Ruth grew up with quite a few kids who were adopted; all of them knew they were adopted and had loving families with great childhoods. The idea of adoption has always been in the back of our minds as a possibility. As a military family we meet and develop quick relationships with all kinds of people from all over the country and the world - many families have adopted children and are very open to discussing it and sharing their experiences. We have a daughter, Callie, who is the apple of our eye! We have tried and been unsuccessful to have more biological children, but we've seen so many positive adoption experiences around us and really would love to welcome a new little person to our family. We have a cup running over with life and love and closeness, and we want someone to share it with.

We would also really like our daughter to have the experience of having a sibling; we both grew up with brothers and there is something so important about having someone to share with, care for, grow together, and be linked for life. Callie has been asking for a baby brother or sister for years! This kid has baby fever worse than we do! Every time she sees a baby or toddler or any kid, she goes right up and wants to hold them or play with them or care for them. Callie is in kindergarten now, loves it, is doing really well, but still really wants a sibling. She cannot wait to become a big sister!

We're a very active family. We love to run (Matt has a trail half marathon coming up, and our daughter is doing her first 5k soon), we enjoy hiking, biking, and generally any exploring of an area new to us.

Ruth volunteers quite a bit - she's a troop leader with our daughter's Girl Scout troop, volunteers at the elementary school once a week, does work for PTA special projects and events, and volunteers around recital time for our daughter's dancing (ballet and tap).

Together one of our favorite things is to go to a brewery a few towns over - on our way we pick up either tacos (there is an awesome street taco window that is just like what we had in California) or pizza (again, awesome, stone fired, so good) and go to the brewery to eat and color in coloring books, play UNO or Monopoly, or just spend time together or with friends. Afterwards there is a place that sells pie by the slice a few doors down and we'll walk down and bring some back for dessert.

Ruth is Scottish, Irish, English, and Matt is French Canadian; we are both pretty pale! But we are open to any child of any race because we believe that love is love and we don't need a child to look like us for us to love them or fold them in to our family and grow together.

As we mentioned before, we're constantly around and forming friendships with a lot of people from all over the country and the world; when your circle is that diverse, you love all the kids and their parents and their families.

However, we do also understand the importance of knowing where you come from. We would like (if the birth mother is willing) for our child to know where they came from, what their heritage is, and help them explore that and experience that in any way we can. We hope to raise our children so that they feel 1) secure with us, but 2) able to pursue any questions or needs they may have as they grow up and begin to explore their heritage.

Our home is a three-bedroom, single-story house about an hour south of Seattle, Washington.

Mt. Rainier National park is only 20 minutes away to be in nature. We have a playground within sight of our house, lots of kids in the neighborhood, and a huge planned neighborhood next door that has miles of groomed hiking trails, playgrounds and parks.

We have a front yard with a hill (the best hill in the neighborhood for sledding when it snows) and a private fenced in back yard with a big deck, fire pit, and lots of flowers and plants, which makes it so nice in the summertime.

One fun thing about our neighborhood (or our whole town) is that they are all very enthusiastic fireworks people, so for the 4th of July the town doesn't even bother putting on a show! Everyone lights HUGE fireworks right in the street in front of their houses! So on the 4th of July we put chairs in the front yard and sit and light our own, but also really enjoy our neighbors' wild huge fireworks - they go for hours and hours.

We are a military family, and in Washington state we are currently as far from our families as we can be! Ruth's parents are in Maine, Matt's mother is in upstate New York (half an hour from Canada) and his father is in Savannah, Georgia. Ruth's mom is very close with our daughter and comes to visit as often as she can, and we try to go to Maine for a few weeks every summer - usually in August for "Pop's" birthday where we have a big lobster dinner.

Although we don't live near any family we are as close as we can be and hope to move back to New England to be near them someday soon. Because we are military, we move every 2-4 years, and the great thing about that is that our families get to see and explore new places with us when they visit. They love that they've gotten to explore and try lots of new things with us in each of the new places we've been. All this adventure has given our daughter an adventurous spirit too - she loves trying new things and going new places - we are so excited to have another child to see the world with wide eyes with us.

Let us open by thanking you for considering us. That you would trust us to love and raise your child as our own is an honor. Thank you.

We are Matt, Ruth and Callie and we are so excited and ready for this new little person to join us! We are full of love and really ready to welcome in another child to share our lives with. We have been married for 12 years, together for 14, and our daughter Callie is 6. Although we are a military family (Matt is an Officer in the Coast Guard) with a somewhat roaming existence, we are a very close and stable family unit that is strong as we explore all that this country and world has to offer together.

Yours is a very big choice and we hope that reading our profile has helped you get a good picture of who we are, and we hope that you like what you see! We have tried to be as open and honest as we can to give you a better idea of not only who we are but the life you may be choosing for your child. Please trust that we will do our absolute best for your baby to ensure they are loved and secure and have the best we can provide to help them form into a well-adjusted and well-rounded capable human being.

Being a parent is hard work, but for us is so worth it. One of Ruth's favorite things is being a stay-at-home parent. She and Callie love going to the library for story hour, the songs, the stories, the rhymes, the games, the consistent routine of returning each week. Ruth loves doing new stimulating things (parks, zoos, children's museums, boardwalks, etc) but also the monotony of going to the grocery store and working on the patience of holding hands in the parking lot, staying in the cart, making it through the whole store. We try to balance things that are interesting and good for all of us (kid friendly, but not always kid-centered) with things that really are all about the kid (visiting the giant playground under the space needle in Seattle or running through the water sculpture nearby).

We would like our child to know that they came to us because we sought them out, but we would also like him/her to know where they came from. How much they know is up to you. We'd like to know as much as we can so that we can answer questions, maybe try to incorporate some of their heritage or culture into our lives, and help them know not just that they belong with us but that there is a greater world they belong to, as well. If you are open to photos, emails, cards, maybe someday some questions as the child gets older, we would be open to these things as well. If you aren't, we understand. We think that entrusting someone else with the care of your child is enormous and the level of contact has to be something we're both comfortable with and will probably fluctuate over time. That's okay. Please know whether or not you would like contact, we will still be embracing and working to raise him/her the best we can.

We were both raised rurally, but we have big dreams and have had big views of the world. We're working hard with our daughter to balance instilling the values and satisfaction and comfort of small town with the interest and ambition to seek out the adventure of what might be over the horizon. We hope that you will trust us to fold your little one into our family and over the years follow where he/she goes with us and beyond.

Again, thank you.

Warmly,

Matt & Ruth