Jay & Kelli Are Hoping to Adopt!

Jay and Kelli

Dear Birth Mother, We are truly grateful that you have chosen to look at our profile. We are excited for the opportunity to get to know you better. We have always wanted to have kids and have tried for many years. Ultimately, we learned that having biological children wasn’t in the cards for us. We have been exploring adoption for a while and feel that this is the path that we were supposed to be on. While we know parenting will be hard and fulfilling work, we are fortunate enough to have important resources for all the seasons that lay ahead. This is the right time in our lives for children and we are excited for this journey.

About Us

We met at graduate school in Richmond, Virginia ten years ago. Jay had been working at the school’s library when Kelli arrived from Ohio. Our romantic library story was off and running when Kelli walked into the library and asked if they were hiring.

We fell in love over our joint, deep connection to the library and the role we got to play in helping eager students to learn more about what they were studying. It only took a couple of months before we knew that we were meant to find each other. Less than a year into dating, Jay, through mutual friends, got Kelli to throw him a “surprise” birthday party, but Kelli was the one getting surprised. Everyone but Kelli knew that this was in fact, a different kind of party. The library in which we fell in love was also the place that we got engaged surrounded by coworkers and friends. One year later, in a small church in Sidney, Ohio, we each got to say “I do” to our person, marking one of the happiest days of our lives.

After Kelli finished her graduate studies, we moved to Columbus, Ohio to be closer to Kelli’s family. After completing a chaplain residency at the Ohio State hospital, Jay began working for Lifeline of Ohio, an organization that helps all the people waiting for a life-saving organ find a match. Kelli is now a minister at a large local church. Both of us love the profound and meaningful work that we do, getting to live our values on a daily basis.

In our free time, we love to play with our cat, Lily, hang out with cousins, play games, watch movies and spend time together. Kelli enjoys reading, baking and cross-stitching, all of which she learned to love from her grandma. Jay enjoys running, singing, and being out in nature.

About Kelli

I am a minister of a large congregation in Columbus, Ohio. I facilitate membership, small group ministry, adult education, and stewardship. I get to welcome and engage with all our visitors and am frequently invited to lead services and deliver the message. This is incredibly fulfilling work. Getting to live my values every day, fight for justice, provide a safe space, and provide love and support in people’s most difficult times is truly a gift that I do not take for granted. I get to teach children and adults alike to always continue learning and to lead with compassion and loving kindness.

Jay Says Kelli restores my faith in the goodness of people. Beyond all of her intelligence, degrees and abilities, she is good at heart, she is driven by love. What do you get when you mix a courageous, unstoppable woman with talent and credentials? You get a Kelli ... and a better world. It is extraordinary to be loved, hugged and explicitly chosen as her family. I speak from experience, having been welcomed into Kelli’s life, that she will lavish your child with limitless love … in the form of games, laughs, wisdom and so many more ways. Your child can be as lucky as me, that is, to be family with Kelli!

About Jay Kelli says Jay shows me what it means to be truly and deeply loved. He is one of the most hard working, intelligent people that I know, and he has the biggest heart of any human being I have ever met.

Jay is the type of person that cries and celebrates with our neighbors when they find out their daughter is getting a new heart. I know that, whatever my day brings, at the end of that day, Jay will be there with loving arms to wrap me in a hug, ears to listen to whatever I need to share, and a kind heart to help me see the best path forward. I have no doubt in my mind that Jay will bring all of these qualities and so much more into being a dad. I cannot wait to see him blossom and live into his calling as a father.

I work as a clinical responder for a lifesaving organization called Lifeline of Ohio. I only work three long days per week and I choose which ones. I am based from home and make brief visits to various hospitals as needed. This flexibility and being well paid allow me the time to be a husband and potential parent seven days a week.

Our Family

Kelli’s brother, aunt, uncle and cousins are all in Columbus and are all such a critical part of our lives. Her parents and grandparents are also nearby and we visit them as much as possible. For Kelli, there are no two more special people in this world than her grandparents. Growing up across town from them, Kelli and her brother got to spend as much time as they wanted over at their house. Kelli’s grandma would take them on hikes through the woods, swinging across vines and trekking through mud puddles. Kelli’s grandpa was the only one who could get Kelli to sleep when she was a baby, and they have been inseparable ever since. Moving closer to family when it was time for us to start our family was the most important thing, as we want our kids to have an amazing experience of being surrounded by loved ones.

Jay’s mom lives in upstate New York near cousins, and his brother married into a large family in Denver. Unfortunately, Jay’s dad, Mike, passed away in 2019 right before we moved back to Ohio. We were fortunate to be at his bedside when he passed. Mike was a gentle soul who taught Jay what it meant to be patient and kind. There is so much of Mike in Jay from his humor and his laugh to the way that Jay cares deeply for those around him.

Our Home We currently live in a great two-story condominium. The baby’s nursery has its own bathroom and plenty of natural light to make it warm and safe. We have a spacious, modern kitchen, dining room and living room on the first floor with lots of space to play. We have a brand new patio and abundant yard space. We also have a playground and a swimming pool, and there is a big park in our neighborhood. Our home is in a suburb that has children playing and families walking dogs whenever the sun is up. Our school district is one of the best and a primary reason we moved here. If we ever need a bigger home then we will stay in this area as we are very near restaurants, theaters, stores, art festivals, stadiums, and concerts.

Hobbies We enjoy getting away, periodically spending several days in a cabin in the woods. We hike, play games and just enjoy spending uninterrupted time with each other. We take an annual trip with extended family to a large cabin too, opting into hikes, reading, cooking, hot tubs, making fires, full-size video games, board games, playing pool or throwing darts. We also like taking in theatrical shows and concerts, musicals being our favorite urban outing. Kelli will always require rejuvenating trips to “the greatest place on Earth,” Disneyland. Now that the next generation of family babies have begun with Kelli’s cousin, we are all brainstorming what fun new trips and outings will be the best.

Our Sweet Lily

You could definitely describe our cat Lily as spoiled. She was an anniversary present from Jay to Kelli, and Kelli and Lily have been bonded since. Lily is the softest and most talkative cat ever! She loves snuggles, sleeping under Kelli’s arm, and coaxing Jay to toss toys she can fetch or block, as if she’s a soccer goalie. She’s shy at first, but plays with anyone who pets her or knows where the treats are kept.

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

Thanks!