Adoption has affected us very personally. We adopted our son in October 2018 the day he was born. It was the most incredible experience of our lives. We found out about him also the day he was born which was also an incredible moment. Our son spent nine days in the NICU and we were able to bring him home. We spent three days in the hospital with his birth mother. She was the most strong, inspirational woman that we had ever met. Her heart was heavy but was at peace. We could never understand how she felt, but what we could do was love and support her. We developed a close bond together, just us three in a hospital room talking for hours on end. She shared with us her life and her family and who she was. Those days are irreplaceable. We stay in touch with her through text messaging, pictures, letters and anything she feels comfortable with. We will share with our son who his birth mother is and what a profound person she is as well. We will also embrace what adoption is and talk about this with our children as much as they want. We want to answer questions and show them what an amazing experience it is. Adoption has made us very humble and grateful. It has taught us so much about how strong and selfless a person can actually be without even realizing their strength. It is truly the most amazing blessing and gift.

There are lots of activities and passions that we both have. Most of our leisure time is spent having fun with our friends and family or just spending quality time together as a family.

We love to be outdoors hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, or just playing outside. We spend a lot of time going for walks and playing in the backyard. We have a swing-set and lots of water toys in our backyard that keep us busy for hours playing. Our community does not have a lot of traffic so we can go on long walks together.

Amanda loves to fish and loves going fishing with our family. She also loves helping others. You can find her painting houses for a family in need or mowing her aunts lawn in her free time.

Lauren loves to run and be active. She has even completed a marathon. Lauren loves to hang out with our family on the back deck and play guitar. She can't wait to teach our children to play.

We both love sports and grew up playing. We just love being together and are kids at heart, so it's pretty easy for us to make fun out of anything with our son. We hope that he can have a sibling to share these times with and we can make lasting memories.

Our promise to you is that we will be the best parents that we can possibly be. We know that we are meant to be parents and to raise children that make the world a better place. We want them to make positive impacts on this world no matter what that impact might be. We promise to you that we will raise our child to reach for whatever dreams they have, no matter how big or how small they might be. We will always be their biggest cheerleaders. We promise to you that your wishes for them become our wishes for them. We know that you are making a decision not only for you but for them out of love. We will always speak of the miracle that you are to us. We could not be happier than to share with our child who you are and what a powerful person you are. We want you to know that we are supportive of your needs, no matter how much or how little. We are an open book and want to embrace the whole package. We will always teach our child about what a gift they are to this world.

We live in a small town on the outskirts of a mid-sized city in Missouri. Amanda's entire family grew up in this area. In our town everyone knows everyone! We love going for walk every day. On our walks our family likes to visit the chickens, the goats, cows, and horses. Our son Beau loves to call all the names of animals he sees. All the kids in the neighborhood ride their bikes and play without much traffic. There are nearby bike parks, soccer fields, swimming pools, and rec centers that are normally packed with kids playing. We normally ride our bikes or walk down to have dinner with our family in the evenings.

Our house is a three-bedroom home with a fenced-in backyard. Our son Beau and our two dogs love playing in the backyard. Beau loves playing on the swing set! We love tending to our garden in the summer. We grow fresh vegetables every year. The family favorite is cucumbers. We spend most evenings on the back deck grilling and enjoying the evening as a family.

We live in a cul-de-sac of recently built homes full of families. Almost every house on our street has young kids. We live just a quarter mile from the elementary school. We cannot wait to walk our kids to school every morning.

We absolutely love the peacefulness of our town, but enjoy that we live only a short 10 minute drive from the city. We love to visit our favorite restaurants, go bowling, or get some ice cream!

We live just a half a mile from Amanda's childhood home in the town she grew up and went to school in. Amanda's side of the family ranging from her parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephew all live within a few miles from our home. We get to see each other almost every day. One of Amanda's brothers and his wife and three daughters live only a few hours away. We see them very often and take turns having weekend trips to visit each other.

We have 6 nieces and one nephew and they are a huge part of our life and we spend a lot of time with them. Our son loves having spend the night parties at our house and playing outside.

Lauren's mom, dad, and brother live a few hours away as well. We spend every vacation with them and always take an annual trip to the beach.

Our house is considered the holiday house. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving and any other holiday, our house is filled with our whole family. It has become a tradition.

Our families are so loving and supportive of our relationship and are so happy that we choose adoption. They love being grandparents and beg for a chance to babysit. Our family cannot wait to add a child to love and cherish to our family!

Hi, we are Amanda and Lauren. We are married and have been together for 11 years. As we try to put into words what it would mean to us to be blessed with another child, we want to start with a thank you. You are bringing profound joy into this world. The fact that you are even considering adoption, tells us what a strong-willed person you are. Seeing that you love your child so much, you are willing to put their needs above your own shows what a selfless person you are. It takes a truly incredible soul to make this truly brave decision. We would love to see how those amazing traits that you possess would be naturally ingrained into this child. Please know that just getting to know who we are is giving our family an answered blessing. We are humbled and honored to be parents. Our heart and our prayers go out to you in this difficult time of your life. We want nothing more than to love and support you and the miracle within you.

We are not the typical family where you see and mom and dad, but we are a trans-racial family of two moms with an adopted son. But we know confidently that we can raise our child with more love and support than any typical family might. We want to instill the same love and compassion into our child, and teach them to love all beings no matter their differences. We do understand what it is to be different, and with those differences we will create a bond with our child. We will help them learn how to overcome those differences and stand tall in the face of any adversity, and come out on top. We want to teach that different is good. Being just like everyone else is boring, but if you embrace your uniqueness and stand proud of who you are you will be successful in the world. We think that instilling confidence in these differences will teach our child strength and overall happiness with who they are at their core.

To tell you a little about us, we will start with Amanda. Amanda grew up in the town that we live in. We live a half of a mile from her childhood home where her mom "Mimi," still lives. Her entire family all live in the same town. To say that we are close is an understatement. To Amanda, family is the most important thing in her life and she loves seeing them and spending time with them daily. Amanda grew up with two brothers (one a year older and one a year younger). She is very athletic and loves playing sports. Her absolute favorite pastime is fishing, and she can't wait to take her children fishing. Amanda works flexible hours so that one of us will always we home with our child. We strongly believe that in the early years of our child's life, they should spend time bonding and growing with their parents.

Lauren grew up in Alabama with her mom, dad, and brother. Much of her family's time was spent out on the lake skiing, fishing, and camping. She can't wait to spend time with her family outdoors sharing the same memories. Her family now lives a few hours away, and we spend every vacation with them. You can constantly hear laughter filling the air. Lauren is also very athletic and loves to run in races from time to time. She loves playing guitar and singing as much as possible. To Lauren education has always been one of the most important pieces of life. Learning and teaching will be a key piece of how we parent.

Overall, we want you to know that we want to provide our child with an amazing life. We want them to see the world and learn new things about life every day. We want them to know that you are a part of what makes their life incredible. We want them to embrace their own culture and heritage. We want them to understand the story of what led them to us, and how you loved them so much you put them before yourself. We want to share with you their life through pictures, letters, emails, and phone calls. We want to share with you events and milestones that we know will be important to you. Thank you for taking time to get to know us. We pray that somehow our lives can intertwine and we can form an everlasting relationship with you.

Amanda & Lauren