Waiting Family Profiles

Home Location: North Central MN

Family Status: Couple with Children

Children in Home: One

Child Ethnicity: Asian, Caucasian, East Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Native American

Hello, we are Cory, Jennifer, and Ryker Gullickson! Ryker joined our family through open adoption in 2017, and it has been a wonderful adventure! We live in a small town in West Central Minnesota with our sweet pup, Nova. Our adoption journey began 5 years ago, and we knew immediately we were meant for this amazing and sometimes painful process!

We cannot begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now. The decision to place your child for adoption cannot be easy, and we whole-heartedly embrace whatever decision you feel is best for you and your child. We promise to show you empathy, understanding, and respect throughout this wonderful and (equally) difficult process. While we may not fully understand what you are going through, we do hope that you know how much we appreciate you considering us as potential adoptive parents for your child!

We want our children to be proud of their life story. We are excited to (hopefully) meet you and talk more about what your ideal level of openness might look like; and explore ways in which you can remain involved in your child’s life!

Meet The Gullickson’s… 

CORY (by Jennifer):

Cory enjoys staying active! He can be seen walking our dogs two times each day, even in the winter! Cory enjoys hiking, backpacking, and snowshoeing.  Cory has worked in sales for over 10 years; he is a movie buff, highly skilled at making up song lyrics, a great cook, and enjoys watching and keeping up with sports stats! Cory hunts geese and ducks with his dad, brothers, and nephews in the fall; and he really enjoys muzzle loading season for deer!

Cory is an amazing Dad. He is so involved, playful, and nurturing! It is so fun to see the bond he and Ryker share. Cory is loved by all his nieces and nephews, and you can usually find him playing on the floor or throwing the football around with them at family gatherings!

JENNIFER (by Cory):

Jennifer works full-time as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. She loves music, photography, traveling, and spending quality time with those she loves most! Whether it’s going to concerts, out for a bite to eat, walks in the park, or just hanging out and playing cards and board games – she’s always up for anything! Jennifer recently started a part-time photography business. She really enjoys learning new things and making connections with people!

Jennifer is a wonderful mother and wife, she is very involved, and always looking for new activities to do with Ryker. She enjoys teaching him new things. Her favorite thing to do with Ryker is cuddle and get all the hugs and kisses she can!

RYKER:

Ryker is an imaginative, energetic, loving, and curious little man! His main interests include bugs, playing outside, animals, playing games or doing puzzles, dinosaurs, trucks, watching movies… and fruit snacks! We feel so blessed to have been chosen by his birth parents. We continue to be in contact with them. We do our best to follow their lead regarding contact and visits. We want to be respectful of their emotions and boundaries, while recognizing the importance of their presence in Ryker’s life.

Our pup, Nova:

We adopted our sweet Nova in 2014! She came to us from the local humane society, and it took a while for her to trust that we would not leave her. Nova loves to be outdoors in any weather and enjoys going on backpacking trips with Cory! She is so patient with Ryker… She puts up with a lot from her little human!

Our Favorite Things:

• Family Walks
• Exploring State Parks
• Trips to the Zoo
• Movie Nights

Family Bucket List:

• Disney Family Vacation
• Road Trip to Yellowstone
• Whatever adventures come our way!

 

Love, Laughter, friends, and family…

We are blessed beyond belief to have amazing people in our lives that provide constant love and support!

Jennifer’s siblings and relatives live a further distance away. Although we do not see each other super often, we make the most of our time together when we do! We get together throughout the year for birthdays, holidays, and other gatherings! Jennifer’s college friends have become like family to us. It has been such a blessing to watch and support each other as our families grow and change!

Cory’s family is incredibly close, and all of them live nearby! We get together for Sunday dinners, birthdays, holidays, and other occasions!

We are so thankful to have both sets of grandparents within 10 minutes of us. They spend a lot of time with Ryker and their other grandchildren and are so excited to add another grandchild to the mix! Between the two families, Ryker has 11 cousins ranging in age from 22 to 3 years old!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

We live in a small town in West Central, MN. Our house is a spacious 4-bedroom home nestled in a cozy neighborhood. Our house is located within 3 blocks of the hospital, elementary school, a beautiful lake, and several parks.  Our neighbors are so helpful and supportive. We can count on them to help with dog-sitting if needed and they are always interacting with Ryker, even if it means going on a bug hunt!

VALUES we hope to pass on to our children…

KINDNESS | HARD WORK | RESPECT | HUMOR | LOYALTY | RESPONSIBILITY | HUMILITY

We know our words only go so far to show who we are, so we wanted to close with a quote from one of our Reference Letters:

“At the heart of these two is the tremendous gift and ability they have in opening their hearts and their home to the people in their lives. Adoption is a life-changing gift and I know that this family views it exactly as that, a gift and privilege that they will always cherish and surround with love.”

Thank you for being here!

Cory + Jennifer Gullickson

 

We look forward to hearing from you! Find us online to see more about our adoption journey + get a glimpse into our life:

Facebook: @coryandjenniferadopt |

Instagram: @gullicksons_adopt |

Email: gullicksonsadopt@gmail.com

Contact our CHLSS Adoption Worker, Dianne Delaney at dianne.delaney@chlss.org or 320.428.0199.