We both understand that while education is important, there is no "right" path. What is most important is exploring one's interests and talents and not just going towards what someone is "supposed" to do.

Alex's favorite quote is, "Knowledge is power." We both support learning and education, but everyone's path will be different - some will do well with formal education while others may find fulfillment in trade schools or the arts.

We are fortunate that we live in a township with excellent public schools and great private early education and K-12 options. Historically, homeschooling could be challenging, but with more content moving online, homeschooling can also be an option depending on how our child is comfortable with learning.

Lifelong learning is a priority for us. We want our child to have the best environment in which to learn and pursue his/her interests and dreams.

We have a nice balance of activities that we do together as well as individual interests that we pursue on our own. Together, we enjoy walking the dogs in the trails or nearby parks. We also enjoy music - in fact, we met in High School as we both played the drums. We love vacationing and discovering new places together. We try to take an "adventure" trip each year including walking on glaciers in Alaska, kayaking with whales in Hawaii, and exploring the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. We love going to Sanibel, Florida, our favorite beach for some relaxing downtime and sun. We enjoy riding bikes on the bike trails and seeing all of the Florida wildlife. We also enjoy our indoor activities which include movie nights, board games, and playing cards.

Individually, Heather enjoys long-distance running and we sometimes incorporate her races with quick vacations and sightseeing. Heather also spends her free time volunteering for local community charities. Alex enjoys tutoring GED students at Goodwill, listening to music, reading, and tending to his honeybees.

We look forward to finding new adventures and enjoying our favorite pastimes with a child.

For 25 years, we have been rescuing large breed dogs including Great Danes and Mastiffs. These gentle giants often look very cute as puppies but when they grow up many owners are unable to care for them due to their size and special needs. Even though they are large and may require special care, they are very sensitive and sweet and love people. Over the years we've rescued 10 Great Danes and Mastiffs. Today we have Jules and Daisy who are brother and sister. We rescued them two years ago from a home with 11 Great Danes. We love having pets - lots of pounds of pets! We like being able to give rescued animals a stable home and a second chance. We love the feeling we get when we see how happy the dogs are in their new home. Fortunately, we have a lot of space inside and outside, including walking trails and a big back yard for them to run.

We live in a suburb of southwestern Pennsylvania. Our house has four bedrooms, four and half baths, and a large gym/playroom. We love that our home is set up with the master bedroom and nursery on the first floor with lots of space for a growing family.

Our house sits on 13 acres with woods and walking trails in the back (and an abundance of wildlife!). Despite the large size of our lot we're still close enough to our neighbors that we can wave and say hello. The community pool, sports fields, and recreation center (where many activities are held) are half of a mile from our home, and the community park is one mile from our house. There is always something to do, especially if you like the outdoors. Some of our favorite township activities are the farmer's market, the summer concert series, charity walks and runs, and July 4th fireworks.

We're also within a mile of the public blue ribbon elementary, middle, and high school. Several of our neighbors have children and Heather's brother and wife live within two miles with their new baby.

We are blessed to have close extended family and great friends, most living closeby and all within a day's drive.

Heather is one of four children. Her parents and siblings live nearby, as do her aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces/nephews.

Alex's mother lives nearby. Alex's extended family is primarily located in Central New York. We have frequent get togethers despite the distance and enjoy catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews over large meals of homecooked Italian dishes and home-baked Italian desserts and cookies. Alex is close to his half brothers, one living in Michigan and one in Massachusetts. Alex's family often meets at our home for holidays and special occasions.

We are fortunate that our extended families get along very well and share the holidays with us. It is common to have 20-25 family members at our home for holiday dinners and summer picnics. We celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, and have large gatherings at our home for friends and family, with lots of food, desserts, holiday movies and music.

We enjoy spending time with our nieces, Juniper (age 4) and Basil (age 2). They love spending time at our home, feeding the birds, watching the deer and turkey, and walking the dogs. We are excited to spend time with our new nephew, Slade (10 weeks) and hope to be the favorite family babysitters!

Both of our families are very excited about our adoption plan. Because our nieces and nephew are young, they are excited about all of the children growing up together. Also, because Heather's family live very closeby, they are excited to help and support us.

We'd like to start by thanking you for considering us to be the adoptive parents of your child. We can't imagine the enormity of this decision for you but can hopefully offer you comfort, confidence, and ease in your decision if you select us to parent, guide, and raise your child. Our commitment is to raise our child in a warm, loving, supportive environment where he or she has every opportunity available to grow into the person he or she is meant to be. We hope that this letter provides you some perspective on us as individuals and as parents.

You have likely already read about us from our profile. We have been together for most of our lives; we met over thirty years ago and have been happily married for fifteen years. We spent most of our early life together, supporting each other through school and early careers. We have been together for every life challenge and every life decision. We do everything together - travel, watch movies, exercise, and play with our dogs.

Over the years, we tried to expand our family but were not successful. And then with career changes, work travel, and other family obligations, we never had children. We know that today we are in the best place in our lives to have a child. We can now devote this time in our lives, with emotional maturity, financial security, life wisdom, and family support to be the best possible parents to our child. We are so excited to start our family now and would be honored if you would help us start our journey.

We have thought a lot about adoption, and although we do not have previous direct experience with adoption, nor do we have all of the answers, we are looking forward to the journey with you, and to learn more at every step of the way. We hope that you will trust us to raise your child, but also feel comfort and peace knowing that you will be able to visit with your child periodically, speak to him or her, and stay a part of his or her life through regular updates, emails, and picture exchanges. Your child will grow up, knowing about you and knowing you, as you may wish, and learn to know and understand your selfless act of allowing us the privilege to raise him or her. We will learn and grow together and always be open with our child about his or her birth parents, family, and culture while supporting our child to explore his or her adoptive family and culture.

We have been so fortunate to have found each other in life, to experience this life together and to grow together. We are now ready to give our love, built on years of experiences and mutual respect, to our child/children - to love them, nurture them, support them, and guide them through life. Our wish is that our child will be happy, healthy, kind to others, and kind to this world. Rest assured we will give him/her every opportunity to become the best that he/she can be, providing every opportunity available to make it possible for every dream he/she has to be fulfilled.

Thank you for finding us and for giving us and giving your child this opportunity.

Gratefully,

Alex & Heather