We enjoy spending time with each other during our free time, whether it is watching a movie, going on walks with our dog, visiting family, or taking day trips. We both are big fans of history and enjoy taking weekend trips to historical sites near our home. In past years, we have visited George Washington's home, the museums and monuments in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, and historic sites within Baltimore. We find that these opportunities allow us to understand history, but they provide us opportunities to experience and learn about different cultures. As our child gets older, we hope to take on many trips to help them experience much of the rich history in this country. We also hope that this will create positive memories for the child who will always look back on with happiness.

Being a monoracial and white household, we understand that if we were to adopt a child of a different race, that it will be important to incorporate our child's background into our lives. We value the diversity around us and work hard to embrace and appreciate people of all colors.

In addition to his work in higher education, Greg works as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant and conducts regular training on race, gender, and sexual orientation. In this work, Greg teaches others the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. His approach goes beyond sharing a simple understanding of diversity and encapsulates teaching others a greater understanding of the impact of racism on society and the importance of equity and empathy. We plan to bring this same approach to raising our family and recognize that our racial experience will be far different than our child's if they are BIPOC.

However, we believe that our experiences as sexual minorities will provide us with a greater understanding and empathy to our children if they are of a different race.

While Greg has not been affected personally by adoption, Bud has had three cousins who were adopted. Two were adopted internationally, and one was adopted at birth in the United States. Early on, Bud and his cousins were educated on what adoption meant and how it helped shape their family. Being very close with his family, Bud spent much of his childhood with his three cousins. They would take trips together, spend holidays together, and have weekly dinners together. As a child, Bud viewed his cousins not only as his family but as his best friends. As Bud has gotten older, he appreciates that adoption brought these three individuals into his life. In June 2018, Bud and his family had to say goodbye to one of his cousins unexpectedly. It was a loss that was felt very deeply by Bud, and not a day goes by that he doesn't think about his cousin. While it was a tragic loss, it helped show Bud the importance of being close to your family and telling them that you love them every chance you have.

Our home sits in suburban Baltimore, Maryland. Living in the suburbs provides us with a nice yard, where our dog and future child will play. It also has allowed us to have a larger townhome with three bedrooms and four bathrooms. We spend long evenings on our large back deck in the summer where we grill food, watch lightning bugs, and listen to the wind rustling the leaves. Below, you can find our fenced-in backyard, where Greg grows blueberries, vegetables, and herbs. In the colder months, we spend the majority of our time in our finished basement. Our basement is both comfortable and warm, lined with bookshelves and spacious couches. Down there, we spend our evenings watching movies, reading books, and hosting events for our families and friends.

Beyond our house, we live in a beautiful neighborhood full of children, where summers echo with the mixture of childhood laughter and music played by ice cream trucks. Our neighborhood also has a large community pool, hiking trails, baseball diamonds, and several children's playgrounds.

To us, family is everything. Growing up in families bursting with love and laughter, we cherish our parents, grandparents, cousins, and siblings.

We each have siblings, with Bud growing up with a big sister and Greg having an older brother and younger brother. With both of our families living a short drive away, we spend many evenings amongst our families. From every birthday to each holiday, this child will grow up surrounded by a loving extended family where they can play with cousins and be held closely by grandparents. Both of us speak to our parents every day, seeking their continued guidance and support. Greg also has a large extended family in Texas, where he spent every summer as a child working on the family farm.

For us, the continued love of our families has helped shape our desire to be parents. With this adoption, our families will continue to be a part of our lives and celebrate this momentous occasion alongside us as we raise our children.

Words cannot express how grateful we are for your taking the time to review our profile. While we have yet to meet you, we are eternally thankful for what you are doing. Individually and together, both of us (Greg & Bud), have always wanted a family, and your gift can turn our dream into a reality. We have been married for three years and together for almost six; during that time, we have worked together to build a life and home for a family. To us, family is everything. We are jointly blessed with two wonderful and supportive families, parents that love us, and siblings who we cherish. With both of our families living nearby, family is a considerable portion of our lives, and we spend every holiday, birthday, and many a weekend with them. With family being such a vast portion of our lives, both individually and shared, our entire lives have led to this point, where we adopt our child and have a family of our own.

Furthermore, through the love and support of our families, we recognize the true meaning of family, one where love is shared openly and without contention. Our families have supported us over the past few years and kept us pushing forward in the adoption process. We honor your gift of life with a unified understanding and promise that you will always be the child's mother. With family being so important to us, we welcome you to be a part of our future family. Depending on your comfort level, we hope to build a relationship where you can celebrate alongside us in the many milestones of our shared child's life. We promise to send yearly updates highlighting substantial milestones with the hope of arranging opportunities for you to see the child as they grow up.

From the moment we bring the child into our home, we promise to support their every need, doting on them, kissing their "booboos" when they fall, and providing a life worth celebrating. We are blessed to live in an area where our children can see big cities, great countryside and look out into the expansive ocean as they stick their feet into beautiful golden sand. We can guarantee that the memories this child will have will be nothing but joy and love, filled with time spent at grandparents' houses and playing with their aunts, uncles, and cousins. While at home, our child will be surrounded by books, learning how to play the piano, playing with our cats and dog, and spending time in our back yard or at a nearby playground.

As it pertains to us, we are blessed to have fulfilling careers doing jobs that we love. Greg currently works at a university, providing diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Bud works at a private K-12 education company where he helps improve the experience of young people learning online. With education being the cornerstone of both of our careers, we value knowledge as a tool to improve everyone's lives. We both share in the joy of learning and teaching, with Greg finishing a doctorate and Bud holding two master's degrees and teaching evening courses at a local college. This love of learning will be shared with our child, and surrounded by books and an opportunity to be anything they want; we hope to create a life where our child can grow up, go to college or trade school, and pursue a career that brings joy to their life.

As we wrap up this letter, we would like to thank you for what you are doing. To bring life into this world is nothing short of a miracle, and giving that child to people you do not know is true generosity. We promise to provide the child with a joyous and blessed life surrounded by love, kisses, and adventure. Seeing that we will both be "Dad," we welcome you into our lives as the child's "Mom," celebrating with us all of the beautiful moments lying in wait for our child.

Bud & Greg