Hillary & Ben Are Hoping to Adopt!

Hillary & Ben

Dear Birth Mother, We are Ben and Hillary Wheeler. First off we’d like to let you know how appreciative we are that you are taking the time to consider us as being loving adoptive parents.

We live a fun and adventurous life, and it is our dream to have a child to be the centerpiece of our very happy home. We live in Fayetteville Arkansas, a happening college town in the Ozark Mountains. Hillary is born and raised here, and Ben is a transplant from Colorado. We have both long been extremely interested in adoption, and after we did not get pregnant naturally we knew it was the path we were meant to take to complete our family. We believe that we, along with a strong structure of family and friends, will make amazing parents. We understand this is a very difficult decision for you to make and we want to let you know that we will do everything we can to give your child the most fulfilled life possible. Thank you again for your consideration.

About us

Ben grew up in the mountains of Colorado, skiing, hiking, biking, rafting, backpacking, and many other things outdoors. He now enjoys many of those same activities after moving to Arkansas at the age of 14. He graduated college with a degree in Anthropology/Sociology.

Hillary was born and raised in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She is a very strong and accomplished woman, graduating colege with a double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science. She then moved on to earning her law degree, and passing the Bar Exam on her first attempt.

Adventures...

We love to travel in our free time; one bucket list goal is to visit all 7 continents. Together we have visited Vietnam, Columbia, Mexico, Grand Cayman, Costa Rica, Japan, and Canada. Ben’s mother Karyn now has a house in Costa Rica that is a pleasure to visit at least once a year. We also enjoy the outdoors; camping, hiking, canoeing, etc.

We met each other on an online dating website. Yes, we are one of those success stories! We went to the same high school at different years, but would not have met if it weren’t for connecting on the internet. We have now been together for over 7 years and married for over 4 years. We cannot imagine life without each other. But are 110% ready to make our great life even better with a child to share the joys of life with.

For employment, Ben was in the service industry for over 15 years. He started at a wood fired pizza restaurant and worked his way up into fine dining. Ben gained experience in many areas, including lead server, bartender, banquet captain, and restaurant manager. In these tasks, he learned many great lessons from his time in the hospitality industry. After Covid Ben looked into transitioning into a different occupation, something with more leniency. being a rideshare driver. This has allowed him to have his weekends, nights, and holidays back which our family has seldom had with his previous jobs. We can now spend more time with each other, our friends, and family. This also allows Ben to have the ability to be a stay-at-home father, as he can create his own schedule and be his own boss. Hillary has always been an extremely driven person. She has always had a thirst for knowledge and a drive for success. In college she chose to go to a small private liberal arts school where she double majored in Environmental Studies and Political Science. After College, Hillary attended Law School, graduated and passed the bar. However, after entering the Walmart Corporate Legal Department, Hillary soon found that Law was not for her.

So, she transferred to a different department in Walmart and started her career in Project Management and received her PMP certification.

That decision and switch in careers has proved to be the right choice for Hillary. She now works remotely for a company called Crosscom running a project management team as the Business Operations Director. Hillary loves helping the people on her team achieve success and has found it very rewarding to be one of the top female leaders in her company.

Hillary's thoughts of Ben When I first started talking to Ben I was drawn to his adventurous spirit and obvious intelligence.

He is intelligent and able to accomplish anything he puts his mind to, but also, grounded enough to realize that there are many different types of intelligence to be found in all types. Ben has a thirst for knowledge and learning but no need to prove himself to others. I think a lot of these characteristics will be passed on to our child: he is curious and seeks out knowledge, does not judge others based upon societal norms, and is responsible enough to ensure that we are successful within society.

Ben’s lifestyle personifies his thirst for knowledge and experiences. His mother exposed him to multiple experiences and cultures at a young age and he has continued in that same vein as he has grown. Ben and I would love to provide the same type of upbringing to our child and Ben especially is dedicated to that mission. Ben has made the decision to be a stay at home father in order to ensure that I can continue pushing myself in a career that I love, which ensures that our child is given the best childhood that we desperately want them to have.

In addition to all of the above, as I got to know Ben I have found that he is one of the most committed people I have ever met. He has surrounded himself with lifelong friends and stands by their side through all the ups and downs of life. He has always been committed to our marriage and was very clear at all times that getting married was forever. He has approached the decision to adopt in much of the same manner. He did not want to go into this without being 100% sure that he could provide the love and support that is necessary to be the best parent possible.

Overall, Ben will be one of the best fathers I could have ever imagined. He has been very intentional about the decision to be a father and the type of father he wants to be. He will be the best example to our child and work to ensure that they grow up in the best environment possible Ben also graduated from a small liberal arts college with a degree in Anthropology/Sociology. He had had been in the service industry for over 15 years. He started at a wood fired pizza restaurant and worked his way into fine dining, becoming a lead server, bartender, banquet captain, and restaurant manager. During Covid, he looked into transitioning into a different occupation, something with more flexibility. He decided to become a ride-share driver.

This gave him the option of having nights, weekends, and holidays free, which his other jobs didn’t

Ben's thoughts of Hillary Hillary is a very accomplished woman. Her dedication for knowledge and thirst for advancement is one of the many reasons I completely fell for her. I was drawn not only to her beauty, but also to her extreme intelligence, loyalty and pragmaticism. She has one of the kindest hearts I've ever known, and will go the extra mile to help anyone around her.

We have 3 nieces and 2 nephews who we love spending time with. Hillary is great with them, always willing to play games, assist with education, and be an amazing role model. In addition, she has a sibling who was adopted, and I have three cousins that were as well. We love them as our own, and our network of parents and grandparents spoil them with love and life experiences to no end. We will be ecstatic to have an amazing child of our own.

