The kitchen is the heart of our home and we spend a lot of time together cooking, baking, and eating. We love trying new foods. Indian, Ethiopian, Korean and Middle Eastern are among our favorites. Kevin is always trying new bread recipes that Amy gets to braid. Amy prefers to bake pastries from new favorites like sprinkle cookies, to family classics like orange nut cake (Kevin is always happy to help with baking and licking the bowl). Our favorite part of cooking is sharing it with our daughter, she is excellent at measuring, pouring, and stirring (always in a fun apron)!

Another of our hobbies is exploring the area we live, taking photos of our adventures to add to the yearly photo album. Most weekends we can be found in the heart of the city, meeting up with a family member or friend to check out a museum or festival. Our favorites include the National Book Festival, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Asian Festival in D.C. Our kids will grow up sharing these experiences with us, broadening their understanding of the world and their place in it.

Our childhoods are full of special memories of going to the beach with our families. Kevin spent most summer vacations going to Cape Cod with his parents, brother, and grandparents. They would stay in cabins, walk to the beach, overeat ice cream and cookout most nights. Amy went to her cousin's beach house on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut. She would play in the sandbars searching for hermit crabs, lobster pot for dinner and bike to ice cream with her cousins.

As adults, we still love the beach, it is our happy place. Every summer we attend a family reunion at that same beach house from Amy's childhood (lobster pots still included). We have also started a yearly tradition of going on a beach trip with all of Kevin's friends. We rent a huge place on the water with everyone's significant others and kids. These lifelong friends travel from across the country to have this time together. To us, the beach will always be a place of magic, joy, and important people.

Amy About Kevin: Kevin is a brilliant scientist; therefore, he can build, fix, and explain pretty much anything. He built our back patio, installs household items, and helps me explain scientific concepts to my students. He is also hilarious, hardworking, and incredibly generous. If he knows that someone is having a hard time, he is always ready to help or call to check in. Our daughter did not sleep for the first three months of her life, so Kevin declared that "Evie the immortal needs no sleep." His humor always serves to lighten the load and brighten the darkest days. There is no activity beneath him, or not his "job." Laundry, cleaning, cooking, building, playing, diapers, you name it, he will always do it, without anyone needing to ask.

Kevin About Amy: Amy is a loving, patient teacher. When she's not teaching our daughter about the world, she's teaching her how to handle her big feelings and play well with others. She is also absolutely brilliant; she always knows what's going to happen next in every book or show (you know because she talks while watching shows and movies, which is way more endearing than it sounds). Best of all, Amy is the first person we all run to when we're upset, because we know that she's always there to hug and comfort us.

We're very lucky to live in small, lovely neighborhood on the edge of a vibrant city. We can walk to two parks with playgrounds, two community centers, a library, a metro station, a splash park, and a community pool. There are many young families as well as older, more established ones. There are always kids riding their bikes, going on walks with their parents or flying kites on the hill at the end of the block.

Our house has three floors. We spend most of our time on the main floor, playing, cooking, and spending time together. We renovated the kitchen, opening it to the rest of the house so we're always together. The top floor has three bedrooms where we snuggle and read books together. The basement is where we watch movies, play board games, build blanket forts, and relax. The best part of our home is our yard. The front has a flower garden, and the back is a large space for BBQs and running around. We planted blackberries and raspberries as a back fence, so there are fresh berries to pick all summer long.

We spend every weekend exploring all the activities Washington, D.C. has to offer. We are just a metro or car ride away from all the Smithsonian museums, monuments, the National Zoo, the White House, kayaking, swimming, and hiking. We attend festivals, concerts, and shows. The city is rich with history and diverse cultural experiences that we cannot wait to share with another child!

Whether we're dancing, singing, swimming, hiking, exploring, eating, traveling, laughing, playing, or just talking and relaxing, family time is always the best time.

Our family is a big part of our lives. All of Amy's immediate family lives nearby. Amy's mom is retired and obsessed with grandchildren. She is practically jumping out of her skin in excitement for us to bring another grandbaby home. Amy's sister knows all the cool and interesting things to do in the area. From the Truck Touch to the newest splash park, we are always experiencing the city with her. Amy's brother and his family love to garden, host family Rosh Hashana and watch our kids get to know each other.

Kevin's family live further away but are always involved. We love swimming in his folk's pool in the summer, cooking a turkey in a can in the fall, decorating the Christmas tree and giving gifts in the winter and celebrating Passover in the spring. Kevin's twin brother and his family raise chickens and have a large vegetable garden. We always have a blast playing board games, watching movies, and hiking with them and our nephew!

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us. We have tried our best to share who we truly are and how we feel. We hope one day we will be able to get to know you as well. Please understand, we are in awe of you, to even consider making the selfless choice of adoption is humbling. It is important to us that you know we would love your child with every fiber of our beings. Our love and yours would be a staple in their life.

Here is our story: We met, fell in love, and decided we could not stand to ever be apart. After 10 years together and 7 years of marriage, we would still rather be together than anywhere else. We should tell you; we are planners. This means we have talked about our hopes and dreams for the future for a very long time. The very heart of those dreams has always been multiple children. We both have siblings who have fundamentally shaped us. We also love the chaos, joy, and camaraderie that multiple children in a home create.

After an incredibly difficult pregnancy that gave us our daughter, Evie, we suffered a late term miscarriage of our 2nd child at 5 months. This loss nearly broke us. Through counseling, love, and support from each other and our families, we have grieved and come to terms with our loss. We have also closed the door on having more biological children. But what we refuse to give up is the hope of multiple children, that is too much to bear.

Becoming parents is the best thing we have ever done. Our daughter has stolen our hearts, but our family is still incomplete. We know that adoption is our future. To us, family is everything and we know we would give our children the life we all dream for them. We imagine our children running together in the park, having handstand competitions at the beach, whispering secrets to each other in the car, laughing hysterically about absolutely nothing and so much more. We promise to raise your child to be a strong, confident, kind, and curious human.

Know that we are fiercely loyal and protective of our people. Your child will feel the force of that love from the moment they are placed in our arms, no matter the path they took to get to us. The loyalty and protectiveness we feel for our people extends to you as well. We will always know that your unconditional love for your child is what brought our child to us. We want you to succeed and flourish as well as be a part of your child's life forever. We plan on always being honest with our child, sharing their story with them from the beginning. They will know that they have always been loved by their birth family and us. They will be proud of where they came from and confident in who they are.

We hope for an open adoption. One that includes emails, phone calls, and future visits, in addition to regular letters and photos. We acknowledge and respect the turmoil a birthparent might feel, especially early on and therefore envision a gradual development of this relationship. We want you to be a part of our lives.

Please find comfort in the knowledge that we already love and value you, no matter your decision. You want only what is best for your child, who could ask for anything more.

Love,

Kevin & Amy