We adopted our daughter Daphne and it has been an amazing experience. She is a true joy in our lives and we view her birth family as an extension of our family. Coming to our initial decision to adopt was inspired and we knew once we made that decision that we would want to adopt at least twice so that our children would have someone in the family who can empathize with them and be a support. Adoption is a blessing for us and our family and we love that our family has been built this way.

Katie had friends growing up who were adopted and another friend who had adopted siblings. These positive first hand experiences of adoptive families growing and progressing together helped to mold how Katie views family and talking to one of Katie's friends has been enlightening and positive for Tyler. We have been able to look to these other adoptive families for support and information and these conversations helped us to choose adoption.

Our family traditions revolve around quality time together, food, and enjoying the beauty around us. We have very close relationships with both sides of our family and we love getting the whole family together. Whether it is making tamales for Christmas Eve or Texas Sheet Cake for Tyler's birthday, we spend the majority of our time in the kitchen talking, laughing, and (of course) eating. Some of our favorite family memories center around us all gathered around the table after a delicious meal chatting for hours after stuffing ourselves.

We also enjoy playing games together as a family. This provides us with an opportunity to make new family jokes, practice our smack talk, and enjoy one another's company. Tyler even participated in Katie's family game night on only our second date.

Another tradition that we love to take part in is heading outside whenever possible. We have been lucky to live in some beautiful areas, so whenever the weather is nice we are outside hiking, biking, camping or just taking a stroll through our neighborhood. In the wintertime we take advantage of the gorgeous snowy mountains close by through snowshoeing.

Celebrating diversity is important to us and our desire to build a multiracial family. We want our children to know as much as they can about their heritage and culture and know that they have a partner in their parents as advocates for them in all things. We take extra time to do activities and provide opportunities for our child to learn, understand, and embody their culture.

That being said, we understand that having our child feel like a true part of their culture requires more than just these efforts alone. It is important to us that our children have positive role models in their lives that look like them. We strive to ensure that our child learns about the brave people throughout history, past and present, that have paved the way for them. We also understand the importance for our children to have these role models in their everyday lives as well. We make an extra effort to find teachers, doctors, and community leaders that will be able to be a positive influence in our child's life so they can see everyday people making a difference in the world who look like them. Ultimately, we want our children to know how special they are and to feel like they have a real sense of their cultural identity.

We live in a suburban area in Colorado. We specifically chose our home because of the great school district and diversity that this area offers. We live in walking distance from multiple parks and a community pool and splash pad. We love taking walks as a family all around our neighborhood. We also live near a nature preserve with antelope, groundhogs, and deer. We are new to the area so it has been a delight to discover so many new things around us daily. We are meeting great friends in the neighborhood who have babies and young children and we are involved in play groups with them.

We live in a spacious, four bedroom ranch style home. We love cozying up on our sectional in our front room and snuggling with our child on it. Our great room is the heart of our home where we have our kitchen, living area and dining room all together and where we spend most of our time. We also have an unfinished basement where our daughter loves to play with her toy car and bike when the weather is too cold to be outside. Our neighborhood has so many families with children that live in it and it was so much fun to experience a Halloween where we had lots of trick-or-treaters.

Katie grew up in Washington in a family that loves to spend time together, cook and chat. She is the second oldest of five sisters and her parents have been married for 30+ years. When we get together we always watch Harry Potter movies and cook excellent food. Each Christmas Eve we make homemade tamales and food to feast on throughout the day. We recently had a family reunion and it was awesome to see Daphne interact with her cousins, especially the three that are within a year of her age.

Tyler grew up in Washington in a fun-loving family with two brothers and his parents have been married for 30+ years. Mom and Papi (Dad) always supported Tyler growing up in sports and church activities. Tyler would go hiking and camping with the family any chance he got. Tyler's fondest memories are at the family cabin motorcycling and enjoying the outdoors. When we get together, we love to play card games like Sequence or Spades.

We have learned so much from our parents and grandparents and we are excited to have them be active participants in our growing family. Everyone on both sides of our family is very supportive of our open adoption and they are overjoyed at the thought of welcoming another child into our lives.

We cannot possibly know the emotional roller coaster you are currently experiencing in considering adoption for your child. However, we do know that it takes a tremendous amount of courage, faith, and love for your child to take this step. We also know that we are ecstatic to adopt and to become parents again. Thank you for taking the time to look at our profile. We hope this letter can provide a glimpse into our lives and the life that your child would have with us.

We met at a summer job while in college and after a year of dating got married over nine years ago. Throughout our married lives we have been fortunate enough to live in a variety of different places and travel to various spots throughout the world. Being parents has always been a high priority in our lives, but it never felt like the right time to get pregnant. After pondering and planning for our future, we started contemplating adoption. We adopted our daughter almost two years ago and it has been an incredible experience. We are looking forward to expanding our family through adoption again.

Our relationship is built on a foundation of love, laughter, friendship, and respect. Together we will strive to guide our children to be happy, kind adults who follow their dreams and enjoy life. Some of our priorities as parents include education, lots of fun, faith, and family time. We love experiencing family dinners, hikes, bike rides, movie nights, and walks with our daughter and look forward to experiencing these activities with our future child. Our joy comes from watching our children learn, grow, and become confident and joyful individuals.

It is important that our children have a strong sense of their cultural identity and are able to interact with people from various upbringings. We always want to live in a multi-cultural community where we can meet friends and have community leaders with diverse backgrounds. Through travel we are excited to experience and learn about different cultures around the world as a family. We are committed to providing our children with a loving, happy, stable home where they feel comfortable to be themselves and a life filled with fun and many opportunities.

Family is so important to us and we are both very close to our extended families. We love watching them interact with our daughter and we cannot wait to see them playing with and loving our future child as well. Both of our families are so excited and happy for us to take this step again in our lives and look forward to welcoming with open arms the newest member of our family. We are fortunate that we communicate frequently with both sets of our parents and that we do not live very far from family, so our children will be able to participate in many fun family gatherings and develop strong relationships with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

If you decide to pursue adoption and you decide that we are the right fit, we are open to sharing your child's growth and experiences through photos, letters, emails, phone calls, and possible visits. We will always be open and honest with your child regarding their adoption and their heritage. We will make sure your child knows they are loved and cared for and we will always speak respectfully and gratefully of the selfless gift you have given our family. We are eager to get to know you and are happy to have your continued investment in your child's life.

Tyler & Katie