Both of us have a number of hobbies that we do in our leisure time.

Luke is very into arts and crafts, and in the last year has gotten very good at knitting. Every time he knits a hat it's way too small though, so he's been stockpiling them for when we're able to adopt. Luke is also a big Dungeons and Dragons player and usually runs the games. This means that he comes up with a long, intricate story to walk the other players through. He can't wait to be able to come up with stories like this to tell the child.

Jordan started woodworking during the pandemic and has gotten very excited about it. So far he's built our TV console table, coffee table, plant stand, and a jewelry box for his mom. He can't wait to be able to walk a child through their first pine box derby car or tool box project.

Together, we love to go for walks along the trails in back of the house. The trail leads to a beautiful lake and sometimes we'll walk the dogs all the way there and get ice cream.

One of things that we've spent a lot of time talking about is how we'll address cultural diversity with the child we adopt. We're lucky in that we have some diversity within our family (Jordan's stepmom and stepsister are African American and Luke is half African American), but we want to make sure that the child will have access to many role models and mentors in their life that they can see themselves in. Our community is incredibly diverse with large African American, Asian, and Hispanic populations. One of the reasons we decided to move here was because of how diverse the schools are. We're also preparing ourselves for how to best speak with them about race and racism. While they can be difficult subjects we believe that having open communication about them is incredibly important. We want the child to feel comfortable speaking to us about anything that might come up, and we know that we'll have to work hard to create that kind of atmosphere. Above all we want the child to be proud of their own cultural identity, even if that differs from ours.

Both of us have had experience with adoption through members of our family.

Jordan's step-father was adopted, but he didn't find out until he was in his 30s. When Jordan first met him he was in the process of trying to track down his birth parents. Seeing how difficult that process was and how hard it was on him gave us both a new appreciation of how important open adoption is. Luckily Jordan's step-father has now been able to reconnect with both of his birth parents and form a relationship with them, but it would have been much easier on everyone if he had know he was adopted from the beginning and had the opportunity to develop that relationship earlier on.

Five of Luke's cousins are adopted, and so adoption was something that he grew up knowing quite a bit about and being very comfortable with. There have been other generations in his family that have adopted children as well, so his whole family is very supportive of us adopting.

We live in a suburb in Maryland and bought our house last summer. It is a very family-friendly neighborhood and we have events every few months. In the fall we do a Halloween costume parade and in the summer there's a big end-of-school cook out. There are tons of kids on our street and they all play outside together every day (no matter the weather it seems). Everyone on the street looks out for the kids so the parents feel safe letting them all play together.

Our house backs up to bike trails that go for miles through the woods, and there's a playground just down the hill from us.

Each neighborhood in our city has a swimming pool that's open all summer, and Jordan (who was raised here) grew up biking to the pool every day of summer vacation to play with his friends.

Our house has four bedrooms and two living rooms. Our favorite part of the house is the deck, which is raised up in the trees so it feels like you're in a treehouse when you're out there. We love to grill out on the deck in the summer.

We are both extremely close with our families.

Jordan's mom and stepfather live half a mile away, while his dad and stepmother live less than 10 minutes away, and Luke's mom actually lives with us.

Jordan has a very large extended family that all live in northern Minnesota and we go out to visit them every Christmas and July. The whole time we're there we're either swimming in the lakes, fishing, or going ice skating (depending on the season) throughout the day and then we sit around and have bonfires at night and roast s'mores.

Luke's extended family live in Southern California and we also go out to visit them quite often. Scrabble is a big deal in Luke's family and his mom still plays Scrabble with her sisters through Zoom every Sunday.

Both families are very close and everyone is exited for us to adopt. We've already received 3 handmade blankets for the child we hope to adopt. One of things that brought us together initially was how close we both are with our families and how important they are to us.

We have been together for almost 6 years, and on one of our first dates we talked about adopting children. Both of us have always wanted to be parents, and it was important enough to both of to make sure that we were both on the same page early on. When we got married 2 1/2 years ago it was a huge step in our lives, both as far as committing to each other forever, but also as the next step towards becoming parents. When we bought our house last year it was the another major hurdle in that journey, and all we could talk about when looking at houses was what kind of home it would be for when we had children. Sitting here writing this letter to you is the result of years and years of hoping and talking and planning, and now we finally get the chance to tell you what it will mean to us if you pick us to take care of your child.

For us, it means being given the chance to take all of our love and pour it into raising a child. We know it won't be easy, that there will be long nights with a crying baby, scraped knees, failed algebra tests, and young heartbreak, but we can't wait to be able to be there in those moments. There's that old saying that nothing worth doing comes easy, and we can't image a more applicable situation for that than parenthood, but we can't wait for all of it. We can't wait to celebrate the triumphs in the child's life, as well as to soothe the painful times. We can't wait to take them to their first tee-ball game, to help them ride their first bike, to take pictures of them before their first school dance. And the most important thing is that you'll be a part of all of that, because without you there is none of this.

There aren't many things in life that we can promise without question, but one thing we can promise you is that if you choose us your child will be loved unconditionally. We have family on both sides that are over the moon that we're adopting. The child will be the first grandchild so there will be many doting grandparents waiting in line to give them love, attention, and probably too many presents. Everything in our lives has been arranged over the last few years so that we can be parents. This is our dream, and we can't tell you enough how much this means to us.

We're only one half of this equation though. We'd like to develop a relationship with you, but even if all you're comfortable with is receiving updates from us that's okay too. We're open to everything from emails and phone calls to future visits. The fact that you're even considering us is a huge honor, and we while we can't begin to know what you're going through in making this decision, we appreciate your consideration from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely,

Jordan & Luke