John and Cody Ray

Welcome to us! We’re John (Left, 26) and Cody Ray (Right, 28).

During John’s senior year in high school, he met Cody Ray at a froyo shop on a particularly warm spring afternoon in 2015. During an internship, Cody Ray moved down to John’s hometown in Salem, and a spark was born. With Cody Ray’s internship ending fast, and our desire to be close, we decided it was time to move in together! While it may sound fast, we both knew we’d found our soulmate as our chemistry only grew. From there, John worked at a paper recycling plant and took college classes where he learned that he not only loved reading science fiction and romance, but enjoyed writing them as well! This led him to becoming an author. Cody Ray finished his degree in computer science and got a job working remotely as a software engineer.

A few years later, as a way of celebrating our wedding/honeymoon, we bought a fifth wheel and traveled across the United States while working remotely! Our time together on the open road strengthened our relationship and helped us figure out what we really wanted in life. We were able to have deep conversations about the future and our place inside it. We got to see amazing places like the Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore! During this time, we discovered that we longed for more in life than just being wanderers. At first, we thought getting a dog would quell our desire to expand our family, but it only fueled the fire!

When Covid turned the world upside down, we discussed the idea of going back to Oregon, buying a house, and building a place for our future to grow. We both shared a desire to have kids early so we would have the opportunity to spend as much time with them as possible before slowing down as we aged.

With Cody Ray’s family being as tight-knit as they are, the option to move back to his hometown in Eastern Oregon was obvious. His family all live very close to one another, and visiting is always a blast. From games to cooking, Cody Ray’s family is always willing to spend time together, even if the midnight hour comes calling far too quickly.

We knew going into the house buying process that we were planning to expand our family. With this in mind, we made sure that it was close to both the elementary and middle school. That way, we could walk our future child to school every day. Cody Ray’s hometown in Eastern Oregon has been a wonderful change of pace. We wanted to grow our personal community and reach out not only into the local area, but into the future! We want to be a part of something bigger, and we believe that through adoption, we can achieve that.

Cody Ray’s family has always been a guidepost on what openness should be, and regardless of belief, they have always welcomed John and anybody else into their family with open arms. Open adoption is important to us since we want our future child to feel comfortable with who they are and where they come from. As part of growing our family with adoption, we’re also looking to include our child’s birth parents in our family and we’d always encourage them to join in on the fun whenever possible!

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us!
Cody Ray & John!