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Matt and Crystal

We met in High School...at band camp. The singing angels must of had the day off because they did not show up, so we decided to be friends instead. A couple of years later we went on our first date, now the where and when this first date occurred depends on who you talk to, both versions are on our blog if you want to take sides.

When we got married, twelve years ago, we knew that our family would be built through adoption. The when to get started down that road was the question that was always answered " not yet". While we waited we went to school at Southern Utah University. Matt studied Biology and Crystal studied Music Performance. A Few months before Matt graduated he was offered an internship with the government just outside of Washington D.C.

After graduation we packed up the essentials in our car, made a comfortable place for our fiddler crab, Loly, to hang out and embarked on what was to be a four month adventure. Matt went into the internship wanting his boss to wonder how they would get things done when he was gone. Two months into the internship his boss started asking what it would take to keep him on full time when the internship was over, so we made a permanent move to Virginia.

About two years later the answer to our constant prayer of when to get started on our family changed to " it's time". Within a week we got a phone call from Matt's Mom about her niece who was pregnant with a little girl. This little girl needed a Mom and Dad, and her niece was wondering if we would like to be them. Five weeks later we were driving to the hospital to pick up our daughter Samantha.

Having both grown up close to our cousins we wanted the same for our kids. Both of our families were living in Utah and our parents wanted to be able to visit without taking potty breaks, so when Sam was a few months old we moved back home.

Six and a half years later we enjoy a very open adoption with Sammy's birth family. They live a couple of states away so we don't get to see them as often as we would like, so in between the visits we keep in touch with pictures, letters and lots of phone calls.

We feel that birth families are another branch in our family tree and look forward to adding those branches. If you would like to learn more about us you can visit us at http://www.itsaboutlove.org/ , search Matt and Crystal, follow our adventures at http://www.mattandcrystalsadoptionjournal.blogspot.com/ , or contact us at mattandcrystal@rocketmail.com.