Sam & Derek

Hi, we’re Derek and Sam, and we’re so excited to be on this journey. We met in 2010 when Sam was serving at Outback Steakhouse and Derek happened to be sitting in her section. He left his phone number on a coaster, and from that moment on, everything changed. We bonded over our shared love of music and have been together ever since. We got married in November 2018.

Derek works in the supply chain industry as a Distribution and Transport Manager, and Sam works in software technology as a Data Project Manager. Sam is fun and outgoing, while Derek is more quiet and reserved—but we balance each other perfectly.

We love music and going to concerts, traveling (we hope to see all 50 states!), and spending time with family and friends. We also enjoy game nights, sports, and cozy nights in. Sam loves true crime, puzzles, and reading, while Derek enjoys sitcoms.

We live on a family farm with my parents and grandparents, spread out across 25 acres in three separate homes. Living in the country, close to family, gives us the opportunity to spend a lot of time together—whether it's cooking meals or playing games.

We have three dogs: two Boxers—Mia (1) and Ripley (3)—and a Pitbull named Tuck (13). We found Tuck on the side of the road, Mia was from a breeder, and Ripley came to us through a Boxer rescue.

Derek has a brother and a sister, both of whom are married. His sister has two stepchildren, and his brother has one stepchild and one biological child. He also has two cousins, although they don't live nearby. Sam has two younger brothers whom we spend time with weekly. She also has three cousins who live somewhat close and usually sees them on holidays and birthdays. We also have close couple friends who have twin boys that we consider family. We spend a lot of time with them doing fun things like bowling, movies, or visiting the arcade.

We're fortunate that both of us still have our parents, and Sam also has both sets of grandparents. We spend every holiday together and see each other at least once a week. While Derek doesn't get to see his side of the family every day, they stay closely connected through a family group chat and talk frequently.

We are excited to start our family, as it has been a long journey getting to this point. In 2020, we were told we wouldn't be able to conceive biological children. We turned to God and prayed, asking Him to show us what our next steps should be. We asked for a clear sign, and I even said, "I know it won't be on the big screen at church or anything, but just show us something."

Then, during the announcements on the big screen at church, we saw that a new class was starting—it was called Chosen, a support class for fostering and adoption. We looked at each other and immediately knew this was the path we were meant to take.