Jared & Becca
– California –
Ethnic Background
White/Caucasian
Hey!
We are Jared and Becca from Southern California! We have two children, a six year old daughter, Kenley, and a three year old son, Elijah. While there is a lot that we could say, the most important part of our lives is that we are Christians. Our faith in Jesus is what sets the foundation for everything else that we do. Jared works full time from home and I was a middle school teacher for nine years before resigning to stay home with our children. We love to be outside in nature, we purpose and enjoy to be engaged in our church family and community, we like to experience new adventures and connect with people.
Jared is everything I prayed for in a husband- he’s God-fearing, faithful, loving, consistent, hands-on, funny, playful, dependable, level-headed, dedicated and disciplined. Jared is so loved and adored by everyone he comes in contact with. He spends a lot of time investing in our children and making sure they know how loved they are but also how powerful they can be. He’s an amazing father. While he always has great perspective on things and is able to see situations clearly and decisively, he also knows how to crack a joke and be silly. He has his priorities right and he works hard to not only provide for our family (and he does a great job at it), but he also makes it a priority to love our family well. He’s an all around incredible husband, father and friend. -Becca
Becca is a powerful women in every sense. Her greatest power, however, is her power to love people. She is always looking out for the better interest of others while keeping her family the priority. Becca is very detailed and structured, which has made such an amazing impact on our children to grow in their gifts and talents. When it comes to raising our kids, I truly believe she has the perfect balance of nurturing and encouraging our kids to learn by experience.
I couldn’t ask for a better mother for our children and am extremely blessed and thankful to call her my wife. -Jared
We own a four bedroom home in southern California and we have lived in our home for seven years. Each of our children have their own bedrooms and the new baby will have their own room as well. We have a good sized front yard, a backyard with a large playset and toys, and an open concept for our main living spaces in the dining room and living room. We are right next to a middle school, and we have really sweet, wonderful neighbors. We have quite a few children who live near us and a lot of diversity in our neighborhood.
Our home is also less than an hour from the snowy mountains during winter and the sunny beaches year round. We have easy, close access to multiple playgrounds, theme parks, museums, zoos, and kids play places.
The baby's new room has been freshly painted and we recently put in the furniture- a brand new crib, dresser, and cube storage piece. Once we know if we will be adopting a boy or a girl, it will have a colorful rug, fabric cube storage boxes, crib sheets, and so on. We can’t wait to put new clothes in the drawers, books on the shelves and toys in the bins that will be in there. This room has been planned for and prayed over and we are so looking forward to the sweet baby that will have this room as their own.
We have two sweet pups, Ace and Shiloh! Ace is a German Shepherd mix who is about 8.5 years old and Shiloh is a husky/ rottweiler mix and she is 2.5 years old. Ace is a sweet older pup who loves to run around and take walks, but he also is happy to lay around and watch everyone else play for a while. Shiloh has lots of energy and she runs around and plays with the kids all the time! Both dogs love hikes, going for visits at other family members' homes, and having friends and family over to our house to get extra love, cuddles and belly rubs. They are definitely an important part of our family!
We are extremely grateful to have all of our immediate family relatively close. Becca's mom lives about 15 minutes away and we get to see her multiple times a week. She pours so much love and wisdom into our children. Jared's parents live about two hours away, and we see them every few weeks. They live near a lake and we get to take trips down there frequently to swim, fish, ride the golf cart, go on the boat and so on. Jared's parents love to have the grand babies over and they are looking forward to our family growing! All of our brothers and sisters-in-law reside in Southern CA, and so we not only get to see them on birthdays and holidays but also for fun trips to theme parks, pool days, and random occasions in between.
We have smaller, weekly traditions within our family, such as a weekly Game Night on Thursdays and Family Movie Night on Fridays. Jared and I find it important to provide opportunities to laugh, engage and connect together with our children. We want our children to grow up with stability, support and sweet memories. We really enjoy these times together, and the kids look forward to it!
Within our extended family, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are the biggest holidays we celebrate together. We also spend every July 4th at the lake. For birthdays, we love to do experiences, such as a weekend trip at a family friendly hotel, go to a theme park, and have a lot of fun together. Whoever is the one having the birthday gets to pick what we do to celebrate.
We are very involved at our church, and since we spend a lot of time with them, we think they are important to mention! Jared serves at our church as the Generations Pastor, and so we oversee the youth ministry (ages 12-18) at our church. Our youth group meets at our home for bible study and fellowship each week. We also enjoy doing community service projects with them and we enjoy doing life together- helping each other through challenges, helping people when they’re moving, attending each other’s children’s birthday parties and so on. They are extremely important to us and a significant part of our lives!