Adoption has affected us extremely personally. If it wasn't for adoption, we would not be the parents to our beautiful and amazing daughter. We adopted our daughter through American Adoptions in 2019. The love we have for our daughter is so strong and we feel very lucky and grateful that her birth parents chose us to be her parents. Even though our daughter is still young, we talk to her about her adoption and have a picture of her birth parents in her room. It is important to us that we talk to our daughter about adoption so that she knows that it is not something to be ashamed of and that she is loved not only by us but her birth parents, as well. There isn't a day that goes by where we don't think about our daughter's birth parents and hope they are doing well. Adoption not only brought a child into our life to love but her birth parents too and, as such, we continue to ensure that we communicate openly with our daughter's birth parents while also respecting their wishes for communication. Adoption means the world to us and we feel very blessed to have already adopted one daughter and our thankful that you are reading our profile and considering us as potential parents to your child.

Even though we enjoy many different vacation spots, our favorite vacation spot is Disney World. To us, Disney World is a break from the real world and daily stresses. It's a place where imagination and fantasy can run wild. When we go to Disney we unplug from work and focus on the time together. We have found that Disney provides so many different experiences from rides to shows to food and even education about things like animation, culture, and animals. We love spending time at the parks and taking it easy by the pool.

We took our daughter for her first trip to Disney when she was 14 months old. It was a trip so very different from what we were used to but in a positive way. We slowed down more to watch her enjoy things as simple as finding leaves on the ground and watched her be amazed (and sometimes scared) on rides. Disney World became even more our favorite vacation spot when we saw how much fun our daughter was having. We are excited for future trips to Disney (and other places) and see our daughter and her future sibling experience the parks individually and together as siblings. We hope they both will have fond memories of family vacations at Disney as they grow older.

Being a parent means the world to us. It is amazing how much our lives changed the moment our daughter came into our lives. Our lives went from doing what we wanted, when we wanted and lazy weekends to being centered around our daughter and her needs. We know this sounds cliché, but we wouldn't change it for the world. Our days are a lot more hectic now with making sure Kennedy's schedule stays consistent on some things like sleep and eating times but also its more hectic because we are always looking for activities and places to take Kennedy to so she can explore and have fun. We really love every aspect of being a parent, even the sleepless night. To be honest, the sleepless nights were hard but we enjoyed holding her and rocking her to sleep in the quiet of the night. It was peaceful. It sounds weird but we think adoption gave us a greater appreciation for enjoying every moment we have as parents. But we also recognize that being a parent isn't all about having fun and playing, we also know that being a parent means helping to guide our child through life and teach them things like right verse wrong and how to overcome challenges. Being a parent is a lot of responsibility and work but it is also so much fun and something we are so thankful we get to be.

We live in a small town in Wisconsin. Our town and the neighboring towns hold many annual events and festivals. These events included weekly live music in the park during the summer, farmer's markets, town festivals, and parades.

While we live in a small town, there is still plenty to do. The town has many parks and walking trails including one through a forest. The town also has a swimming pond that is surrounded by a sandy beach for children to play in. Our town also has a ski/snowboarding and tubing hill that is fun to go to in the winter time. We are also only 15 minutes away from a bigger town that has lots of shopping and activities for kids. Lastly, we can easily drive to Milwaukee, Green bay, or Madison to go to museums and the zoo.

Our house is an open concept, three- bedroom house that we built in 2017. Currently, in our home, our child has her own bedroom and a second bedroom is used as a playroom. The playroom will be transformed into the bedroom for your child. We also have a semi-finished basement. In addition to numerous spaces in our home for children to play, there is also plenty of room to play and explore outside. Our house sits on 27 acres and neighbors a state forest preserve.

We are both very close with our family who almost all live nearby. Both of our families are excited with our decision to adopt again and cannot wait to welcome another child to our family.

James grew up with his parents, two brothers, and one sister. James' family is extremely close and it is not unusual for one of James' family member to be at our house on the weekend either hunting, playing cards, or over for dinner. James' extended family also gets together once a year for a family reunion. James also shares a very close relationship with his dad. James and his dad go on annual fishing trips to Canada together and they also have a garden in our backyard that they work on together throughout the summer.

Kristin grew up with her parents, an older brother, a twin brother, and a sister. Kristin's family loves to get together to have dinner, go shopping, or go to the movies. Kristin's family also enjoys taking family trips together, which usually is a trip to Disney World or a cruise. Kristin and her family have many fond memories of their vacations including flying over the Arctic Circle, seeing whales, and spending time together.

We are lucky that Kennedy gets to see her relatives often!

We can't imagine what it's like for you to read all these profiles and decide if adoption is the right choice for you and your child; and, if so, with which family to place your child. That decision seems so big yet these profiles are so brief. Regardless of what you decide, you are demonstrating your strength, courage, and love by considering all options for what you think is right for you and your child. We have so much respect and gratitude for you that you are even considering our profile.

For a brief background about us, we have been together for over 13 years and been married for 6 years. We adopted our daughter, Kennedy, through American Adoptions in 2019. We both always knew we wanted kids and, fortunately, we had issues with fertility and chose to adopt. We say fortunately about our fertility issues because adopting Kennedy was the best thing that has ever happened to us. We couldn't imagine our life without her and, but for the fertility issues, we wouldn't have her in our life. So, it turned out the fertility issues were a huge blessing in disguise.

Since adopting Kennedy, we both knew we wanted to adopt again. We both have always wanted more than one kid and wanted our kids to grow up with siblings. If you choose to place your child with us, your child will grow up alongside Kennedy, who will probably teach your child how to get into all the things they aren't supposed to and how to act cute to get out of trouble. Just kidding, sort of. Kennedy is definitely a head strong child who is full of determination and mischief but she is also smart, funny, and so loving. We think she will make a great big sister and will teach your child all the things she knows and will be protective of your child.

If you choose us, this is what a typical week would look like for your child. During the week, we both work, so your child would go to the same daycare as Kennedy. The daycare is accredited and great with kids. We love the daycare because it's not only a fun place but it also helps prepare kids to start school. In the evenings, we spend time together playing, eating dinner, taking a bath (on bath nights), and reading a story before bed. Even though we both working during the week, our employers are flexible with our schedule. We have always been able to abruptly get off work when Kennedy has been sick or daycare has closed. In fact, for five weeks Kennedy went to work with Kristin when her daycare closed due to COVID and Kristin worked from home another 2 weeks when Kennedy's daycare closed again. Family is our priority and we will always be there for Kennedy and your child. We will not miss things like sports games, recitals, concerts, etc. in the future because of work.

On the weekends, our schedule is always changing but we focus on spending time as a family. We are constantly finding new family activities to do on the weekend and some of the activities we like to do best are visits with grandparents and aunts/uncles, going to the zoo/pool/park, and just playing outside. As the kids get older, and COVID is over, we are excited to introduce them to after school activities they might be interested in and to go to more places like trampoline parks, children museums, and summer festivals.

Adoption for us, isn't just about bringing a child into our lives and raising them as best as we can but it is also about you. We want to have as much or as little contact with you as you wish. We are willing to not only send letters and pictures to American Adoptions but also to stay in touch with you through email, snail mail, text, video calls, or phone calls. We are also open to having annual visits. At the end of the day, if you choose adoption and choose us, not only will your child become family with us but so will you.

James & Kristin