Over the last five years, we have taken three school groups to Washington, D.C. On these trips, students are immersed in our culture and heritage for a week. Many of these students have never, and likely will never return to our nation's capital. For most of our marriage, that's been the extent of our vacations. We really enjoy bringing the kids out of their bubble and teaching them along the way. Aside from the educational value, we enjoy our time there together. We even spent most of our honeymoon in Washington, D.C.!

Marc's dream vacation includes a trip to Disney. One of his favorite childhood memories was going to Disney at four years old with his parents and grandparents. It's something he is looking forward to doing with a child. Heather spent time in Europe as a child and would love to return on vacation with our own family. Together, we are working our way through visiting all 50 states. We have successfully reached 15 states and look forward to exploring more with a child!

We were married in April 2015. We knew we wanted to have a family as soon as possible but anticipated having difficulty. A year later, we began seeking fertility assistance. We saw five separate doctors and endured countless tests over the next year. Heather was diagnosed with a medical condition that prevents her from naturally conceiving. That was a difficult moment for us. We took some time to adjust to our new reality, then started looking at options to grow our family. We tried fertility treatments, with no success. We also became licensed foster parents. We had a total of four foster children live with us over a year. For varying reasons, outside of our control, the children did not stay. Our hope was to adopt them, but we realized that fostering would not always lead to adoption. We decided to pause our foster license to pursue a private adoption. Heather regularly shares with people who ask about our adoption journey that "We love other people's children for a living" as teachers. After teaching and fostering, we know that we and our families have plenty of love and happiness to give a child that comes into our lives.

As social studies teachers, we have knowledge of cultural diversity from a teaching standpoint and from interactions with diverse students.

We are ready to welcome any child into our home regardless of their cultural or racial background. We have every intention of raising a child with their cultural heritage present in our family life. We would love to have family recipes to cook and share with a child. Traditions are also something we would like to share with a child. We have discussed how to incorporate diverse languages and religions.

We envision working our family traditions and yours into this child's life. We want their cultural heritage to have a place in their life and provide those same important memories and traditions as you would.

We live on a quiet road in a quiet neighborhood in rural New Hampshire.

Our house is a quick five-minute walk to a private beach on a lake. During the summer, we love to swim and kayak. At night you can hear Loons swimming from the lake. During the winter, our neighbor clears an area to skate on the ice. A large group of neighborhood children go down after school to play hockey or learn to skate with a walker.

Our house is a raised cape with a large living room and three bedrooms. We often are in the living room, either playing games, or watching TV together. We also love to spend time cooking and baking together. We have the baby's room set up and decorated with elephants.

Our yard has vegetable and flower gardens, a fire pit, and a creek that runs through the side of the property. We have two apple trees growing in the yard that we hope will produce fruit next year and a hope for two pear trees to start bearing fruit. We love to have campfires during the summer and fall. Marc hopes to have an above ground pool installed in the next few years, but he will need to convince Heather first!

We both come from homes with two married parents and a younger sister. Marc's family is an hour away. Heather's is five minutes away. Our families are incredibly supportive of our adoption and are excited to meet this child. Marc's parents were foster parents, so they have experience raising children who are not biologically related to them. While Heather's parents do not have that experience, they have been present and excited for every step of our journey.

We see our families frequently. When we have dinner or larger get-togethers, both families enjoy time playing board or card games, cooking, and talking.

Heather's favorite Christmas tradition is baking Christmas cookies with her mom and sister. This started when Heather was a toddler and continues today. It's something she is very excited to share with a child. Marc's favorite family tradition is getting together with his extended family for Thanksgiving. He enjoys the meal, but loves seeing his family all together. He has many cousins who enjoy a competitive game of football each year. We also enjoy watching the annual Thanksgiving Day NFL game.

We spend a lot of time with friends as well. We spent a long weekend in August camping with Heather's best friend, husband, and their two children. We went swimming, roasted marshmallows, and played games. We are all hoping to make this a summer tradition.

Firstly, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for opening our profile. We can't imagine the feelings you are experiencing right now and respect the gravity of the decision you are considering. As we've worked through our paperwork, we've constantly considered you and your experience. We know this is not an easy decision for you. It's one made out of unconditional love for your child. We are honored to even be considered.

Our adoption journey started with an infertility diagnosis. We both wanted to have a family from a young age and envisioned married life. So far, none of our plans turned out as anticipated. But that's life! We have explored countless paths to have a family and landed on private adoption. We both want to love and raise a child from birth. We know it will come with countless more struggles, but our journey to get here means that even in those struggles, we will appreciate being parents.

In our home, your child will be surrounded by support. We will support your child and their interests, as will our parents, siblings, and friends. Growing up, we had parents who always supported us whenever we did anything, as a result we want to do the same for any child that comes into our lives. Marc's parents moved out of the town they grew up in to place Marc in a better school system to give him his best chance. Heather's parents attended every single band concert she played in. Our family is a constant source of support for us and both sides of our family are ecstatic about this adoption. This child will be surrounded by loved ones, including four grandparents, many aunts and uncles, and cousins. Heather's sister has a baby coming in February, 2020. Her best friend already has two children and a third on the way. Marc's sister is finishing college, but dreams of having her own family soon.

We can't wait to be parents! Each morning we get up and get ready for work. We eat breakfast together and hope to continue that with a child. It is a great way to spend some quality time together before work. Heather's mom will babysit during the day while we are at work. Heather hopes to move to a remote job or become a stay-at-home mom one day. After work, we do chores and play before dinner. We envision this being a child-centered time. If they want to build with blocks, play dress up, or tag, we will be there and excited to participate. Dinner will be taken at the dinner table so we can talk about our days. We like to cook together and hope to make it a family affair one day. After dinner, we will return to play time, which will include more play to learn moments. The nights will be capped by bathtime, bedtime stories, snuggles and kisses goodnight.

On weekends, we enjoy various activities together. We kayak or play golf in the summer and in the winter snuggle up, watch movies and enjoy hot cocoa. Heather tries to get Marc to ice skate a few times a year! He's still learning the ropes. We live a short drive away from the Boston Aquarium, where we plan to go frequently. We also live near a science center that features animals in New Hampshire. One day we imagine our weekends to be consumed by playing, bike riding around the neighborhood, hiking the nearby trails and practices/games/competitions/plays/etc. On Sunday mornings, we attend church and then run errands together. Sunday afternoons are spent preparing for the week and enjoying each other's company.

We want to reiterate the overwhelming amount of respect we have for you. The gravity of this is not lost on us. You are the foundation of this child's life and we would never cut you out of it. We would love to send you letters and pictures as your child grows! From the bottom of our hearts again, thank you for even considering us for such an important decision in your life.

Marc & Heather