Shelby & Josh Are Hoping to Adopt!

Joshua & Shelby

Dear Birthmother,

We want you first to know that we acknowledge the bravery and selflessness that has lead you to our page and this decision. While we cannot fully comprehend what you are feeling, we do know the anxiety that might be presenting itself when choosing a family for the baby. We are truly honored that you are taking time to look at our profile and considering us to be your child’s forever home.

We are Joshua and Shelby Fields and we are excited and anxious to begin our adoption journey. We both have always wanted to have children both of our own and through adoption. Since we cannot have children of our own, this adoption is that much sweeter and cherished to us. This child will be coming into a house full of stability, peace, love, lots of laughter, safety and purpose. We have a deep understanding of these attributes and the ability to offer this child all of them as they are the bare minimum that they deserve.

We appreciate you taking a look at our book to better assist you in making this decision . We would be honored to partner with you and raise this baby to know who they are, and to always feel loved and valued.

About Us

We are both from small towns in rural Oklahoma. Towns we both thought we’d stay in forever. However, we were both wrong, and couldn’t be happier to be in the City. Since we both grew up in small towns we still have those same values like caring for and looking out for our neighbors, hospitality, family oriented and overall kindness and compassion in our souls. We bring these to the “big city”, Oklahoma City.

We met on an online dating site in the summer of 2017. While Josh likes to say Shelby didn’t like him at first, that wasn’t really the case. I,Shelby, was making sure it was all just right. What really happened was once I knew this was a good thing,I began to open up and really, the rest is history. We began dating and truly became each other's best friends. From there, we fell in love through spending time together, countless conversations, and innumerable laughs. We can look at each other and know what the other is thinking at times, we have a fun loving relationship that we both cherish, and we laugh A LOT.

Josh has been a mail carrier for USPS for the last 7 years and really enjoys being able to build relationships with his customers who count on him. He knows he is the most interaction some people get daily, and he takes pride in being there for them.

Shelby was an elementary teacher for 8 years, but left teaching this past year, and took an office job at a payroll company in order to be more present at home and have more free time with their future children. She enjoys being able to still use her teaching skills with her clients and assisting with system navigation.

The first few years of our relationship we lived in a small apartment saving money to buy our first house which we did in January of 2020. We then got engaged in March of 2020 and married in October of 2021 during a small wedding ceremony in the Bahamas and bought our 2nd home in February of 2022 as we moved into an area with better schools as we began to think about our future family.

About Shelby

Shelby values time spent with family and friends. The community we have built around us is very important to her as living in community has helped her through tough times in her past. Shelby loves family, gardening, reading, baking and arts and crafts, but that’s not what stands out the most to me about her. What makes Shelby so special is her ability to love unconditionally. She is the most selfless person I've ever met. Her determination, sense of humor, love, and structure have been monumental in my own life. These traits translate to her friends, family and former students she instructed during her teaching career. These qualities combined with her willingness to learn makes her an ideal parent.

Having a family complete with children has been a goal of ours for awhile now and seeing her as a big sister and an elementary teacher has been a glimpse into her nurturing nature. She has displayed incredible patience, caring, sensitivity, understanding, and the ability to inspire a learning environment with children. The smiling faces and hugs from former students, nieces, and nephews in family and social settings whether it be doctor's appointments, grocery stores, etc., is heartwarming. It reassures what I know and feel in my heart, that she will be a great example to our children. I truly can't wait to see her in motherhood. I'm very proud of her and her accomplishments in her life thus far like being a two time teacher of the year and I know this pride will only expand seeing her mother the babies that we get to call ours. She is passionate about becoming a mother and I have no doubt she will fulfill the role of motherhood with the same devotion she has displayed as a wife, sister, daughter, and teacher.

About Josh

What I love about Josh is his humor and his lightheartedness. He brings calmness and steadiness to every space he is in. He is someone who always seeks to understand - if he doesn’t know, he will always make sure to get a clear understanding to ensure he knows going forward. I think that’s a valuable part of being a parent. A lot of times parents jump to conclusions without understanding the why and he takes the time to figure out the why. I have watched him with my nephew and little sister and watched how he connects with both of them at their vastly different ages. He always makes sure they are having fun even if it’s something little like a game of tag. He likes to make sure that they feel heard and valued. They could do a small trick and he will make them feel as if they hung the moon. One of my bonus nieces loves when Josh is around for a specific reason. He not only takes the time to talk with her, he makes her feel special.

His dad died in his preteen years, and I have seen home videos of his dad gently calling out to him and playing with him. I know this is how Josh will be with our own children. I see this when he’s playing/interacting with our family friend's little girl. I’ve watched him go from being timid to hold her once she was born to being ready to hold her and rock her to sleep. We are both excited when her parents ask us to watch her, and we look forward to the next time we can spend time with her. She is the first infant he has really had a lot of contact with, and it’s been great to see how he naturally turns into a protector and provider for her when she’s around. Josh takes leading our family very seriously. He knows the value of having a present father in a child’s life since he lost his so early. Josh loves deeply and protects those in his circle in any way he can. He teaches us all to live a life with more laughter and calmness, but also to live life slowly and just enjoy the moments we are in. There is no doubt in my mind he will be the best father to our baby.

Our Family

Our extended family is pretty big. We live within 30 minutes of both sets of Shelby’s parents who we see every few months. They are always near if we need anything. Josh’s parents have both passed sadly, but we are extremely close with his Sister even though she lives 3 hours away. We talk weekly and see her about every other month. In addition to family, our friends are very important to us. We have a group of friends who live 10-15 minutes aways that we get together with every few months. We’ve had the privilege to watch these friends become parents through both adoption and natural conception.

We are excited to walk through parenting with them now too.

What Led Us to Adoption?

We went through 3 years of struggling with fertility to only find out we are unable to conceive on our own. Even with that news, we knew we had too much love, support, and guidance to give children to not have children which lead us to adoption. We didn’t want this obstacle to stop us from embarking on one of our deepest desires.

When Shelby was a teacher she would often go home after school and discuss with Josh about how some of her students were in need of certain basic needs. Josh always brought out that they were living how he did after his dad passed which lead them to have conversations about the needs of children. Through these countless conversations, they knew that they wanted to adopt and raise a child since we are in better places financially and emotionally than our parents were during our upbringing. We know the vital importance of stability and love children need to have and to feel.

We are excited and honored to walk through this journey with you and to finally be able to give a child all the love and support we lacked.

Leisure

When we’re not working, you can find us typically at home relaxing snuggling our dog Max, spending time outside, or hanging out with our friends at one of our houses. Shelby enjoys singing, writing, and baking. Josh enjoys spending time at home and learning about history. He has so much random knowledge that I, Shelby, am constantly learning new things and trying to keep up with him. We enjoy walks around the local lake with our little dog and experiencing different zoos when we’re in a new state/city. We also love to travel and are looking forward to traveling with our children giving them experiences we did not have until we were adults.

Our Home

We live in a 3 bedroom two bathroom roomy corner house in a quiet family friendly neighborhood. We chose this house because of the school district, but also for the backyard. Shelby spent many days playing in her family’s backyard and knew that when raising a family this would be a non negotiable. We live 30 minutes away from our local zoo, one of Shelby’s favorite places, science museums, multiple parks, 3 different history museums and local lakes with great walking trails. We enjoy walks around the neighborhood, local parks, but Josh especially enjoys walking by the Lake on a Sunday morning with our little dog Max.