Thank you for considering us to parent your child. We hope that our profile will give you some insight into our lives and help you to make the best decision for you and your baby. Our hope is that you come away knowing our home will be the loving, stable environment you desire for your child and that we will provide them with all that is necessary to grow into a mature, healthy, educated adult.

Dave Julie Job Description Account Executive for IT Solutions Company Primarily a Stay-at-Mom, Part-Time Trainer for Foster/Adoptive Parents Education A.A. General Studies B.A. Fashion Merchandising Favorites Hobby Drums Hobby Traveling Subject in School History/Political Science Subject in School Marketing Type of Music All Type of Music 70's Family Activity Going to the Beach Family Activity Going to the Beach TV Show The Office TV Show The Office Children Landen-2 years old

We are now a second generation adoptive family, which is something we are really proud of! Dave was adopted as an infant and has always had a healthy outlook on adoption. Because adoption was different when Dave was adopted, he has very little information about his birth parents. However his parents raised him in such a way that when Dave recalls his own experience he never feels negative about his life story. When we began experiencing infertility, adoption was always something we considered to build our family.

Our experience adopting our son Landen was one of the most exciting times of our lives. However it is difficult to experience the bittersweet nature of adoption. While we were beyond excited to adopt our little boy we both had a hard time knowing that our son's birthmother was experiencing a loss. We feel the best way to ease our birthmother's pain is to be the very best parents we can be. Shortly after his birth our son's birth mother wrote to us to let us know that although she was sad, she knew that we loved Landen and she was confident that she had made the right decision for both her and her baby. We take great pride in mailing her periodic pictures and letters that detail how Landen is growing. It is our hope that the pictures and letters continue to reassure our birth mother that she made the right decision for her and her baby. We even made a special binder for Landen that has all of the correspondence between his birth mother and us. As he gets older he will be free to read all of the letters and see all the special memories that we were able to share with his birth mother.

After more than 5 years of infertility we knew that we wanted to be parents more than anything in the world. When we finally decided to adopt it was like everything suddenly fell into place. Just one month after having our profile shown to birth parents we received the call that changed our lives. A birth mother had chosen us to parent her child! Julie sat listening to the details with tears of joy in her eyes. Dave was brought in on the call while away on a business trip. A busy and joyful two weeks followed as we prepared for our new arrival. We had several conference calls with our birth mother before we traveled to be present for the birth. Any anxiety about meeting our birth mother for the first time disappeared when we first saw her. She walked toward us with open arms and gave us both a hug! While eating lunch and getting to know each other our birth mother began experiencing contractions and said she better get to the hospital. We were blessed to be invited into the delivery room to support our birth mother and witness the birth of our child. What an incredible gift! Dave beams to this day when he tells people that he cut the umbilical cord! We were fortunate to be able to spend the next 24 hours in the hospital with the birth mother and our baby. This was precious time that we spent talking and jointly caring for the baby. We are thrilled to have photos to share with our son of his birth mother. Saying goodbye was difficult but we told our birth mother how long we had wanted to be parents and we thanked her for making our dream come true. We promised to be the very best parents that we knew how to be. We are still in awe of the strength our birth mother showed during that time. She assured us that she knew we would be great parents-that is why she had chosen us.

Trick or Treat

We love being a Mommy and Daddy. In fact we have had a few minor squabbles about who was "hogging" the baby! Kidding aside though, we have delighted in becoming parents. Julie has relished the role of Mommy. A caretaker by nature, she has thoroughly enjoyed everything that comes with being a Mom. She is always referring to her baby and toddler books to make sure that she is doing everything she can to be the best Mommy. Julie delights in preparing nutritious yet fun meals (homemade pumpkin pancakes with a smiley face made of berry puree). She is very active in the local Mom's Club which provides tons of fun outings with other children and Moms. Another favorite are parent-tot classes such as gymnastics and swimming. Julie also places a special emphasis on reading. We read stories all the time and usually visit the library at least once a week for story time, puppet shows, or baby sign language.

Dave is super with kids. He won't rest until he wins over even the shyest child. He is often playing games of chase with Landen or lifting him up like a rocket. He looks forward to sharing his love of music, specifically the drums, with another child. Dave is the Dad that pretends to be a horse while giving horseback rides. He delights in making kids laugh. He is always up to some silly antic while playing in the pool or hiding under the covers in the bed. Dave places a strong emphasis on education. He has a natural curiosity himself that he hopes to install in his children.