We love to travel, both domestically and internationally, and enjoy being outdoors. With James's busy schedule during the school year, we try to fit in a trip to a new destination during spring and summer breaks. We have a small camper and enjoy camping at a nearby county park that has a lake, beautiful scenery, and great hiking. We maintain an active lifestyle by walking, biking, and golfing in the warmer months. We love to entertain so our weekends are often busy hosting meals or game nights with family and friends. We also love live music and sporting events and you'll often find us at country music festivals or college football games. We have a close-knit neighborhood including several other families with small children. We get together often to watch games and share meals. We'd love to be able to bring a child into this group and watch them grow up together!

Becoming parents would be an absolute dream come true for us. It would be the honor of our lifetime to be able to love, nurture, and support a child in our home. Being a parent is a profound responsibility and we recognize the time, effort, and consistency needed to raise a child. Being a parent means finding a healthy balance between warm and firm as well as freedom and boundaries. Being a parent requires creating safety and structure, building space for learning and growth, acting as a role model, all while teaching respect and kindness. It means navigating tough conversations, providing guidance, instilling healthy habits, creating family traditions, and recognizing that failures are opportunities to learn and grow. Most importantly, it means loving unconditionally and supporting relentlessly. Becoming parents would fulfill a sense of purpose and give us an immense amount of joy as we look to build our family and experience life together.

After college, James spent ten years teaching high school social studies and coaching basketball in a small school just outside of a larger metro area. After completing his Master's degree, he accepted a position as a 7-12 Activities Director and At-Risk Coordinator at a school much closer to both of our families. He is now in his third year and spends his time providing support for students in a variety of ways. On the activities side, he manages the athletic coaching staff as well as the scheduling and logistics for all events including sports, music, and drama. On the At-Risk side, he works individually with students who need additional academic support outside of the regular classroom setting. He is passionate about student success and believes all students can achieve if given the right resources and encouragement.

Andrea worked briefly in sales and investments after college. In 2012, she took a role at an equipment finance company where she has been since, working in various roles of increasing responsibility. She is currently a team leader on a credit operations team, managing 11 individuals dispersed across the country. Her passions lie in process improvement, project management, and talent development. Her company's headquarters is within a few hours of their home so she occasionally has on-site meetings, but primarily works remotely. The most rewarding part of her role is bringing a new hire into the team, supporting their growth and development, and watching them earn new opportunities to advance.

We live in a small farming community in Iowa with a population just shy of 2,500. We moved here three years ago after spending the last decade in a larger metro area and are so happy to be back to our roots.

Our community is very supportive of families- a brand new daycare was just opened last year and there are multiple family events held annually including a citywide 4th of July celebration, Fall Festival, and a Christmas parade. We live on a street with multiple young families with children under the age of 5.

Our home is an open concept ranch style and we spend the majority of our time in our living/dining area as we love to host gatherings with family and friends. We also love our spacious backyard where we enjoy grilling, bonfires, and yard games.

We live one block away from a city park that includes a swimming pool, playground, volleyball nets, and a brand new pickleball complex and skate park. The park also connects to a 2.5 mile walking and biking trail that we enjoy daily.

We both come from close knit families and love having many family members in close proximity. Andrea's parents are both retired, live 30 minutes away, and are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to share their love with a grandchild. Andrea's younger sister and brother-in-law also live nearby and teach at the local elementary school. James's parents are also retired and live within 40 minutes during the summer while spending their winters in Arizona. James's oldest brother and his wife also live nearby and have two children, our nephew who is 13 and our niece who is 10. We love having them close so we can attend piano recitals, softball or baseball games, and birthday parties. James's middle brother and his wife live in Arizona with their two children, our niece who is 10 and our nephew who is 7. We travel with them each summer for at least a week to spend some quality time with their family and also get to enjoy the holidays with them, either in AZ or in IA. We often host gatherings where members of both of our families attend to share a meal, play games, or enjoy the outdoors. They have all been extremely supportive and excited about our adoption journey and would love to add to the "cousin crew!"

Thank you for taking the time to review our profile. We are grateful for the opportunity to share a little bit about ourselves and our life. We recognize the difficult decisions you have ahead of you and admire the strength, courage, and selflessness it takes to consider adoption.

Having been together for sixteen years, we've had the opportunity to grow up together. We dated all throughout college, furthering our education and learning about ourselves in the process. With very different personalities and interests, we learned our strengths were complementary and that we made a great team. We were married in 2012 and our relationship has strengthened over time as we've navigated the ups and downs of our life together.

Early on in our relationship, we agreed children were definitely in our future and that adoption was something that had always been on our hearts. We tried to conceive naturally over the past several years without success. After receiving our infertility diagnosis, we knew that adoption was the next stop on our journey.

James received a job offer in 2021 that would bring us back to the area where we both grew up. Anxious to get back to our roots and live closer to family, we jumped at the chance. Now having settled into this close-knit Midwestern community, we are ready to grow our family. We are surrounded by family and close friends who will provide a stable and nurturing environment for a child. Our home will be a place of love, support, and encouragement.

We look forward to what the future could look like with a child in our lives. We would be ecstatic to bring them to weekly family gatherings, enjoy the local parks with neighboring families, and eventually support their participation in activities at James's school. We can't wait to plan our firsts vacation with them, include them in our holiday traditions, and spend time exploring the outdoors with them.

Education is uniquely important in our family of teachers and educators and we promise to continually advocate for your child, ensuring they have all the tools needed to pursue their interests and support their development. We also promise to instill the importance of respect, character, kindness, and work ethic in our daily interactions and conversations.

We hope this letter serves as the beginning of what we hope will be a respectful and heartfelt dialogue between us. We believe that open and honest communication is crucial in this process, and we are committed to ensuring that everyone involved feels heard and understood. We promise to develop a lifelong relationship with you by sharing photos, letters, and emails with you throughout your child's life. We will honor your child's adoption story and ensure they understand the unconditional love you have for them.

Thank you for considering us as potential parents for your child. Growing our family would be the greatest joy of our lives. We promise to give your child a safe, stable, and loving home. As you continue to navigate this difficult decision, you will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

James & Andrea