Adoption had has a great impact on our lives. Day was adopted after her biological mother died in childbirth. Day's adoptive father (a pediatrician) went to visit the orphanage and met Day and fell in love. They adopted her soon after. If she hadn't been adopted she would have likely continued to live in the foster care system. She is so thankful for her adoptive parents, and so is Renee.

Renee has always wanted to adopt. She has always felt that there were so many children who needed a home in the world, and she wanted to give them a chance to have it. Even in junior high school she would tell anyone who listened that she wanted to adopt rather than have children herself.

Two of Renee's cousins have adopted children -- she reached out to one of those cousins and talked at length about their experiences adopting. Seeing the joy and connection that Renee's cousins experienced via adoption really spurred us toward adoption. We feel this network will really help us navigate the adoption process and will be a wonderful support system to our family.

Day was born with vision and could see until college when a combination of genetics and a rock climbing accident resulted in her losing much of her sight.

A longtime lover of animals, she decided that a guide dog would allow her to continue to live her life to the fullest. Day can still see some, but Gamma helps for travel outside the house and in strange places. It takes two years of intensive training, from the time the dog is a puppy, to learn how to guide, and then it takes three weeks of one-on-one training to introduce Day to the dog and for the two of them to learn to work together. Gamma is her third trained guide dog.

Gamma is a 10-year-old Black Labrador Retriever with white speckles on her face and belly. Gamma helps her navigate around our neighborhood, to and from work, and at business events. Gamma helps her cross streets and navigate obstacles. She is also the sweetest dog! When not on duty, she loves to curl up and nap under Day's desk. When at home and “off-duty” she follows Renee, faithfully, every time she goes to the kitchen and popcorn is her favorite treat. She is patient with the children in our life and is always happy to see them when they arrive. They love playing with her and crawling all over her. She is a big part of our lives -- and we can already see Gamma being devoted to this child, and them being fast friends.

Renee is mostly Western European, born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. Her great, great grandfather was part of the Wyandotte Nation. Her mother was raised on a farm that had been in her family for 100+ years. Her father was raised in Kansas City, Missouri but his parents invested in a farm that Renee and her two siblings still own. Renee was raised Baptist and attended an Assemblies of God High School. She speaks a small amount of halting Spanish.

Day was born and grew up in Bahrain (a small island off the coast of Saudi Arabia), her birth parents were Bedouin. One of her adoptive parents is Arab, the other is from a small town in Missouri. She was raised being exposed to both Islam and Christianity. She grew up speaking Arabic and English, but has lost quite a bit of her Arabic.

Together we have become active observers and participants in our community, and have explored other cultures and religions around us. We have done everything from celebrating Icelandic "Bookflood," to attending Chinese New Year Celebrations. We have been to Catholic Mass, a Santeria Ritual, Eastern and Methodist Churches, Baptist Revivals, Hebrew Seders -- all with a wide array of friends and loved ones who want to share their culture with us.

We just moved into our current house last fall and love it. We call it the "Barbie Dream House." It's a five bedroom, two and one half bath house with a grassy side yard and a fenced-off swimming pool in the back. Day's favorite room is the game room downstairs with board games and a pool table. Renee's is the library. Of course we both love the pool and spend a lot of time outside. We live in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is just north of Washington, D.C.

Our neighborhood is fantastic! There are always kids playing or riding their bikes in the cul-de-sac, and an ice cream truck that comes every other Monday at about 6 p.m.. Renee even runs out to get us ice cream! The best part is how connected everyone is. There's a neighborhood Facebook group and things are posted like: the kids down the street have a lemonade stand up today, or the house down the block is getting rid of a blender if anyone wants it, or to organize things like planning the whole neighborhood decorating for Christmas. We're famous because we managed to get a blow-up Santa decoration on the roof!

We're walking distance from an elementary school and its playground with swings and jungle gym, and the local park and nature center. It's a lovely quiet neighborhood but we also have Washington, D.C. with all its museums and cultural activities only a short metro ride away.

Day's mother lives about 15 minutes away from us in a retirement community, we see her often and talk on the phone to her almost every day. She is a large part of our lives. Day's youngest sister lives nearby as well, and that allows us to have holiday gatherings and farmer's market rendezvous without too much planning.

Renee's family is back in Missouri, but she and her sister talk often, especially during football season when the Kansas City Chiefs play! She also makes frequent trips back to see her family, she has the week between Christmas and New Year's off every year and often spends that in Missouri.

More importantly, we have cultivated a family of friends that stand by us and support us in everything we do. Day grew up with a bevy of family friends that were considered Aunties and Uncles, and we plan to provide the same to our children. We have friends of all genders, abilities or disabilities, races, creeds, colors -- all are welcome.

When we gather people together, we will sit outside by the pool and watch the stars. Or we will play a board game (or three). Or we will order in food and just chat into the night. We like to have an open house where people can bring their children, guitars, games, water wings...and be comfortable.

We know you don't know us, you've only seen our pictures and read our profile -- but thank you for getting this far. Thank you for selecting us, we feel blessed.

We have been married for 10 years (since it became legal in D.C.), and have been living in Maryland for 13 years now. BUT we've been together over 20 years, we met college and fell in love -- and never looked back.

Day works for the Department of Labor and Renee is a librarian/archivist for a university, but we are both more than our jobs. We are huge nerds, and are proud of it. We have a room in our home dedicated to books/comics and another to games. Our house is filled with books and laughter, games and friends, and most of all love. We like going on adventures, great (going to Italy) and small (trying to locate the grey tree frog that lives outside our living room window). With Renee's love of books, and Day's love of history most of our activities are about growing and learning -- and always with a little fun along the way. We love our life together, and we are excited to share it with a child.

Being a parent is about being a guide and a support. It is helping a child have a safe and stable foundation from which they can explore the world and figure out who they are and who they want to be. It is being excited with them; their thoughts and dreams and cheering them on. It is giving them the tools to be as successful as possible, but also to be kind.

As parents, we are most excited to share all the world with a child and experience the world through a whole new pair of eyes.

We know this must be one of the hardest decisions you've ever made, but we are here to support your choice. Please know that we are here because we want to be -- Day was adopted, and Renee has always wanted to adopt. It is amazing to love someone so much that we haven't even met yet, but your child will be the center of our universe and the recipient of so much love and joy. We want you to know that we are willing to give as much or as little contact as you need. We plan to email letters and photos, and if you ever need a story or a photo just ask (we are both storytellers, so we will always have something to share).

We want you to know that our group of family and friends are excited for this, and cannot wait to meet the new baby in the family. Nana (Day's mother) and Auntie Rhonda (Renee's sister) are already making plans for vacations, traditions, and play dates -- and Day and Renee can't wait to teach this child to swim, take them to pick berries in the summer, and just watch them grow.

You child will be surrounded by people of different ages, races, abilities, religions -- but they will all have one thing in common. They will know and love this child.

Day & Renee