I recently had the opportunity to chat with Dan and Kelly, hopeful adoptive parents who are stationed in southeast Alabama. When you’re thinking about adoption for your child, you’re able to talk to hopeful adoptive parents before making your decision. By chatting with them and asking them questions, you can get the full picture of the adoptive couple as potential parents to your baby.
I asked Dan and Kelly some fun questions that you won’t find in their adoption profile, and I learned that they are fun, active military couple. They enjoy music, trips to Disney, travel, building with Legos, football, and staying active in their church. Dan and Kelly are excited to become parents through adoption!
Dan and Kelly share, “We’ve been married over 9 years and we’re excited to add a child to our lives. After years of infertility it’s clear adoption is the path for us to build a family. We would be honored to get to know you and to be considered as adoptive parents for your child!”
1. What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Will you do it again?
The most daring thing Dan has ever done was fly a broken helicopter in combat in Afghanistan. Dan is a Black Hawk pilot, and he is a maintenance expert. One of the helicopters in his unit had a mechanical problem, so it couldn’t continue its mission. Dan and his copilot, another maintenance expert, went out to the helicopter where it was stranded, and they decided they could get it back to the base.
It was risky and dangerous since they were flying across Afghanistan, where insurgents could attack them while they flew, but they managed to fly the broken helicopter back to the base without any problems. This was part of Dan and his unit’s mission during their deployment to Afghanistan. He and his copilot actually did this three different times. But no, he does not plan to do it again.
2. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Both of us come from families that love watching football. Dan and his side of the family are Minnesota Vikings fans, and Kelly and her side of the family are Dallas Cowboys fans. Once, we were able to go to a Vikings versus Cowboys preseason game together. We also love college football and root for West Point (Go Army! Beat Navy!) and Texas Christian University (Go Frogs!).
Even when we’ve lived overseas, we took the time to figure out when the games were on and would even wake up extra early to watch them. When we lived in South Korea, the Super Bowl was on around 9 a.m. on Monday morning. We were lucky because we had that day off work to host friends and watch the game together.
You can get an even better glimpse into Dan and Kelly’s lives in their video:
3. What was your first job?
Kelly’s first job was making books in a book bindery. She learned how to use big machines like a saddle stitcher – a thing that staples the middle of magazines and thinner reading materials – and a perfect binder – the thing that glues a soft-bound book together.
But the thing she turned out to be very good at was coiling, the process of putting a spiral binding into a book. She got really fast at it, so when a large order came into the bindery, she was always the person assigned to it. It was a fun challenge to see how quickly she could finish a coiling job.
She made lots of different types of books, including a book for teaching blackjack and a book for helping pregnant teenagers learn what to expect during their pregnancy and when becoming mothers.
4. What is your ideal vacation?
We really like going somewhere fun and beachy, whether it’s a beach, a lake, or a cruise to lots of beachy places. Whichever version we choose, we love to vacation with our various extended family, especially since we don’t live near our families. Dan’s parents have a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin where the family gathers in the summer. Kelly’s family has spent Christmases in a beach house in the Florida panhandle.
We love having relaxing vacation time with our parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. More recently, we have enjoyed hosting Dan’s family at our house, with lots of fun in the backyard pool and a day at the beach in Florida. We had so much fun and shared so many pictures and stories that Kelly’s family is now planning to visit during the summer to have some fun in the Alabama sun in our backyard.
5. What is a piece of advice or a life tip that’s always stuck with you? Who taught it to you?
We both learned the “right time, right place, right uniform” tip from serving in the Army. It is drilled into you early in your time as a Soldier that you must be on time (which means being early), at the right location, and wearing or carrying the right gear to complete the task at hand.
It’s somewhat simple but applies to all aspects of accomplishing goals and succeeding in work and life. Dan learned this lesson while attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Kelly learned while attending Officer Candidate School.
It was such an important lesson; during OCS we had an entire morning of “changing drills” – where the instructor called out an absurd combination of different uniforms (things like “dress shoes, physical training shorts, utility blouse, and combat helmet”) and we had to run up to our rooms, change, and run back to formation – all because some of our classmates had not been at the right place, at the right time, in the right uniform. (The changing drills were exhausting but also hilarious.)
Curious to know more about Dan and Kelly?
If you’re interested in talking to them as potential adoptive parents to your baby, just text or call Lifetime at
1-800-923-6784 and we can connect you with them.
1-800-923-6784 and we can connect you with them.
Heidi Keefer is a Content Creator for Lifetime Adoption and has over 15 years of experience in the field of adoption. An author of thousands of articles and social media posts over the years, Heidi enjoys finding new ways to educate and captivate Lifetime’s ever-growing list of subscribers.
Heidi has a keen eye for misplaced apostrophes, comma splices, and well-turned sentences, which she has put to good use as a contributor to Lifetime’s award-winning blogs. She has written and published hundreds of adoption articles which explore the various facets of domestic infant adoption today.
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