New to the Group from Ohio

Good Morning,

We are Kelly and Joseph Shook from Copley, Ohio and it is our pleasure to be a part of the March 2006 DTC Secret Pal Exchange.

A little about us. Joe is an auditor for the Department of Defense and I am repsonsible for the automated library system at Kent State University. I also work as a part-time instructor at Archivers, which is a huge scrapbooking, rubber stamping and card making store. Joe and I just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in May. We began our adoption research 2 1/2 years ago and decided on CCAI out of Denver, CO. We completed our application August 2005 and we have a LID of March 29, 2006. We asked for a girl as young as possible as she will be our first and perhaps only child. We have decided to name her Isabella Rose.

Isabella's room will be decorated in a Cherished Teddies motif. Cherished Teddies our resin teddy bear figurines created by Priscilla Hillman. I have been collecting them for over 10 years. My collection is quite extensive and I want my daughter to share in my love for this collection. The artist uses pastel colors so her room will be pale yellows, pinks, blues and greens. My sister who is an artist will be painting these bears along with a few lady bugs on her shelves and furniture.

Joe's hobbies include: stamp collecting, golfing and target shooting. He also enjoys watching TV and movies and spending hours on the internet researching a variety of topics. He just passed his Certified Internal Auditor test and is in the process of studying for the CPA test. He loves Starbucks coffee and any kind of chocolate. Joe likes to read books on accounting, auditing and estate planning. His favorite movie is Casablanca although I would have to say he loves all movies. His musical tastes include Cheryl Crow, jazz and classical.

My hobbies include: scrapbooking, rubber stamping and card making. I also collect Cherished Teddies and teddy bears of any kind. I enjoy taking pictures with my digital camera as well as crocheting and needlepoint. I love to cook and bake. Lately I have been reading books on adoption, Chinese adoption, China, child rearing and children's books but I always love a good romance novel by Nicholas Sparks. My favorite movies of all times is Gone with the Wind, The Titanic and Mask (starring Cher). I would love to see more movies but it just seems like there is no time. My musical tastes our well rounded: I was raised with music from the 50's but I also like the current music as well. My favorite artists include: Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, Cher, Phil Collins, Donna Summers, Beach Boys, Ace of Base, Billy Joel, Martina McBride and Uncle Kracker. My favorite store is Bath and Body Works where I am drawn to the fruitier smells.

In our spare time we volunteer our services to the Families with Children from China of Akron-Canton group. Joe is currently the treasurer and I am the Membership and Newsletter Editor. We really enjoy this group and have met a lot of great people.

We have not registered at any stores as of yet but will the closer we get to receiving our referral.

We are really looking forward to this secret pal exchange and being able to help our pals wait time to go more quickly with anticipation of receiving monthly gifts from us!