Meet the Families
We met when we were 16 years old at Shauna’s (still) best friend’s birthday party. Silas pulled up on a motorcycle, and the rest was history. We started talking over Facebook messages which led to phone calls and then weekend visits. We got married when we were 24 and have been dreaming about growing a family since. We truly grew up together. We have helped each other through the highs and lows, invested in one another’s families, and continued to keep each other laughing through even the hardest of times.
We are the casual type; barefoot and outdoorsy. We have sand in our cars and rarely something “fancy enough” for an event. We function as a team, communicating is second nature when it has been formed over half of our lives, side by side. We are silly, adventurous, love each other, and love our people. Our Christian faith is also important to us. We love slow mornings cooking breakfast together, day trips where we get outside and explore new places, hosting cookouts with our friends and family, having picnics at the beach, and staying active riding bikes, running, long boarding, and hiking. We have built something special together.
About Silas by Shauna:
People often say “so-and-so is the life of the party”; Silas is literally just that. When I think of him, I can only picture him with his huge, signature smile. He’s never met a stranger. He is also quickly “good” at everything he tries which I tease him about, but in reality it is pretty impressive.
I love that he is kind hearted and puts investing in people before anything else. I also love that in moments of chaos, he is calm, making him an excellent fit for a first responder. He is a dedicated nurse and EMT who is transitioning into a career as a firefighter. He has been my steady rock in the hardest moments in my life. I know I am safe and protected when he is near.
He melts when he meets a baby. Babies and kids stick to him like glue! He is the fun uncle and the extrovert to my introvert. I know he would be an amazing father as I have seen his ability to relate to all the children in our life as both a ball of fun and a listening ear with thoughtful questions, intuitively knowing how to balance the two roles.
Silas’s favorite activity is to host friends and family for gatherings centered around food as he also loves to cook. His other passions are cycling, golfing, swimming, and literally anything that gets him outside.
About Shauna by Silas:
Shauna is everyone’s “person”. I don’t know another person who is so consistently kind, genuine, present, and willing to sacrifice for others. She is the friend, sister, daughter, coworker, and teammate that everyone needs. To me, she is an incredible wife, and I am so grateful to share life with her.
I have been by her side and watched as she has weathered some hard storms in life over the last 20 years, and I am always so blown away by her resilience and drive. Nothing stands in her way. She is a doer. Shauna sees an end point, and instantly sets to work in accomplishing what needs to be done to get there.
The way she loves people is the same. She has spent almost 15 years raising and caring for other’s children as a profession. It is second nature to her, and I have no doubt that she will be a perfect mother to the child we adopt.
Shauna is artistic, thoughtful, funny/silly, and is happiest when she is covered in salt and sand by the ocean.
Our Families:
Silas grew up in the North Shore and comes from a large family of seven kids. Growing up, Silas’s family always prioritized time together, which helped build the closeness they all still have as adults despite some of the family being dispersed around the country. Their family is an active group, usually bonding over shared outdoor adventures and various sports that they all love. His family still gathers as much as possible around holidays and the occasional family vacations where everyone enjoys large meals,
playing games, chatting by the fire, going for bike rides, and creating memories with the growing number of grandchildren.
Shauna’s family is smaller with just one sister, mom, step-dad, dad, and his longtime significant other. Shauna and her sister have always been incredibly close, and unlike most sisters, never fight. Shauna’s mom is a mother figure to many, far beyond just her own children. Shauna’s dad is always up for a phone call, to listen, and give advice. Shauna was raised to be outdoorsy, work hard, and love the ocean and quality time together.
Our Community:
We live in a diverse city by the ocean that feels a lot more like a small town. It is an artsy place with many small businesses where the owners know their patrons by name and vice versa. Almost any type of cuisine is walking distance from our home, along with a large library, multiple playgrounds and parks, and most importantly the ocean. We love the fact that we can walk everywhere, and it is rare that we walk anywhere without seeing people we know. It is not uncommon for us to be heading to do something and next thing we know, we are spontaneously joined by friends. We have a vibrant social network through the communal atmosphere of our city, our many hobbies, and mostly our local church. All of these groups of people overlap in many concentric circles of endless connections.
Adoption is a natural part of our community. We know many families who have adopted. These are all different families and dynamics: from single women who have adopted, to families with biological and adopted children, to multiple adopted children in one family. We have been able to glean so much insight from these people and look forward to joining this community more formally.
Although we have a large community, we have a tight knit circle of closest friends.These are the people that we have had the honor of bringing meals to, helping move, cried with, and celebrated as we “do life” together. They are people that we can be totally transparent with. They are treasures to us, and have helped us already in many ways, supporting us in our journey towards adoption.