Both of our families are supportive of our decision to adopt. Kris' parents are very familiar with adoption because they adopted him as an infant. They know how it feels to desire a family for many years and have experienced the joy of finally having those dreams come true. Kris knows first-hand the importance of having supportive parents and a loving family. His dad taught him to appreciate nature and how to cook, while he credits his mom for his love of baseball and ability to tell funny stories just like her. Because of Kris' background he will be able to form a special connection with our child and be a role model as he or she gets older. Kris went through a closed adoption which means that, in his case, he has no known family medical history. This proves difficult even today when medical professionals ask about his medical history or others ask about his heritage. For this reason and the benefits of forming a relationship with birth parents, we are willing to have an open adoption if that is what you desire.

In our free time we enjoy cooking, playing with our dog, and hiking. We like exploring the area we live and supporting local restaurants.

Individually, Jaynie enjoys reading and running while Kris mainly enjoys spending time outdoors during hunting season.

Our home is our happy place. In the summer you can often find us spending time in our backyard playing games, grilling, and having campfires.

We both enjoy going to baseball games and watching movies. We have plans to visit as many MLB stadiums across the United States as we can.

We often vacation in Jamaica and have traveled to places like Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Sonoma, and Canada.

Volunteering is another important part of our lives. Kris sits on the board of the local Big Brothers, Big Sisters chapter and Jaynie is on the local Take Steps committee for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation. Every year we fundraise for Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Crohns and Colitis Foundation and participate in local events.

When we have children, we plan to model how our parents raised us. We both felt loved, safe, and free to express ourselves. We would like to provide our children as many opportunities we can including experiences we did not have. For example, neither of us had the opportunity to travel outside the country to explore other cultures until we were adults. We hope to travel to many places across the country together and plan to allow our child to participate in any activity they are interested in, regardless of whether we personally enjoy the activity or not. We would like our child to be open-minded, educated, and kind to others. In order for a child to grow, we believe he or she needs a safe and nurturing environment where he or she is not afraid to make mistakes and learn. We plan for our children to form close relationships with our parents and extended families.

We reside in suburban Pennsylvania in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a large fenced in yard. We take pride in maintaining our house ourselves and have recently enjoyed spending time watching movies in our finished basement. Our favorite room is our kitchen because we have a large island big enough to prep healthy meals for the week or cook new dinner recipes together. In the summer you will often find us outside in our backyard reading, grilling or playing fetch with our dog.

Our neighborhood has rallied together during the pandemic, providing a safe scavenger hunt for the neighborhood children, planning distanced graduation parties, and hosting weekly food trucks. There are many children in our neighborhood that often ride bikes on the sidewalks and plenty of dogs to pet when we take our evening walks. There are soccer fields and a playground connected to our neighborhood, as well as a nearby nature preserve with walking paths and creek access. The public library, elementary schools, and the local market are a short, ten-minute drive from our house. Our community often holds chicken barbecue fundraisers, 5K's to support various causes, and events like the annual ice festival with parades and live ice carvings.

We enjoy spending quality time and making memories with our families. You will often find us cooking meals, hiking, and playing board games or cards together. Although our immediate families live two hours away, they visit often and we make an effort to see them. We also have extended family that live locally that we see on a regular basis. Jaynie's sister lives across the country but they still talk on the phone almost every day and are best friends. We enjoy small gatherings at the family cabin, exploring cuisine at local restaurants, and riding roller coasters at the local theme park. One of our favorite traditions is a Christmas Eve gift exchange with Jaynie's extended family who live all around the United States. We can spend hours talking with Kris' Dad about Pennsylvania history, his garden, or the meals he has found in old cookbooks and has prepared from scratch. Our parents get along very well and we often spend holidays together playing board games or watching football. Kris was adopted as an infant and has always felt loved and supported by his family and community. Our families are thrilled to welcome a new member of the family and have expressed a strong desire to be involved in our child's life.

From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you for considering us as your child's adoptive parents. We admire that you were able to make the difficult decision to choose adoption for your baby. We can only imagine the strength it took to make this decision and we want to make sure you are comfortable with choosing us.

We have known each other for fourteen years and have been married for six. We have been best friends and life partners for many years. We have come to terms with infertility and recognize adoption as a special and equally fulfilling way to grow our family. As an adoptee himself, Kris will be able to form a special connection with our child. We have struggled through hard times and truly appreciate what it means to commit to another person through good times and in bad. We want you to know that we will make the same commitment to our child.

We promise to be good role models, provide encouragement, and raise our child with devotion and compassion. We know first-hand the positive impact a supportive environment has on the growth of a child, so we promise to surround him or her with a loving family. Kris knows how important it is for adoptive parents to be loving, compassionate, and caring. We value education and resilience, therefore we hope to provide our child with many opportunities to take risks and follow his or her passions. We intend to be honest and open about our child's adoptive journey from the time he or she is young. If you desire, we would love for you to talk with our child about your adoption journey when he or she grows older and has questions.

When we dream of our family, we think of cozy winter movie nights, bedtime stories, and playing catch in the backyard. We can envision homework sprawled across our dining room table and cheering on our child from the stands. Our hearts will be full as we watch our child hit milestones. It is our intention to teach our child the morals we hold dear and we hope he or she grows into a kind, generous, and compassionate adult. Our parents are absolutely thrilled to become grandparents and teach their grandchild everything they know. Choosing us will mean that our dreams of family will finally come true.

We want to assure you that we are committed to having an open adoption if you desire. Although we may live far apart, we can send emails, letters and pictures to you on a regular basis. We will make every effort to ensure our child feels accepted and loved. We want you to be pleased with the life you have chosen for your baby and be proud of the person he or she becomes.

Although we are so happy with the life we have built as a married couple, we are so excited to start this next chapter in our lives with our son or daughter. We would be honored if you consider us.

Sincerely,

Kris & Jaynie