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 stepdad 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 stepmom 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 stepmom began fostering and adopting other children. Matt has three adopted siblings that are currently teenagers and young adults.

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 about or keep in contact with our birth parents. While we are incredibly grateful for the family we gained, we feel we missed out on knowledge of our family history and traditions. We know the importance of a child knowing about and/or being able to have contact with their birth families. We hope to incorporate family or cultural traditions from all the significant people in the child's life.

We spend much 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. 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 along with our friends and family. 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 enjoys running and weightlifting, cooking, and helping Jill with projects. Matt frequently cooks and experiments with new recipes we have not tried before. His chili often wins the annual neighborhood chili cook-off. Jill's favorite leisure activity is reading while snuggled with a blanket and cup of tea. Jill also enjoys sewing, woodworking, and making food from scratch. Outside of our home we enjoy camping, hiking, exploring thrift stores, and going to the movie theater.

An amazing group of friends and neighbors surround us in a supportive community. 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 shared basketball hoop in our cul-de-sac. We gather with a group of close friends on Friday evenings for a shared dinner accompanied by a movie, T.V. show, or board games.

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 playing games such as baseball or ping pong, riding four-wheelers, or playing board games inside.

Many times throughout the year we visit Jill's family in Ohio for special celebrations or holidays and Jill's parents come to visit us multiple times as well. We try to gather with all of Jill's brothers and their families every year in July in Jill's hometown. It is so much fun to have all our nieces and nephews together and we look forward to a child of our own playing with their large group of cousins. In the summer of 2024 one of Matt's brothers, with his wife and two of our nephews, will be moving to our area and we are excited to have some of Matt's family nearby.

Our families are very supportive of our adoption plan, and they are excited to add a new member to our family.

Matt is in the military, making our family unique from some other families. While Matt has been in the military for about 17 years, a child may still face a couple of moves during their childhood, or some temporary separations from Matt due to his job. Over the past decade we have experienced a variety of situations that come with being a military family and are prepared to help a child through any difficult transitions or situations that arise. However, while a child may face some difficult transitions, they may also experience many adventures, opportunities, and create lasting friendships with others all over the world.

Thank you for reading about our lives 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.

The personal experience we have both experiences with adoption in our childhood and as adults that led us to feel adoption was right for ourselves. In our own childhood we have both lacked knowledge of a birth parent and experienced losing contact, and therefore the potential for a relationship, with a birth parent. 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 a child will know about you and can have contact with you or your family if you choose.

You will receive letters/emails and pictures as the child grows up from us and we would love to get pictures and updates from your life in return to share with the child if you feel comfortable. We want the child to always feel secure in 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 a few in person visits throughout the child's life, depending on how far apart we live. We can discuss and decide what works best for all of us.

We feel knowing about your family, family history, heritage, and culture is important. Many of our traditions revolve around family and Jill collects family heirlooms and pieces that were important to different members of the family to help preserve their memories. If you have any family, cultural, or religious traditions you grew up with, we would love to incorporate them into the child's life if we are able.

Over the ten years of our marriage there have been challenges in life, but we have always treated our marriage, household responsibilities, and life decisions like a partnership. We plan to parent a child with the same partnership mentality that has made us so happy and content in our lives. A child in our home will 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.

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 and at nearby parks, family dinners, playing with the dogs, spending time with friends, and plenty of time to play indoors and outdoors.

Sincerely,

Matt & Jill