Without a doubt, one of the greatest highlights of our lives will be getting to be parents. We can't wait to discover their laugh, their favorite color, and all of their passions. We wonder if we'll spend the weekends going to sports games, dance recitals, or somewhere we've never thought of. We're so excited for the big moments like going to Disney for the first time and watching their first steps, and for the small moments of going for walks to the park and dancing to music in the living room. We love trying new things, and can't wait to watch our child as they begin to experience the world for the first time.

As parents, we get to have our hearts grow bigger with love for our child and their birth family. We're looking forward to celebrating our child's successes and milestones. We simply cannot think of anything that will be better!

Megan loves reading and trying out new recipes in her downtime. The dogs are big fans of both snuggles on the couch while Megan reads, and trying to see if they can taste test while she cooks! Megan enjoys spending time outside tending to her roses and herb garden. She recently started yoga and enjoys going to classes a few times a week.

Stephen loves sports, especially golf. He learned to play as a child, but started playing more often while in college. Now he tries to go golf at least once a week with friends and encourages Megan to come out and play during the summers.

Together, we enjoy spending time in the backyard or going for walks with the dogs. We like trying new things, and know we're going to have a great time together whether it's a cooking class, paint night, or finding our next favorite restaurant. We can't wait to share our hobbies with our child and spend time with our child and their hobbies.

One of our favorite things to do is travel! We try to do one big vacation each year, and a few other smaller ones including our annual trip to Lake Tahoe with Stephen's family. We've been up and down California, and have checked a few other states off our list. While we like to visit new places, we find ourselves going to Arizona, South Carolina, or Hawaii every few years. Some of our favorite vacation memories include golfing with Megan's dad in North Carolina, going on tours and visiting museums about the area we're visiting, and sitting by the beach listening to the waves crash.

Our vacations usually involve good food, relaxing, golf, and discovering more about the area we're visiting. Unless of course we're at Disneyland or Disney World. Then our vacation is about daily churros, going on our favorite rides, and seeing if we can last from rope drop to park closure!

We live in the suburbs in Northern California in our three-bedroom, two-bathroom house. We love our community because while we're close to shopping, great food, and anything we could need, we're also within a half a day's drive of the coast, mountains, and Megan's family. We love going for long walks with our dogs in our neighborhood and stopping for the kids to pet the dogs whenever we pass one of the 3 parks near our house.

We fell in love with our house when we saw the huge island in the kitchen. Megan instantly knew she could see our family there making Stephen's Grammy's gnocchi and her dad's rosemary garlic bread. What really sealed the deal was the backyard! Despite just being dirt when we bought it, we could envision our dream yard with a big yard for the dogs and our future child to play, with roses and big trees for beauty and shade. Now we have all that and the sounds of birds and children playing in the nearby park.

When we're not hanging out in the backyard in the summer, you're probably going to find us hanging out at our community pool. We're a sight to see when we leave our house carrying our towels, floaties, and snacks! In the winter time, you'll probably find us cozy on the couch in our living room with the dogs snuggled up next to us or going for a long walk to see all the Christmas lights.

We've very lucky to be within a 45 minute drive of Stephen's family which means we're able to see them pretty often! Whether his parents, sister and her fiance are at our house, or us at one of theirs, it's guaranteed to be a good time. We enjoy having everyone over for BBQ's and chat the night away while our dogs play together. Every summer, we take our annual trip to Lake Tahoe. There, we enjoy spending time together in a cabin and try something new each trip. We have rope climbed, kayaked in Lake Tahoe, and always play a round or two of golf!

Megan's family is a little more spread out. Her parents and extended family live in central California, while one sister lives in Missouri with her husband, and another sister lives in southern California. Regardless, they're always a phone call or text away! We try to visit Megan's family in central California every other month and see her sisters at the holidays. Christmas day is always extra special to spend time with Megan's mom and sisters in the morning, then having Megan's sisters, dad, and extended family together for Christmas dinner. We can't wait to take our little one to visit everyone!

Everyone is so encouraging, supportive, and excited for our plans to adopt. This will be the first grandchild and niece/nephew on both sides of the family.

Hi There! While we haven't met, we're in awe of the strength and courage it is taking to explore adoption as an option for your child. We hope that you have felt the love we have for our future child in the words and pictures we have shared with you. Adoption for us is a way that we will grow our family not only with a child, but with you and possibly your family. We are grateful for the path that has led us to adoption, as it means we get to share our lives and future child with more people than we imagined!

While our paths may be separate for now, we hope you know that should you chose us, we'll always be connected through phone calls, letters, and pictures should you wish. We would love a visit in the future! We hope to build a relationship where we celebrate not only our child's achievements and successes, but yours as well. It is important to us that we work together with you to foster a relationship between our child, you, and us where everyone feels supported and loved. Should you wish to have more limited contact, we want you to know that we respect your decision. Our doors and hearts are open should you desire more contact in the future.

When we picture our lives five years from now, we imagine a Saturday morning filled with pancakes and our child's latest hobby. After finally changing out of our pajamas, we're headed on a walk with the dogs with a stop at the park. It's summertime, which means lunch will be at the pool followed by some downtime at home. Everyone is exhausted from having fun at the park and pool! We give you a call like we had planned, and talk about everything we did for the day and our excitement over starting kindergarten in the fall! We hear about your life and what you did that day. We end our call with a plan for another one soon. Dinner is outside watching the sun set, chatting about our next trip together, and watching our child playing with the dogs for as long as it is light outside. Before long, bedtime is here and after a bedtime story (or three) we finally say goodnight.

We've talked about that summer Saturday a lot in the 14 years we have been together. As we've worked through college and settled into our careers, we've crafted our life to be one that we can't wait to share with our child. We have made our home one full of happiness, laughter, and dog barks. We have focused on building a strong support system who will love and cherish our child. Our goal has always been to be happy and healthy parents for our child. We're grateful that with the gift of adoption, we'll be able to reach this goal.

We want our child to always feel safe and loved by us, and to know that we are always here for them to navigate life's ups and downs. We want their childhood to be full of big and small memories such as trips to Disney and all over the US, family traditions like ice cream after the first day of school, and many, many dog walks. Our child will always have us cheering them on, whether it's their first steps, an athletic event or play, or a big test. They can count on us to be there when their heart is hurt and they are feeling down. For us, parenthood isn't just newborn snuggles and toddler giggles. It's loving and supporting our child throughout their childhood, teenage years, and into adulthood. The rest of our lives will be dedicated to our child.

With lots of love,

Stephen & Megan