During our leisure time you will find us going to a concert of an artist we enjoy. We have both enjoyed playing golf and enjoy going out with Lindsay's parents. We enjoy entertaining our family and friends, whether that is throwing a neighborhood Halloween party or just having a fire in our driveway with a few friends and family. We enjoy traveling together and hope to someday go to Tahiti together. Lindsay's nephew races sprint cars and it is always enjoyable to go watch him race and cheer him on. We also enjoy just relaxing on our deck listening to music or catching up with each other. Where we live there is a lot of biking and walking trails, and we enjoy exploring those in our spare time. We live in a neighborhood filled with kids of all ages and is a lot of fun shooting hoops, throwing water balloons or making chalk designs on the driveways with all of them.

When we both think of what it means to be parents we think of unconditional love. We want to raise our children in an environment where they are free to be who they want to be. We want our children to feel safe, healthy and happy.

We as parents believe that it is important to give our child an incredible upbringing that will hopefully have them become a confident and kind person. Our mission as parents is to raise our children to confident, compassionate and be their cheerleaders every step of every day. We want to teach our children to find joy and encourage them to seek happiness.

We know that every child we are blessed to raise will have their own personality and be their own person, and we look forward to getting to know that person and loving him or completely.

We both enjoy traveling and we have traveled to many places together since being married. When we were first dating we went to Disney World together, and that trip was an absolute blast and we have so many memories that we share from that vacation. We both enjoy Florida and usually go every year with Lindsay's family to different areas of Florida; we love the beach and the warm air during our cold winter months up in Minnesota.

Lindsay's parents have a lake home, and we enjoy going up there to get away from the busy week we have had. We like to relax up there and enjoy catching up with friends and family while at the lake home.

We live in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in a wonderful community.

Our neighborhood is a family friendly neighborhood with lots of kids. Our neighborhood is filled with children of all ages and has a lot of diversity ­­—young and old, African American, White, and Latino families all living and playing together. We enjoy gathering with everyone, whether that is grilling or just catching up. The ice cream truck is always a hit in the hot summer months. Our community also has several parks and trails to go bike riding and walking on.

We are not far from major cities in the area, and this makes it easy to go shopping and out to dinner.

We live in Minnesota where we get to experience all four seasons. In the summer we enjoy being outdoors, in the fall time we get to go pick our own pumpkins, in winter we enjoy playing in the snow, and in the spring we enjoy planting flowers.

We are extremely close to both of our families. They could not be more excited about our adoption journey. Our families mean everything to us. We spend a lot of time together as well as celebrating holidays, birthdays and special occasions as a family.

We live close to where Lindsay grew up, and her parents, older brother and his family still live in the area. Every few years Lindsay's family takes a vacation to a warm destination, and we have a great time enjoying the sun and sand.

Erik's family is spread out. Erik's mom lives about an hour away from us, and his brother lives about three hours away. When we do get together, we have a great time and enjoy each other's company. Erik's mom lives on the river, and we enjoy going down to visit and go boating on the water.

Christmas is big in both of our families. Lindsay's family gets together every other year with all of her cousins, aunts and uncles and has a large Christmas party every year.

We are anxious and excited to pass on these traditions and many more to our children!

Thank you for taking this time to get to know us. We cannot express how grateful we are and can only imagine the pain you must be experiencing during this confusing and difficult time. We admire you so much for choosing life and considering adoption. We hope you feel the support and love no matter where you are at in your journey.

We promise to always provide emotional, financial, and educational stability for your child. We promise to teach them to be kind caring and accepting of others. We will provide a safe, happy home. We will be forever grateful and will always communicate the love you have and always will for your baby. We know the love you feel for your baby is real and unconditional. This baby is a beautiful gift, and that will never be forgotten.

For our future child, we know that education is important and teaching by the way of examples, we will respect and maintain a strong work ethic with raising a child. We will encourage a child and their interests and dreams; we want to the child to also know that they will develop their strengths and help them enable to reach their full potential as a responsible child.

We are both so excited for our future. We have been married for 8 years and we love our life together, we are excited to share our life with a child and expand our family. Our families are close, and we look forward to our own family gatherings and participating in many activities together. Our families are both very supportive of us and our decision to adopt. They are beyond excited to have another child in the family. Our families are involved in our lives in so many ways and we spend a lot of time together.

We will share with your child the growth and experiences they have through photos along with emails and letters. We will be open and honest with your child in regard to adoption. We will make sure your child knows how much you love them and how hard of a decision was for you and you will always be reflective in the positivity in them.

We could not be happier and more excited that you have considered us to raise your baby. It would be a blessing and an honor to have this responsibility. We look forward to expanding our family and have for some time and will provide all the love and devotion. We are eager to get to know you and happy to work together to maintain a healthy relationship. We make this commitment to you that we will always speak highly of you and honor you with our words and actions.

Thank you with all our hearts,

Erik & Lindsay