We love to stay active; we play on multiple recreational sports teams (we both play outdoor soccer; Ryan plays indoor soccer and basketball) and have found so many close friends through these teams. We regularly go out for dinner after our games and many of our teammates' children and partners join us. Becoming a close-knit team and group of friends has really allowed us to find a sense of belonging in our community. Any other free time we have is often spent with family, either celebrating a birthday, holiday or just finding a reason to spend a day together. We love to go on walks, hikes, go to the beach and show all the little ones how to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful world we live in.

We believe that being a good partner in a relationship means focusing on good qualities that each of you have and sharing gentle reminders when the other needs to hear it.

Ryan loves how open-minded Taylor is, how willing she is to see every side of a story and advocate for all of them. He also loves how supportive she is, she is his biggest cheerleader and is always willing to help in crunch time with studying for work or giving him a pep talk.

Taylor loves that Ryan is so dependable, she can always count on him to follow through with responsibilities or gently remind her to get things done when she forgets certain important tasks. She also really appreciates his sense of humor and wittiness; it always brightens up her day.

We understand that building our family through adoption means our family might look different than traditional families, and we plan to celebrate our differences. Taylor's career as a flight attendant means that we love to travel, and we plan to incorporate that into our child's life. Taking trips as a family will hopefully give them a better world view, help them to become more empathetic towards cultural differences, and help them adapt to changing situations. We hope to keep learning about our child's culture and heritage and constantly find new ways to make that fun and interesting for them, like cooking new dishes or reading books for different ages. As this child grows, we hope to grow with them in understanding how to handle more difficult situations and use all the resources we can to find the best ways to help them navigate the changing emotional and physical tolls of life.

We live in a small neighborhood in Western Washington. Our three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is open and welcoming and just waiting to be filled with pack-n-plays, rockers and baby gear.

We live a short walk from a beautiful outdoor sports complex with many soccer and baseball fields, basketball courts and large playgrounds for different ages. We are a 10-15 minute walk to elementary and middle schools.

On any given day you can find kids running past our house to meet up with friends down the street, and playing in front yards or families walking their dogs through the neighborhood.

We have been living here for 6 years and feel very fortunate that we have such a good community of people. About three years ago our close friends decided to buy their home on the other side of our neighborhood, which has been very handy since their son was born in January and we visit for his cuddles and giggles often. We see them multiple times a week, whether it be playing in a soccer game, dinner and game nights, or cheering Ryan on at his rec basketball games. We feel fortunate to have found and nurtured such a great group of friends and community.

We have an amazing support system in our families and close friends.

Ryan is the youngest of three boys. Taylor is one of four, two sisters and a brother. We spend much of our free time with family and can be found playing any type of game, we love obscure card games, board games, marbles (a family favorite), and enjoy group Mario Kart nights when we can get everyone together.

Between our two families we have 3 nieces (ages 9,7,5) that we adore and love to babysit for date nights or have sleepovers so their parents can enjoy a weekend away. The girls love to play with Ryan, the rambunctious 'funcle,' he would play wrestle or swim with them all day if he could! Taylor enjoys watching them play together (joining in sometimes!) and cuddling up with them for movie time or reading books.

We also have a few close friends that live in our neighborhood. We often walk our dogs with them, as well as play on a recreational soccer team together. Taylor also babysits our close friends 8mo old son on Thursdays while they work.

Everyone in our close circle is wildly excited for our adoption journey and our nieces cannot wait to have another baby cousin, the oldest has already started asking at what age she can babysit. We cannot wait for our families to share their joy and love with this child.

We have been together for 12 years and married for the last 8. We started dating in our teens, and have had to learn how to grow into adulthood together over the years. That life has come with highs and lows; changing cities, buying our home, starting our careers, and unexplained infertility. We have always worked through things together, remembering the importance of trust, honesty and respect. We celebrate each other's victories, encourage and support one another always and lean on each other to keep our balance through it all. Over the years our extended families have begun to grow and we have become the luckiest Aunt and Uncle out there, but we have been quietly hoping that one day we would be mom and dad. After a few years of unsuccessfully growing our family we shared some very thoughtful, heartfelt conversations and decided to pursue adoption. We feel so strongly that this path was meant for us, and cannot wait to meet the baby that we are meant to love and cherish.

We are thrilled to expand our family and hearts by adding a child to our lives for many different reasons. For instance, Ryan is looking forward to celebrating birthdays and holidays and seeing the joys of those moments through a child's eyes. Taylor is eager to share her love of the outdoors, hiking, nature walks and later on kayaking at our favorite getaway spot. Our families are so supportive, patiently waiting for the day they can spoil and love on our child. Our flexible work schedules, coupled with Taylor's work benefits provide ample opportunities for short weekend trips and we plan longer trips annually. We hope to create lasting memories with our child on these trips and foster a love of travel and culture.

Thank you so much for reading about us! We expect that you're feeling so many emotions, we want to acknowledge that and let you know that we are thinking of you and sending you hugs wherever you are. Exploring adoption is such a courageous step and we do not take your loving act lightly. We have so much appreciation for you considering us for your child and hope learning a little about us has given you a sense of how much love and compassion a child will be unconditionally given in our home.

All Our Love,

Ryan & Taylor