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| Laura loves the thrill of a big snowy hill! |
- Knitting
- Backyard bonfires
- Growing vegetables and flowers in our gardens
- Snow tubing and sledding
- Being social with family and friends, or with people she's never met!
Laura's favorite vacations
- Family road trips as a kid
- Isla Mujeres, Mexico in 2014 (or any vacation where she gets to relax on a beach!)
Laura's special talents
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| canning vegetables from the garden |
- Being on time
- Closing her eyes in pictures
Laura's dreams in life
- Playing the trombone in a community marching band
- Being called Mom
About Laura
by Amanda
Laura is so sweet and tender. She is the brains behind running our family, for sure! She’s incredibly intelligent, kind, and caring. I think she is the funniest person I’ve ever met. She’s always been very practical, but has this child-like fun streak that makes her so much fun to be around! She’s the kind of person that will convince us all to go sledding in our neighborhood park after a very hearty Christmas meal that she did all of the cooking for.
In our family, Amanda bakes and Laura cooks. Whoever didn’t do the grunt work of making the meal, cleans up. Typically though, you’ll never find us too far apart. We enjoy hanging out with each other a great deal, so if someone’s cooking, then that’s where you’ll find the other one. If I’m ever cleaning up, Laura’s not too far away, helping.
Laura grew up on a farm in Iowa with two parents, an older sister, an older brother, and one younger sister. Her family of six has expanded quite a bit and now there are 18 of us when we travel! Laura has 8 adorable nieces and nephews. We are lucky to spend quite a lot of time with those kiddos since everyone is within four hours from where we live. Laura’s farm life growing up always sounds really interesting to me since I grew up in a suburb. She was responsible for many duties on the farm and for her family starting at a young age. These responsibilities and the love of such a big family account for her diligent work ethic and huge heart she has today.
Laura is also very accomplished. She participated in 4H competitions growing up, was a Pork Ambassador (hard to explain if you live outside Iowa!), and was valedictorian of her high school class. Her success as a young leader contributed to her success in college and subsequently graduate school. Laura’s first few jobs out of graduate school were in civil rights non-profits. Today, she is an accomplished fundraiser, with the respect of her colleagues in the advancement field. She has also served on many local Boards, and today is the Board Secretary of a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ rights in the state of Minnesota. I am constantly in awe of what a wonderful person she is in the world and feel very lucky that I have the privilege to love her every day.
To me, Laura is perfect. She’s more than I could ever dream of in a partner and spouse. She’s the person who is always by my side and always encouraging me. We’ve always dreamed of having a family beyond the two of us and we would love for a little baby to join our world. We know that we could offer a loving, stable, civic-minded home for a child. As we embark on the adoption journey, there’s no person in the world I would stand next to other than my incredible wife, Laura.
