Tom & Sonya
Dear Birthmother,
Thankyousomuchfortakingthetimetoconsiderusasyouradoptivefamily!! WeareTom,SonyaandTux,andwetrulyappreciateyourtime.Wefeelthere isaspecialplaceinheavenforbirthmothersthatallowfamiliestoadopt. Althoughthechoicemaybehard,thereisnogreatergiftintheworld,thegift ofachild.Itisablessingandthealltimeultimategift,andwehopeeverybirth motherintheworldcanrealizeandfeelthelove,greatnessandimportanceof whattheyhavetoofferwaitingfamilies.Weadoptedour3yearoldsonTuxas anewborn.Wearenotabletohavechildren,andwefeltastrongdesireto growourfamilythroughadoption.Ithasbeenbyfarthebestchapterofour lives,therearenowordstodescribewhathehasdoneforus,weareforever gratefulforhim,anditturnsouthehasdonemoreforus(ourhearts)thanwe haveforhim!Sothat’swhatleadustoadoptionagain,Tuxisbyfarthebest thingwehaveeverexperiencedinourlives,soofcoursewewouldlovetodoit again,anditwouldbesowonderfulforTuxtohaveasiblingtogrowupwith!
About Us
We met in the summer of 2002, Tom was working on a ranch in Wyoming and Sonya was just finishing up nursing school and it was love at first sight. We dated for a year and got married in May of 2003, and are excited to celebrate our 20 year anniversary this year. Our love for training horses and outdoors easily lead us to become best friends.
Sonya grew up on her family’s farm/ranch in South Dakota, she loved being outside working beside her Dad, Mom and brother. Sonya also worked at the hospital in Rapid City as a nurse for 10 years, then went back to school and received her masters degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner and continues her career at the same hospital, having worked there now 20 years. Sonya still loves being outdoors on the ranch spending every second with Tom and Tux, no matter if it is hard strenuous work, soaking up the sunshine while wading in the creek, or going for a lazy afternoon horse back ride, we do everything together.
Tom grew up in Montana on a farm/ranch. He loves being outdoors working with the land and animals. While dating in 2002 Tom came to South Dakota to work for Sonya’s parents on their family ranch. Sonya’s Dad passed away in 2018 and now Tom currently manages the ranch. We have outstanding employees to help with all the work involved in this farming/ranching business, and that allows Tom to be a “stay at home dad” for our son Tux. Tom’s schedule is extremely flexible no day care here for us!!, we are outside working and playing side by side every single day, and we love it. And in the winter months when it gets to cold we head to our large indoor riding arena for some good sand castle building and horse training time!
I fell in love with Sonya immediately when we met in 2002, but above that we are best friends and always have been. She is the perfect mother, her family comes first above all things. It has truly been inspiring to watch her become Mommy to our son Tux, her love for him is unconditional, and he brings such peace and comfort to her. The amazing bond and love they have for each other started from the first time she looked into his eyes. When she comes home from work, Tux always jumps up and runs for her, the look of joy and love in his eyes says it all, needless to say, there are lots of hugs and kisses in this family! Sonya is outstanding when teaching Tux new things, she loves letting Tux help her bake and cook in the kitchen, she is extremely patient and lets Tux participate, help, learn and most of all have fun! Sonya is an amazing mother, and I’m hopeful another child will one day get to call her Mommy too.
What Tom Said About Sonya Work
Sonya works at Monument Health Hospital as a Nurse Practitioner in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is able to work Monday through Friday and is home every evening and weekends. Sonya enjoys advocating for her patients and families at the hospital, and her passion for caring for others is fulfilled by knowing that she has helped others through a difficult time. Sonya also has a passion for the ranching lifestyle and enjoys working with animals and the outdoors.
Tom is an amazing husband, my best friend and the kindest man you’ll ever meet. He is always saying and doing things to lift up those around him. He is an exceptional father to our son Tux. Tom always humbly says he finally found a job he’s good at (although he’s good at many things), and that is being a father, and he’s absolutely right. He is truly the best dad: so focused, hands on, takes time to teach, amazing at kind discipline and the love he has for his son, is unmeasurable. Any child would be so lucky to get to call him dad.
What Sonya Said About Tom Work
Tom is the Ranch Manager of Battle Creek Ranch. The ranch is our family ranch and located in western South Dakota, we raise beef cattle. He have many horses that we use on the ranch. Tom has an extremely flexible schedule, and his focus every day is being a stay at home dad. Tom’s accomplishments are first and foremost being a dad, and sharing the gift of wholesome ranch life with a child.
