Our favorite place to relax is our vacation home in Bend, Oregon. This small mountain town is a close-knit community filled with outdoor enthusiasts and an easygoing environment. The close proximity of our house to trails and the ski resort allows us to step out the door take our pick of activities each day. The restaurants are plentiful, as are the cafes, and shops.

It is the perfect place for long weekends, holiday breaks, and extended vacations. A large majority of our down time is spent simply hanging out, playing games, putting puzzles together, baking and cooking food, or sitting at our outdoor fireplace. When we are not relaxing, we utilize the trails for running, mountain biking, or skiing, dependent on the season.

In the summer, we join the masses rafting and kayaking down the river through town, enjoying the slow flow of water while soaking up the sun. Our dogs favorite place in town, is the local dog park where this a small trail system within the park just for them. They also love our winter romps in their puffy jackets through the snow filled mountains.

We share many of the same passions in life, including hobbies, athletics, adventures, and family. We are frequently finding various ways to explore and enjoy our outside environment. In the winter you may find us at one of our local ski resorts boarding and skiing. The remainder of the year, we spend much of our free time on the trails, running, hiking, or mountain biking. We balance our adventure time with family dinners, game nights, gatherings, and our careers.

Our passions for running, navigation racing, and mountain biking not only allows for us to spend time together, but it also affords us the opportunity to socialize with our local communities. We are on the board and volunteer with our local orienteering and mountaineering clubs and help with races and events. During the work week, we stay on our local neighborhood trails and paths and opt for longer excursions in surrounding areas on weekends.

Some of our favorite times are those in which our families share in our adventures, including long weekends and extended vacations with both sides of our family. Our nieces are starting to learn to ski, and we absolutely love being a part of their learning experiences.

We are also very passionate of our home, inside and out. We remodeled and customized our home prior to moving in a few years ago. Based on the successful outcome, we have taken on additional projects and are continually building our home improvement skill sets.

We understand there are various perspectives on how to embrace different races, ethnicity, cultures, sexual orientation, and gender identities. Our goal in raising our child it to allow them to embrace their biological roots and cultural heritage. We feel it is very important for our child to be aware of their racial or cultural background to connect them with their own identity. We are fortunate to live in a very diverse community with many religions and ethnicities. The resources and trainings on various diversity, equity, and inclusion topics are abundant and we are immersed in discussions and meetings to stay current.

We want to teach our child to be equally accepting of all individuals and value their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs, regardless of background. Overall, we would express the importance of having an open mind with others they encounter throughout their lifetime, while at the same time being compassionate and kind.

We purchased our home in 2020, and we made it ours by fully renovating the interior to parallel our visions for what we would want as our family home. Anique's favorite room in our three-bedroom house is our library, while Keely appreciates our new kitchen. We both love spending time in our large, fenced yard with our adorable mini-Australian Shepards either BBQing, gardening, relaxing on the deck, or in our hammocks.

Our house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac, with easy access to shopping, schools, trails, and parks. Our small community is family friendly and provides a sense of safety when we go on our neighborhood outings. It is very progressive and welcoming to all residents.

New playgrounds and parks were recently completed within walking distance of our house. One of parks has several miles of paved trails along the waterfront. We frequent this trail for our daily outings with our dogs and treasure capturing the sunset in the evenings. Our dogs love their walks on the trail and around the neighborhood and accompanying us on all of our adventures.

Anique has one brother. He and his wife have two girls, a toddler and an infant. They recently moved to Montana, so we visit often. Anique's Mom lives and works near us, which allows for frequent visits. We cherish extended family dinners and aim to incorporate these into our weekly schedules. Anique's family has a vacation house in a small mountain town, which we visit frequently to go skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, trail running, and to relax. Our evenings at the vacation home include playing games, watching movies, or putting puzzles together.

Keely has one brother who lives nearby with his wife. Keely's parents also live nearby. We spend time with Keely's family time by walking on local trails, visiting the dog park, going to the zoo, and eating out at local restaurants. We also thoroughly enjoy our annual family vacations to various locations, whether it is to the beach or a simple escape to the mountains.

Our families are extremely supportive of our adoption plan and are excited at the prospect of grandchildren. Family togetherness is a very important part of our lives and an aspect which we highly value. Gathering for holidays and special events is a tradition we maintain, including Christmas cookie baking gathering, Christmas Eve game night, and Easter egg dying parties.

We are extremely honored and humbled you are considering us as potential parents for your child. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for reading our letter. We admire your brave and generous act in choosing to have this child and in wanting to give them the best opportunities in the world. Entrusting your child to be raised by someone else takes an incredible amount of strength, and we understand how difficult this decision must be for you. We hope you find comfort in knowing that if you choose us as adoptive parents, your child will be cherished and loved every day.

We have been married for ten wonderful years and are incredibly excited to continue our journey by adopting a child. Through the course of our marriage, we are forever grateful to have the opportunities afforded to us to be able to have the resources to build our home with plans for potential family expansion. Everything we have done was with the thoughts of adoption in mind and planning for possibilities of providing a loving home to a child one day.

Our home is in a welcoming family community with parks, trails, and playgrounds nearby where the local children play. We look forward to one day being parents at those playgrounds and sharing our evening walks with a child. Our lives are full of outdoor adventures and urban escapades coupled with time at home baking, playing games, or hanging out in our yard. Our two miniature Australian Shepards adore children and would be thrilled at the potential of a new family member.

We have always had plans of having a child and would be forever grateful for the opportunity. It would be an honor to share our knowledge, experiences, passion for life, and to be a part of their development. We would be involved in every aspect of the child's life, allowing their passions and interests to drive them towards their dreams while providing unconditional love and support. We are excited to take them to the zoo, experience their first ski lesson, have them help prepare and enjoy Sunday morning family breakfast, play all the board games on our game shelf, go the local children's museums, and throw the ball for our dogs. There are so many things we look forward to sharing with a future child, including educating them in academics and life.

We are fully accepting of all levels of communication, including phone calls, emails, and future visits, if you would be open to more contact. We will routinely send pictures and letters to the birth parents, as often as welcome.

Becoming parents would mean the world to us. It has been something we have dreamed of and enthusiastically discussed throughout our relationship. If you choose us, we can promise to provide a caring, nurturing, safe, stable, active, and joyful home for your precious child. Our home will always be full of love and laughter, and you can know that you will always have a place in our hearts and in our family.

Thank you again for considering us as parents.

Sincerely,

Keely & Anique