John and Terra

John and Terra

Hello!

We are John and Terra Barlow. We were high school sweethearts and have been happily married since 2002. We live in a small, friendly neighborhood outside of Indianapolis with our three children – two biological and one adopted. We are so excited to complete our family with a 4th child. We have prayed, waited, and prepared for him/her and already have so much love for the baby. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our letter.

We will not pretend to understand what you may be going through, but we do respect you for whatever decision you make for yourself and your child. If we can, we want to be there to support you and the baby if you chose to continue with an adoption plan.

We both grew up in Muncie, Indiana and met in band class where John was a drummer and Terra played the alto saxophone. We knew we had something special from the very beginning. We started dating in 1997, engaged in 2001, and were married on August 3rd, 2002.

We struggled with infertility, but with treatment we were blessed to have two daughters – Piper who was born in 2005 and Makenna born in 2008. After that we learned that Terra would no longer be able to safely carry another baby. However, we always knew we wanted a big family so we chose to grow our family through adoption. We became foster parents in 2012 and fostered four babies during that time. Thomas was three months old when he was placed with us and we were able to adopt him one year later. After working with DCS for a few months, both of his birth parents decided they wanted us to adopt him. We have an awesome, completely open adoption with both of them that includes visits every few months, texts, and Facebook.

IMG_9492John has a Computer Science degree from Ball State University. He is a software engineer for a company based out of California, but works from home.

John loves computers, technology, super heroes and sci-fi. He is an avid gamer, playing board games and Xbox whenever he can (the kids and Terra IMG_5716play as well). He really enjoys photography, especially taking pictures of nature and his children. He is also an accomplished musician.

IMG_8230Terra attended Butler University for two years studying Chemistry and Sociology, but decided that all she really wanted was to be a mom. After college, she worked part time at KinderCare for 8 years as an infant/toddler teacher. She is a full time stay at home mom now and is homeschooling the kids. She also does a lot of volunteer work for a local non-profit.

Terra is very athletic and plays in a co-ed softball league. She likes to read fiction books, especially murder mysteries. Most of all, she loves to watch movies and play games.

If we had to use one word to describe our family, it would be FUN! We are just big kids and we love to laugh and play. We play a lot of board games and video games, but also have sword fights and Nerf gun wars in the loft. We build forts, Lego castles, and snowmen. We go on bike rides, play various sports, and go ice skating. We are a very geeky family and love anything sci-fi, superheroes, zombies, space, and fantasy – from Harry Potter to Star Wars to the Avengers and everything in-between.

Family pic

We have a big support group all around us in family and friends. Terra’s mom, Penny, lives only 2 miles away. She loves being a Grammy and we see her frequently. John’s mom & dad are only an hour away. They are retired and love to come and babysit when we need them.

Terra has a big extended family spread all around country that includes grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, and cousins. We have a big family reunion about every other year. Her dad and sister live in Texas and her brother is in Florida. Her sister is a teenager and we try to fly her up here every summer to spend time with her. Our family is open and accepting of adoption. We also have several close friends in the area who have adopted either privately or through foster care.

With our 10+ years of marriage and parenting experience, we feel we would be the ideal family for you to entrust with raising your child.  Thank you for taking the time to get to know us, and may God bless you with the strength and knowledge to choose what is right for you and your child.

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John and Terra

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