We understand our role will be a challenging and joyous one. We know we will have to put aside our own ideas about what we might want our child to do/be with their lives and help them to discover themselves. We also know that as they are young, we will need to work on their development of what it means to be a good person, a good friend, a hard worker, have a positive attitude, and be compassionate.

We are looking forward to various things around these goals. Erin is excited to show our child the world through nature and crafting. Frank is ready to introduce them to the worlds of tech and athletics. We want to create new family traditions together, get involved in the community as our child grows their interests, encourage involvement in extracurricular activities as well as education to fully promote a well-rounded foundation in academia and social skills.

We are looking forward to care-taking, guiding, and educating our child into their full self. We want our kid to grow equipped to be a positive part of others' lives, be able to engage in life happily and healthily, be empowered with independence, and filled with compassion and joy for life.

We love family traditions, and are so very excited to build new traditions with our child. As for what we currently do, it really depends on the day and time of year. As we write this now, we are planning for the upcoming holidays. We have a tradition of making chilli and rosecakes once it starts getting cold in the fall, especially as we move further into winter. For our anniversary every year, Frank cooks Biryani (an Indian rice specialty) and Erin bakes a carrot cake. We go to cut down our own Christmas tree and decorate it together. For New Years, we focus on starting the new year together by spending the evening solving a puzzle (this is a long-standing tradition from Erin's side of the family).

We also have traditions with our friends. We each take turns hosting cookie exchanges, themed barbecues, and dinner/game nights. We also, weather permitting, spend Thursday nights enjoying the fire pit in our backyard. And of course, there's the annual tradition of weekly football games and cheering on our favorite teams.

Cultural diversity is very important to us. This is partly because we both come from fairly different cultures ourselves. Erin was raised in New Jersey, born to an American family with Polish and Welsh roots. Frank was born in India to an Indian family and raised in Chicago and Ohio. We celebrate our differences and we also found that it was our values that made us similar.

Whether it was our travels to other countries, sharing our own individual cultural histories with each other, or simply building relationships with our friends and colleagues, we share a zeal for learning about other cultures and traditions. We feel strongly that culture and cultural differences are meant to be shared and enjoyed.

That said we have both also experienced situations in our lives that felt very opposite to that and have had to deal with things like prejudice and bigotry. We feel that educating ourselves and each other, and looking out for one another are critical in the fight for equality.

We live right next door to a playground suitable for toddlers. Erin walks the dogs daily and often sees neighbors out and about. Many of them are happily social and stop to say hi or have a quick chat. Children and their families will use the park on weekends, and surprisingly often in the morning.

Around the block is a larger playground with water features, and play equipment for toddlers and older children. Baseball fields, soccer fields, a basketball court, and a frisbee golf course are all part of this larger park. Our dogs will often stop around this area to do their own people watching and love seeing other dogs out and about. Both dogs are very in tune with children crying and will wait until the child has quieted before they feel OK with continuing on.

Our community has a bit of space between the homes; we do not live in a development, so each house is unique. We have a rancher with three bedrooms and the kitchen is our favorite space. Both of us love cooking and, when we moved in, we gutted the kitchen and worked together to put in a new floor, cabinets and built our kitchen island by ourselves. We have a lot of pride in our home, have worked hard to make it comfortable and functional, and love having friends and family over.

Thanksgiving through New Year's always feel particularly special to us. We try to make the time feel special for ourselves and through connecting with family and friends. Erin participates in a cookie exchange that culminates with both of us spending time with our friends and their spouses, sharing food, cookies and connecting.

Frank will often plan on cooking a beef wellington for one of the holidays. A large meal is planned including homemade mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, and either carrot cake or apple pie. We love to be able to make food for our family and typically alternate spending a holiday with one of our families.

Erin's family is in NJ and share many of the same traditions we engage in. Everything from getting a live Christmas tree to decorating the house, and having a lazy Christmas morning. Frank's family lives in Ohio and beyond. They are within driving distance and we spend time with them a couple of times a year for various holidays and milestones.

Our families are fully supportive of our plan to adopt. In fact, many of them feel that this is something that makes sense for the two of us and with our shared values for being open, and giving love freely.

We know that you have had many decisions to make already. And as much as we hope you consider us as adoptive parents, it is really important to us that you believe strongly in your choice, that this is a decision you are making based on your values, and that you feel at peace with knowing we will work hard to raise and support this child.

We have talked at length about what it means to have a child in today's world. Each year our lives have shown us both hope and sadness. The uncertainty of the future can be scary and bringing a child into this world, while hopeful, may also be challenging. While we certainly do not have answers for everything, we do have faith in one another to work towards answers and find the solutions we need in life. We have faith in ourselves and each other that we will build on a solid foundation of honesty, openness and curiosity to give our child the best life we can provide.

We want our child to grow up having fun as a kid, feeling secure and safe with us as their parents and in our community. As they grow into a teenager, we want to help them to be aware of the joys and challenges in life, teach them to not be afraid of making mistakes and to take satisfaction from learning. Whatever their personality and interests might be, we are so excited to help them explore their identity, gain new experiences, and build new skills.

We will be there for bedtime with nightly stories and children's plays. When they are upset and scared from their own imagination, we will help them to turn on the light and comfort their fears. If they are nervous about trying something new, we will encourage and inspire them with examples from the world and by trying new things ourselves. And when they are upset and scared about real world happenings or their own future, we will make sure they know that they are not alone, help them to find others that feel similarly or have overcome similar situations, and look for resources to help them better understand their own options in the face of difficult decisions.

Some strengths that we found in each other are that we both are capable of being calm and clear-headed in the toughest of situations. We support each other through thick and thin, and that's something we're excited to do for our child as well. We both have creative and strategic skills in problem solving or creating artwork or fixing things around the home. While Frank can be the comedian of the family, this is balanced by also being mindful, patient, and empathic. While Erin is disciplined, caring, and insightful, this is balanced by Erin's creativity and incredibly sharp wit.

As we sit here, writing this together, we're seeing different sides of each other even now. Erin is not only seeing Frank the husband, but Frank the father. Likewise, Frank is seeing Erin the wife, and Erin the mother. We hope that you do choose us to be the adoptive parents of this life that you're creating. And whether you choose us or not, we're grateful for you and wish for you a lifetime of peace and joy.

Frank & Erin