Clayton & Sarah

Hi! We’re Sarah and Clayton.

We live in the beautiful state of Michigan, where we enjoy all four seasons by spending as much time outside as possible. Sarah is a stay-at-home mom who loves a sunny day at a farmer’s market and Clayton is the lead pastor at our church with a passion for freshly brewed coffee.

With more love, time, and energy to share, we can’t wait to welcome another child into our family and to support them as they grow and explore our amazing world. We would love to hear about your hopes and dreams for your child, and if you’re open to it, to walk alongside you as you decide what’s best for you and your precious baby.

A Little About Us

A guy from Texas and a girl from Ohio…We met during our second year of college and have been inseparable ever since. Now we’ve been married for 12 years! We’re best friends who have built a strong marriage and sweet life together.

A few fun Q & A’s to help you get to know us:

Q: How did you meet?

A: Clayton says: Me and some of my college roommates were walking to dinner one night when I saw a girl I hadn’t seen before (Sarah). I wanted to introduce myself but didn’t want to seem too eager. While we were all walking and I was waiting for the right moment, Sarah’s roommate suddenly ran into a pole. I ran up to ask if she was okay…. and then took the opportunity to introduce myself to Sarah. The rest is history!

Q: What do you like to do together?

A: Sarah says: We like to take walks together, watch a Netflix documentary or funny/random YouTube video, and play board games. We also love to tackle a home improvement project or plan a quick trip to a new place (next up, the Bruce Peninsula in Canada). We’ve also made it a goal to read through some classic books together.

Q: Why do you want to adopt?

A: We both say: Before we even got married, we knew it was likely we wouldn’t be able to have children biologically without the help of fertility treatments. Because Sarah had experienced the love that adoption can bring, being adopted by her step-dad, we were confident that adoption would be our path to grow our family. Four years into our marriage, we were blessed to adopt our daughter, and we experienced a kind of love we never could have fully imagined. Becoming parents has brought us a ton of joy, and we would love for our daughter to get to experience the joy of being a sibling!

Meet my wife, Sarah

Clayton says: Sarah is an incredible wife, loving mom and thoughtful friend. Her love for Jesus is evident in so many ways, but especially in how she loves and serves in our home and church community. She is patient, forgiving, gracious and humble. She loves to celebrate the good things going on in the lives of others and is constantly inviting people over to share a meal around our table. She makes me laugh like no one else can (we have so many random, inside jokes after 12+ years together). She is my morning coffee date and best friend. I couldn’t imagine my life without her in it.

As a mom: Sarah puts so much love, fun, and intentionality into her motherhood. She homeschools Aubrey part-time and does an amazing job making our home a place where learning, development and fun all happen at once. She has helped our daughter develop a deep love for reading and learning. Sarah is excited to experience the “firsts” with a new baby, to snuggle up and read hours upon hours of her favorite kids books with our next child and to pass on her love for the outdoors.

Meet my husband, Clayton

Sarah says: Clayton is kind, thoughtful, and really funny. He loves his home state of Texas, cheering for the Astros, and can often be found enjoying a flavored sparkling water. He leads our church community with a Christ-like example of humility, grace and love. He takes such good care of our family and points us to Jesus by the way he lives every day. He is honestly the best partner I could ask for in both life and parenting. I really admire how he puts his whole heart into everything he does, whether he’s at work, cooking dinner, mowing the lawn, working on a project, or helping a friend, he’s all-in.

As a dad: Clayton is playful and imaginative. I’ll look outside and see him and our daughter running around as pirates with pool noodle swords or swinging on the playground pretending to be gorillas. He is also intentional to model the kind of strong, protective, loving, self-sacrificing qualities of a Godly man that we hope our daughter will look for in a future spouse. I can’t wait to see our next child look up to him and enjoy quality time with him. Clayton is excited to teach our next child how to play guitar, ride a bike and understand God’s great love for them.

Our Family

Our 8-year-old daughter, Aubrey, is full of imagination, compassion, and joy. She loves all things creative, her hybrid school, singing, dancing, and playing outside with friends. She’s a little mama at heart, always looking out for younger kids and making sure they’re included in the fun. She is so ready to be a big sister and can’t wait to share her favorite things with a new sibling, like holiday traditions, epic dance moves, and her favorite picture books.

We’re a family that just loves being together, whether we’re at home, at church, out exploring, or meeting up with friends. We’re really blessed to have both family and friends nearby who are excited for our family to grow. Sarah has two younger sisters and an older brother who are all married and growing their families. We’re so thankful for cousins that our daughter and future child(ren) will get to grow up with. We’re also blessed with grandparents on both sides who are very excited to love on and spoil a new grandbaby! 🙂

Our Home & Pup

We live in a cozy brick home in Southeast Michigan. We love having groups of friends over for dinners and play dates at our house, especially when the weather is nice and kids can play outside. We have a room decorated and ready to welcome a little one right across from our room (though we plan to have baby in a bassinet beside our bed for the early months). We also have a sweet, 10-pound Yorkie named Piper, who is great with kids. We live close to shops and restaurants and we’re a short drive from downtown sports arenas, theaters, museums, and we’re members at the zoo!

Things we LOVE about our home:

• Fenced yard with playground
• Full basement for exercise, storage, & play
• Our neighbors who are also friends
• Neighborhood park and walking paths

Our Promise

We promise that your child will grow up provided for, loved, & fully accepted by us!

As we have with our daughter, we will support and encourage your child as they develop their own unique personality and interests. We promise we will be their biggest cheerleaders and supporters in whatever they choose to pursue. We will raise him or her to know and treasure their adoption story and we’re happy stay connected with you throughout your child’s life, if that’s something you want. We can promise you that life growing up in our family will be filled with love, game nights, laughter, good books, Christian community, and great food!

We’d love to talk with you! Please call or text Lifetime at 1.800.923.6784.

In Closing

Thank you for getting to know us! Adoption has already changed our lives for the better in so many ways. As parents, we would be honored to offer your child an life full of love, adventures, security and support. We will share our faith in Jesus with him or her and would love to stay in touch with you, if you're open to it.