Welcome! Meet:

Cole + Danielle

Welder / Healthcare Administration

Minnesota

Caucasian

Christian

All About Cole & Danielle
Video
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Cole & Danielle

We have known each other for almost 20 years. We live a laid-back life with some family adventures mixed in. A night with friends is one of our favorite ways of spending our time. With some of Cole’s friends, we do game nights and get-togethers. We have said that they will all be uncle and aunt's. We are so close-knit. They have some of the cutest kids that are a great time to play games with.

We enjoy taking trips to visit family all over the country. Some of our favorites include a trip to Florida, one to Texas, and trips to the family cabin. In Florida, we loved our time on the beach creating what we called a “sandman” and going to St. Augustine. In Texas, we loved spending time with family and going to the space center. Trips to the cabin are always relaxing. One of our favorite activities is wild rice harvesting.

We spend a lot of our time volunteering at our church and with the scout troop. We are on the soundboard team for the church, running the slides and the sound system. We also enjoy the events that our church puts on such as the annual halloween trunk or treat. With the scout troop we go on many camping trips, troop meetings and events such as community parades.

We both came up with the top things we love about each other. Cole’s top things about Danielle are her sense of humor, mentality on life, cooking skills, direct communication, and that she loves contributing to the household. Danielle’s top things she loves about Cole are his sense of humor, how he loves family and friends, relaxed demeanor, personal drive when something is important to him, and his facial expression when he sees something cute.

Here are some fun facts about us. Cole's favorite book is The Lost Fleet, favorite food is ravioli, favorite animal is a cat, favorite school subject is P.E., ice cream flavor is chocolate, family activity is meals together and favorite beverage is chocolate milk. Here is a list of Danielle’s favorites. Her favorite book is Harry Potter, food is chicken, color is purple, sport to watch is hockey, sport to play is soccer, animal is dog, school subject is history, flavor of ice cream is vanilla and favorite family activity is family meals.

Together we love outdoor activities. Canoeing and biking are big in our area. We also love painting classes, grilling out, watching a sports game, and hiking. Time together is our favorite.

Why Adoption?

The path to adoption has been one full of many conversations. When we were in college we both worked at a high adventure Boy Scout camp in New Mexico. At the time we had not started dating but we both remember a time we went out for dinner and chatted about kids and raising them. For two people who were friends and maybe 19 years old it was a rather deep conversation, but it flowed and was calming.

When we started dating and the discussion of kids came up, we remembered that conversation fondly. Early in our dating time, we found out that Danielle has a vascular disorder that makes pregnancy very high risk. But through the choice of adoption, doctors are able to keep me a very healthy person to be a mom. Cole is amazingly supportive through it all. This diagnosis was tough as it came just as we were planning our wedding. Cole could see this was wearing on me through it all. We are excited to be parents.

Family & Home

Home: We live in a home that we like to keep calm and inviting. We have a game room in our basement and we love having get-togethers for game nights. It's a joy to watch the kids play the various games we have. We have several parks nearby where we like to take walks near the river or in the prairie. There is some great equipment in them that we love taking our niece on as well. Walks to the nearby ice cream shop are common for us in the summer months. We like being a place where others can relax in a loving, fun environment. It's a spacious rambler-style home.

Neighborhood: We live in a neighborhood with a variety of families of varying ages. We are specifically close with a few of the families and spend time with one of them regularly. They are also kind and supportive, commonly offering help such as mowing lawns, car maintenance, and meals when the need arises.

Community: We live in a rural close-knit community. There are many community events to attend every year, especially for kids. We love the annual lighting of the community Christmas tree. Everyone is very supportive of our adoption decision. We especially loved being involved in our local scout troop. This is a great opportunity to see the local kids grow into young adults.

Family: We see Cole’s family regularly. We usually have family meals together to catch up as they live pretty close to us. We also go on outings together. Cole gets together with his brother Lucas regularly for game nights. Cole’s cousins. Aunts and uncles we see at holiday events. Some of them we also see helping each other with house projects and events together throughout the year. His aunts and uncles help us out commonly when we have doctor appointments with meals or other needs. They have very giving, loving souls.

