Charles & Amy

Life is a miracle, a precious gift. We respect and admire you and your choice to give your baby life. Thank you for considering adoption for your child and for taking the opportunity to read our profile. We are so excited to welcome another child into our family! Our lives have been incredibly blessed through the adoption of our daughter, and we long to share our love, family and home with another child. Please know that we are praying for you and your little one during this time. We trust you will find peace in whatever decision you make. Preferred Gender: Either

Charles Amy Job Description U.S. Air Force Officer Elementary teacher turned stay-at-home mom ... and loving it! Education Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Masters of Science in Strategic Intelligence Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education Favorites Animal Eagle Animal Willow- Our dog Color Green Color Blue Dream Vacation Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro Dream Vacation Touring Europe Hobby Fishing Hobby Photography/Scrapbooking Tradition Cutting Down Our Family Christmas Tree Tradition Family Pizza and Movie Night Children Abigail-3 years old

Adoption has been a part of our lives for quite some time. Charles has an adult cousin who was adopted at birth. Amy's cousin (who has been her close friend since childhood) and husband are foster parents. They love and care for many children and have been blessed to adopt two little girls, giving them a loving family and permanent home. Amy has another cousin who adopted twin girls at birth.

For us, adoption was a choice made when we were not able to have a biological child. After several years of trying to conceive, medical testing and infertility treatments we knew what was most important to us ... being parents. We turned our focus not to a pregnancy, but to creating a family through adoption. We love children and were so excited to fulfill our dreams of loving, guiding, nurturing and caring for a child.

Our first adoption journey took us to Guatemala. It was a long process, but God brought us Abigail, undeniably a perfect child for our family. From the time our daughter arrived into our family we have shared her adoption story with her in age appropriate ways. Our prayer is that our children know they have always been loved, that they have two families, a birth family and an adoptive family, who care very much about them. We are thrilled to be adopting again and long for the day another miracle joins our family.

Fun at the Guatemalan Festival

We believe a person's heritage is a special part of who they are. We will ensure that our children know and have opportunities to explore and experience their cultural heritage.

It is a joy to share our daughter's culture with her. Our home contains items from Guatemala, reflecting the rich culture of her birth country. Many of her toys and books represent her Hispanic background as well. We attend ¡Hola Baby!, a Spanish playgroup, and take advantage of festivals and events in our area. Two events we most enjoy are the Multicultural Children's Book Festival and the Gran Dia Chapin. The book festival, held at the Kennedy Center, is an afternoon of readings by authors and illustrators, crafts, interactive performances and costumed characters. Gran Dia Chapin is a Guatemalan festival that includes traditional music, foods and handicrafts as well as games and souvenirs.

Living in a culturally diverse neighborhood and metropolitan area affords us unlimited opportunity to share and experience a variety of cultures. Whatever our child's background we look forward to seeking out opportunities to share his or her heritage as a family.

Daddy's Little Helper

Like most families we have many traditions, some we have carried over from our childhood days and others we have started in our own home. We wanted to share with you a few of the traditions that we most enjoy. In our home we love "pizza and movie night". Our daughter always looks forward to this time because we get to "eat in the living room!" She also gets to pick a movie for us all to watch...normally it's one we've already watched with her many times! In the fall we enjoy going to the Fall Festival at a local Virginia farm. While there we enjoy petting the farm's animals, going on hay rides, drinking fresh apple cider, sliding down HUGE slides and going through straw tunnels.

Christmas time has its own special moments, too. Choosing our family Christmas tree is our favorite annual event. We have fun trekking through the woods to find the "perfect" tree. This is usually a cold and long process after which we enjoy hot chocolate and cookies! Upon returning home we commence decorating the tree. Our daughter loves putting the angel, the crowning touch, on top. During the Christmas season we especially treasure teaching our daughter the true meaning of Christmas. Nightly we have Bible readings and sing Christmas carols associated with our Advent calendar.

We hope this gives you a little glimpse into our special and fun traditions. We look forward to sharing these family moments with another child!