Jill is an elementary school teacher so education will always be part of a child's life. Jill feels one of the most important aspects of education is reading. We will instill a love of reading from the time a child comes home with us and we will grow that love of reading with trips to the library, and nightly bedtime stories. We also feel that play is important and as the child grows we will encourage learning through creative independent play and cooperative play with others.

We both believe that after graduating high school you should do what you love and what will make you happy. In our family and friend group we have a mechanic, excavator, truck driver, day care manager, police officer, nurse, doctor, art framer, farmer, military pilots, and many others. A child will have a range of role models and a variety of job and career examples to explore what makes them happy as adults.

A child will have access to Matt's military GI Bill, giving them money for three years of college/university, trade schools, apprenticeships, or flight school if they choose.

A child will also receive many life experiences while being a military child. Matt's career in the military allows us unique opportunities like exploring military trains, planes, and boats and supporting other military members with movie nights, breakfast, or serving food during holidays.

Adoption is something we both experienced during our childhood and as adults. Jill was raised by her step-dad from the time she was two years old, and he was able to adopt her when she was a teenager. Jill's oldest brother and his wife recently adopted twin boys from foster care after caring for them for two years. Matt was raised by his step-mom beginning at age seven, and while she was never able to officially adopt him, Matt considers her his mother. During Matt's teenage years and through college, his step-mom began fostering and adopting other children. Matt has three adopted siblings that are currently teenagers.

Our combined experiences with adoption led both of us to choose adoption as the way to grow our family.

Neither of us had the opportunity to know or keep in contact with our birth parent. While we are incredibly grateful for the family we gained, we feel we missed out on another part of our family. We know the importance of a child knowing about, and being able to have contact with their birth parents. In adopting a child, that is one of our top priorities. We hope to incorporate family and cultural traditions from all the significant people in the child's life.

We spend the majority of our leisure time together at home. We enjoy each other's company and are both homebodies. Together we will watch movies with a freshly-made tub of popcorn, relax in our sunroom while chatting, and play or snuggle with the dogs. We enjoyed searching thrift stores to find furniture for our family room, making it into a comfy spot to watch movies at home. Our year-round sunroom offers a peaceful view of our fenced in backyard with plenty of space for us, the dogs, and a child to enjoy. Our dog Dayton loves to play fetch and snuggle, and our dog Bolt loves to nap and have his belly rubbed. They are both calm, older dogs who love people and kids. Matt likes to exercise by running and weightlifting, cook, and help Jill with projects. Matt frequently cooks and experiments with new recipes we have not tried before. His chili wins the neighborhood chili cook-off every year. Jill's favorite leisure activity is reading while snuggled with a blanket and cup of tea. Jill also enjoys sewing, crafting, building things with wood, and refinishing old furniture pieces.

We also enjoy informal, relaxed gatherings with our friends and neighbors. We frequently bring our camping chairs to a neighbor's yard where we sit chatting around a firepit, while watching the kids play in the yard and with the basketball hoop in the circle of our cul-de-sac.

We live in a diverse Virginia community where people from all over the world have settled. Many historical and cultural heritage museums, historical sites and cities, state and national parks, and children's learning and playing centers create endless exploring possibilities.

Our house is situated on a cul-de-sac with close-knit neighbors. We have frequent neighborhood gatherings such as a Halloween party with a costume contest, a progressive holiday dinner, outdoor movie nights, and a chili cook-off. You can find many children who live on the cul-de-sac playing basketball together at the circle with a shared basketball hoop. A few of the neighborhood children are younger and will be great playmates for a new child.

In our house we have three bedrooms on the upper level, which is perfect for a child to have the room across the hall from our bedroom. Our favorite room is the year-round sunroom that overlooks the fenced-in backyard. Wall-to-wall windows on three sides of the sunroom allow us to enjoy the outdoors regardless of the weather with plenty of room for kids and dogs to play.

The public library is next to our cul-de-sac for an easy walk to explore and check out books. Within walking distance is a park with a large grassy area for running, and a playground. We also have a recreation center that offers indoor activities like ice skating, a swimming pool, and a kid's splash pad.

Our large extended family is spread throughout multiple states. Jill has three brothers and Matt grew up with four brothers and a sister. Our many nephews and nieces keep us busy when we get to spend time with them. We frequently call, text, send videos, and visit our family so most of us remain very close. When we are with family we are frequently working on projects, playing a game of baseball or cornhole, riding four-wheelers, or playing board games inside.

We try to gather with Jill's brothers and their families for the Fourth of July every year in Jill's hometown. We go to the annual town festival with live bands and rides for the kids. In the evening we watch the town fireworks at the fairgrounds while the kids play in the field.

Our families are very supportive of our adoption plan and they are excited for us to begin the process.

Matt is in the military, making our family unique from some other families. We will face moves, deployments, and temporary separations due to his job. Over the past decade we have experienced all of these situations and are prepared to help a child through some of these difficult transitions and situations. However, a child will also experience many adventures, opportunities, and create lasting friendships with others all over the country.

Thank you for reading this and considering us in this adoption process. If you decide to place your baby for adoption and choose us, we would like to work together to find a level of contact, and a relationship, that works well for all of us.

We married nine years ago and while there have been challenges in life over the years, we have always treated our marriage, household responsibilities, and life decisions like a partnership. Matt is in the military so this does mean we face moves or separations at times. We plan to parent a child with the same partnership mentality that has made our lives so happy and peaceful. A child in our home would be treated with kindness and support with firm but fair boundaries. When discipline is needed we would use logical consequences meant for a child to learn from their mistakes instead of to punish. As a teacher, Jill has experience with logical consequences and their effectiveness, and Matt's calm and quiet nature will make him a natural with this type of discipline.

We both have personal experience with adoption in our childhood and as adults that led us to choose adoption for ourselves. In our own childhood we have both experienced losing contact, and therefore a relationship, with a birth parent. We both feel that part of our families and histories are missing because of this. We have never been in the situation you are currently facing so, we cannot begin to imagine the concerns you have, but we can assure you that losing a connection to the child would not be one of those concerns if you choose us.

Mailing letters and pictures as the child grows up is the minimum contact we would like. We feel strongly that knowing your family, family history, heritage, and culture is very important. We would love to send text/email updates with pictures frequently and get pictures and updates from your life in return to share with the child as you feel comfortable. We want the child to always feel comfortable asking about you and the rest of their birth family. If you have other family members that would like to know the child, or for the child to know them, we would be happy to incorporate them into the regular updates and pictures we send. We would also be open to in person visits depending on how far apart we live. We can discuss and decide what works best for all of us.

Our daily lives are quiet and routine. A child with us would enjoy a stable routine with familiar activities like going for walks around the cul-de-sac, family dinners, playing with the dogs, spending time with friends, and plenty of time to play indoors and outdoors. We feel that traditions are an important part of a family and many of our traditions revolve around family. Jill collects family heirlooms and pieces that were important to different members of the family to help preserve their memories. If you have any traditions you grew up with, we would love to incorporate them into the child's life if we can.

Sincerely,

Matt & Jill