Hillary is a planner and very organized with life, always staying one step ahead of everything. I greatly admire this quality of hers. I am more spontaneous and fly by the seat of my pants.

Between the two of us, we merge into a great medium and learn from each other, which helps us be better rounded and ready to take on all of life’s challenges.

Our Family

Hillary's Mom

We both value family in the highest regard. One of our favorite family traditions is Friday night dinners with Hillary’s father. We take this time to sit and have a nice meal and catch up with each other, and it is one of our favorite times of the week. Ben’s mother lives in Costa Rica. So on the holidays we rotate spending time with Ben’s family in Costa Rica or Hillary’s family in Fayetteville. This allows for exposure to different family traditions which we find important. But the most important thing is spending time with loved ones and making memories with all of our loved ones.

Both of our mothers are already excellent grandmothers and plan to be prominent in Ben and Hillary’s future child’s life. We’ve included some notes from each of them so you can hear from them in their own words why they love to be grandmothers, and are excited to grow the family.

My husband and I are over the moon with excitement about Hillary and Ben expanding their family. I have found the greatest joy in life having grandchildren. I have two – Reagan, 10, and Ryder, 5. I am very close to them and so is Aunt Hillary. I hope to retire next spring and keep them on summer days to help them prepare for the next school year, take them to the pool, etc. and just have fun. I’m taking a couple weeks of vacation this summer to do the same. We have sleepovers as often as possible. They sleep on blow-up mattresses in the floor, and I sleep on the couch with them. I have a guest room with beds, but they prefer to “living room camp.” I can’t wait to grow my grandmother heart with another. I also can’t wait to watch Hillary and Ben become the wonderful parents I know they’ll be.

Ben's Mom

Becoming a grandparent has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I had no idea how deeply I would fall in love with these tiny babies. When my daughter called to say she was in labor, I grabbed my overnight bag and flew out the door after telling my husband I didn’t know what time I’d be home the next day. A full week later I finally went home. I was so enchanted and honored to be part of welcoming that new baby girl to our family. We now have 3 grandchildren and I love being part of their lives. I think it is so important for the grandparent to support younger parent and give the children a loving and strong family to help guide them to adulthood. I will be thrilled if Ben and Hillary are able to adopt and enjoy the richness of having their own family.

Our whole family will welcome this little person and rejoice with them.

Friends Ben and Hillary have very important friends that are incredibly important to their life. Some of these friendships formed in childhood and many of them have formed much more recently, but all are incredibly special in their own way. Almost every weekend for the Wheeler family is spent outside camping, hiking, or floating down the river with friends. These friends are so supportive of the adoption journey and are excited about the opportunity to have an additional Wheeler join us on all of our outdoor adventures. They will be wonderful examples and additional mentors for baby Wheeler.

Hobbies

We are passionate about many things but we also have separate hobbies. Hillary loves to read and always has. She reads fiction and nonfiction with topics ranging from the news to romance. Reading is something that she picked up from her mother who has always been a writer. Hillary’s mom read to her every night as a child and when she grew older Hillary started being the one who was doing the reading.

Reading is a way to open the world and transport to another place and can be a way to escape from anything that you may need escaping from. It can also be a way to teach the reader something new and broaden their worldview. For similar reasons, Ben’s favorite hobby is researching his favorite topics. He loves to learn new information about cars and technology as well as other topics that may interest him in that moment. He frequently will watch videos and read articles to be able to keep up with any new news on his favorite topics. Other hobbies that we do not get to do as often include juggling and scuba diving for Ben and listening to podcasts for Hillary.

We also enjoy the outdoors; camping, hiking, canoeing, etc. Other favorite activities include movie nights, bowling, cooking dinner together, and having fun with family and friends.

Our Pets In our home, Pets are family. They are very loved and and will adore having a child in the house. They are all rescues who love to play, and are great with every kid they’ve met. Hillary’s niece especially adores them and has grown attached over the years.

Remy

Remy is our largest dog. He is a 90 pound Black Lab/Border Collie mix and is 6 years old. He was adopted from a rescue organization in Missouri. The rescue found him in a Walmart parking lot covered in fleas and ticks. He was extremely sick when he joined our family, however, we believe family is there for each other no matter what, and he has flourished as a member of our family. He is very close to Ben and is by his side most of the time. He loves to camp, play with squeaky toys, and lounge on our couch. He despises swimming and beeping noises. He is really a big baby who just wants to be held when he’s scared and we love that he has no idea how spoiled he is.

Bella is much smaller, she is only 17 pounds but that does not mean that she has a smaller personality. Bella is a Poodle/Bichon mix and is 11 years old. Hillary adopted her after leaving a bad relationship and the statement “who rescued who” has never been more accurate to describe the relationship between the two. She was found by a local pound roaming the streets, they were able to find her previous owner but they did not want to pay the fees to come get her. Hillary gladly brought her into her life and home, and things have never been the same. When Ben came into Hillary’s life, it was made very clear that he had to get her approval. He not only received her approval, but he also went above and beyond by buying her toys and a crate for his house.

She has loved him ever since.

Cleo

Bella

Cleo is the newest addition to the family and is an 8 month only kitten. She is very fun but surprisingly gentle and loves snuggles. She finds everything exciting and is very curious to explore the world.

Thank you for looking at our profile. If you would like to know more about us, please contact Everlasting Adoptions 630-364-8361.

Thanks!