About Ally
(according to Kyle)
Ally is about to turn 27. She is passionate, caring, and is both an indoorsy and outdoorsy gal. She enjoys learning new skills and reading books. In her spare time she enjoys crafting (knitting/crochet mostly), bagpiping, and volunteering with a nonprofit she started. Her favorite food is coffee (also homemade rosemary bread), and her favorite music artist is Noah Kahan. She can't wait to sing lullabies, and read bedtime stories to her kids in the future.
She graduated from UNC Charlotte with a B.S. in Accounting and currently works as an accountant for a nearby construction equipment company. She appreciates that she gets to work from home twice a week.
Ally grew up homeschooled in a log cabin home. Her hometown is Pittsboro in Chatham County, North Carolina where she lived with her mom, dad, and younger brother. They raised chickens, ducks, honeybees, a lab puppy, and two barn cats.
Fun fact: her first job was milking cows by hand on a family farm. She's not afraid to get dirty!
About Kyle
(according to Ally)
Kyle is 30. He is a hard-working, gentle, & social guy. In his free time he enjoys watching football (Buffalo Bills) & NASCAR, hanging out with friends & family, and volunteering at church. His favorite music artist is Joywave, and his favorite food is buffalo chicken wings (honestly, anything made from chicken he will consume). He gives the best hugs and is very affectionate.
He graduated from UNC Charlotte with a B.S. in Meteorology. He holds a Master's degree in Management from Strayer University. Kyle works as an HR Administrator for a local company that owns & manages several delicious restaurants.
He's originally from Buffalo, New York but grew up in Charlotte with his mom, dad, and older sister. The Shaws are very supportive of adoption: one of Kyle's sisters was put up for adoption at birth. Luckily they are still connected and she visits often.
Fun fact: Kyle is very tall at 6'4" and wears size 14 shoes!!
Becoming Parents
While we don't have any children at home, we understand the crushing heartache of leaving the hospital without a baby. We are very sensitive to this and want an expectant mom to know that they are not alone in that feeling of grief & confusion. We give immense respect to the grief process because we've had to go through it ourselves.
Our daughter Gemma was born unexpectedly early in November, 2021 at just 1lb 3 oz. She lived in the NICU for 2 days before passing away from a rare kidney condition. Gemma is who first made us "Mama" and "Daddy", and we hope one day to bring home a child that will always know her as their sister, "little baby Gemma".
Family & Pets
We have lots of family that are eager to love on the next little one to join the family!
Ally's Side:
- Mom & Dad (recently divorced, but both live in NC)
- Younger brother, his wife and baby boy (live in NC)
- 4 grandparents (live in Charlotte & TX)
- Lots of other extended family!
Kyle's Side:
- Mom & Dad (married for 34 years, Charlotte NC)
- 1 older sister, her husband, & 1 girl (Charlotte, NC)
- 1 older sister, & her husband & 3 boys and 1 girl (NY)
- 2 grandparents (NY) & 2 that have passed away (NY)
- Lots of other extended family and cousins!
We don't have any pets but we both grew up around dogs & cats and we'd love to get a big fluffy dog one day.
Kyle's parents have a cat named Soy and our brothers/sisters have dogs named Charlie, Milo, & Winnie.
Faith & Traditions
Our Christian faith is very important to us, and as a result: we are praying for you! Our faith is at the very core of why we are hoping to adopt, and how we go about that.
We currently attend a nice Presbyterian church but we have also attended non-denominational churches. We try our best to attend church every Sunday and serve in our communitygenerously. The children's program at our church is phenomenal.
We have a few family traditions that our families enjoy together:
- Attending Church - weekly on Sunday mornings we attend a local Presbyterian church for worship.
- Friday nights - weekly, we drive 10 minutes to Kyle's parents' to enjoy dinner, watch a movie, and play games together. Our niece Autumn is usually there to hang out with us, too (cousin time!)
- Thanksgiving - our families LOVE food! We usually eat lunch on Thanksgiving and then watch the Detroit Lions football game together.
- Christmas - our only Christmas tradition as a small family (so far!) is to make lemon poppyseed cookies or muffins on Christmas Eve! This is in celebration of Kyle's heritage being partly from Lithuania: poppyseed "kūčiukai". We hope to create many magical Christmas traditions as a family.
Plans for Childcare
We plan to use a mixture of family, friends, & daycare to cover the hours we are working in the office. On the days Ally works from home we hope to have a friend's college-aged daugther babysit.
There is a daycare nearby that is highly rated and on the way to/from Ally's work so that would be our backup option should we need it.
The Nursery
We've worked hard on creating a beautiful, neutral nursery that can evolve as our kids gets older and have unique personalities and decor tastes. The large horse stuffed animal in the crib is "Dusty", which was Ally's favorite when she was growing up.
More Photos
Hiking on vacation
When we were dating!
Running the Butterfly 5K
Right after getting engaged
Engagement photos at UNCC
Camping in the NC Mountains
UNCC Basketball Game
Ally in 4th Grade
Kyle as a little kid!
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