Being a parent to us means being responsible for a human life, and God has chosen that child to be put in our path. Even though they will not be part of our flesh and blood biologically, they will be treated as though they are in every sense of our life. Being chosen to be first time parents means the world not only to us, but to both sets of families and our very supportive group of friends. We feel our role as parents is to give them wings so they learn to fly and to become productive members of the world with good values and will in turn become wonderful parents themselves. We, as parents, expect to like most watching them explore the world around them and help to teach them to become the best versions of themselves. We are very excited to teach them to roll over, to sit up, to take their first steps, and to become good people. We feel the role in us becoming their parent is to teach them to be good people who care for others in this world and be good stewards of Christ in every way possible.

We like to spend our leisure time in a variety of ways. During the week when time is more limited, we love cooking together, trying new recipes, and eating dinner together while discussing our day. On the weekends, we love planning short trips away. These trips range from visiting Stephanie's family who lives an hour away, to longer trips to the Lake of the Ozarks. We love attending game nights with friends and family and also attending fire pit nights to unwind and enjoy fellowship together. One of our favorite leisure activities is to recapture our childhood and borrow our nephews for the weekend. We love to see our nephews laugh and being a part of their lives. We love to have fun with them by taking them to the zoo, Magic House, Six Flags, and then spoil them and give them back to their parents.

The single most important moment for us thus far would have to be our wedding day. It was a perfect fall day and we couldn't have asked for a prettier setting. Charles remembers Stephanie walking down the aisle and seeing no one else in the church but her. The most memorable part of the ceremony was when the priest said you may kiss the bride and the bridal party surprised Charles with a decorated step stool for him to stand on. In case you were wondering, Charles is five inches shorter than Stephanie! Charles along with the rest of the crowd burst out laughing. That was probably the highlight of our entire day knowing we were finally married and the first thing that we did was share a laugh together.

Stephanie's family is very tight knit and does many fun activities together. We enjoy traveling together as a family anywhere from Florida to the Mountains. Traveling together has become one of our favorite experiences the past few years knowing that our parents won't always be with us and the nephews will only be young once and we love to experience the world together.

When we are not traveling, we love spending random Sunday dinners together as we all live within an hour apart. Stephanie's family is very much looking forward to the adoption, especially our nephew Jack who asks all the time when he will have a new cousin to play and become best friends with. What makes Stephanie's family unique is she comes from a large family with over forty first cousins and ten aunts and uncles.

We wished Charles has family that lived closer to the area. Charles’ sister and her husband are currently living out their dream of acting/producing in Hollywood. On the opposite end of the country resides the rest of Charles extended family in New York. We love to visit both yearly when we can. Charles’ parents on the other hand do live close by which is a blessing. We see them often for dinner and game nights. What makes Charles’ family is unique in that both Charles’ Dad and Grandpa have written books about their childhoods and enjoy sharing their experiences with the world. This will make great keepsakes for future generations.

Our house is a cozy three-bedroom house with a large size eat-in kitchen that is perfect for family dinners. We are working on finishing the basement to include a family room and a kid's toy room to enjoy in the future. Stephanie has lived in this house for twelve years and Charles moved in after we got married. The neighborhood is very family-friendly where we all get along and take care of each other. Each Halloween we sit out in the cul-de-sac around a fire pit handing out candy to hundreds of neighborhood children. We happen to live in one of the best school districts in the state and look forward to our child attending. Within a few miles of our house there are hundreds of miles of walking trails and a state-of-the-art recreational facility that includes an ice skating rink, an Olympic sized pool, workout facility, and ball fields, which we visit several times a week. We are blessed to have many annual events in our area that we look forward to yearly which include the annual Fourth of July fireworks show over the Missouri River. The old-time Christmas festivities which include Santa Clauses from around the world. In the Summertime, one of our favorite events is the county fair, which Stephanie has attended since she was little. We would love to share our home and neighborhood with our child!

Thank you so much for considering us as adoptive parents. We know you want the best for your baby and that is why, if you pick us, we will be sure your child is blessed with an amazing life full of opportunity. Your baby will have family and friends that will love and support them in any way possible. If you decide to pick us as adoptive parents for your child we would cherish your baby as a priceless gift to welcome with the utmost love, care, and devotion.

We were drawn together through the use of technology and we were one of the success stories on match.com. The two of us are introverted by nature and up to that point we had been unlucky in love. We both stepped out of our comfort zone during this process, and our personalities bloomed together. We dated for close to a year, were engaged for a year and we have now been married for a little over three years. Our household is filled with warmth and happiness, and a child would add so much more love and happiness to our home.

We both enjoy many outdoor activities ranging from soccer, which Stephanie has enjoyed playing since her childhood, and swimming, which Charles swam competitively and still enjoys to this day. We hope our child enjoys these activities as much as we do and has a love of outdoors. We cannot wait to see what other individual interests and passions our child will have and we cannot wait to support them in developing any and all interests they may have. We were never the best at one of our sports, but we gave it our all and learned valuable skills like teamwork, which we use on our daily basis.

One aspect of our life we hope that our child comes to love is our love of traveling. One tradition that we hope to share with our child is a family vacation with extended family every year. Our goal is to instill a sense of adventure, love of learning, and experiences of other cultures. We would like them to look back on their childhood with fond memories of times spent with cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents as we both did when we were children.

Becoming parents is a dream we have both shared forever. We knew when we got married our chances for infertility were greater than most couples. We knew it may be in God’s plan to not have a biological child and knew adoption was the natural next step for us. We have never let the process of not getting pregnant make us sad or upset. We are excited for the opportunity of being given God's greatest gift in life, which is that of a child. We can't wait to hold them in our arms, to see them smile for the first time and for them to develop their own personality. We look forward to sharing this bond of a child with you forever. We look forward to sharing pictures and phone calls and emails with you as we come together to share this special gift.

Thank you for your consideration in allowing us to become parents of your wonderful gift. We cannot promise their life will be one hundred percent perfect. We will do our best in raising them to be the best child they can be that loves life, loves others, and loves the world.

Sincerely,

Charles & Stephanie