexico with a couple of our very good friends. While we were there we spent as much time as possible in the water swimming, snorkling, kyaking, and of course...Fishing!

Alaska Adventure

After Graduation Reid and I moved to Ketchikan, Alaska in July of 2006. Knowing that we would only be in Alaska a few years we have tried to take advantage of all the opportunities that Alaska has to offer. We both love to be outside and spend most our weekends hiking, hunting, or fishing. This is one of our favorite veiws from the top of a mountain on Prince of Whales Island.

Reid and I also love to go fishing together and have spent as much time out on our boat as possible. We spent every weekend in the summer fishing for halibut and salmon or going crabbing.