When we met over 9 years ago and got to know each other a bit more, we both shared that we knew we wanted to have a family and children. As our relationship got more serious and we ended up falling in love and getting married, we discussed our plans for starting a family. We both knew adoption was always the way we wanted to expand our family, and we have had such a great support system through our extended family and friends. We adopted our first child three years ago and from that first moment we knew it was the best decision we ever made. Not every child has two parents that are a part of their life and love them unconditionally, but our son also has his birthmother who does too, and that is something special we all get to share in together and we wouldn't change it for anything.

We never wanted our children to question where they came from or who their birth parents were (if we knew). We know that with having two dads there would be natural "Where is my mom?" type of questions. From a very early age we read and told Leo stories about how we was adopted, why he has two dads, and how all families are different and special. We are lucky enough to have a great relationship with his birthmother, and he enjoys visiting with her and talking to her - and even has a special name for her. While he is still young and doesn't fully grasp the complete situation, we want to continue to encourage questions and provide an open space for him and our future child to understand as much as we can explain to them about their birth parents, how they were adopted and why.

We are very grateful to live in a beautiful town in the Southern U.S. that is close to both of our families, close to the beach, and in a house with a big backyard in a neighborhood filled with other families with young children. This allows us to spend our leisure time doing lots of different fun, exciting things depending on the day and the season. In the summers we love to spend the day at the beach, at our neighborhood pool, or in our backyard with family and friends. In the winter we love to explore new places in town, do fun indoor crafts like painting, drawing, building, and learning something new.

Both of us grew up with big families that spent lots of time outdoors growing up, that we love to take that same approach with our child and future child. We often will dedicate a weekend or two a month for an "adventure," with our son which typically means going somewhere new or visiting a favorite place, like an indoor adventure park, playground, canoeing, riding on a boat or simply riding bikes/scooters around the park. We love having lots of family and friends to spend our free time with which we do often, but we also dedicate time to just us 3 to explore and have that special time together.

We love family traditions, and have both carried some forward from our families growing up, as well as have created our own within our family of three. We love the idea of both our kids carrying forward traditions from our individual families, and also those traditions we created together. Traditions we carried forward from our families include extended verses of "Happy Birthday" where you have to stand up and bow, gift exchanges at Christmas, and recipes including home grown pickles, special holiday drinks, and desserts. We love holidays and we love celebrating, and have created our own traditions that include an annual Halloween costume party, a Christmas karaoke party, and an annual family vacation where we can unplug and unwind after the holidays. We love the idea of our future child joining in on these traditions and even creating some new ones with them!

Seven years ago we moved to South Carolina and a few years ago we moved into a new neighborhood with our son that is about 15 minutes from downtown and 20 minutes from the beach. We chose this neighborhood because it was filled with new families and kids. Our son has a dozen friends in the neighborhood that he can walk outside his door and play with. We have a golf cart and can ride it to the neighborhood pool and playground, as well as Joshua's parents and brother's house.

Our house has five bedrooms, an office for Joshua, and a playroom for our son and future child to share. We have a big playset in the backyard and lots of native and wild flowers for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to visit.

Our neighborhood has a Halloween, Easter, and Christmas party with golf cart parades, cookie contests, house decorating contests, and more. We are typically known in the neighborhood for having the best decorated house for Halloween and Christmas because we love contributing to the magic of the holidays for the kids. We even have a snow machine for Christmas that we run outside because it doesn't snow here!

We both come from very large families and very happy of the fact that our families are so close together, both in distance and in relationship.

Owen lives only 30 minutes from all three of his siblings, his older brother, younger brother, and younger sister -- all blondes with blue eyes, he is definitely the black sheep of the family! Growing up near the beach and having a dad who was a wooden boat builder, they love to spend their summers on the water or at the beach. Owen's mother and father are very close with their children and love to have family game nights and oyster roasts -- any excuse to have all the kiddos under one roof!

Joshua also comes from a big family and was so happy when he moved down South to the same town as his younger brother and older sister., and recently had his parents move to the same neighborhood to be closer to their grandson. Joshua and his younger brother and sister are very close, and they love to try out new restaurants or go shopping together.

Our extended families spend holidays together and go on trips together, most recently to the Grand Canyon and to a boat show to see a boat Owen's dad and brother built. We recently had three new baby nieces/nephews join the family, so our son is no longer the only kid cousin - and he loves "taking care of" the babies.

We want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We know that you face a difficult decision and we are grateful for the fact that you are considering adoption and may be considering us. We always knew that adoption was the right decision to help grow our family and we welcomed our son through adoption three and a half years ago. It has been the best thing we have ever done in our lives and we are excited for the chance to do it again.

From the day we met nine years ago, we knew that each other were the person we were going to spend the rest of our lives with. We quickly connected and bonded on the fact that we came from large families and wanted to start one of our own one day. We both grew up with siblings so we would love to have multiple children. We both have so many memories of our childhood that we want to share and recreate with our children such as playing on the beach, exploring in nature, creating Easter egg hunts, and dressing up to go trick or treating. Joshua has fond memories of building the world's best and biggest sand castles with his father, a tradition he wants to pass down to his children. Owen remembers baking with his grandmother as a young child, standing on the step stool and listening to her instruction. This is something he often does with our son. Just like both of our parents did, we want to encourage our children to explore any talents, skills, and hobbies they express interest in. We are both very creative and love to make crafts, and know very well that our household with be filled with even more scribble drawings and finger painted walls - and we cannot wait. Together we bring out each other's sense of adventure and know that being outdoors and active will be a family bonding activity we will share for years to come. We live near hiking trails, bike paths, the beach, and creeks - all perfect for the miniature explorers.

When we welcomed our son into our lives, it was the best and most magical thing that has happened to us. He has changed our lives in the best way imaginable. We love watching the world through his eyes and sharing in his "firsts" and making new memories with him. He is the most kind, caring, smart, and silly boy in the whole world, and he absolutely adores babies and kids and we know he is going to make the best big brother!

We have so much love in our hearts for each other, our son, for our families, and plenty more to share with a future child. We always want our children to know where they came from, and whenever possible, know who their birthparents are and even have a relationship with them if possible. We want you to be able to feel secure in the fact that this child is going to grow up in the most loving, fun, safe, open, and welcoming family and we want to share that through letters and pictures, and even phone calls and visits if that is something you are interested in.

We have always felt that children are special gifts, and we've experienced that first hand, and you would be giving the greatest gift imaginable by helping us grow our family.

With Love,

Joshua & Owen