Our lifestyle is best described as, "Work hard but don't forget to have fun." Both of us work outside the home. Jeff works in finance and Katelyn works for a local non-profit. Both careers have provided quite a bit of flexibility which will ensure that important family functions are rarely missed. When we are not working, we enjoy being very active. You will find us golfing or playing pickleball on the weekends, enjoying the outdoors, or you will find Katelyn crafting or doing something creative. We are also active in our community. There are many cultural festivals and events that we enjoy attending and volunteering for. During the fall, you will find us cheering on a local university football team almost every weekend. This is such a special time of the year for us as we enjoy games with extended family and friends. While we are always on the move, we also know when we need time together and enjoy spending time at home watching movies or playing games.

We also both love to travel. We are looking forward to enjoying new places as a family in the future. One of our favorite recent vacations was to Germany during the Christmas markets. It was so fun to immerse ourselves in a different culture and experience so many new things!

Katelyn About Jeff: I remember the moment I met Jeff. We met at work and he was always the most helpful, kind and supportive of me. I can truly say he is the husband of my dreams. He loves me fiercely and cares so much about providing for our family. He is very driven and ambitious. We have so much fun together and he is my best friend. He is the only adult I know that personally gets invited to all the kids birthday parties because of how fun he is with the kids. He has received the nickname "nice Jeff" from the neighborhood kids and I can't wait to see him become a dad.

Jeff About Katelyn: I love everything about Katelyn, she is literally better at everything than I am. She is intelligent and hard working. She is a talented crafter which allows her to show off her artsy side. She is the most kind and caring person I have ever met. When you enter Katelyn's life there is no such thing as a fringe relationship, she cares for you like you were family and works to make every moment special even if that means matching shirts or mouse ears for a trip to Disney. She drives me to be a better person every day, and I cannot wait to see her become a mom.

Through this process, we are open to welcoming a child to our family that may be a different race than our own. We will work very hard to support our child's racial and cultural diversity. Our goal as parents will be to remain diligent in a child's progress towards a positive and healthy identity and we know that a child's racial and cultural identity are a huge part of that.

We plan to create a safe space in which a child feels proud of who they are and celebrate the strong and positive legacies of people throughout history who are of the same ethnicity of our child. We have close friends and family that represent many different races and cultures. We feel it will be important for a child to grow up with individuals in their life that also look like them. Our school district is diverse and has some amazing programs for children.

As parents, we will continue to be proactive in seeking out places in the community to plug in if we are not already. We feel it is vital for the child's development to have relationships with those they share a racial identity with. We also are committed to continuing to learn and do the work. We know that we will need to be continuously learning and supporting our child to ensure they are connected with their culture.

We live in a great neighborhood right outside a city in Missouri. The neighborhood we live in has a pool, play area and sidewalks throughout. It is a very active neighborhood with many children who are always outside playing and riding bikes. We live in a very scenic part of the state with over 100 parks and trails perfect for riding bikes or taking long walks. We live a short drive from multiple playgrounds and restaurants. In our community we have access to a zoo, aquarium, sporting events and live entertainment. We are less than an hour drive from a theme park and water parks which we have had the pleasure of attending with the neighborhood families!

Our neighborhood community is also very active! There are always multiple activities going on. From backyard barbecues, chili cook offs, and birthday parties to our annual Halloween event, everyone enjoys spending time together. We enjoy healthy competition and fun during the holidays decorating our houses. We have so much fun with our neighborhood family!

We enjoy spending time with our families as much as possible! Jeff comes from a large family and is one of five children. Jeff has three brothers and one sister that all live a few short hours from our home. We have four nephews and one niece that are so excited for play dates with a new friend. Jeff's mom also lives a few short hours away and comes to town frequently to dogsit for us. She is also excited to babysit future grandchildren! She works part time as a NICU nurse at a local hospital and comes to town to visit whenever she can. We enjoy vacations to the beach with Jeff's family and holidays with activities and games.

Katelyn has one younger sister who lives a few short hours from our home. Katelyn's parents also live a few short hours away. Katelyn's mom and dad are both retired and enjoy spending time traveling and volunteering. We enjoy the fall with our family and spend lots of time at sporting events cheering on our favorite team. Katelyn's parents are looking forward to taking future grandchildren to cheer on their favorite football team. We enjoy taking trips together and spending quality time exploring new locations.

We are both extremely close to our families and speak with them daily. Your child would have many opportunities to be surrounded by a large group of people that love them very much. Our four legged child, Baxter, is looking forward to a sibling!

We are so grateful to you for taking the time to get to know us a little better. We can't imagine how difficult a decision this must be for you. You will be in our thoughts and prayers as you are navigating this journey. As a part of this process, we are open to meeting with you or speaking with you on the phone if desired. We want you to know that we are committed to provide the most loving, supportive, encouraging home for your child.

We met over 13 years ago while we both worked for Target in college. Katelyn started working at the same store as Jeff and in their first interaction, Jeff told his work friend, "I'm going to marry her one day." We were inseparable that summer and after dating for a short 8 months, we were engaged. We got married on May 28, 2011 and just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We have so much fun together and are truly best friends. Early on in our relationship we talked a lot about our biological children and our adopted children. Adopting is always something we have discussed when talking about our future family.

We have tried to have biological children for several years and have been unable to conceive. While this has been difficult, we feel that having biological children is not the only way to expand our family. We know that adoption is such a blessing and we are ready to take all necessary steps in order to grow our family through adoption.

We are so excited for the future and including a child in our life. We have so much love to give and are looking forward to watching our parents become grandparents, our siblings become aunts and uncles and most importantly, we can't wait to be mom and dad. Our family is thrilled and supportive of our decision to adopt. Katelyn's family is looking forward to the first grandchild and Jeff's family is excited to welcome another grandchild to the family.

For a future child, we value the importance of providing them a safe, loving, encouraging space where they can be their authentic selves. We plan to encourage them to try new things and become involved in activities they want to try. We plan to raise a child to be hard working and value the importance of kindness and compassion with everyone they meet. We look forward to assisting our future child with any education needed for their chosen career. We are committed to supporting them as they become a productive, responsible member of the community.

We will gladly share with you updates on your child's growth and any milestones they experience through photos and stories, letters and e-mails if desired. You are so important to us and we will make sure that your child knows how much you love them and how amazing you are. We are looking forward to getting to know you and developing a strong, healthy relationship together. We plan to start speaking with our child about adoption and their story as soon as we bring them home. We are committed to making sure your child knows how much you love them and will always speak positively about your selfless decision to choose adoption. You are so incredibly brave and you will always receive respect and love from us.

Thank you for considering us as potential parents for your child. We have been looking forward to growing our family for some time and are so excited about the opportunity to love a child. You will be in our thoughts and prayers as you make this incredibly difficult decision. Thank you again for letting us share a little more about ourselves!

With Love,

Jeff & Katelyn