We want what any parent would want for their child: for them to feel safe, be happy, fulfilled, and able to reach his or her greatest potential as a person. We want them to feel loved and respected and be proud of who they are as an adopted child and as an equal member of our family.

As a family, we strive to always be open and honest with one another, and we never want our child to feel like he or she can't talk to us or express his or her feelings. We want our child to know that all feelings are valid, and it's important to communicate even when it feels tough.

We want our child to know that we love him or her unconditionally. We want our child to never feel like he or she needs to "earn" or "compete" for our love. Our child will never have to worry about making mistakes or being imperfect; to us, he or she will be perfect because he or she is the child that God has planned into our lives.

We have had the privilege of seeing firsthand the positive impacts that adoption can have on a family. John has an adopted cousin who grew up as a part of his extended family just like everyone else. When Carmen first met the family, she didn't even know that he was adopted and never would have guessed it judging purely by the family dynamic and interactions. There is no shortage of love, and he is such a huge part of that family! We couldn't imagine what it would be like without him.

We also have friends who adopted a daughter through international adoption. Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. She was born with spina bifida and subsequently abandoned as a baby in China. She still primarily uses a wheelchair, but that does not ever define her. She is a bold extrovert of a high schooler now with her dad's sense of humor and her mother's quick wit. Her parents express all the time how fortunate and blessed they feel to have had her come into their lives. She continues to excel in school and sports, and it's been a joy watching her grow up with parents who continuously encourage her and remind her how much she is loved.

We would be blessed to have a similar experience and maybe show more of our friends the path to a happy adoption of their own.

We understand that transracial adoption can have its own set of challenges, but we also strongly believe that being a transracial family would be incredibly rewarding. As a couple, we would dedicate time to educating ourselves first on our child's race and culture so we could best help them grow up in a transracial family with multiple cultural identities. Cultural identity is an important part of any individual's self-image, and we would also make sure our child has access to unlimited resources about his or her birth culture so as to never feel like he/she is being molded to fit our Caucasian culture and to feel like he/she can really have his/her own identity. These resources would include racial mirrors within our community that our child could develop bonds with (i.e., teachers, pediatrician, babysitters) as well as being surrounded by toys, books, media, and games that provide a representation of our child's race and culture. We are also lucky enough to be within driving distance of culturally diverse museums, year-round cultural events and festivals, and small businesses which reflect the growing diversity of our state. We are excited to get to share this journey with our child, and open our own cultural horizons as well.

We live on 30 acres of paradise in south central Indiana. Our property is filled with forests and hills, and a stream running down the valley. We see wild animals almost every day. At night, there's not an artificial light anywhere, and clear nights are perfect for getting out the telescope to see Saturn's rings or Jupiter's moons.

We will always put a premium on helping our child build friendships by being that home in the community that is always open to the neighborhood kids to come and enjoy. The local elementary school is five minutes away and has a STEM lab and a pre-school program for children aged 3-5 with a 10 to 1 student/teacher ratio. We are excited for our child to begin learning and making friends there.

Our home is 10 minutes from a state park with a swimming pool and small water park, a nature center, and miles more trails for our child to explore with us. In under an hour, we can be at the best children's museum in the world, or a world-class zoo, or an art museum, or a museum of Native American art.

Our home itself was built in 2003. It overlooks our picturesque valley and has beautiful views and natural light all the time. Our child's room is on the main floor right next to ours, and there is plenty of open space for our child and dogs to play separately or together.

We are never leaving this perfect home.

Family is one of the central pillars of our beautiful life, and we feel incredibly blessed for their presence and love. We are excited to induct another generation into our family, and they are all (im)patiently excited to welcome our child, too!

John's 90-year-old grandmother lives only 50 minutes away, and there is an almost perpetual family gathering around her kitchen table with his parents, aunt and uncle, and his two younger siblings and their spouses. John's parents have both retired and are excited to spend their time involved in the lives of their children. John's sister and her husband are close by and are a staple around the table. John's brother and his spouse are both in the military and usually stay in our guest room whenever they can visit.

Carmen's mom and step-dad live about two hours away, but that doesn't stop us from seeing them whenever they aren't traveling to their second home in Nebraska where Carmen's grandparents and large extended family live. Carmen's younger brother attends college a few hours away and loves to fish in our pond when he is home on breaks.

When our family is together, it is always full of laughter and love. We play dominoes or poker, or bocce around the yard. We work on yards and flowerbeds together and make apple cider on a press from 1865.

Introducing our child to these family traditions would bring us all the joy we could ask for.

Hello there.

If you are still interested in the pair of us by this point of the profile, then we must be a pretty compelling match, so before we say anything else, THANK YOU for taking the time to consider us.

When we met just over four years ago, we knew instantly and without a doubt that we were meant to spend our lives together. We are not perfect people, but we are perfect for each other. We are quirky, we laugh all the time, we talk to our dogs like they are people, we randomly dance around the house for no reason, and we just "get" each other even when the right words are impossible to find. We share a love that is real and honest, and we always treat each other as equal partners while allowing each other to maintain his and her own individualism. Every day we find reasons to love each other a little bit more, and even with the ups and downs that life has given us, our love is stronger than ever. As we look to the future, we can't wait to watch each other grow as parents, and we know that the real, honest love we share with each other will also be shared with our child.

We will not for a single second pretend to understand what you are currently going through, but we send prayers that God grants you strength and courage, and that your baby will be so incredibly loved by whichever family you ultimately choose. If, in your heart, you believe that your baby is that one child who fits us perfectly and whom we are searching for, we would be more than honored to start this exciting adventure with you.

We are not going to ask you to choose us. If you have any doubt that we are the right couple for your child, then please keep looking. Whomever you are who is that right match for us, we can't promise that it will be an easy journey, but we can promise that we will work together to find the moments of joy along the way. We can promise that we will send all the letters and pictures at all stages of our child's life. We will send text messages, emails, posts on Instagram, and just work to be as understanding of your needs as possible. You are giving us the greatest gift, and we absolutely want you to be a part of this journey as we share your gift with us with the world.

Again, thank you. Thank you for listening to our story. Thank you for looking through all of our goofy pictures. Thank you for watching our video that took us way too many hours to get framed and lighted perfectly. Thank you for letting us show you our real selves. Even if you ultimately decide that we aren't the right fit, we wish you nothing but the best as you continue your search to find that right fit for your child. To the mother out there who is the right fit, then we are absolutely, without a doubt, 100%, all in, ready to start this adventure with you as soon as you want to get it started. We look forward to hearing from you when the time is right.

John & Carmen