We are very excited to become parents. We believe parenting is raising a child - not just teaching a child how to read, tie his shoes or get dressed, but teaching them how to love, care, and respect.

We are excited to pass down family traditions to the child and see them have joy for the same events that give us joy.

We like the idea of guiding the child so they can make good decisions when we are not around. We like the idea of encouraging them when they experience failure and when they experience success. We want them to feel our pride, love and excitement for them.

We are excited for the everyday happenings of a family like bedtime stories, bathtime fun, snuggling with cartoons, cooking with them, making them breakfast on the weekend, helping them get dressed, helping them with homework, and going to all the sports games or plays or whatever they get involved in.

Stephanie About Derek: Derek is an amazing husband. He works hard for our family. Derek has a lot of energy and that comes in handy when we are with the nieces and nephews. He is so great with kids. He never yells, but he guides really well. He is supportive of me when I am having a bad day. He knows when I need a hug. He rubs my back when I grade papers or stay up late planning lessons. He is a great taste-tester even when I have a Pinterest fail. He goes along with all my crazy, crafty ideas and does all the handy-man work around the house. He makes me laugh to where I can't breathe. He spoils me with hand-written cards and date nights. I am lucky to have him and this child will be so lucky to have him as a dad!

Derek About Stephanie: Stephanie has a really big heart and loves to make people happy. Stephanie is a very good cook and I get to eat what she makes. Stephanie is an amazing teacher and has a strong passion for her students. Stephanie works very hard to make learning fun for her students. Stephanie is very good with kids and does a great job playing mom for her nephew during the summer. Stephanie has a lot of fun playing with nieces and nephews and keeping them entertained. Stephanie is a great wife and will be a fantastic mother to this child.

Our home is a beautiful split-level located in a quaint town in Pennsylvania. We have four bedrooms and can't wait to make one a nursery for this child. We love our basement. It has a fireplace for the cold winter nights, a ping-pong table (Derek always wins), a Wii and board games. We have a big backyard with fruit trees, a fire pit and a big deck. Brutis definitely approves of the backyard (especially when there are bunnies and squirrels that sneak in.) We love opening our home and hosting friends and family.

Our neighborhood is very quiet. We have Amish neighbors with chickens, mules, horses and cows. They have a stand in the summer with fresh produce and baked goods (YUMMY). It is peaceful to walk through our neighborhood where there is a covered bridge and a lot of farm lands.

Our community has a swimming pool and several fun playgrounds to enjoy in the summer. We have several libraries close by that plan events for children throughout the year that we would love to take your child to. We have farm shows/fairs around us that we like to go to to eat funnel cakes, look at the animals and enjoy the different shows/ tractor pulls.

Stephanie's family is small, but spread throughout the United States. When we get together it is called Family Fun Time. We play games like UMP, Scrabble, Dominoes, and Sequence. We share big meals consisting of Texas Salad, Sweet Potato Souffle, rolls and other "fixins." We also love spending summers with our nephew doing all the fun kid "stuff" like mini-golfing, bowling, water-parks, movies, carnivals, and eating ice cream!

Derek's immediate family lives close by. For Christmas, we rotate names then write poems and give them a gift. We share the Christmas story and sing carols. The nephews and nieces like puzzles so we usually end up around a table putting one together. We enjoy going over for dinner on weeknights and having Derek's dad around to be Mr. Fix-it. Derek's extended family is large and we have three reunions a year. One has camping where kids can play, then in the morning we have a worship service and family lunch.

Both families are very excited (we are already getting presents) to welcome this child into our family. They pray for and love this child already and are waiting with open arms, just like us!

Hi There! Thank you so much for reading our profile and taking a moment to get to know us. We hope that you see the excitement we have for adoption.

We are Derek and Stephanie. We have been married for 7 years and have known each other for 10 years. Our favorite couple activities include playing the WII, having bonfires, going on walks, traveling, snuggling, sleeping in on Saturdays, making breakfast together, and going out for ice cream.

Stephanie is a Family and Consumer Science teacher to high school students. She teaches all things "home ec." She loves being the teacher that students come to for advice and being the cheerleader for projects/sports for school and activities outside of school.

Derek works at a local ice cream factory. He stays very active at work and can eat as much ice cream in the break room as he wants (Stephanie thinks this sounds GREAT!)

We love our life, our home, our family and holiday traditions. Yet, something is missing...

We want and are very excited to add a child to our home. We always wanted children and a big family. We knew that it might not happen naturally and we discussed adoption. The excitement that we feel now that we have applied for adoption is indescribable. We can't wait to hold this child in our arms and share with them the love that we have bubbling up inside of us. We can't wait to laugh with them, let them win in Candy Land and watch them grow up and celebrate them.

We understand that when you review our profile you may see differences in our color, heritage or background. We want you to know that we embrace, accept and celebrate differences in all of us. We've never been ones to hide our differences under the carpet and feel it is very important to make sure your child learns about their culture and be proud of who they are and where they come from. We have several different festivals in our area we would love to take your child to. Stephanie loves to learn new food so she would love to learn your cultural foods so they can become a part of our dinner choices. Art, dolls, and children's books will show diversity so your child will not only learn about their own culture, but will love and embrace all cultures. We hope to travel to encourage that as well. Our church has several families that have adopted transracially and we believe your child will have many experiences with other children who are not only adopted but who are adopted transracially. We live in a diverse community and we hope to find several role models of your child's culture. Our hope would be to teach your child to love as God loves by seeing the whole person and not the skin color. Most importantly we want your input to be considered if there are specific parts of your culture you feel important we want you to feel comfortable enough with us to share. We want to know what you enjoy and appreciate about your background and we would love to make sure your child knows that and participates in such activities. We will become one family and we will celebrate each other and our family as a whole. We are looking forward to celebrating with you.

We have no idea what you are going through. We are praying for you and we want you to be a part of our family and our traditions. You will not be a hidden name in our house. You will be known and celebrated. We will celebrate you and your love for the child.

Since you will be a part of our family we want to have you on the family texting group so you can receive the funny picture of the day. We will FaceTime you for the monumental moments like smiling, crawling, walking and first dance. We will have your picture in our home. We will share pictures (probably too many because Steph loves pictures.) We will write letters and send crafts especially on Mother's day. We will forever be grateful to you and want you to know that you are loved for your sacrifice.

Thank you for considering adoption and for looking through our profile to learn more about us.

Derek & Stephanie