We are fortunate to have a son who joined our family through adoption in 2023. Carter is two years old and is a happy, healthy, and curious toddler! He loves reading books, dancing and singing, and loves watching and learning from "big kids." We spend a lot of time with Carter in the park across from our house and Carter loves going to our local Children's museum and especially riding its carousel. Carter loves story time at the library and we always leave with a hefty bag of new books to explore during the week. Our favorite weekly event is taking Carter to a weekly jazz concert series at a nearby museum where he loves to dance along and has learned to identify most of the instruments being played. We have a strong group of friends with similar aged children and enjoy lots of playdates and meet ups. Carter loves playing with his big cousins too and cheering them on in their sports games. Carter is excited for the prospect of a sibling and is always curious when we see a new baby and loves to care for the baby doll we recently introduced. Carter will be an excellent big brother to his new sibling.

In our leisure time, we enjoy the routine of our favorite hobbies but also embracing spontaneous adventures! During the week, we have a strong routine that involves regular park and playground visits with our son after work, cooking and eating dinner all together, and reading stories together before bedtime. We like to infuse the week with some adventure too, whether its meeting friends for a casual meal or exploring a new park or walking trail. Our weekends are full of exploration, whether its trying something new in our city, or taking a road trip or adventure to visit family or friends. We love being on the water, boating on the Chesapeake Bay, visiting P.J.'s family at the lake, or just going for a swim at our local pool. We balance our interests in biking and hiking with other activities like reading a good book or of course, binge watching a show. We are intentional about regularly spending time with family and friends from informal gatherings to planning big trips together.

As a same-sex couple in a transracial adoption, we are aware that our family looks and is different from other families. If we are fortunate enough to adopt a child with a cultural heritage different than our own, we understand the challenges and importance of continuously acknowledging and celebrating the cultural diversity of our child. Ensuring that our child has ties to their cultural heritage throughout their life is important to us and we will make every effort to make sure that our child knows about and experiences their cultural heritage, spends time with and makes connections with people who look like them, and has role models that share the same cultural heritage. Diversity is important to us and it's one reason we chose to live in our majority-minority city where we regularly interact with people from all different backgrounds. We have taken steps to address any implicit biases we carry from our own upbringing as we raise our son and we know that raising a child with a different cultural heritage than our own is a huge responsibility and challenge and we are willing to put in the work.

We love our home and the life we've created in Virginia. We own a 3 bedroom, 3 bath rowhouse built in 1901 in the middle of a walkable, historic neighborhood. The kitchen is the heart of our home where we host friends and cook together. We have a cozy family room for indoor play and a fenced-in backyard. Upstairs there's a bedroom for our future child next to our son's room.

We love our street and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. It's a great mix of young families with children and empty nesters who all look out for each other. We're right across the street from our neighborhood park, which our son uses constantly. Our neighbors are excited about our desire to adopt again and their kids can't wait to have another friend on the block.

We are fortunate to have a great neighborhood elementary school just three blocks away and love walking to nearby restaurants, shops, museums, parks, and playgrounds. We rarely drive on the weekends because our friend-group and grocery store are within walking distance of our house. We love spending time at our city's riverfront park and nearby children's museum.

We are fortunate to have loving and supportive families and large extended families with whom we enjoy spending time. Will is a triplet and is very close to his siblings and is constantly communicating with them and planning our next get together. P.J.'s siblings also live in Virginia and we're lucky to have four young nephews nearby whom we love taking on adventures or cheering on in their sports games. We are blessed that all of our parents are healthy and retired and are truly embracing their roles as grandparents. They have supported us in every way through this process so far and we have no doubt that they will enthusiastically welcome another grandchild into the family. We also love traveling with our families and look forward to spending time together at the lake in the summer, going on camping trips, or getting together for birthdays and holidays. We love spending the Fourth of July with Will's family in the North Carolina mountains where we go hiking, golfing, and fishing. P.J.'s extended family gets together each year for a beach vacation and we love the chaos of having so many family members together. We are grateful as a couple that our families have been so enthusiastic about our plans to adopt again. We love that our young niece and nephews will get to form the kind of close cousin bonds we enjoy with our own cousins.

We are honored that you would consider us for the adoption of your child and that you have taken the time to get to know just a little bit about us. We know this may be a challenging time in your life and we thank you for your bravery and courage in considering adoption. Please know that in considering such a selfless act, you would be fulfilling our dream and providing a nurturing, safe, fun, and adventuresome home for your child. We promise to embrace your child for the person he or she is meant to be and to provide lifelong support and encouragement so your child can thrive!

We are happily married and have been together for eight years and we are proud of the life we have built together. Growing up, neither of us ever envisioned that we would one day be able to get married, much less be able to start a family. We are grateful that adoption has given us that opportunity and we do not take that for granted. We have worked hard to develop our own loving and supportive relationship, to establish stable careers, and to create a warm and welcoming home for our son. We feel more ready than ever to expand our family through adoption again!

We are fortunate to have supportive families and a great network of friends who share in our excitement about adoption. We know that another child will be warmly welcomed into our families and that they will create important bonds with their grandparents and cousins. We have many friends with young families of their own who are excited for the bonds of friendship their children will make with your child.

We both cherish many memories from our own childhoods and we look forward to creating opportunities for a child to create his or her own memories. We can't wait to share our favorite places and things with a child and we are also prepared for the inevitable trials and challenges of parenthood. We promise to provide your child with a strong foundation and support system as well as the flexibility and openness to chart his or her own course in life. We look forward to supporting a child's interests and passions and providing opportunities for their personal growth. Education is very important to us and we promise to provide your child with every educational opportunity.

We consider adoption to be a lifelong journey and we welcome the opportunity to share in that journey with you. The bond we have established with our son's birth parents is one of our greatest blessings. Although we will always honor your wishes, please know that you will be a welcome and important part of our life and your child's life. We will happily share letters and pictures with you and we would welcome the opportunity for more contact, including visits. We will always ensure that adoption is a positive part of your child's story.

Thank you for your courage in exploring adoption and we are hopeful that we can be a part of your birth plan. Wishing you peace and love.

Warmly,

Will & P.J.