Cooking is not just something we have to do; it's something we love to do! Specifically, we enjoy experimenting with different cooking techniques, from salt-baked vegetables to sous vide. We are a hands-on kitchen, so we like to get our friends and family involved in preparing portions of the meal; it makes it more fun and interactive. We also have two different types of grills because Matt really enjoys barbecuing and smoking meat.

Outside of cooking, Laura has a special hobby that she enjoys working on in her leisure time. She creates photo books every year to capture our life together; travel, holidays, and memorable moments. She started this tradition in 2014, and It is a wonderful way to look back and remember everything we have been through and done together over the years. We look forward to creating yearly photo books for our children one day, which will begin with their adoption story.

Laura About Matt: Matt is a caregiver by nature, and it ultimately led to his profession working in pediatric anesthesia. He takes care of children every day at work, and I know how much he wants to take care of a child of our own and teach them how to care for others. He is compassionate, incredibly patient, and has the best sense of humor. He has a unique way of making people laugh when they least expect it and has quite the arsenal of jokes.

Matt has been an amazing uncle over the years, and I love watching him with our nieces and nephews. They are always so excited to see him, and he consistently makes a special effort to plan a trip or activity. Whether it's teaching his nephew to boogie board or taking our nieces to a ropes course, Matt is always up for an adventure and willing to try something new. His spontaneity is something I really look forward to seeing when he becomes a father.

Matt About Laura: I have never met anyone who has such honest intentions in my life. She is caring, attentive, and selfless, all qualities that will make her a wonderful mother. Family is the most important thing to Laura, and loves when we have our nieces and nephews over to visit. She bought a special kid's size table that we keep in the heart of our home with toys and games for them to play. And she even set up a guest bedroom for them with dinosaur sheets! It's the little things that make a big difference, and it says a lot about what she values, family time. Laura is also creative and loves to have fun, which will make raising a child an absolute joy.

Outside of our careers, we are personal finance bloggers! Matt writes the majority of the content, and Laura does all the editing, maintains the website, etc. What Matt would describe as a hobby quickly grew into a passion, and he found himself teaching everyone at the hospital what he learned. Now, he gives lectures and posts articles on all things personal finance, helping people create more financial freedom in their lives. The decisions we have made allow us to prioritize and live the life we want today, without sacrificing our long-term future. We understand the value of a dollar and look forward to teaching our children all the things we wish we would have known at an earlier age to help them live the life they want and give generously.

We live in a suburb about 30 minutes outside of a major city in the Mid-Atlantic. There are lots of kid-friendly activities that involve science and education, from museums to the aquarium. There are a ton of families with children of all ages in our community, who we regularly see on our neighborhood walks. Something we love most are the impromptu get-togethers on nice evenings, where all the kids play, and adults socialize in a neighbor's yard. And our neighborhood organizes all sorts of events, from block parties to visiting food and fire trucks! We are so thankful to live in a young, active, and safe neighborhood with really nice neighbors who have become our friends.

We also live in an excellent school district where the elementary, middle, and high school are all less than two miles away from our home and accessible through our neighborhood. There are sports fields and courts all within walking distance of our home.

We live in a two-story house with four bedrooms and 3.5 baths with plenty of room to grow our family! Our favorite room in the house is the kitchen because we love to cook and entertain. Whether it's just us or with friends and family, it's a place where we enjoy spending quality time doing something we love. Another favorite room is the sunroom, which leads into our fenced in backyard. It is a particularly lovely place to spend time in the warmer months when we can open up the windows, feel the cool breeze, and hear the birds chirp.

We also live within driving distance of both the beach and the mountains, making for some fantastic weekend trips.

We live within driving distance of both sides of our immediate family, which is something we truly value because we see them often. We live 15 minutes away from Laura's parents and see them along with her grandmother every Sunday for dinner. Afterward, we usually play our favorite card game... but grandma doesn't go easy on us. Even at 91, she's still a card shark!

We also live within 20 minutes of the majority of Laura's extended family, so we have large family gatherings of 20+ people. Holidays with a large family are a lot of fun; after we eat, we gather around to play some of our favorite Minute to Win It games, which always results in many laughs! We are fortunate because we see our extended families, not just around the holidays. We have a ton of nieces, nephews, and cousins, so it's really fun when we all get together and can watch the kids run around and play. And they are very much looking forward to the arrival of a new baby cousin.

In addition, we have siblings that live in California, New York and Indiana, and enjoy the opportunities when we get to travel to see them as well.

When we told our families that we were pursuing adoption, we received an overwhelming amount of encouragement and support, and we can't wait to bring a child into our close-knit family.

If we knew you were reading this right now, our hearts would skip a beat (in a good way!). Nothing would make us happier than to adopt your child and give them all the opportunities in life that we were blessed to have.

When we got married five years ago, we were eager to grow our family but quickly realized that conceiving would be very difficult for us. We have experienced years of infertility treatments and losses. And, through it, our bond grew stronger. The turning point for us was when we realized that having a family of our own was the most important thing to us, and it didn’t have to do with our genetics, but everything to do with our hearts.

Adopting a child to grow our family would mean the world to us, and words truly cannot express our gratitude for your consideration.

We want you to have comfort knowing that we would provide your child with a safe, loving, and fun home. A home full of creativity in learning and in living. A place where a child will feel supported to follow their passions with encouragement and sound advice from us every step of the way. We have built a stable marriage and believe communication is key; we speak openly and honestly and make decisions together as a couple. You have our commitment that we will lead by example and show our children how to be respectful, compassionate, and committed. There is so much we look forward to teaching them to help them become a strong and independent adult.

Family is our number one priority, so we chose to live close to a large number of ours. We see some of them every week, and we see all of them on holidays and special occasions. When we shared that we are going to adopt, the outpouring of support we received was tremendous. We are lucky to have such a close family, and we cannot wait to share that with our future child. Everything from pancakes at Grandma's with their cousins to hunting for Easter Eggs, they will be surrounded by people who will protect them and love them.

We are hopeful for an open adoption but respect your decision with whatever adoption plan you choose. We understand things may change over the years but are open to many means of communication, sending letters, pictures, phone calls, or in-person visits when the time is right. We are happy to share their milestones and show you the wonderful life they have with us. We want this child to know about their adoption story, and we plan to talk about it early and often, so they grow up with confidence, knowing that their life was built from love and selfless intentions.

Thank you for your interest in getting to know us; there is so much more that we want to share with you, and would like the opportunity to get to know you as well. We are so excited about everything that parenthood brings, from sleepless nights to first steps. We often talk about the places we will go and the traditions we want to create with our child, but we need your help. For years, we have watched our friends and family have children, and as much as we love being an Aunt and Uncle, we cannot wait for the moment when we will be called Mom and Dad.

Sincerely,

Matt & Laura