We are so excited to share our lives with this child. We look forward to teaching them how to play board games and card games with us (and to be a good sport whether winning or losing). We can imagine doing large-piece kid puzzles with them, slowly working their way up to doing the big 1000+ piece puzzles with us! We want to share our love of books: both through reading to them and by listening to audiobooks together. We look forward to teaching them practical things, like how to cook or how to change a tire. Growing up, Kristin had a great experience being home schooled, and she would love to give the same personalized attention to this child. We would also like to share our creativity with them. For example, Kristin makes various arts and crafts like fridge magnets and paintings. Kirk is imaginative and creates fantasy worlds as settings for our D&D games. Then there are the big fun things like going on vacations--whether to beautiful destinations like Hawaii or national parks, or to visit extended family, or to historical locations/monuments to learn about history and culture. In the future, we hope to adopt again, so your child will have younger brother(s) or sister(s).

We are both white, but our families and community are both very accepting of different cultures. We will love this child for who they are, and want to give them the opportunities to explore that fully. If they are of a different race than us, we want them to have role models and exposure to their cultural heritage. We both have friends of different races, and our town has large Hispanic and Asian communities. At a young age, we will read children's books to them to help them connect with their culture. As they get older, we can seek out organizations, events, or groups that are of their race/culture. Kirk loves trying new foods, so they can bond over ethnic foods. We can also watch things like movies and TV shows with our feature child that explore their culture. All the while, the most important part of their story would be their birth parents. Knowing who you are will be something they know from the start. We want to help them understand and form their own identity and will be ready and open to talk with them about it.

We have rather unique pets which you may be curious about: a bird and a snake. We have Kiwi who is an Indian Ringneck parakeet and a Ball Python named Professor Severus Snake.

Kristin got Kiwi from an animal rescue mission, and though she prefers to stay in her cage, we have fun with her by calling back things to her when she squawks as if we could understand her, like "Yes Kiwi, we know you disagree!"

Severus we got more recently: Kristin has always wanted a snake, and Kirk got Severus for Kristin as a birthday present! Severus spends most of his time up in his terrarium. Kristin will pick him up a couple times a week (acting as a "friendly tree") to admire how cute and pretty he is and to watch him slowly slither around on her arms (and being careful to wash thoroughly afterward). He is a very gentle snake.

We love our house. It's big and homey which is great whether we are spending an evening at home together or when we have family and friends over. We host game nights and barbecues, regularly play Dungeons and Dragons with friends and family, or have people over to watch football during football season. We also have our numerous nieces and nephews over for birthday sleepovers as a special treat.

Our neighborhood is great for walking in, with a park within walking distance and many scenic bike paths that run beside a creek. The hospital and a middle school are also within a 10-minute walk. The local college has a pool and swimming lessons for kids (plus one of Kirk's sisters has a pool with water slide!) There is an annual summer fair with rides and games that we would love to take our future children to, and at Christmas time, we'd want to take them to Santa Claus Lane which is a neighborhood of houses with amazing Christmas light displays!

California is great--we are within a day-trip of both the beach and several national parks. It is so fun to go hiking in the redwoods, but still be back home by dinnertime.

Kirk is the youngest of eight kids and Kristin is the oldest of two. We are both really close with our families.

Most of Kirk's family lives in the area, including a small horde of nieces and nephews! At our most recent church game night, six of the older kids were running around playing games with each other or the adults. We see at least some of Kirk's family every week, whether to play Dungeons and Dragons, at church, or for a BBQ or birthday. They love to talk and are a lot of fun. The nieces and nephews absolutely adore babies!

Even though Kristin's parents live a couple hours away, we visit with them and her brother often, whether to play strategy games or to go on vacation, such as to Hawaii. We visit Pittsburgh, PA at Christmas time to see Kristin's grandparents and extended family which is awesome. Kristin's parents are very excited as this will be their first grandchild. Your child will be surrounded by loving people.

We are honored that you would take the time to consider us. We know considering adoption for your child may be a very difficult decision, and we appreciate your bravery and selflessness. We hope that learning more about us will help bring you peace of mind as you decide how to best love your child.

We met each other online through the dating site eHarmony. We are both nerds; we first connected over fantasy books as we'd both written "anything by Brandon Sanderson" in the free-response section of our dating profiles. Our love blossomed from there. For our first date, we walked along the beach, never running out of things to talk about as Kirk is a great talker! We had so many random things in common, it was like we'd been living parallel lives: both being home schooled, growing up going to church and to summer church camp, and both having started game nights at our churches. And yet, our personalities are so different yet complimentary. Kirk is enthusiastic, ready to jump into the next fun thing or next project. Kristin is caring and organized, often re-centering us on what is important and keeping us from doing way too much. We were married on May the 4th, 2019 ("May the fourth be with you!- and yes, we had light sabers as we are nerdy like that), and we have been happily married ever since.

While we were dating and first started talking about our ideas about building a family, adoption was our go-to option. Kristin has dreamed of building a family through adoption for years. Kirk was happy to make that dream a reality since he's always wanted to be a father. Kirk has a quote from one of his favorite fantasy books "It is the raising of a child that makes them yours… not blood." Your child will certainly be loved as our own.

Kristin has been a tutor for the past several years, helping students from preschool age up to adult-learners. Even though it is rewarding, she is excited to cut back on her hours or perhaps stop working altogether, so that she can be a stay-at-home mom like she's always dreamed of being. Kirk is a hard-worker (both at home with home projects and professionally) and has worked in several different fields: handyman, coach, assembly line worker, draftsman. He is currently working as a school custodian for the local school district, but hopes to get back into the engineering field as a draftsman as that is what he enjoys most and has a degree in. We find time each day to have fun together (such as playing a game, listening to an audiobook, doing a puzzle, or watching a TV show), and we look forward to having a child to share our life with.

We are happy to stay in touch with you. Whether you'd like it to be through mail or email, we will send you pictures and stories so you can watch your child grow up. We know you may need more or less contact at times, so we will strive to be sensitive and supportive of you wherever you are. In addition to exchanging email addresses and phone numbers, we are open to an occasional visit with you if you decide that is something you would like.

Thank you again for considering us as potential parents for your child. We realize this is a monumental decision. You will be in our prayers.

Kirk & Kristin