We really enjoy spending time with our friends and family in our spare time. Often we have people over for dinner, so we can share our love of cooking, or go out to try one of the many restaurants in our neighborhood. Many times we also will have a game night with them.

Since we get to experience all four seasons, we enjoy spending time outside all year round. In the fall, we enjoy apple picking, in the summer we go to the beach by our home, in the winter we take our winter-loving dog out to roll in the snow, and we love seeing the flowers blooming in the spring.

Both of us enjoy traveling when we can, both within the United States and abroad. Many of our most cherished memories are while traveling. We both grew up in families that enjoyed travel and hope to keep that tradition alive with our own family.

Omkar About Amanda: I admire Amanda for many things, including her sense of humor. Even when life gets tough, she can always make me laugh. She is the calm in the storm and stays cool under pressure. She is the glue that binds together our home and family. No matter what someone's background, age or beliefs are, she is able to connect with them, because, even though she is intelligent, she is always down-to-earth. This has helped her to create a close-knit social circle. I know she be a wonderful mother and I cannot wait to start this next chapter of our lives together as parents.

Amanda About Omkar: I admire Omkar for his kindness and patience, which he has demonstrated since the beginning of our relationship. He has helped to take care of both of our fathers, who have had health problems in the last few years. He has unwavering patience when it comes to both daily and major obstacles. During our time together, his sense of humor, which is mostly made up of dad jokes, has really grown on me, and will hopefully one day embarrass our children!

We have a seven-year-old dog named Max, who was rescued when he was probably a little less than a year old. He looks like a golden retriever mix. Amanda jokes he is Omkar's spirit animal, with endless patience and kindness.

Amanda always grew up with dogs but Max is Omkar's first pet. Amanda loved growing up with pets and always liked having one to get her out of the house and get some exercise, along with keeping her company. Omkar works from home a lot, so really enjoys having a "coworker" at home with him so he can take a break and go for a walk around the block or have some cuddle time on the couch.

Having pets during childhood taught Amanda a lot about responsibility and the cycle of life. Pets can also provide a lot of emotional support and make life's stresses a lot better. Omkar has even met several good friends by walking Max in the neighborhood and talking to others walking their own dogs, swapping stories and connecting.

We live in a high rise apartment building in the downtown of a major Midwestern city. Many of our friends and both of our workplaces are within walking distance. We love going out when it's nice out with our dog and go to the beach, park and get coffee, where we see many families doing the same. We live close to many restaurants, shops and entertainment, but our neighborhood is fairly quiet and very safe.

Our home was chosen with our friends and family in mind. It has a spare bedroom for our families to visit and a nice dining area with a beautiful view where we regularly have friends over for dinner. While it is not a full house, we still have plenty of room to play fetch with the dog inside down the long hallway. Our building is very family-friendly, with many children running around the lobby and in the pool when it's warm outside.

Omkar's extended family includes a younger brother and his parents, all of which live in the Atlanta area. They have a lot of close family friends in the area, which have really become their extended family. Omkar has a couple of cousins in America, otherwise, his family is still in India. His maternal grandmother is his only remaining grandparents, and he is very close to her. In fact, Amanda met her in India before she met anyone else in Omkar's family! We only get to see her every couple of years, but she is great at talking on the phone.

Amanda's family includes her father, who lives in rural Iowa, and her sister, who lives in southern California. Even though they are somewhat spread out, they all try and get together about every month. They enjoy cooking meals and going out to dinner, especially Italian. Amanda's parents actually were in the process of adopting when they found out they were expecting Amanda. While her mother is no longer with us, her dad is very excited about the prospect of adopting.

Thank you for this opportunity to tell you a little bit more about ourselves and why you should pick us!

We have been together since 2012 and married since 2014. One of the conversations where we actually felt really connected is when we first discussed having children and what we would do if we couldn't have them on our own. We actually both agreed that we would either adopt outright or adopt if we couldn't have our own children since we both thought so positively about it. So, when we had some difficulty getting pregnant, we weren't that upset, knowing both of us were very excited about adopting.

We feel that we really complement each other in many aspects of our life and relationship. Omkar can be silly and a dreamer while Amanda can be more serious and realistic. We have been through a lot since we met, including health problems in our parents, and it has brought us closer together. Amanda's favorite saying of Omkar's is, "the secret to a relationship is one person should always be patient." While we both have very different backgrounds on the surface, our family dynamics and values are actually very similar and we both personally have a lot in common, like how we like to spend our free time and our goals in life. We are very home-oriented, enjoying making our apartment cozy and hosting our friends and family here.

Both of us are very willing to share photos and updates at regular intervals and have open communication. We want you to be confident in your decision and know that we are taking care of him or her. We cannot imagine the decision you are making and want you to know that you will be able to see your baby grow up and have a life you would want for them. We both try to be very open and honest in our relationship with each other and our loved ones and want to extend that to you, too.

We think that we would be good parents because of our strong relationship, first between us as a couple, and then because of all of the family and friend support that we have. We are both very well-educated and want our child to be, too, as we know the value of being able to obtain an education. We have decided to adopt fairly early in our lives so that we can hopefully have many years as parents ahead of us. Since we are of different cultures, we are well-equipped to navigate any trans-racial adoptions. Additionally, we cannot hope more for a healthy baby, but if there were to be any issues, Amanda's knowledge of the medical field makes it easier to navigate. We also have a baby-obsessed golden retriever ready to shower his love on him or her!

It would be an absolute privilege to be able to be parents to your child. We both could not be more excited or grateful. We know this is a very difficult decision for you and cannot imagine making it ourselves, so we are thankful to you.

Sincerely,

Omkar & Amanda