We have a daughter named Madison who is the most important thing in our lives. She is active and full of energy and makes us laugh every day. She likes the color pink, our puppies, unicorns, stuffed animals, desserts, macaroni and cheese, Bluey, Disney princesses, and slime videos. Madison was born 10 weeks early and spent two months in the NICU, which was a hard time for all of us. At age 3, she graduated from the hospital's neonatology clinic with no services needed. She is a regular kid and you would never know now that she was an early preemie. She brings us so much joy and will be a fantastic big sister!

We have always included adoption as a part of our family plan. When we got married, we both knew we wanted to have children and grow a family. However, we have had fertility issues and it became apparent that we would probably not be able to have another child through pregnancy together. At this time, we are pursuing adoption wholeheartedly. We love being parents and we are excited to grow our family by welcoming another child into our lives!

We have two French Bulldog puppies named Minnie (gray) and Daisy (fawn) who just turned one. Our animals are part of our family - we are with them constantly and they provide us with unconditional love. Every evening after Madison goes to bed, the puppies lie on our laps. Animals are dependent on us so we try to take good care of them by grooming them and providing enrichment activities like going on walks, playing, and bringing them to doggy daycare. They are very silly and energetic. Daisy loves to play tug of war, and Minnie loves to play fetch with her ball. Both love to bark at animals outside. We enjoy going for walks as a family with the puppies on our community's walking trails and metro parks. Pets provide unconditional love and we believe they are important to enriching our lives.

We believe that exposure to culture is important and is a unique challenge in interracial adoptions. We take this matter seriously and want to learn as much as we can on the subject. For that reason, we have engaged a family therapist who specializes in adoption who will work with our family through the adoption and after. We hope to keep in touch with the child's biological family to build those relationships and have exposure to his or her culture. We plan to attend therapy and utilize resources our therapist recommends, as well as utilize meetups and resources provided through the adoption agency. We also plan to utilize parent social groups, such as through Facebook, for parenting in general and for interracial parenting specifically. We will also talk to Erika's aunt and cousin about their interracial adoption journey.

We want to educate ourselves on the child's culture by reading and learning to be able to also provide some exposure at home. Things such as how to do hair and cook different cultural foods and attending cultural activities like parades and festivals can be a way to incorporate his or her culture at home. Finally, we have friends who have interracial children, including one family who has completed two interracial adoptions. We plan to utilize those friends as resources so we can learn about how they have parented and resources they have found helpful in their parenting and adoption journeys.

We live in a suburb full of greenery and families. We love where we live and think it is perfect for raising kids. Our house is on a cul-de-sac and you can often see families walking their dogs or kids riding their bikes. Our town has lots of walking paths - one begins at the end of our street and we like to take our puppies on walks often. We also live near a community pool, playground, and golf course.

Our community has lots of family amenities. There is an annual brunch with Santa, Easter egg hunt, summer ice cream social, and fitness classes in the park. There are also community pools, tennis courts, and parks for residents to enjoy. We take our daughter to the pools often. We also enjoy going to the weekly farmer's market and going out to local restaurants. Our city has youth sports teams - our daughter participates in youth t-ball and soccer.

Our home has 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. One bedroom is ours, one is our daughter's, and one is for guests. The extra room is currently used as a playroom, but will hopefully become a baby's room soon! We also have a finished basement with a bathroom and media area for kids to hang out. We have a private backyard surrounded by trees. Erika's favorite part of the house is the big patio in the backyard, it is quiet and peaceful.

Erika's mom and dad live on the coast. We visit as often as possible and Facetime every day. They have a summer house in the country and we take our daughter to visit every year. She loves seeing the deer and riding the tractor! Erika's brother got married last summer in a beautiful wedding. Our daughter was the flower girl and we were in the wedding party. Growing up, Erika and her brother would visit her grandparents in Florida during the winter and at their island summer house during the summer. Erika's brother even has a tattoo of the name of the island!

Zac's mom and dad live close us. We have grown close to them and see them often. They enjoy baseball and get season tickets every summer. His mom also loves movies, plays, and reading so we often go to shows and dinner together. We recently took our daughter to the Bluey musical! Zac's parents live near an amusement park, so every summer we take a trip there with Zac's cousin. Zac and his cousin love the roller coasters! Erika does not. We visit with Zac's mom's side of the family each summer to see his 97-year old great aunt! Zac's brother and sister-in-law have children and we love to get the cousins together. Madison adores her cousins.

Both of our families are supportive of and excited for us to grow our family through adoption. Adoption is also a part of Erika's extended family.

It is wonderful to have this opportunity to speak to you directly in our own words. We wanted to introduce ourselves and to thank you for the difficult decision you are making.

First and foremost, we want to thank you for your decision to choose adoption for your child. We are so appreciative of this opportunity. We cannot begin to imagine the emotions you are experiencing during this time. You are choosing the ultimate selfless act, and it means a lot to us, whose lives you are positively impacting. Your sacrifice for your child is not lost on us. We want to say thank you, and that we will support you in whatever way we can through this journey.

Next, we wanted to speak about us. We met the first night of college and have been together since the end of Freshman year. One of the strengths of our relationship is its longevity and that we have successfully navigated different phases of adult life together. Another strength is our senses of humor and how we make each other laugh all the time. We both work - Zac for a tech company and Erika as a state employee in the health, human services, and Medicaid areas.

We have a five-year-old daughter who is the best thing to happen to us. We spend our free time doing things as a family. Our favorites are going to the zoo to feed the giraffes and ride the merry-go-round, going to the community pool, going to Costco, having playdates with our daughter's friends, visiting family out of state, shopping at the local farmers' market, and going out to dinner at "the restaurant" (as our daughter calls any eating establishment). All three of us love to read. Zac is a sports fan, so we watch lots of baseball and football. Our daughter loves dance and takes ballet and tap. She also plays t-ball and soccer (Zac is her coach for both). We have two energetic French Bulldog puppies named Minnie and Daisy, who love playing fetch, taking walks, and protecting our home from "threats" (squirrels, deer, school busses, and garbage trucks). Our home is happy and full of activity and laughter.

For the last six years, we have been trying to grow our family. We have been plagued with infertility from the beginning. In many ways, our daughter is a miracle baby. She was born 10 weeks early, but is a strong and resilient child - you would never know today that she was an early preemie. After many rounds of IUI and IVF, we have realized that we will not be able to birth another child together. But we feel our parenting journey is not done and that our family is not yet complete. We want to add another child to our family through adoption to grow our family - to be parents again, to watch our daughter gain a sibling and become a big sister, and to watch the kids grow up together with love.

Finally, we wanted to speak to you about our vision for the future. We hope that you choose us to parent your child and want to assure you that we will treat a child we welcome through adoption the same as a child that we birth ourselves. We consider the children siblings in either case and would raise them as siblings. Our families are diverse, and adoption is a part of our extended family. From that, we recognize that there are unique challenges that an adopted child faces to understand his or her background. We have engaged a family therapist to help us have those conversations at the appropriate time. You are the child's birth mother, and we will reinforce that to the child and respect you as such. We want to exchange letters and pictures, and even phone calls and visits - whatever you are comfortable with! We are excited for the opportunity to grow our family by welcoming you and your child as a part of ours!

Again,thank you for your decision. We are extremely appreciative and truly hope that you select us to parent your child.

Zac & Erika