We thank you for taking the time to review our profile and for considering giving us the honor of raising your child. We are a fun-loving, stable family and are committed to raising your child with all of the love and attention that your child needs and deserves. With us, your child will be raised knowing that his/her birth parents loved them very much, and you will know that your child will get all the love and attention they need and deserve.

Mike Cindy Job Description Director of Information Technology for a Fortune 100 Company Stay-at-Home Mom Education Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics Associate's Degree in Computer Systems Analysis Favorites Dream Job Baseball Player Dream Job Archeologist Movie Monty Python-The Holy Grail Movie Pirates of the Caribbean Food Pizza Food Mexican Sport to Play Baseball Sport to Play Bowling Tradition Family Dinner Tradition Family Beach Trips Children Emily-16 years old

Cindy was 15 when her parents adopted her brother, who was two and a half at the time. Her brother was adopted from Colombia, so we've had the opportunity to experience a mixed culture family as well.

Having this background has helped us to have a good perspective on what it means to raise an adopted child, and we will benefit from the knowledge and support of Cindy's family based upon their experience with her brother. Her parents and her brother have already given us a great deal of support and advice based upon their experiences and we consider ourselves blessed to have their insight into adoption.

We will have further benefit from Cindy's family, since her mother currently works for an international adoption agency. She has a wealth of experience working with families on adoptions and we view her experience as a great benefit to us as we choose to go down this same path.

Mike also has a cousin who has adopted two boys from Guatemala. With both sides of the family having experience with adoption we are confident that we will have very strong support all around in the raising of an adopted child.

We have been blessed many times over with our 15 year old daughter Emily. Seeing her grow up and discovering who she is and who she wants to be has been a joy we cannot describe. In many ways she is a typical teenager, very much into music, shopping, and hanging out with her friends. She loves having sleepovers with her friends, buying clothes at the mall, and keeping in touch with her friends via email, instant messaging, and cell phone. Romance movies have replaced comedies as her favorites, particularly liking any movies based on books by Nicolas Sparks. She lives out her passion for music by playing her drum set, playing in the band at school, and constantly updating her music on her iPod.

We know we are biased, but in many ways she is so much more than a typical teenager. We are very proud of the decisions she makes and her willingness to stand up for what is right, even in the face of peer pressure. This past year she had some difficulties transitioning to high school, but through diligence and hard work she got her grades back up to high-honors level. She is growing more and more independent as she gets older, but still enjoys spending time as a family watching TV, playing games, and going on trips.

Emily also enjoys taking care of young children. She has been a babysitter since she was 12. She also volunteers at our church helping watch the two and three year olds. This year in high school she is taking an elective class in child development, in preparation to take another elective class next year where she will learn to teach in a pre-school that is run at her school. She is very excited about having her own baby brother or sister to help take care of!

Our Dog, Rufus

Pets, specifically dogs, have always been part of our lives. We both had dogs for most of our lives growing up, and when we moved into our first home Mike got Cindy a dog for her birthday.

Our current dog is a golden retriever named Rufus. We received him through a rescue society that specialized in placing unwanted golden retrievers. He had not been treated well by his previous owners and was in need of a home. He had several behavioral issues due to his rough start in life, but turned out to be a very fun, loyal dog who wishes nothing more than to be with us and please us.

Even now at 13 years old, he's as playful as a puppy. He loves all of his toys, but his favorite thing to play with is a rubber racquet ball. We can spend hours throwing the ball for him so he can play fetch. He has even begun to throw the ball to himself, by tossing against a wall or rolling it under our couch, only to catch it when it bounces off of the wall and rolls back to him!