Our Story

Joel’s first Sunday back at BYU-Idaho after his two-year mission, he sees a girl sitting on the stand ready to give a talk. Joel thinks, “she looks cute, but she probably has a boyfriend.” Girl sees boy walk into church and thinks, “He’s new and CUTE – I need to get to know him!” That girl turned out to be Brittany.

Brittany, being the social butterfly that she is, was in charge of an ice cream social after church so everyone could get to know one another. Brittany took the opportunity to introduce herself to Joel. Eventually she gave him her phone number and said, “We should go out sometime.” Joel was excited and after some flirtations back and forth, he asked her out. Little did Brittany know that being forward this one time would pay off…BIG TIME.

Brittany and Joel dated for a bit and had some bumps in the road, but during Christmas break the absence made their heart grow fonder and when they got back to BYU-Idaho they finally said, “I love you.” Brittany knew at this point she wanted to marry Joel. However, Joel was a little scared of his feelings for Brittany and he had to sort some things out, much to Brittany’s dismay. It did not take Joel long to wise up. On March 13^th Joel asked Brittany to marry him in the freezing cold gardens on the BYU-Idaho campus.

Then on August 8, 2008 they were married in the Dallas Texas LDS Temple. It was over 105 degrees, but it was a beautiful and fun day filled with family, friends, and lots of dancing. Joel and Brittany spent their first two years of marriage in Rexburg, Idaho while each of them finished up their studies - Brittany in Communications and Joel in Business Management. Since then Joel and Brittany have lived in Ohio while Joel attends dental school at The Ohio State University. They both look forward to being done with the “student” stage of life, but they have enjoyed the experiences and the people it has brought.

Shortly after they got married Brittany knew she wanted children right away, even though that was not in their initial plans. Joel took a little more convincing because he was nervous. In the end, Brittany wore him down and they decided to expand their family. As the months went by, and then years, this proved to be a struggle for them; but they were both excited and ready to start their family and ready to do whatever it took to make that happen.

They always planned on adopting children, but decided to pursue infertility treatments first. After years of procedures and disappointments, they felt that adoption was the way that they were going to start their family. Once this decision was made, an overwhelming peace came to Joel and Brittany because they knew that adoption was the right path for them. Since this decision, the stress and sadness about not having children has greatly diminished.

Joel and Brittany are so grateful for their journey to try to become parents. They look forward to the challenges of raising children and to someday fulfill their greatest desire of becoming parents through the wonderful love, sacrifice and experience of ADOPTION.