As kids we both grew up going on family vacations to Orlando, Jacksonville, Myrtle Beach and Gatlinburg. We were very blessed to have many family vacation memories and road trips that we cannot wait to do with a family of our own!

Give us a beach or a lake and we are happy! We have been going to the Carolina's (we sometimes go to South) for over 20 years. Our favorite vacation spot is in and around Outer Banks, North Carolina. We always rent a house on the beach - the beach needs to be right off the back porch, two steps and we are there!

We love to slow down and relax and are very much water people. We envision playing on the porch and beach with our child. Swimming and building sandcastles are in our dreams every night. We love to ride bikes, go for walks, swim, fish, boat, and eat great seafood while on vacation.

Our promise to you is to raise your child with so much love. They will grow up with tons of family and friends around them. Josh will be a stay-at-home dad for a few years and ensure that our child will have all the care they need. With help from both of our mothers, family will always be available.

In the future we have plans on building a new house on Josh's family's farm, which will be so fulfilling and will remind Josh of how he grew up on the farm.

We will ensure that your child always knows their adoption story. We look forward to an open adoption so that our child knows where they came from and how they came to be a part of our family. We promise to keep in touch with you and give you updates if that is something that you would want. We are ready to be guided and collaborate with you on how the future looks.

Should we become an interracial family through this adoption. We will educate ourselves through books, group meetings within our community, classes, and anything that will help us educate and keep our child's culture alive consistently. Just like our child will know that they are adopted from the moment they can understand - we will have the same drive and conversations around culture. Movies, plays, book, church, and people from the same culture as our child will be the guide. Both of us have a diverse friend group, taste in music, books, and movies. We will submerge ourselves into the culture of our child, and we look forward to it. It is very important to us that our child knows where they came from. We will also ensure that our child has a group with them or that aligns with their culture (i.e.: dance, a sport, a class, etc.) For instance, we plan on sending our child to a diverse school so they can see themselves in other people in all they do in their life.

We live in the outskirts of a bigger city in a small town. Our downtown holds art events/shows, farmers markets on Saturdays, antique stores, movie theater, and family-owned restaurants.

We have a 3-bedroom 3 bathroom, 2 floors and a basement with 2 car garage. We have an open floor plan and love that the kitchen is near the living area. We like to play music, cook, and have dance parties. We also enjoy time in our backyard and we love spending summer nights on our porch.

We live in a development with 3 ponds, a park, a bike and a walking trail. We are friendly with our neighbors and have children of all ages on the block. Our street is quiet, and you will see families walking, riding or dog walking. We feel very safe here. Every summer there is a block party, which is always nice to catch up with neighborhood pals.

However, less than 25 miles away, we have a metropolitan city with all of the cool city items if we feel like we need to get out of our small-town bubble. It really is the best of both worlds and we cannot wait to explore it all with a child!

We both come from big extended families. Josh's dad has eleven brothers and sisters and his mom has five. Missy's dad has four siblings and Missy's mom has four. Holidays, birthdays, and summer parties are always full of cousins, aunts, and uncles!

Josh's immediate family includes an older brother and a younger sister. Josh's brother has three children, while his sister has two. Missy's immediate family includes a younger brother who has two children.

Both our parents and all of our extended family live in the same city/town and we get together often. When we announced our adoption dream, our extended family was overjoyed. We shared the news with Josh's family at his mom's surprise birthday party and at Missy's family's Thanksgiving gathering. They were overjoyed, so happy for us and shared with both of us how proud they were of us and that they know we will be amazing parents. We have both wanted to raise a child together and become parents for a long time.

We are overjoyed and want nothing more than to become parents. We have been married since 2006 and have been a couple since meeting at a lake in our hometown in 2000. As a couple we have always had an open and honest relationship and it's built around the love and trust we have for each other. We have been blessed with a great family and a great life, however the one thing that we have not yet achieved is becoming parents. No one wants this more than us.

Josh is in computers, web design and Information technology. He works for a small business and has been with his current company for over 10 years. Josh has so much flexibility with his job and can work from home when needed. His passion is all things computers and technology.

Missy is a district manager for the brand Levi's, she oversees 15 locations throughout the Midwest area and has been in retail sales for over 20 years. She was previously with Kate Spade for 8 years and just recently (2 years ago) made the jump to denim. Missy has had a passion for fashion for as long as she can remember.

We have a strong sense of self and have lived a fun life; we want the opportunity to share our life with a child and raise a strong, well-adjusted member of society that wants to do good and be good. We cannot wait to teach them how to do all the things that we love.

We are open minded people and will absolutely be open to as much or as little contact that you want. We will send emails, pictures, visits and ensure that you are up to date on all things, if that is what you would like. We both come from big, supportive families and would love to extend and open it up even further with you as a part of our family.

In addition to family support, we will have support through therapy/counseling and will be joining an adoptive parents' group. We want to ensure we are healthy, not only physically, but mentally, too.

We will be dedicated and loving parents. Both of us were raised with so much love in our family homes, which we cannot wait to pass along to a child. We have a great foundation and great memories from how we grew up. Your child will be the center of our world and we promise to provide him/her with love and affection and that he/she will always know how loved they are. They will always know that they are a special gift that we prayed for and dreamed of for a long time. Both of us want to see each other as a mom and as a dad; we talk about it all the time and cannot wait for the day to come.

We put a lot of thought and consideration into our choice to pursue adoption and we know this is the path for us. We want you to know that every fiber in our being is telling us that we will be parents. If you choose us, we hope to express our gratitude to you, for you will be sharing the gift of parenthood with us, and we believe there is no greater gift than that.

Thank you for your time and for your consideration.

With Love,

Josh & Missy