Both sides of our family have been impacted by adoption. Each story has been different and unique, but all have been full of love. Allison was adopted as an infant, and has several other cousins who were also adopted. Brian's best friend was adopted as well as several family friends. Because adoption has been a part of both of our stories, we both knew that we also wanted to adopt our own children. With that decision, we were given the incredible, humbling, beautiful job of raising our son and the excitement and joy of looking forward to completing our family.

Our son Max has been our greatest blessing in life. He is outgoing, funny, loving, and incredibly smart. He loves music, swimming, and playing outside, no matter the weather. We are so excited for him to have a sibling, and cannot wait for the bond that they will build together. Adoption has made us parents and helped us to create our amazing family.

With adopting another child we are looking forward to not only gaining a child, but also gaining a relationship the people who also love them. We are so excited to welcome another child into our family and making lasting relationships with those who love him or her. Adoption has already brought us other people whose bravery, kindness, selflessness and love have taught us in amazing ways.

Allison About Brian: What I love most about Brian is his enthusiasm towards life. He truly lives each day as if it is his last. His spontaneity is one of the things that I struggled with then I first met him, but now it is one of the best things about him. He loves to laugh, play, and have fun with whatever he is doing. Brian's passion for his students is contagious to anyone who enters his classroom, or knows about his students. He absolutely loves being a dad and I find that to be one of the amazing things about him.

Brian About Allison: Allison is the most giving person I know. She will do anything for the people she loves. She has an amazing outlook on life; she is able to focus positives and not dwell on the small problems that can occur. She has amazing sense of humor, she does not have any issues with being silly and having fun. I love her for totally accepting me for who I am, flaws and all. She is a dedicated person when it comes to helping others. She is not only my partner, but also my best friend. I love her creativity; whether it is her cooking, coming up with a fun weekend adventure or in her teaching. I love how dedicated she is to her students and would jump through fire for them. Her passion for life, her career, and for the people she loves is always an inspiration for me.

Due to both of us being teachers, we have large library that features many books with a variety of African American characters and themes. We love to listen to music, and have made sure to include a wide variety of music that ties to our son's heritage. We have been learning about African American hair care and skin care through classes, social media groups, and the local barber that we take our son to. We would love to attend as many events as we can that celebrate African American history and culture.

We are lucky enough that cultural diversity is something that is very prominent in the community where we live, and in the surrounding areas as well. Our children will grow up in a culturally diverse community and attend schools that honor this. It makes both of us very happy to walk through our schools and see so many different students with different backgrounds and cultures. We know that our child will grow up with friends from different races and cultures.

We would like you to know that we will love our children with all of our hearts. We believe diversity within a family is an amazing thing and we will not ever hide where our children come from. We are excited to learn about our children's culture and heritage and to be able to teach them about it as well. We will do our best to help our children feel loved, accepted, and proud of who they are. We both believe that no matter what your race or religion is, love and family is what matters the most.

We bought our beautiful home seven years ago. We live in a cape-style house, with 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, an open concept kitchen, dining room and living room. It is a cozy house with brightly colored walls and pictures of family, friends, and beautiful scenery that Allison has taken. We have a basement that we would like to do over at some point, but for now it is the perfect place for a child to ride a bike or draw with chalk. Our favorite room is our sunroom. It has windows on all sides, and looks out onto our gardens and backyard. Brian built an amazing patio a few years ago for all of our summer entertaining.

The street that our house is on is made up of two small dead end roads where there is a total of 9 other houses. Since it is small everyone knows everyone, and everyone looks out for everyone. There are always kids riding bikes up and down the street or playing ball in the yards. There are also lots of trees and trails located in our neighborhood. We love our neighborhood because it is the perfect place to ride a bike, play with our dog, roller skate, or take nightly walks.

We cannot wait to share this little piece of paradise with another child.

Allison grew up with her mother, father, and younger brother, although, it was never just the four of them. Allison comes from a huge Italian family made up of plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins. Family gatherings were and are, always a big event. These gatherings always revolve around good food and plenty of laughter. While Allison's family lives two hours away, we make it a point to see them at least once a month. Allison's family loves the ocean, and when she was 12 they purchased a summer home on the ocean in Maine. To this day we still all go down and spend most of our summer in this great tiny little cottage on the ocean.

Brian grew up with his mother and his sister, as well as his father and his step-mother. Brain comes from a much smaller family with two aunts, an uncle and one cousin. Although his family lacks size in comparison to Allison's you would never know it. Brian's sister, aunt, uncle, and cousin live in North Carolina, however they are with us every other Christmas, and join us for a week to two each summer. His sister has a son named Liam who loves his uncle Bubba (His sister's nickname for Brian) Brian's family also loves the ocean, as they grew up in a house on the water.

Both of our families could not be more excited to help us welcome a new child into the family!

Where do we possibly begin? First off, we are extremely thankful and appreciative that you are taking the time to look at our profile and considering us to be potential parents of your child. Secondly, we cannot even begin to understand what you must be going through or what you might be feeling. The strength you possess is undeniable and does not go unnoticed. Considering adoption is such a courageous and selfless decision and we recognize that you have a difficult path in front of you. We would be honored to be a part of this journey with you.

As a child who was adopted, Allison always felt this genuine love and gratitude towards her birth mother. Her adoptive family provided her with so much love and always made sure that she knew her birth mother loved her. We will do whatever we can to make sure that your child knows how much you love them, too! We would love to be able to have you be a part of their life whether it's through letters and photos, phone calls and emails, or face-to-face visits, we would be honored to have you in our life!

We have been married for seven years, and adopted our first child two years ago. We are both special education teachers in the same district, and that is actually how we first met. Our family and friends would tell you that we are a loving, passionate, and goofy couple, who truly live each day to the fullest. We love spending time outside, whether we are walking our dog with our son, playing in our yard, playing in the snow or sand, or splashing in the water. When we are inside you can usually find us all curled up reading books, cooking, dancing to music, or doing arts and crafts. We are excited for all the big moments of parenthood, but we are also excited for the everyday moments too. We cannot wait to do all the "typical" mom/dad things with another child like singing songs in the car, playing in the mud, making pancakes together on the weekends and reading books before bed. We are truly excited to share the pastimes we love with another child, as well as creating new ones with them.

Family means the world to us. We are extremely close to both of our families and we enjoy spending as much time with them as possible. We have many children in our extended family, and when they are around you can always find us running around with them, playing games, or just being silly. We are looking forward to adding another child into the mix. Our families have been so supportive throughout the entire adoption process, and they are just as ready as we are to meet our second child.

We dedicate our lives to helping children succeed. We truly believe in the saying, "Love what you do, and do what you love." We want to be able to share our love for life and education with our children. Our parents always taught us that life is too short to not do what you love. We want to be as supportive of our children as our parents are for us. No matter what they want to do, we will encourage them to do something they are passionate about, and we will help them in any way we can to achieve their goals.

Once again, we cannot imagine how hard this decision is for you, but we can assure you that we will give your child an amazing life! If you choose to trust us with your baby, we promise to love your child with all of our hearts and will make all of their dreams come true. We promise you that our family and friends will give lots of cuddles, love and affection and that your child will never doubt how very much of a dream come true he or she is to us.

Brian & Allison