We are very close to Danielle's family as well. Danielle’s parents live nearby on the farm she grew up on. Her brother Jesse and Isabel live just down the road from my parents. We see them regularly for holidays, dinners and household projects. My brother Jeff’s family currently live on the West Coast. They are talking about moving to Montana soon. They make the trek home regularly. Since we were kids zoo trips have been a common staple for us. Recently Jeff’s daughter, Sawyer came home for a visit, and it was a week of adventures that of course included the zoo. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all live nearby. We see them for holidays, community/family events, and dinners. We also love a good girls' day out with my aunts and cousins.

How others describe me

Danielle in the eyes of Cole: She cares a lot about the people in her life. She is always looking for ways to help them out. She is very driven and goal-oriented. But she is also open to others’ opinions when pursuing something. Danielle is a delightful person to spend my life with cause our sense of humor is very similar. My favorite photo of her is of her dancing with friends at our friend's wedding. It truly shows her. She is a mature person but knows when and where to have fun.

Danielle about herself: I am a very determined person. I enjoy reaching my goals in life and seeing what I can accomplish. I love showing those around me that they are cared about and supported in life.

Cole in the Eyes of Danielle: Cole is a fun, loving guy who cracks a good joke. He has a very calm demeanor and is always caring for other people. Some of my favorite memories of him are at scout events. His caring side really shines as he teaches the boys life skills. During this he always makes sure that I am cared for and supported as well.

Cole about himself: I would describe myself as a calm, steady person. I do my best to be a consistent and reliable person. I am loving to my family and friends.

How We Met

We met when we were 14 years old working at a summer camp. We always joke that we went through all stages of a relationship. We were 14 at the time so of course Danielle thought Cole was a gross boy and Cole thought Danielle was bossy. Soon after we became friends and were friends for roughly 7 years. We started dating on Danielle’s 21st birthday. Cole popped the question on Christmas 2017. We were married that next fall. When we realized we had found our person we knew we both wanted to be parents. When we were dating, we found out we would be a high-risk pregnancy.

Advice to Future Child

We are both rather practical people so what we have always said we would teach our kids is to follow their dreams but do it in a practical manner. Think through and do research into what you aspire to achieve to educate yourself on the best path to success.

We will also likely use the little sayings we remember from adults who were important in our lives to teach day-to-day lessons.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

When it comes to openness, we are open to communication and what this will look like for the benefit of everyone. We would be open to contact throughout the child’s life. We are open to texting, phone, video or emailing for electronic communication. How often we would communicate we are willing to discuss and make a plan of how often. We would absolutely be open to sharing pictures of birth parents to put in their rooms. We are willing to discuss visits happening with birth parents as well.

Favorites

Cole

Favorite Movie: My favorite movie is the Lord of the Rings series.
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: My favorite tradition is the Renaissance Festival. I really enjoy the shows and love looking at the shops. Danielle introduced me to the festival when we were dating and we have made great memories there since then.
Hobbies/Interests: I enjoy a good game night with my friends and their families. Their kids are a hoot to hang out with. I also enjoy working in the garage on welding projects. Working with the kids in our scout troop on camping skills is one of my favorite activities. I enjoy reading good books, especially sci-fi novels.
Dream Vacation: My dream vacation would be to go to New Zealand. This is where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: My dream super power would be teleportation.

Danielle

Favorite Movie: Harry Potter
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: I love most holidays. My favorite time with our family is Christmas. I love a good light display. I also enjoy taking the time to set up my Christmas Village which is rather massive. The simple things about Christmas are my favorite as well. Our rescue dog Ellie loves laying on the tree skirt. This is also the holiday that my brother and niece commonly come home to visit. We have a large family as well so the holiday get-togethers with aunts, uncles, and cousins are always a joyous time to chat and catch up.
With friends, my favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Halloween. My friends love a good apple orchard or corn maze. We also love being the household that hands out full-size candy bars to the trick-or-treaters. We are well loved, and I love any holiday that gets us together.
Hobbies/Interests: I love time with my family. I also enjoy time outdoors having adventures or just sitting in the sun. I love music, commonly attending concerts with my mom or friends. Crafts are a favorite activity for me as well. I commonly go to painting classes or am found taking over the tables in the living room for other crafty items. I love a good game night with friends.
Dream Vacation: Anywhere in Europe is my dream someday. I love history and there are some amazing places to visit there for a history buff. The coasts here in the States are amazing as well. There are some amazing places to see here for anyone who loves history.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: My dream superpower would be super strength.