Jessica's parents have a lake house that is about two hours away from our home. The neighborhood is welcoming and active, and the lakefront home has a dock in the backyard. We do numerous lake-related activities such as boating, jet skiing, paddleboarding, kayaking, skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, and fishing. The sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous, and we spend a lot of time outside on the porches and in the gazebo. This lake has many special memories for us since Jessica started going there as a child and then Steven started going there as an adolescent, and we would love to build more memories there with a child!

When we were teenagers in high school, we met at Jessica's interview for a lifeguard position since Steven was already working there. We believe it was meant to be that we were brought together because many unexpected occurrences happened that brought Jessica to this job. We ended up being assigned to the same lifeguard shift, swimming on the same swim team, and teaching swim lessons at the same company. We spent most of our time together and realized we never wanted to be apart as we immediately gravitated towards each other. Jessica was not planning on dating until after high school, but that quickly changed when she met Steven. Although Steven is older and finished high school a year before Jessica, we still stayed together through Steven's move for college and then Jessica's move for college. We are so grateful that we were able to grow up together and feel like that has strengthened our relationship. We frequently talk about how being miraculously brought together as a couple would be like being brought together with a child through adoption!

Adoption has been a huge part of Jessica's life for as long as she can remember since her mother was adopted as an infant in addition to some of her other family members. Thus, Jessica's side of the family has always discussed and loved adoption, and it taught Jessica about the beauty of adoption as a child. We are extremely grateful that Jessica's side of the family is in contact with Jessica's mother's birth family. Additionally, we have numerous friends who have adopted and have been adopted. Thus, adoption has been a big and wonderful part of Steven's life too!

We live in a suburb of the capital of Tennessee that is surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills. We love living in middle Tennessee and being close to a lot of great places/activity! Our diverse city has numerous children's events and amenities (e.g., over a dozen parks, greenways, trails, an amphitheater), is known as a fantastic place to raise children, and has terrific schools. Our neighborhood has three swimming pools, a tennis court, a park with a playground, and wooded areas and is not too far from stores and restaurants. Given there are many children, our neighborhood also holds children's activities such as breakfast with Santa, an Easter egg hunt, and trick-or-treating.

Our home has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a bonus room, a laundry room, and a great yard (including trees that provide shade) to play in as confirmed for us by children. We grow flowers and berries in the warmer months. We love to decorate our house (inside and outside) for holidays.

We are fortunate to have a lot of friends and our goddaughter in our community who cannot wait for another child to join in on the fun! Jessica moved to our city when she was a young child and has lived here almost her entire life, and Steven spent a lot of time in our city (even in his youth) prior to moving here. We selected our property and built our home with a child in mind.

Family is so very important to us! We are grateful for our relatives; we are fortunate to have several who live near us, and we love to stay in contact and visit with those who do not live close. Our family members are extremely supportive of and excited about our adoption plan.

Jessica's parents live just a few miles/minutes away, and we see them frequently. Jessica is an only child and has always lived close to her parents. Most of our other family members on Jessica's side live in Pennsylvania, so we have taken more wonderful trips there than we can count!

Steven's parents in addition to some of our other family members on his side live less than an hour away, so we get to see them regularly. Our other relatives on Steven's side live all over the country such as his brother and sister and our three young nieces and two young nephews. It is always a great time at gatherings with Steven's side of the family too!

We particularly enjoy having family holiday celebrations, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are our biggest ones. Although we have "traditional" holiday meals like turkey and pie, Jessica's side of our family also incorporates Italian foods such as eggplant parmesan and pasta. Many of our family members, including our parents, have fun and cute pet dogs. It has been amazing watching the numerous children in our family grow up, and we want to share these wonderful family experiences with a child!

We sincerely appreciate you taking the time to learn about us! We know it is impossible to include every detail about yourself in a profile, but a couple of points we want to emphasize about ourselves are that we desire nothing more than becoming a mother and father and would do everything we could to provide the best life possible for a child. Our loved ones adore children, and we have always dreamed of becoming parents.

We have been together for over 19 years as we dated for 8 years and have been married for 11 years. Although we were young when we met and started our relationship, we have always remained best friends. We got married after we obtained our undergraduate degrees and Steven completed his time as a collegiate athlete, and then we spent time building our careers while Jessica concurrently obtained two graduate degrees (her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees are in nursing). Steven works with children in his job for the same nonprofit aquatics organization that he was part of as a child and teenager. Jessica has worked for years in psychiatry/mental health and homeless health care as a registered nurse/advanced practice registered nurse and at a university as a faculty member (with teaching nurse practitioner students being part of her current role). We feel like our work experiences have provided us with some valuable parenting preparation.

Even prior to being married, we have always wanted to adopt a child. After Jessica was given an infertility diagnosis, we underwent some fertility treatment. During our time at the fertility clinic, it became clear to us that the time was right to pursue adoption and close our chapter of trying to have a biological child. We have always known that we would love a child the same regardless of whether we were genetically related, so we have not had a preference on how we become parents. We know that adoption is the perfect way for us to grow our family!

We would ensure that our lifestyle revolves around a child. We want to share our Christian faith with a child and enjoy church. We highly value education and would do everything we could to make sure a child receives optimal individualized learning resources and experiences (formal and informal) to help achieve his/her goals and teach him/her life lessons. We constantly talk about how we would love to do activities with a child such as making crafts and artwork, attending sporting events and plays, going on day trips, traveling the world, participating in swimming lessons and sports, putting puzzles together, building snowmen, baking and cooking delicious foods, taking walks, playing games indoors and outdoors, visiting the zoo, listening to music, and watching movies while also cherishing everyday moments like family dinners and reading books before bedtime. We also love cultural diversity, spending time with family/friends, volunteering, and staying active, and we have plans to provide numerous diverse experiences for a child.

Of course, you would always be important in our lives! We would be eternally grateful to you. We would want to be open with a child about adoption. We could provide you with letters and pictures and also look into any other methods of contact that sound good to you. We would love to have a relationship with you if that is okay with you. You would always be our hero!

Steven & Jessica