Mike's parents live on the coast of Maine, where we go for vacations during the summer—usually joining up with his sister and brother-in-law and their three young children. The house overlooks a bay filled with incredible wildlife. We wake up with the sun (and kids) in the morning and go to sleep with a sky filled with bright stars.

Mike keeps his nephews occupied, playing with Lincoln logs and Matchbox cars in the sunroom, water toys in the backyard, and whiffleball batting practice out front. We go sightseeing, take boat trips, or head to the beach or playground. Mike's mom leads hikes through the woods, where the kids build fairy houses out of sticks, rocks, moss, and seashells they've collected. In recent years, we've taken a lobster fishing boat tour, where the children get to learn about—and touch!—lobsters.

In the evening, we enjoy beautiful sunsets from the deck before cramming around the dinner table to eat together. The nephews watch movies and eat popcorn while the adults chat.

It has been an absolute joy to fill the house with our family, to spend time together in a picturesque location. We are incredibly excited to share this experience with a child, to have them play, learn, and grow in this environment surrounded by family and good times.

We love to keep busy and have variety in our leisure time. On a weekend, we might go to a museum or a historical site near our home, or go hiking or kayaking with Sara's dad. There are lots of great outdoor sites within an hour of our home where we enjoy walking trails, looking for wildlife, taking photos, and just enjoying the fresh air.

If we are staying inside on the weekend, then we enjoy watching movies together, reading, or playing video games. Sara is an avid crafter and knitter, and enjoys making a wide variety of art projects which she can't wait to share with a child. We both enjoy music and play multiple musical instruments, including guitar, ukulele, and piano.

When we travel, our favorite city to visit is New York City, which is an easy train ride away. Mike has family near the city who we often spend time with, and we also enjoy going to museums, taking a harbor cruise, and seeing a show.

We have benefited from a love of learning and from families that encouraged us to pursue our educational dreams, providing us with the opportunity for success--and that is precisely what we plan to extend to a child. We both pursued our education through to a law degree, but along the way took the time to explore many subjects, fields of interest, and vocations. Growing up, we were also encouraged by our families to try extracurricular activities--art, music, theater, and sports--and to make the most out of each phase of education. Sara spent years training in ballet alongside her studies; Mike played hockey through school and continues to play today.

We don't believe that a child should be forced into any particular form of education, course of study, sport, or art. But we believe that the child should be given every opportunity to see what's out there, to try their hand at whatever they think looks interesting, and explore all that life has to offer at every stage. We want to nourish the child's sense of wonder and sense of self, encourage them to try new things, and to find what excites them. We will offer the child all the windows that we can through school, museums, travel, theater, and sports. We found success comes from learning, creating, and doing what we love--and that's precisely what we hope to instill in a child.

We live in Virginia, right across the river from Washington, D.C. There is an incredible amount of fun stuff around us for kids and adults of every age. We love the ability to walk to the National Mall to tour the monuments or go through one of the many museums D.C. has to offer. It is a quick drive to the zoo, which has a ton of activities for kids. There are also lots of sporting events in the area; we particularly love going to a tennis tournament every summer.

Our neighborhood has a children's park with a jungle gym and there is a wooded area right next door with a great snow-sledding hill that fills up with children after every snow fall. There are plenty of biking and walking trails all around us, filled with families pushing strollers or riding bikes together. Our town has one of the best school districts in the state, with bilingual schooling available.

We live in a large two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with lots of space for a child to grow and play, including a large family room and a dining room with a perfect arts and crafts table. We have a porch with floor-to-ceiling windows that's great for playing, reading, and napping with our two kitties. (It's also a great place to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July!) Our building has many families with young children, and organizes regular activities like arts-and-crafts, movie events, and trick or treating throughout the building at Halloween.

Sara is an only child and is very close with her dad. (Sara's mom passed away last year.) Her dad lives nearby and we see him regularly to go hiking, have dinner, or just hang out at the house. He is very excited about becoming a grandparent and can't wait to meet this child! Sara also has a large extended family and we go to a family reunion with them every other summer. The last reunion included a double decker bus tour of an old pirate village in North Carolina, along with some beach time and a big backyard barbecue.

Mike's sister has three young boys and an older step-son; she lives within driving distance, and we usually spend Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays at her house. His brother-in-law has a boisterous, warm, and incredibly welcoming extended family, who make for memorable holiday celebrations. Mike's parents live within driving distance for half of the year, and spend the other half at their house in Maine, where they welcome family throughout the summer. Mike's sister is extremely excited to welcome a child to the family and for her sons to have a cousin to play with. Mike's parents are looking forward to sharing their lives and love with a new grandchild.

We are so happy that you have taken the time to read about us and consider us to be the parents of your child. We can't wait to be parents and want you to know how much we will love and treasure your child. We are so thankful to you for considering adoption and for considering us.

We both grew up in Pennsylvania, but moved away to separate parts of the country; we returned years later at the same time and to the same place, meeting in August 2006 at a Student Orientation event for first-year law students. Sara was coming to law school after spending seven years working as a waitress, an accountant, and an office manager in Houston, TX. Mike had just spent four years working in advertising in the New York City area. So, we were coming from two very different worlds! But, from the moment we met, we were best friends. We had the same taste in movies, the same sense of humor, and the same dedication to hard work. We started dating a month later and, after nine years together, we got married in 2015.

Over the last decade and a half, we have both worked to establish ourselves in our careers and to create a life for ourselves and our future family in which we would be stable and happy. Mike is an attorney working in the United States government, where he gets to continually learn new things and go to meetings at exciting places like the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, and even, sometimes, the White House. Sara has focused on a career in litigation, where she argues cases in both state and federal courts. While we love our jobs and find our work very fulfilling, we have also taken the time to engage in some wonderful adventures. We visited Alaska and hiked on a glacier. We visited the deserts of New Mexico and hiked through the dunes of White Sands. We visited Puerto Rico and ate lots of mofongo and piragua. We have gone on cruises through the Caribbean and to the Bahamas with friends and family. We've found success, joy, and continued opportunities to learn and grow in our lives. And now we are ready to share with a child our adventures, our lives, and our love.

There are so many things that we are excited to do as a family. We are looking forward to summer vacations, weekend visits to the zoo and museums, and afternoons making family art projects in the dining room. We are also excited to see what hobbies and activities the child will enjoy as they grow and learn about new things. Most importantly, we want to help raise a child who is happy, healthy, and full of wonder and love.

We can promise you that we will send pictures and written letters to you every year about your child. We are also open to telephone calls, video calls, emails, and future visits, if that is something you would like to do. The child will never wonder about their birth families and we will share the story of their adoption with them from the beginning. We want our child to feel safe and loved and to know that both their biological parents and their adoptive parents value and cherish them. Both of our families are fully supportive of our decision to grow our family through adoption and are very excited to welcome this child to our family.

Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know a little about us. We look forward to getting to know you. We would be grateful and honored if you chose us to be adoptive parents to your child.

Mike & Sara