The greatest sense of joy that we have both felt in our lives has been from parenting. Having a child is such a blessing, and for us there’s nothing that compares to the feeling we get from experiencing unconditional love for our daughter. We are inspired by her every day as we see her grow and develop, and watch in awe as she discovers the world around her.

Getting to share life with a child is pretty extraordinary. We find ourselves getting to relive childhood experiences through her eyes, or even getting to do things we dreamed of as children but never got to do. We always look for opportunities to help our daughter learn right from wrong, ways to help others, and how to show kindness.

We love sharing family traditions that have been passed down from our parents with our daughter, and are so excited when we think about sharing them with a new child. These are the times we realize how special these moments would be if they were shared between siblings. We envision our children growing up and sharing these family traditions with their children, and it brings so much happiness to our hearts.

As a couple, we have always enjoyed traveling. Together we have seen different parts of the world by embarking on cruises, going on cross-country train trips, and exploring the beautiful scenery here in our own state of Tennessee. We have always tried to make time for date nights, where we might have a nice dinner, see a movie, or go to a comedy show or concert.

As parents, we try to bring fun experiences into our daughter’s life as often as possible. We plan outings to the zoo, attend story time at the library, have playdates at indoor activity centers, go downtown to watch outdoor movies, or play on the slides and swings at the park. In the summer, our family enjoys swimming at the local pool, boating and kayaking on nearby lakes, or spending the day at the water park. When we can, we take road trips to see friends and family in other states and play “I Spy” in the car along the way. Whenever we can coordinate a group gathering, we like to invite our nearby family and friends over for game nights or outdoor cookouts in our backyard.

Typically when a couple tells you they met online, they likely went to a dating website with romance in mind. Sometimes, however, two unassuming people meet online with zero intentions of anything other than a little silly banter and a few rounds of dominoes. For us, that is how our story began. In the summer of 2001, we found ourselves playing dominoes together online. Since players were paired randomly, neither of us knew anything about the other. We found that we were a really good match in dominoes, so we continued to meet to play more rounds together. Meaningful discussions began to flow, and before we knew it a friendship had started. Over the next couple of years, we became close friends from a distance. Online games turned into hilarious phone conversations and inside jokes. We remained close for some time, but the distance took a toll. Although efforts were made to maintain our friendship, we lost touch over time. Fast forward to 2014, Melissa wanted to leave the hot climate in Texas and started looking at places to live in the northeast. She thought the timing might be right to reach out to the only person she knew that lived in that region: Louis. We reconnected, and it was as if we picked up right where we left off. A few months later, Melissa flew up to New York City and FINALLY met Louis in person, and we have been inseparable ever since!

A few years ago, we made the decision to leave New York and move to a smaller city. Our dream was to buy a larger home with a nice yard where we could envision raising children. We wanted a location with cultural diversity, great schools, nice city parks, and plenty of things for families to do together. Since Melissa's parents lived in Tennessee, we decided to look there first. It didn't take us long to find a wonderful town about 50 miles outside of Nashville that felt like the perfect fit. We bought a home in a quiet community that we absolutely love, and the city we are in has all of the things we were looking for. Our home has five bedrooms, a playroom, and a large dining room to host holiday gatherings. The living room and kitchen are open to one another, which makes it easy to cook meals while our daughter plays nearby. Our backyard has a large playset and a gazebo with a BBQ grill, great for get-togethers with friends and family.

Our community has many families with children, and throughout the year the neighborhood hosts block parties and numerous events for families to enjoy. During the warmer months, the ice cream truck makes daily visits, food trucks gather for weekend events, and residents shoot fireworks together on July 4th. In the colder months, families participate in Halloween trick-or-treating, decorate their homes for Christmas and other holidays, and enjoy more fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Our families are extremely important to both of us, and they have provided so much support throughout our adoption journey.

We love traveling to New York to visit Louis' mom, who is known as "Babashura" (Grandma Alexandra) to her grandchildren. Louis' dad, Reful, passed away almost 15 years ago, but we keep his memory alive in our family by looking at pictures and passing down stories. Louis' sister Frances, along with her husband Matt, are raising their son Gerry in Queens, New York. When visiting, we enjoy having family gatherings to share laughs, play card games, and make delicious meals using old family recipes.

We are fortunate that Melissa's parents, Linda and Phil, live here in Tennessee and are only about two hours away. They have been able to experience many milestones in our daughter's life. Rachel loves spending time at their house in the country, where she can play hide and seek with her "Nanaw" or spend an afternoon on the riding lawn mower with her "Papaw". Members of Melissa's extended family also live nearby, and we try to have toddler play dates for all of the little ones often. While much of Melissa's family lives in Texas where she grew up, we still get to spend time with them at least twice a year. This includes Melissa's brothers Harlan and Derik, her nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and many cousins, all of which are extremely excited about a new little one joining our family!

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We are both so excited to get to know you and are eager for what’s to come. We are thankful that we have been granted an opportunity to share some of our story with you. We hope that we can share more about ourselves and learn more about you as time goes on.

We have known each other for over twenty years, been a couple for almost ten years, and married for five years. Our history is long and we've experienced many twists and turns, but it has made us deeply appreciate one another and never take the time we have together for granted. As a couple, we tend to balance out each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we do our best to love and support each other throughout every aspect of our life. Melissa is a high school math teacher who also writes math curriculum on the side. She loves education, and it makes her happy to work with students every day and help them overcome struggles with math. Louis shares in her love of math, and his career as an executive assistant in a financial institution allows him to put his love of numbers to good use. In addition, he works as a financial planner part-time, which is a role he is passionate about. We are fortunate to both work remotely from home most of the time, which allows us to spend more time together and have more experiences as a family.

From the very start of our relationship, having a family with multiple children has always been a dream or ours. After years of struggling with infertility, we were blessed with a child four years ago. It has been such a joy to raise her and watch her grow. Since then, we have continued to face challenges with becoming pregnant and have experienced losses, which has been heartbreaking. We both feel in our hearts that having another child in our home would make our family feel complete. We cherish every minute with our daughter, Rachel, and all three of us are ready to share our love with a new child. Rachel mentions every day how excited she is about the idea of being a big sister. It warms our hearts to think about how wonderful it would be to see both children moving through life together, knowing they will always share a special bond that only siblings can share.

Something that gives us peace of mind is knowing that you would always have a place in our life and the life of your child. While we want you to make decisions based on your comfort level when it comes to building a relationship with your child, we are hopeful that you will consider having interactions often and allow them to share their life experiences with you. We would be happy to send letters, pictures, videos, share phone calls, or plan visits if that is something you would like. We will always make sure that your child knows how much you love them and how much you matter to us and our family.

There are no words that can truly justify how grateful we feel that you are considering us, especially knowing that there are many options in front of you. Trusting us to be a part of your life and allowing us to help raise your child is such a selfless act, and to us it would be such an honor. We may never be able to fully understand how difficult this decision has been for you, but we hope we can reassure you that we would do everything we could to give your child a safe and happy home where they are unconditionally loved.

Sincerely,

Louis & Melissa