Waiting Family Profiles

Home Location: Southeast MN

Family Status: Couple with Children

Children in Home: One

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

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family. We want you to know that we have given this decision our full attention for quite some time and we have made sure we are physically and emotionally ready to embark on this major life event. We realize this must be a confusing and difficult time while you are searching for the best option for you and your sweet baby. We hope you feel loved and supported no matter what you decide. We admire how courageous you are for doing everything in your power to ensure your child has the best possible chance for stability and success in life.

We want to assure you that we will respect you and whatever level of openness and contact that you want to have with your child. We promise to nurture and love your child, while providing a safe and happy home and a life with many opportunities.

We understand this is a life-changing event for everyone involved, and if we are lucky enough to be chosen, we would feel honored to take this journey alongside you.

Our Family

We are the Drummond family! Tom and Holly are 33, and our son James is 3 years old. We first met in the dorms at South Dakota State University, and we started dating a year later. We have now been together for 13 amazing years and married for 8 of those.

After graduating college, we moved to Rochester, Minnesota, fell in love with the beautiful landscape, and have been here ever since. We love spending our free time with our son and traveling. Life is so short, and we want to explore as much as we can.

On weekends, we enjoy relaxing and spending time outdoors. Some of our favorite activities include going to parks, zoos, driving along the Mississippi River, visiting with friends and family, or exploring nearby small towns. We like to keep our weekends low-key, but fun.

We are very tight-knit with our families. We have an active and loving relationship with them including many phone calls, face-times and visits year-round.

About Holly

Holly grew up in a small town in eastern South Dakota with her younger brother and mother. As a child, she fought cancer and ultimately lost her leg. This changed her life in many ways, but she is proud to have overcome so much at such a young age and continues to find ways to love herself and be confident in who she truly is. Having been an amputee for over 20 years, she is fully capable of doing any day-to-day and recreational activities.

In high school, she found a passion for science and in college pursued a double major of microbiology and medical laboratory science. As a sophomore, she met her four best friends who continue to support one another through life’s ups and downs.

After college, she began her career at Mayo Clinic working in an infectious diseases lab, providing test results to clients from all over the world, as well as helping to develop new tests to detect emerging diseases.

When she has downtime, Holly enjoys trying new recipes, reading mystery novels, hanging out with friends, camping, hiking and biking. Tom’s favorite quality in Holly is her kindheartedness. He is always impressed with how she never hesitates to help friends and family through difficult situations. She also does simple things, like giving a friend a call or writing her grandmother letters because she knows it will brighten their day. Holly enjoys being a mom and has so much love to offer.

About Tom

Tom grew up in the Black Hills of western South Dakota with his parents and older sister. He was involved in many different sports from elementary through high school. After graduating high school, he was diagnosed with cancer in his hand. Facing the possibility of losing his hand, he was grateful for a team of brilliant physicians at Mayo Clinic who were able to save it and help him beat the disease. Although he grew tired of hospitals during this experience, he went on to pursue a college education in nursing.

After graduation with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, he recently went back to school and became a Nurse Practitioner in Pain Management. He enjoys his job as it gives him the opportunity to return the excellent care that was given to him as a patient.

In his spare time, he can be found fishing at any of the lakes or rivers in southeast Minnesota or hiking the bluff country with James. Holly’s favorite quality in Tom is his handiness around the house. He has built multiple pieces of furniture for their home and she is constantly surprised at his ability to seemingly fix anything. Tom loves being a father and is looking forward to sharing his knowledge with his children.

About James

James is sweet, curious, and a little shy, but warms up to new people quickly. He loves to play at the park next to our home, take walks around the neighborhood, and read books. He loves visiting the zoo, riding bikes with his parents and grandparents, pretending to be spiderman, and hiking on our nearby trails.

James doesn’t know what having a sibling means, but we are sure he will be a loving and helpful big brother because he makes friends easily and has an easy-going attitude.

Our Adventures

We love to travel together as a family and have visited many U.S. states as well as other countries. We look forward to trying the local food and having unique experiences, like deep-sea fishing, bamboo rafting, parasailing, crabbing, snorkeling, and whale-watching. Our favorite journey was a road trip through Montana, continuing north to Banff National Park in Canada. It was a long 4,000 miles, but we loved being in the mountains and seeing glaciers and all the amazing wildlife. We look forward to sharing these adventures with our children and exposing them to new experiences as well as learning about the history and cultures.

Home and Community

We have lived in a friendly and diverse neighborhood in Rochester, Minnesota, for the last ten years, and we truly enjoy the cultural diversity this town has to offer. We purchased our home eight years ago because of its great location. It backs up to a city park where we envisioned our children playing and is near to a bike path as well. We also love this neighborhood because of the low crime rate and highly rated school district. The elementary school is conveniently less than two miles from our home. In the summertime, we enjoy having friends and family over for barbecues and yard games in our backyard. It’s a great place to live and to raise children.

Family Values

• We believe that all people should be treated equally, with dignity and respect.
• Kindness, above all else, should be the foundation of all thoughts and actions.
• We learn from our failures, but also remember to celebrate our successes.

Thank you

We cannot thank you enough for considering us as adoptive parents for your child, and we hope you enjoyed learning a little about our family. We promise to love your child with the same unwavering love we have for every member of our family. We are confident you will make the choice that’s right for you. Please reach out to us if you have questions!

• Facebook: @hollyandtomadopt
• Instagram: @hollyandtomadopt
• Email: [email protected]
• Contact our CHLSS Adoption Worker, Betsy at Betsy.Trondson@chlss.org or 651.255.2262.