Our Sweet Boy
Tux is a very loving and kind little boy. He is full of energy and smiles. He is very knowledgeable and advanced for being only 3 years old, and we have no doubt he will love being a big brother to a little brother or sister. When he interacts with younger children, he shares his toys and enjoys showing them new things. Our next adopted child will have the love of not only Tom and Sonya, but also Tux, and he has a lot of love and hugs to give. As mentioned earlier, Tom is a stay at home dad, and Sonya will take 12 weeks of time off work to have family bonding time.
As parents to Tux, we are the luckiest mom and dad in the world. He brings so many amazing things into our lives each day, and we love to see things through a child’s eyes, it’s definitely good for the soul. You never know how being parents will be, you certainly have lots of ideas, but until you meet that baby and it looks in your eyes, a whole new world is opened up, and it’s so much more important than all the things we used to think were. Our focus on Tux and any other child we bring into our family would be to know and feel love. And from love, all the other parts will fall into place, and soon a newer greater bond will grow with more love and a stronger family.
Our Family
Ohhh our family, is it ok to say we have the best family members ever??!! We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and we so enjoy spending time with them. Since Tux is adopted, and it is an open adoption and we have an outstanding relationship with his birth family, in Tux’s own words “Wow I have lots of Grandma’s and Grandpa’s!” We are so fortunate to have such a strong support group we call our family. Tom’s parents recently moved from Montana to Arizona, we love to fly down to AZ to spend time with them and explore Arizona. Sonya’s Dad passed away in 2018, and after his passing her mother moved from the ranch into Rapid City to live. She is very present in all of our lives and she often comes out to the ranch to visit and help us with our garden we love the fresh yummy vegetables and the family time we spend gardening. Sonya has one brother. Tom has two brothers and a sister. We love getting together for holidays, birthdays and vacations. Thanksgiving and Christmas are very special to us, Sonya loves cooking and baking huge meals for large gatherings, it is always such warm special times. Sonya also loves spending time cooking and baking with Tux, there isn’t anything they won’t make together, Tux helps with literally everything: there may be an extra broken egg, or some flour sifted where it doesn’t need sifted…. But the awesome memories in the kitchen are made and the smile of accomplishment on his face when he tastes the food he helped make, is priceless!
For our hobbies and leisure time, our favorite thing to do is vacation while visiting family or friends. We love touring the states, seeing new places, Tux loves the airplane flights and is a champ flyer.
We love to fly to Arizona and visit Tom’s parents, they have an extremely close connection with Tux, AZ offers many desert walks for exploring, bike riding, swimming and lots of sunshine! Our last trip Sonya’s mother flew down to AZ with us to visit Tom’s parents, we sure enjoy our grandparent time!
As we have stated already, we have been married 20 years and have been very fortunate to travel many places, accomplish many goals, and live life to the fullest as a couple. This has led us to a new chapter of life we call “TUX TIME”, it has become a household saying for us, and fondly means our focus is on Tux and doing activities to enhance his life and make memories as a family. Tux Time is our focus and joy each and every day. We have done everything we want to do, and now we can fully dedicate our time, hobbies, resources, and energy to creating quality family time, and that’s exactly how we live our lives every day. Some of our hobbies include hiking, exploring, traveling, horseback riding, fishing, Disney, swimming, snow sledding, visiting family, and anything that we can all do together as a family.
Our goal is to adopt again so Tux can have a sibling and we can share our love and “Tux Time” with another child.
We just recently finished building a new home on our family ranch, it is a 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath ranch style with a loft. Large living room, lots of play areas and a large kitchen. Although we hired some contractors to build the home, Tom did much of the work himself, and Tux was right there beside him every day helping too. It has been a wonderful experience. Outdoor space is abundant for us here on our family ranch. Lots of room to explore, fish, play in the mud, ride horses, you name it, if it’s outside, we do it. We also have a large indoor riding arena for the winter time. Even though we live in the country, we have a very close friendly community with lots of young families with other children close by. Tux has many kids his own age to play with. Also when we go to Rapid City for shopping or parts for the ranch, we always make time for swimming or parks with play areas.
Thank you for looking at our profile. If you would like to know more about us, please contact Everlasting Adoptions 630-364-8361. Thanks!
