Have you heard this one? A camel and a baby alligator walk into a bar…

Interestingly enough a camel and a baby alligator played a role in the story of how we met. Instead of walking into a bar, we met at a Chicago Starbucks on New Year’s Day for a very safe afternoon coffee date. Emily arrived first and ordered a tall Americano, primarily because it is the cheapest thing on the menu. Kevin walked in at 2 p.m. on the nose and ordered a hot chocolate, primarily because he doesn’t like coffee. One might wonder why he suggested a coffee date when he didn’t drink coffee but, like the heart, the palate wants what it wants.

Coffee led to a game of pool, then dinner, then plans to see each other later that week. January 1st, 2013 serves as both anniversary and the day we met. Many things clicked that day: a similar sense of humor, a passion for travel, a love for all thing’s fast food, and similar values, to name just a few. So where do the alligator and the camel come into the story? The year prior to that coffee date Emily took a swamp tour in New Orleans and held a baby alligator. Kevin went to Egypt and sat on a camel. Pictures of these events, shared on the internet, ultimately brought us to where we are today.

In our free time we like to explore and learn new things.

Together, we enjoy going for walks or bike rides on the many nearby trails and in the winter we love to go snowshoeing. We are currently taking a course together through the local community center and we both enjoy reading­­—in 2019 Emily read over 200 books!

Individually, Emily enjoys going for a run in a new neighborhood, Kevin is always finding new parks and towns to check out.

We LOVE to travel and explore new countries, towns, food and be exposed to different cultures. Recently we traveled to Lisbon, Vienna, Prague, and Budapest. We are always looking for new and interesting places to travel to and planning our next trip. We look forward to sharing our love of reading, learning, travel and adventure with a child.

For us, the journey towards adopt began years before we even met each other. For Kevin it began shortly after graduation while living in Charlotte North Carolina where he volunteered as Guardian AD Litem (GAL) working as an advocate for children in the foster care system. For Emily, she can’t remember a time when adoption didn’t touch her life; Growing up a blended family, both parents were previously married, Emily was adopted by her mother’s second husband when she as four years old. These experiences, along with countless others including: Emily’s family volunteering with Healing the Children as a host family for the International inbound program, both Kevin and Emily growing up with friends who were adopted, and later as adults having friends that have adopted firmly planted adoption in our path.

We live in an incredible community of globally minded, locally acting families. Our Minnesota neighborhood includes shops, restaurants, parks, lakes, and some of the highest-ranking schools in the state all within a short walk. There is an annual art fair, Halloween trick-or-treating event and kids’ fair day held a few blocks from where we live. Our block is a tight knit eclectic mix of young couples, families, and empty nesters. People wave and say hello when they see you on the street and several times a year we have a block party where all the families from our block come together for a potluck dinner and enjoy sitting around a fire pit or playing games together in the street.

Our house is a 1½ story cape cod style home built in the 1940’s. The house was fully renovated inside 10 years ago; When we moved in a few years ago we did a few updates to the outside. The house has four bedrooms, of which we use one for an office as we have flexible schedules that allow us to work from home. Upstairs is the master bedroom, bathroom, and a guest bedroom that we plan to turn into a child’s bedroom. The main floor holds the dining room, guest bedroom, office, kitchen, and our living room where we spend most of our time. The basement if fully finished and will make a great playroom in addition to how we currently use it as a workout space and movie room.

Our extended families live all over the U.S. including: Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Florida. Having our family so spread out allows us the opportunity to travel and spend quality, intentional time with our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. Kevin has one older brother and his parents, who live in Florida and love to spend the day at the beach, just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Emily’s dad is one of 13 kids and she is the middle child in a family with five kids that includes an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister. Our moms have formed a close and unique bond and often come to visit us together and truly enjoy each other’s company.

Visits with both sides of our family typically entail breakfast at a local diner, a walk outside, and lots of laughter. We take every opportunity to visit our family including spending Thanksgiving in Florida with Kevin’s parents and alternating Christmas destinations. Our families, including parents, siblings and 10 nieces and nephews, are committed to maintaining a close connection despite physical distance. Our families have so much love for us and each other they are excited for this next adventure as we begin our adoption journey; They are completely over the moon for us.

To be where you are ... we can’t begin to imagine what your journey has been to this point. What we can say is how thankful we are that you are reading this letter. That you have made the decision to choose a family for your baby. The very best family. The family that will raise your child and exceed your greatest expectations. Are we that family? We truly believe we could be. Hopefully by the end of this letter you will know for sure, because that is what we desire most; For you to feel reassured that in picking us we are right for your child. We recognize that entrusting us to love, cherish, and guide a child into adulthood is the greatest gift we will ever receive.

So, who are we really? We are a married couple, composed of two individuals with a strong sense of self, who are ready to bring a child into our home and begin the journey of parenthood. We are established in our careers and took our time getting to know each other, dating for almost seven years, before we eventually tied the knot. We are thoughtful in our decision making and analyze every angle before taking action. One of our greatest strengths as a couple is what a great team we make; We are able to navigate difficult situations calmly, with poise, and often with humor. We have a strong relationship, that includes open communication (usually while taking long walks around a park or lake) trust and kindness. We genuinely like each other and enjoy spending time together; Laughter is an essential part of our relationship with each other and with our friends and family.

We were both raised by two loving parents that instilled strong values and sense of social responsibility. Our childhoods were vastly different (big family vs. small family, athletic vs. academic, Midwest vs. East coast, etc.) but filled with wonderful memories and a true sense of what it feels like to belong to loving family. It is that type of home and family, supportive, warm loving, that we long to share with a child of our own. Our siblings all have children of their own and make great aunts and uncles, and our parents are very active in their grandchildren’s lives. We know that the child we bring into our home will have an entire village of extended family to learn from, lean on and grow from. We love the active roll we take in our nieces and nephews lives and look forward to witnessing our child create similar relationships with our siblings and their cousins.

At this point it feels important to emphasize that we don’t just want to be parents; we want to be the parents to your child. We want to form a relationship with you (whatever that looks like and however that evolves), that makes sense for both you and the child you entrust us with. We don’t know what the future holds, that makes this process both exciting and scary. As we navigate this together, you can rest assured that we want to support you as best we can. Certainly, we will send letters and pictures to you but are open to more contact, such as exchanging emails or phone calls if that feels right. Our lives will forever be intertwined, and we embrace the inherent complexity as well as the opportunities that adoption presents.

We sincerely hope that if you connect with our letter and profile that you consider us knowing will do everything in our power to live up to your every expectation as we do our own. Sending you all the best as you continue through this journey of selecting the very best family for your baby.

Kevin & Emily