She was a softball player, sporting the red and black for the San Diego State University Aztecs.
He was her biggest fan, cheering from the stands with his personally made iron-on hat with her nickname “NORDY” across it.
 Unbeknownst to Kellie, Jason took the field on what would be Kellie’s last home game as a senior. As he headed toward home plate, he got down on one knee, and asked Kellie to be his wife. Kellie and Jason met in math class their freshman year at SDSU, but it wasn’t until their sophomore year when the two became good friends. “Kellie would come to class decked out in sweat pants, with ice packs strapped to her body after long days of softball practice,” states Jason. “Even still, she carried herself with a unique type of confidence, which is one of the qualities about her that I’m most attracted to all these years later.” “Jason always treated me like I was the most important girl in the world…and he still does.” On January 10, 2003, Kellie and Jason tied the knot, and just three years later, were blessed with their first child, Levi Thomas. “Levi is our energetic boy who loves life and is our hero,” states Kellie and Jason. Just four months after his birth, Levi was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system of nearly 30,000 children and adults in the U.S. While Levi has vigorous treatments and medication schedules, he is just like any other seven-year-old boy…He surfs, skateboards, plays basketball, baseball and soccer, and of course, loves to goof around. After Levi’s diagnosis, Kellie and Jason became very active with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “Currently there is no cure for CF, so it is our passion to help do all we can to raise money and help fund research towards finding one.” Because Kellie and Jason were both carriers of the CF gene, they had a 25 percent chance of having another child with CF. “After about two years of prayer, my husband came to me and said he felt the Lord calling us to have another biological child.” As hard as it was, Kellie and Jason took a leap of faith and had another son, Tytus Judah Ray, in 2009. Tytus does not have CF, nor is he a carrier of the CF gene. Just a few years later, Kellie and Jason were looking to expand their family and considered embryo adoption. “We adopted our daughter as an embryo,” states Kellie,” and in 2012, I was able to give birth to our sweet little Shiloh Hope, whose name means ‘His Gift’, and she truly is that to us.” Through the ups and downs and all the uncertainties life brings, Kellie and Jason’s love for each other continues to blossom. “We believe a successful marriage has a ton of components, but we feel for us, the reasons why ours work so well is we first have Christ at the center…We are not perfect by any means or have this whole marriage thing down, but we are both willing to grow, change and lovingly forgive and extend grace when needed. We are best friends.” And best friends, they are. Happy 11th anniversary, Kellie and Jason! The Davenports will be participating in the CF Foundation’s Great Strides Walk that will take place on Saturday, May 3 at Westfield Valencia Town Center. For more information about CF or to donate, visit www.cff.org. |
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