Cherie & Jack In Washington

Cherie is a friendly, easy going, patient yet determined farm girl who grew up on her parents' family farm in Eastern Washington. She believes in truthfulness, honesty, relationships and hard work. She also believes in working hard to play hard.

Cherie loved showing sheep at the local fair from the ages of 7 to 19. She loved participating in 4-H and FFA and was elected FFA president in her Junior year of high school. With her hard-earned 4-H sheep money and working while attending college, she graduated from Washington State University in 2008 with a Bachelor's Degree in Crop Science and had no debt, something that Cherie wasn't sure that she would be able to achieve but is very thankful for!

In 2009, Cherie started working for Qualls Agricultural Laboratory, a Contract Research Organization located in Eastern Washington. In 2011, Cherie became a Quality Assurance Auditor and enjoys working there to this day with her "other" family.

Jack is a smart, friendly, outgoing and confident hard working farm boy who grew up on his parent's family farm in Zurich Switzerland. Jack believes in honesty, hard work, family traditions, laughing hard and having fun.

Growing up, Jack enjoyed modifying tractors and logging in the family forest. Jack performed an internship with a truck repair company named Larag from 2004 to 2008 and graduated with a fabricator's degree in Switzerland. Soon after completing his degree, Jack performed his mandatory military service from 2008 to 2009.

He worked for Stolz Metal Works from 2009 to 2011 then decided he wanted to take a brief summer break to visit the US and learn English. There he was introduced by family friends to Cherie and the two farm kids hit it off. The rest was history! Jack now works with Cherie's parents and manages the family farm.

We have a three year old son named Jake who is a miracle. The fact that we were able to have a son after Cherie's ovarian cancer diagnosis is a huge blessing that we feel overwhelmingly thankful for. At 3, Jake is smart, confident, enthusiastic, joyful and outgoing. He loves to talk to everyone and loves to ask questions. Jake loves to play outside with his tractors in the dirt and he loves feeding and helping with the animals. He loves playing with the neighbors next door who have six children. Jake keeps asking, "Where's my brother? Where's my sister?" Jake loves helping other children on the playground and is a natural leader. He is often seen gravitating toward younger children acting as a big brother showing and helping them. Jake will be an excellent big brother who will love his younger brother or sister with all of his heart and will love helping them and teaching them what he has learned.

We love animals, and have 6 sheep, 1 alpaca and 10 chickens. We have fun taking care of and watching the animals and their unique personalities. We love feeding the animals. Jake especially loves going on egg hunts finding where the chickens laid their eggs. We have a red merle Australian Shepard named Bandit. He is a smart and loyal friend who can never have enough love. He loves babies! We also have an orange tabby named Garfield who loves snuggling with everyone in the evening and will lay on our bed all night long. He also loves to play with Bandit and sometimes will chase the dog around the house.

We live in a spacious farmhouse that dates back to the 1950's. It has 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 fireplaces, a sun filled indoor patio room and a basement. The house sits on 2 acres of yard that has flower beds, Cherie's herb and vegetable garden, and the sheep corral and chicken coop are nearby. The yard has plenty of grass and trees for running and playing around. The house and yard are surrounded by the family farm.

Our neighborhood is made up of farming families that have known each other for many years. Up the hill about a 2 minute walk is another home that is located on our family farm that has 4 acres of yard and an irrigation pond. We have long time friends that live next to us on the family farm and we love getting together and having fun watching the kids play. Cherie's parents live on the other side of the family farm about a 3 minute drive away.

Cherie’s family is very large and unique. Cherie has been the baby, middle and oldest child at times. She was the youngest in the family until she was 19. Her parents heard of a pair of Russian brothers being sponsored in the next town over. They had been flown over from Russia in an adoption program with the hope that they would find a forever family, and they did! Long story short many years later, Cherie’s family adopted four more children from Russia. Cherie will tell you that it seems strange that at one time she didn’t know her younger brothers and sisters, but love has no boundaries or limitations, and in her heart there is no distinction between her birth siblings and adopted ones.

Jack’s family is small but they are tight woven. Jack is the oldest child, and he and his younger brother grew up with a great relationship. They consider themselves friends to this day. Their mother says they rarely ever fought. Jack and his brother were always ready to help each other. Jack and his brother were also very close to their grandparents on both sides of the family, seeing them multiple times a week. His parents and grandparents offered Jack and his brother love, correction, wisdom and advice. Jack’s family was more than happy to accommodate and adopted Cherie with open hearts and arms. They decided that if Jack loved Cherie then they did too!

Cherie’s family meets once a month at her parents' house for a fun family dinner where everybody chips in food and has fun playing card games. There is even a trophy that is passed around the family for whoever wins the game of 5 crowns. During the summer months after dinner, the family will head next door to Cherie and Jack's farm where they have a large pond and everyone has fun swimming and taking turns driving Jack and Cherie’s old jet skis.

Cherie’s family also meets on major holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and 4th of July. Holidays are especially fun with the white elephant gift exchange for Christmas, a pinata filled with candy for Easter and lots of large, loud fireworks set off after dark for 4th of July.

Most of our winters are spent in Switzerland visiting family and close friends. We also keep in close contact with Jack's brother who lives in Colorado, and we visit each other often. In the summers, we love to invite family and friends up to the family pond and have fun swimming. We also love going to airplane shows, the annual combine derby in Lind, Washington, the Rodeo and demolition derby in Moses Lake, Washington. We love walking through the Grant County Fair during fair week looking at all the 4-H / FFA animals. We also love going to Ag-Shows (agricultural shows) looking at the latest innovations and shiny new equipment.

We have both been raised in families that prove love has no boundaries or limitations. Jack is from Switzerland and his family is very loving. They welcomed Cherie who is an American into their family with open arms. Cherie’s family is very large, loving and international. She has both biological and adopted brothers and sisters. When Cherie went through ovarian cancer a second time and found out that future pregnancies were no longer a possibility, we had no doubts about choosing adoption to grow our family.