Life with Shawn for the nine years we have been together has been a great adventure.  He is such a positive, encouraging and inspirational person who has made me a better person and encouraged me to pursue interests in my life that I may not have had the courage to pursue on my own.  I know that as a Father he would devote the same energy and enthusiasm to raising a child.  Shawn is an academically gifted person who loves learning and teaching young people.  His love of learning inspired him to leave a full time career as an engineer to teach high school science.  He now teaches full time and does consulting work as an engineer on the side.

Shawn also loves athletics and physical fitness.  He couches his high school's swim team and helped to greatly improve the swim team.  One of the most inspirational things about Shawn is that he has completed athletic events that many people would consider impossible.  The most challenging event of his life was completing an Ironman triathlon.  The Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run.  Shawn was able to complete this race in 10 hours and 49 minutes.  It was a fantastic event full of many inspirational participants.  Shawn has cut back on his training a bit since then, but continues to challenge himself.  Most recently, he has completed two ultra marathon trail runs of 31 miles each.  Beyond physical fitness, Shawn is a fantastic husband who loves his family and is devoted to caring for his home and his family.  Like his own father, he is very handy around the house and loves to fix things.  He will not allow me to throw away any old appliance or gadget until he tries to fix it first.  He has also spent many long hours working to improve our house and to make it our home.  Like me, I know that it is his dream that our family will grow and our house will one day be full.