We both love the outdoors. Together we enjoy hiking in state parks, prairies, camping, snowmobiling up north and fishing all over Minnesota. It is our goal to camp at every state park in Minnesota! On our hikes Nick enjoys bird watching while quizzing Deb on her bird knowledge (she is getting the hang of it!)

Deb enjoys capturing the beauty of the outdoors and of her family through photography. She believes there is beauty even in the most simple of moments. Deb also enjoys cooking for her family, especially pasta of all kinds. Deb also likes to crochet blankets for family gifts.

Nick likes to learn about new things and is very good at fixing small motor sports such as snowmobiles and motorcycles. Nick is handy with all tasks and can fix almost anything.

We also love to spend time with our friends and their children. Our friends are like our family and view their kids as our nieces and nephews. We look forward to sharing our love of nature and respect for animals with our future child!

We have two fur kiddos Bernie and Ned. Bernie is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who lives every day of his life to the beat of his own drum. Ned is a doodle mix who loves to cuddle and be a goofball. Our pups are very important to us. They are our family and our best friends who have been with us through thick and thin. They keep us on our toes every day and give us many reasons to laugh and smile. Together both of our boys love to hunt chipmunks, mostly just scare them away, (they are not very stealthy). They are kind, gentle and give lots of love and kisses. We are so excited to watch our boys welcome the next member to our family for we know they will love them very much!

We love all cultures and the beautiful diversity that comes with them. We both have German and Norwegian heritage in common and we are so very excited to celebrate the heritage of our future child. We are committed to making sure your child is confident and proud of who they are and where they come from. We plan to expand our knowledge on their culture, heritage and traditions so that we can incorporate them into our everyday lives. We understand growing up in America as a child of color or different ethnicity has many challenges and we are fully committed to advocate and be there for your child in every way. We may not have all the answers, but we promise to continue educating ourselves in new and great ways to teach your child and help them understand where they come from.

A few ways we will address their culture is through the school they will attend. We are blessed to have a school that is rich with different cultures and believe this is a great asset in addressing cultural diversity. We plan to spend time with our family friends who have adopted, and have a variety of books and toys for your child to enjoy that will help celebrate their culture and grow up to be exactly who they are meant to be.

We live in a beautiful small town in rural Minnesota. Our home is in the country, four miles north of town and only 1/4 mile down the road from Nick's parents. Our community is the perfect combination of farmland, woods, rolling hills and many lakes just minutes away! Our home is a 4-bedroom, 2 bath blue rambler with a finished basement and is on an acre plot of land. Our upstairs is an open concept with two rooms upstairs and two downstairs. The nursery and our room are right next to each on the main floor. We are surrounded by beautiful nature such as a large pasture with grazing cows, fields of corn at harvest, deep woods, and a large valley that we go exploring in.

Our neighborhood has many young families making their roots here. There are multiple local elementary schools in town and parks to play at. Our community is surrounded by many lakes giving easy access to boating, swimming, and fishing. We are fortunate to have the Prairie Wetlands Center in town where kids can go to learn about nature and wildlife as well as the Otter Cove Children's museum where young kids can explore learning through playing with others, creating art, and exploring their imagination. In June there is a Summerfest with activities as parades, fireworks, library walks, and water wars. In December families can enjoy the Over the River Holiday festival throughout the downtown!

One of the greatest blessings in our life is our family and are very close with them. Nick has two brothers, one lives with his wife out of state with our 1.5 year old nephew and his other brother lives in our town. We get to hassle Nicks mom and dad almost every day for they live just up the road from us on a the farm Nick grew up at. There they raise cattle, horses, and have 4 dogs and barn cats. Deb's family lives 4 hours away and comes to visit often. We go down to visit them as much as possible throughout the year to visit her extended family. Deb has an older sister who just got married and lives near Deb's parents.

Traditions would include: Sunday evening the best cook, grandpa Darwin, cooks for whoever shows up to eat. For the holidays, we go Christmas tree shopping right after Thanksgiving at a tree farm drinking hot apple cider while picking out the perfect tree. For Christmas we go with Nicks family to church, eat a variety of hearty feel good foods, and exchange gifts by the bright lit tree. We then make it down to Deb's family where we eat wreath cookies and another turkey dinner by the fireplace. We cannot wait to create new memories with a baby of our own. Our family is so very excited and supportive of us and cannot wait to welcome a new bundle of joy into our lives!

We are very humbled and grateful you are taking the time to learn more about our little family. Considering adoption for your child, we can only imagine to be very difficult. Know that we are thinking of you and sending you lots love and strength as you go through these tough decisions. If you consider us in your journey to find the right path for your child, we promise to give them a home of joy, excitement for life, laughter, and most of all love.

We hope that learning more about us will give you a sense of peace as you consider adoption for your child. You have so much courage and strength to be considering this journey and this is something that if you choose to pursue, will never be forgotten and your child will always know the love you have for them.

A little bit about us: We had naturally tried to have children for 5 years and out of surprise found ourselves pregnant with our son. Sadly, we lost him in late second trimester to preterm labor. This was a life changing event for us and has given us a new lens to look through of the world. It has taught us that life is too short and that if you want something you should go for it, and the thing we want most is to be parents. We could say we have fully grieved our loss however, grieving never ends, you just grow to move forward with it in your life in the healthiest way possible. Adoption has always been a path we knew we were meant to take. It wasn't until after our loss that we knew it was the right time to take that action and pursue this journey. Once we took our time to process where we were in life, it did not take long for us to jump right in and begin this amazing journey!

Our journey to find each other was nothing short of meant to be! We met about 7 years ago through a mutual friend up in northern Minnesota where we both worked straight out of college. We got married on October 8, 2016 on a beautiful fall day standing in cornfields to get a good photo! Deb was raised Catholic and Nick Lutheran however together we attend a Lutheran church, We believe that God is not only in a church but everywhere and we hope to guide a child in finding their way. Our hope is that our child feels comfortable in who they are and what they believe and follow the path they wish to follow. We value the importance of respect, and teaching through example.

We absolutely love the life we have built together and are looking forward to building our family and being able to teach our future children about their story, give them room to grow and become who they wish to be.

If it is your wish, we will happily share with you your child's growth, accomplishments, and adventures through photos, letters and visits. We are very open to keeping you informed and having you be a part of your child's life. We will always be open and honest with a child in regards to adoption . They will always know how much you love them and how hard of a decision you had to make. You will be a positive light in their world.

Thank you so much for considering us as potential parents for your child. We have been excited to build our family for a long while and will devote our life to raising your child to be the best they can be. This difficult decision is not forgotten, please know you are in our thoughts and prayers always.

Wishing you all the best,

Nick & Debbie