Chris was adopted at birth through a closed Iowa adoption (the standard for this time). He knows next to nothing about his biological parents, but his adoptive parents were an amazing couple that nurtured and raised Chris to be a gracious, thoughtful, and moral man.

His experiences growing up with two university professors as parents was academically focused, traditional, and provided him opportunities to expand his knowledge with U.S. travel. Chris' adoption experience was so positive that it no doubt informs our decision to pursue this path, though we realize not every opportunity is as exceptional as Chris'.

We have no other children, and an open adoption of a child is a life goal for us. We are deeply committed to providing an adopted child with all the love, support, access, and education that was afforded to both of us.

Our lifestyle is fairly laid back, however, we are excited to keep active with a child. We cannot wait to explore with a little one all our area has to offer!

Allison's work in the museum field is unique and allows her the ability to connect across the region with fun and exciting events in the arts and at the university she works at. She likes to attend college BIG 12 volleyball and basketball as well as gymnastics meets. Allison also has a large book collection and enjoys reading immensely. Allison loves to cook and bake, and finally has her dream chef's kitchen and large pantry.

Chris was fortunate to be able to retire early two years ago. This affords him the opportunity to enjoy his amateur radio (ham radio) hobby that he has had since college. He attends regional and national conferences related to this hobby and helps out others with technology. He also enjoys going to the movie theater and seeing the latest releases and Oscar nominations.

Together, we love going to local or regional events like farmer's markets, arts festivals, pancake breakfasts, air/car shows, and seasonal/holiday events hosted at the local botanical gardens. We adore spending time with our friends and their young families, joining them in different experiences from playgrounds to performances.

We both had pets throughout our lives, namely cats and dogs. Allison grew up with dogs and cats on a large acreage in Wisconsin. She was even thinking about being a veterinarian growing up.

We currently have a large Maine Coon cat, Byron, that was adopted in 2020 from the shelter. Byron is ALL personality! He loves people and children, loves to play with his toys, and even loves to travel domestically with us. He can be very vocal, chit-chatty, and sheds a ton as a very long-haired kitty all typical of his breed. We treat him as our sweet furry child – he is part of the family.

We live in a wonderful medium-sized city that is very family friendly. We are fortunate to have a diverse population in our city due to the large university setting. This multicultural university educates students from around the globe and provides access to a wide range of educational and entertainment experiences. Our home is also within 30 minutes of Iowa's capital and largest city, offering festivals, shopping, and culture.

Our community offers museums, botanical gardens, and sporting events. In town, we have access to parks, trails, and aquatic centers. Our city hosts many events including farmer's markets, arts/music festivals, holiday event, unique cultural festivals and other events connected to the university. To remember where we first met, we like to go each year to the Iowa State Fair, a unique experience with many activities.

Our neighborhood has a range of children from one-year-old twins to middle schoolers. The street is social, protected, and many families have large backyard play-spaces.

Our house is 4,500 sq.ft. 2-story. We added-on in 2021 to have a chef's kitchen, large gathering family room, and library. There are 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The basement has a theater and is home to our movie, music, and board game collections. We have a deck and massive fenced back yard. We look forward to adding a playground and water-play area to the backyard when we adopt.

We are so lucky to have a supportive "family" of close friends from Allison's bestie Kathryn and her young family of five, to Chris' best friend Eric and his young family of four, all located within 90 minutes of our home. Closer are several of Allison's co-workers/peers and their young families. Our immediate family is limited, but these losses have further bonded us to each other. Extended family includes an aunt and cousins in California, an uncle and cousins in Kentucky, an aunt and cousins in the greater Boston area, to Allison's godparents in Florida. All are supportive, loving, and generous.

A memory of Christmas '22 was going to Boston and enjoying time touring the sites, playing candlestick bowling for the first time (Allison is a natural!), and sharing large family meals with all the cousins. The highlight was reading to the littlest two girls "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas eve, tucking them in as Allison's parents did with her all throughout childhood. This time also gave Chris and Allison the chance to put together Santa's gifts – the Play-Doh Ice Cream station met its match with handy Chris!

We look forward to building on past family traditions and adding new traditions with the adoption of a child. From Allison's love of all things Halloween and Chris' love of fireworks to the traditional foods of both families, we plan to embrace this child with the love and tradition that we both flourished in and were fortunate to have.

We are so grateful to you for exploring adoption. First, please know that if you choose us to be the adoptive parents, your child will have unconditional love and support, global adventure, a high-quality education, and fun and funny parents.

We are Chris and Allison from Iowa and have been happily married for 5 1/2 years. We met through mutual friends in August of 2014, a few months after the sudden death of Allison's mother. While this was still a time of grief for Allison, Chris was an active reason and inspiration for her to see a brighter future - shared together. Our love grew and developed naturally as we discovered we shared many of the same values, beliefs, morals and interests. It may seem trite to say, but we just "clicked."

We have long been considering adoption as an opportunity for us to expand our family. Chris was adopted at birth and his own positive adoption story made the choice to pursue adoption an easy one for us. We look forward to building a relationship with you, if that is something you would like. We are open to providing letters, pictures, emails, visits, and regular updates to you so that you can see your child grow. We also understand that you may want a different level of communication, or that the level of communication may change over time. We are committed to the process and to respecting your wishes on levels of contact.

Chris would be a stay-at-home dad, providing stability on a day-to-day basis, while Allison plans to join him in early retirement in fall of 2026. We look forward to sharing our love of travel with a child and this unique flexibility in our lives will allow us to explore the world as a family. Seeing the world and being immersed in cultures other than our own builds us to be better global citizens. Allison has traveled globally since she was incredibly young and has been to every continent except Antarctica. Together we have been to Europe and Australia, and have traveled in western Canada and throughout the U.S. Chris, like Allison, now has the travel bug and is eager to explore more. Our adopted cat, Byron, loves to travel with us (as long as we remember to bring his favorite treats!).

We also both look forward to exploring our child's cultural heritage and will share with them their history, cultural practices, stories and art from their culture(s). Our university town is very diverse and also provides wonderful opportunities to learn about cultures and traditions from people all around the world.

We are dedicated to each other and are very committed to expanding our family through adoption. We are incredibly open people naturally and we intend to always let the child know that he/she was adopted and how grateful we are to the birth parent(s) for the opportunity they entrusted in us. It has long been a dream of ours to share our lives with a child and we are so excited to start this next chapter of our lives together!

Thank you for your consideration.

Chris & Allison