We share a lot of common interests and love doing things together. We enjoy spending time with our friends and family and experiencing new things and places. However, we also like to hang out at home, binge-watch a show or movie, and cuddle with our pets. Our nieces and nephew are a huge part of our lives and we love having them over or taking them to the park. We often play board games together or with friends and family. Other favorite activities are visiting history museums, national parks and escape rooms, playing cards, Mario Kart, ping pong, and badminton. We also share a love of theme parks, so Orlando is our favorite vacation spot. We try to go as often as possible; it's a source of many great memories, both from childhood and adulthood.

Kaitlyn enjoys reading a good book, especially on a rainy, cozy day. Mystery and thrillers are her favorites, and she will sometimes read a book cover to cover in a single day. She loves entertaining and cooking for others. Planning and organizing things, especially birthday parties for her nieces and nephew are things she loves to do. She also enjoys scrapbooking and has gifted many to friends and family. Chuck has an extensive board game collection and likes to build gaming PCs. He also spends months leading up to Halloween building props and decorations. His love of movies and theme parks has inspired him to try to recreate his own sets in the front yard.

Kaitlyn About Chuck: I admire Chuck's passion and dedication for the things and people he cares about. I love his loyalty and willingness to lend a helping hand to whoever needs it. His unwavering patience is something I have always looked up to. Same with his easy-going attitude towards life. Above all, his sense of humor is what I love most. His wittiness is what drew me in from the moment we met, and our home is filled with laughter. I admire how hard he works so that we are taken care of. I can't wait for him to become a father, because I know he will be amazing. He has a way of making kids feel so at ease around him; wherever we go, kids always gravitate towards him.

Chuck About Kaitlyn: I love how important family is to Kaitlyn and her loyalty to the people she cares about. She is always willing to go out of her way to do something special for loved ones and is always incredibly thoughtful. I also love that we have a similar sense of humor and regularly laugh at the same silly stuff. I admire her ability to be empathetic towards basically anyone. She has an emotional intelligence that I can't even comprehend most time. She can know precisely when to be diplomatic and understanding and when to stand her ground. I respect her work ethic when something needs to be accomplished. I'm often envious of her ability to focus on something so relentlessly.

We have created many traditions over the years, especially regarding holidays. We love Halloween, host an annual party, and have all our friends and family over to enjoy the fun. Our neighborhood is great for trick or treating, and Kaitlyn makes treat bags for all the kids every year. Chuck spends months planning and building elaborate decorations for the yard, and Kaitlyn always makes a ton of food.

Christmas is also a big deal in our family. Kaitlyn spends the week baking her family's butterball cookies. She has been baking them with her mother since she was a child and makes multiple batches for family and friends. Christmas Eve morning is when we exchange tree ornaments we buy each other every year and spend time with our pets. We let the dogs open their presents and play with their new toys. They get so excited and somehow know when it's time to open gifts. We always spend the evening with Chuck's family at his aunt and uncle's house for seafood gumbo and secret Santa. When we get home, we always fall asleep watching A Christmas Story.

On Christmas Day morning, we have breakfast at Chuck's parents' house and exchange gifts with his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and our niece. Then in the afternoon, we go to Kaitlyn's mother's house and spend the rest of the day with her family. We overeat finger foods and desserts and let the kids open their gifts. The night usually ends with the adults exchanging gifts.

We live in a small, diverse town in southern Louisiana and have access to a magnitude of great food and restaurants. We're in a suburb, less than an hour away from a major city, with lots of fun family activities, like the zoo, aquarium and children's museum.

We bought our home newly built nine years ago. It is in a cul-de-sac and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a nice spacious backyard.

Our neighborhood is full of young children always playing outside and going for walks. There are many block parties throughout the year with lots of food and fun activities for the kids.

We love the school district we are in and the elementary school is a short 2-5 minute drive from our home. We also live close to many parks and our public library. If we had to sum up our neighborhood in one word, it would be friendly!

Family is essential to us, and we have great relationships with both of ours. They are beyond excited for us to become parents through adoption and support us in all our decisions.

Chuck's family lives only 10 minutes away, and we see them often, usually weekly. Our get-togethers usually consists of an abundance of food, hanging out in the pool, playing board games, plenty of laughter, and good conversation.

Kaitlyn's family lives about 30 mins away, and we see them at least once a month or more. There are several children and always a birthday to celebrate. We love having crawfish boils, swimming, and spending time outside on her family's large property. The kids love riding around in the golf cart and spending time at the lake fishing and paddle boating.

We also have our nieces and nephews over to our house often. They love having sleepovers with Nana (Kaitlyn) and Uncle Chuck. We order pizza, watch movies, have dance parties, color, read books and play outside with the dogs.

Firstly, we would like to express our gratitude to you for considering us as a part of your adoption plan. We acknowledge the tough decisions you are making and want you to know that we admire your strength, courage, and selflessness. Hopefully, you can find some comfort in knowing that you are not alone in this. No matter what, we want to thank you for just reading our story.

We met each other in high school and immediately hit it off. We became good friends but eventually lost touch when we both went to college. A few years later, we were both living back at home and, by chance, ran into each other outside a store. We started talking again and have been together ever since. Our personalities are similar in many ways but opposite in others. We have always had the same sense of humor and not a day passes that we don't make each other laugh. On the other hand, Kaitlyn is very organized and meticulous but Chuck is more laid back and carefree. We feel like our differences balance each other out perfectly. We have been together long enough to know what our strengths and weaknesses are within the relationship and that is the foundation we have built our lives on. Chuck proposed on Kaitlyn's 23rd birthday, and we married two years later. From the beginning of our marriage, we struggled with infertility. While it was a challenging experience, we know in our hearts it has reinforced us individually and as a couple. We are more solid than ever and go through life as a team. Even after over a decade, we are still each other's favorite people.

We feel like we have created a life centered around love and can't wait to share it with a child. Our home is full of silliness, understanding and kindness. Having an opportunity to share that would mean everything to us. We want you to know that we will always ensure this child knows how much you love them. We are eager to share photos, emails, and texts with you so you can follow along with their milestones as they grow. We are also open to visits and want them to know where they came from. We would be more than happy to relay any information you would like them to learn.

Honestly, it's been a daunting task trying to fit our lives into so few words and images. This whole process has felt so foreign to us, so we can only imagine how it feels to you. We understand many other great couples have the dream of being parents just as much as us. We hope we were able to make ourselves stand out or at least helped make your decision easier in some way. We realize that being a parent is a massive responsibility. Still, we promise to provide this child with the absolute best life we can provide. We would be honored to raise them and grow our family through adoption. We are so excited to potentially have an opportunity to nurture this child into the best version of themselves and be a guiding hand along the way.

Sincerely,

Chuck & Kaitlyn