Emily is a librarian and believes that listening to stories and reading are very important aspects of education. We hope to instill a love of reading for this child, with books and stories filling our home, by taking trips to the public library, exploring neighborhood Little Free Libraries, and reading bedtime stories each night.

We believe strongly in making sure that your child has an education that helps them grow their skills and curiosity, one that offers them, eventually, a chance to make choices that help them succeed in their future personal and professional life. We both received public school educations, before attending college, and will do our best to take advantage of the opportunities our school district has to offer. We want to provide opportunities to grow their interests, too, whether that's sports, or art, theater, or music. We want them to pursue hobbies, like we do, that enrich our lives as a family and will offer opportunities for them to try things out, and share in those with them by supporting and encouraging them.

After graduating high school, we will encourage this child to do what makes them happy. If they decide to attend university we are prepared to help cover the costs of their higher education. We understand college might not be for everyone and should this child prefer to not attend university, we will support that decision as well.

We are homebodies; we enjoy relaxing at home, reading, cooking, spending time with our dog Judy (walking, playing and snuggling!), and catching up on our new favorite T.V. shows or watching our favorite movies. We both love listening to music and have been growing our vinyl collection.

We really like to plan and accomplish house projects, we have executed quite a few updates in our home, doing a lot of the work on our own. We love to spend the spring months planning for our garden and in the summer we keep busy with growing and harvesting our vegetables.

While we enjoy our time at home we also like to travel. Most of our trips throughout the year include visiting Lew's family in Michigan, but when we can we love to take road trips and explore different states, seeking out nature, hiking, or taking our canoe out on quiet, lazy rivers.

Our first priority will be to be sensitive to and recognize the child's racial, ethnic, and cultural heritage. We are committed to educating ourselves about your child's culture and heritage; we are prepared to have open conversations about race and we recognize these conversations will not always be easy. We will always advocate for your child, whether that be in school, at the doctor's office, or even on the playground.

We will encourage this child to seek out activities, events and organizations they are interested in. In our home we will surround ourselves with diversity, in books, in toys, in the music we listen to, the TV shows and movies we watch, and the art on our walls. It is very important everyone sees themselves reflected in the world and we will work very hard to ensure your child sees themself in their world every day.

We love our home! It's a two-story, 3-bedroom home in the outskirts of a large city in Wisconsin. We spend a lot of time in the kitchen, we love to cook and enjoy hosting holiday dinners with family. In the winter months, we love to have fires (and s'mores) in our living room fireplace, and in the warmer months we relax on our backyard patio, drinking morning coffee or dining at our patio table. We have a gated, fenced in yard, where our dog Judy loves to run, and search for squirrels. We enjoy gardening and keep successful vegetable and flower gardens in the summer! We've recently added a basketball hoop to our garage and have been practicing shooting hoops!

We live in a diverse neighborhood with lots of families. It's a very walk-able area, with nearby elementary schools, playgrounds and parks. We are also just a short drive to lakefront parks with beaches, hiking trails, and in summer months there are so many neighborhood cultural and music festivals to attend! Additionally, we have a variety of museums, a large zoo, botanical gardens and nature centers.

Our family is very excited about our plans to adopt and we cannot wait to share your child with our family. We are very lucky to be close to our families (including geographically!).

Emily's brother, his wife and son live just over an hour from us, we see them regularly and have especially loved watching our nephew grow and discover new things. Lew and he share a love of Star Wars and enjoy shooting hoops and playing catch whenever they can. Emily also has two sisters, one in Chicago and the other in Boston, they visit us throughout the year, and whenever we can, we visit them, we love exploring those cities! Emily's mom is just 15-minutes away and we see her regularly, often enjoying Sunday dinners together. We host Emily's family for holidays throughout the year - birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and summer BBQ's. In recent years we have started vacationing together, choosing a destination, renting a house and spending a week exploring, cooking and playing games.

Lew's family is in Michigan. We travel there a few times a year, visiting his Dad and Stepmom, at Lew's childhood home, or at their lake cabin in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where we enjoy fishing and relaxing. We always make sure to visit his Stepdad in Western Michigan, where we relax, enjoy the beach and go blueberry picking. Lew has a sister, three stepsisters, and 8 nieces and nephews, whenever we are all together there is a lot of laughter and fun!

Thank you for taking the time to read about us. We are very honored you are considering us to be parents to your child; we are very excited and nervous! We can only imagine the emotions you are experiencing at this time, we admire you for you strength and bravery.

We have been together for 20 years, married for 14 years. Throughout these years, we have been able to grow and cultivate a steady, loving relationship. Together, we have seen many joys in our lives and have worked through life's struggles together; we have developed a strong partnership, we are supportive of one another and are best friends.

We both love our jobs, Emily is a Librarian and Lew a Graphic Designer and have spent the last decade plus growing in our careers and working to build a stable and comfortable life. We feel established in our work and now want to focus on being parents. We always knew we wanted to grow our family through adoption, we made this decision early on in our relationship. We are very lucky to be at a point in our lives where we can begin the adoption journey and we cannot wait to welcome your child into our lives!

We are committed to providing a nurturing, supportive and fun home for a child. We will listen and acknowledge their feelings, we will provide comfort and support when they are feeling troubled. We will encourage curiosity, and provide opportunities to explore and find activities that interest them. We want their childhood to be fun and joyful!

We are close to our families, they are supportive of our decision to adopt and are so very excited to add a new baby to the family. We are very lucky to have a family that is invested in each other, who are thoughtful, humble, generous, and kind. This child will always feel their love and support.

We know that a connection to you will be very important in our child's life and we will make that connection to you a priority. We want to be open and honest as early as possible with this child, sharing the story of their adoption. We will talk about you and your family and how important you all are in making them who they are. We will regularly send letters and photos, and will share updates through texts and emails. If you are open to in person visits, we would very much like to make those happen. We want your child to continue to know you and know where they came from, in whatever way you feel most comfortable.

Please know, we care about you and want to be able to provide whatever support we can. You are and always will be an important person in our lives, an extension of our family. We want you to know that your child will be safe, nurtured and cherished as a member of our family. We will do everything within our power to advocate and celebrate this child and support them through the highs and lows in life. We are touched that you are considering us and we hope to build a relationship with you based on our mutual love to your child.

Thank you!

Lew & Emily