Marissa is very passionate about her job as a therapist and spending time with family. Marissa values independence, education, inner peace, creativity and letting everyone be themselves. In her free time, Marissa loves activities involving music and art. She likes to sing, play the piano, write songs, and listen to all types of music. Marissa greatly enjoys creating art through drawing, painting, photography, and baking. Marissa enjoys spending time in nature and doing water activities like swimming, paddle-boarding, boating, kayaking, and hiking to see waterfalls. Marissa also loves to read books and watch movies that have comedy, mystery, fantasy or adventure story lines.

Gary enjoys spending time doing active and adventurous activities. On most nice weekends you can find him out on the water in the family's boat, on his jet ski, in a kayak or attempting to wakeboard. Additionally, Gary has begun the process to obtain his private pilot certificate which will allow him to fly planes around the region and fulfill a childhood dream. When the weather doesn't cooperate, you might find Gary doing his best not to be beat in video games! Most of all, Gary enjoys spending his time with his loving wife and their cuddly dogs on the couch watching movies.

Education is highly valued in our family. We both have advanced degrees that have led to careers we love and that provide us with financial security. The public and charter school districts in our area have expansive educational opportunities, extracurricular activities, and many learning resources for children. We understand that children have different learning strengths and challenges and we will do everything possible to find opportunities that foster a passion for learning and allow your child to experience success. In our state and bordering states there are amazing colleges that have a wide variety of majors and experiences that would allow many choices for your child in preparing for a future career.

We also think that some of the best learning occurs outside the classroom. We will do many things with your child that foster learning including traveling, going to children's museums, doing arts and crafts, and encouraging them to participate in extracurricular activities (e.g. sports, music lessons, art lessons, clubs) they may be interested in. Gary loves science, math, technology, and auto mechanics. Marissa loves music activities, art activities, computer science, theater, baking, and reading. We hope to share some of these activities with your child, but also want them to develop their own interests that we will explore with them.

We greatly value cultural diversity and have family, neighbors, and friends with diverse racial, spiritual, and ethnic backgrounds. Marissa has a niece who is bi-racial and Gary has an adopted cousin who is Chinese. We have friends and co-workers who are Mexican, African American, Filipino and Indian. Marissa has also spent most of her career working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and loves learning from people different than herself.

We enjoy and value learning about other cultures through travel, local activities, art, music, talks with friends, and educational experiences. We promise to make sure your child is exposed to significant cultural diversity and that their cultural identity is respected and promoted throughout their life. As parents we recognize it is our job to provide unconditional love and to support our child as they develop and learn who they are. We understand that people are unique within their cultural identities and we will involve our child in activities that honor their heritage, their interests, and personalities. Our extended family is very accepting of cultural diversity and any child we adopt will be loved and accepted for who they are. Many of our family members actively engage in cultural events and have diverse social circles.

We live in a suburb that is approximately 35 minutes from a major city in North Carolina. Our community has several nice parks with playgrounds, boat areas on the nearby lake, and multiple recreational centers for family and children (e.g., YMCA, baseball recreation park, tennis and golf club). One of the reasons we chose our current community is that the public and charter school systems have excellent learning opportunities and we want your child to have all the educational resources necessary to meet their academic and social needs.

Our community is friendly and has many local events including farmers markets, festivals, athletic events, religious events, and holiday activities. The suburb we live in is quiet with numerous natural trees and lake views, along with other families that have children of varying ages. The large city we live near hosts a wide variety of activities and is home to professional sports, universities, art museums, performing art theaters, excellent restaurants, and cultural events.

Our house is a two story brick home with a large front porch that has a beautiful lake view. Our house has four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a large kitchen perfect for entertaining, bright living room, bonus movie room, home office, and a room devoted to art, music, and relaxing. Outside we have a large deck, open play area and an in-ground swimming pool with hot tub.

Gary has one sister who lives 1.5 hours away and she and her husband have a one month old daughter. Both Gary's sister and her husband are in the Air Force. Gary's father lives nearby, is retired and is excited to be available to babysit and take his future grandchild fishing. Gary's father comes over most weekends to go boating, have family meals, and to do outdoor activities with us.

Marissa's parents live in Wisconsin and are retired. They are excited to visit and be a part of their new grandchild's life. Marissa's parents were both elementary school educators and Marissa's mother currently teaches piano lessons to children. Marissa's sister and niece also live close by and frequently spend time with our family on the weekends. We have three small dogs that are silly and love children.

Our house is the main gathering place for holiday dinners and family events because we love to cook and spend time with family. Our family loves traveling and doing water activities on the nearby lake together. We often go to the mountains or the beach for fun on long weekends. We also like to watch movies, play video games, and have board game nights. We are excited to include the child we adopt in our fun, laughter, travel, and family activities!

We are incredibly grateful you are considering us to be parents for your child. We have thought about how challenging it could be for you to make the decision to put your child up for adoption and some of the worries or questions you might have for adoptive parents. We are willing to answer any questions you have and if you decide we are the right family, we will commit to making sure you know your child is safe and loved throughout their life. We hope the information below will answer some of your questions.

Parenting and supporting the child we adopt is our number one priority. Family is incredibly important to us and we are preparing the best we can to raise children. We are both established in our careers and have flexible schedules that will allow us to be there when your child needs us. We admit we are first time parents and have a lot to learn, but we are confident we will figure it out and have a happy family life. We are excited to meet your child and have them change our family in new and exciting ways! We are looking forward to supporting what kind of person they will become and we promise to provide an environment where they are encouraged to learn new things and develop into who they want to be. We are supportive of all types of diversity and will provide them opportunities that allow them to feel comfortable with their identity and explore and celebrate who they are. We want your child to have an amazing life that makes them happy and is full of love and support. We want them to know we are their biggest fans, coaches, and helpers for life. We think some of the most important qualities in good parents include patience, kindness, empathy, warmth, flexibility, structure, and unconditional love. We have extended family and friends with young children that are very excited to meet your child and do fun activities with them. In the future, we are open to adopting at least one or two children over time so your child could have siblings in the future. We believe sibling bonds are very special for children.

We have many adventures and activities that we would like to include your child in including holiday traditions, traveling internationally, boating on the lake, going to the beach, attending cultural events, and exploring the mountains. Since Marissa's family lives in Wisconsin there will be opportunities to go to the great lakes and do winter activities like sledding, building snowmen, and skiing. We want your child to have meaningful educational experiences and be able to participate in activities that support their strengths and interests. We want your child to develop the skills to someday live independently, reach their personal goals, and have self-confidence.

Our home life is a mix of laid back and active. Some weekends we like to relax and other weekends we like to travel or do fun activities with friends and family. We love celebrating birthdays and holidays by baking, planning celebrations, and creating new traditions. We have three gentle, silly, and cuddly dogs that your child can hangout with as they grow up. These dogs are our best friends and they love children so we are expecting they will be your child's best friends too.

If you choose us we want you to know we will always honor your role as the child's birth parent and the brave choice you made by choosing adoption. We are supportive of open adoption and will send you letters and pictures on a regular basis to keep you updated. We are also open to communication by telephone, emails, and in-person visits so your child can know you if you are willing to do this. We value you and would like a level of communication that you are comfortable with and is helpful for your child. Thank you for reading our letter. We hope you find the best possible family for your child whether it is us or a different family.

Sincerely,

Gary & Marissa