Adoption has been something we have talked about since we first got married and dreamed of what our family would look like one day. We always thought we would have both biological and adopted children if we could.

When we were ready, we tried and successfully had three babies. After our youngest was born, we were on a family road trip and started talking about our final baby, what this one would be like. The conversation immediately turned to adoption. We talked about our feelings towards it, our dreams and our fears. In the end, we both equally desired for adoption to be our final story, the completion of our family.

We chose adoption not only because we both see the way the love of this child will change our family's lives and hearts forever, but because of what we have to offer this child as well. We have a home filled with love, a home filled with craziness - it's a place where they'll never have to be alone if they don't want to. We are devoted to giving this child and all of our children every opportunity we can to succeed.

In our adult lives, we have been able to do a fair amount of traveling that has allowed us to experience a lot of new cultures.

We have also watched and experienced firsthand how Justin's brother's family has embraced their adopted children's cultures. We have learned so much about the traditions important to our niece and nephew's heritage, and look forward to doing the same for our child.

We believe it is so important for a child to grow up experiencing culturally relevant traditions and experiences along with other cultures to understand and embrace the world around us. If we adopt a child that has a different ethnicity than ours, we are committed to making this culture a part of our lives. We plan on doing research to learn as much as we can about the culture as well as immersing ourselves within it. We will also seek out people in our community to be a part of our lives so that this child has other people in their lives who look like them.

It would also be really special to include traditions and events important to you and your family, so we would love to hear and learn about what is important to you.

We believe integrating this cultural diversity into our family as a whole is important and we are excited for this journey for our whole family.

Being parents is one of our favorite things about our life. We feel so privileged to experience this deep love for our children and to receive that deep love back from them. Our entire hearts and souls are poured into our children, and we want to always do right by them.

Parenthood is this beautiful journey of love, respect, kindness, forgiveness, and excitement. We are imperfect people raising imperfect people, trying to do the best we can. It is so hard, so exhausting, and the most rewarding thing in the world.

Our favorite part of being parents is the evenings. The time where (normally after a crazy dance party) our family winds down, snuggles up over a book or a movie, and then begins bedtime routine. It's the last moment of the day we get to spend individually with each of our kids. It's our time to sum up the day and talk through anything they want to talk about, to own up to our mistakes and tell them we are sorry, and end the day reminding them of how much we love them. Tucking their sweet little heads into bed is only going to happen for a brief part of our parenthood journey - we don't want to take it for granted.

We cannot wait to see what this child's favorite bedtime story is, to reassure them of how much they are loved, and to savor every night we have to tuck them into bed.

The absolute best part about where we live is that we live on Justin's family property. Combined, there are about 150 acres among our parents, siblings, and cousins. We have paths through the fields connecting our properties together. All of our children are growing up together, just like Justin and his brothers and cousins got to do on this same land as children.

The home we live in was actually built by Justin's grandfather. After his grandparents were ready to move out of the farmhouse, they built this home and lived next door to their siblings. Justin's father grew up in this home, and when we got married, we moved in and have spent the past nine years making it our own. We love the history this home has for our family.

In addition to Justin's family being on the property, Nicole's family is 10 minutes away, so we can easily spend time with them spur of the moment!

The local elementary school is less than a mile away, and there are many parks and playgrounds within a 15-minute drive from here which we frequently take advantage of. Our location is also advantageous because we are within three hours of both mountains and beach, so we get to do pretty much anything for a day trip or weekend away.

Family is incredibly important to us. Almost all of our family is local- Nicole's parents and sister live nearby, along with Justin's parents and one of his brothers. Justin also has a brother that lives in California.

Every year, we go on a vacation with each side of our extended families, usually to a beach. We love the extra time we get with our parents and siblings, and our kids cherish all of the special times with their grandparents and cousins.

For Justin's side of the family, we camp on the beach every year. It's a really unique, fun experience - a stripped down vacation where we get a lot of quality time in the sand and around the campfire, complete with s'mores and pudding packs for everyone!

Sunday night dinners are an almost weekly occurrence with Nicole's side of the family. During the summer, many of these evenings are around Nicole's parent's pool. In the winter, they involve a lot of Barbies, trucks, and nail painting for everyone! Although our home has plenty of furniture, nearly everyone is on the floor playing the whole time!

Spending time with friends and family is something we value very highly. Our children get to see and spend time with their grandparents every week, and both sets of grandparents cannot wait to love on this child also!

There are so many emotions that well up inside of us when we think about where you must be right now. We want to begin this by telling you a few things. You are brave. You are strong. We have the utmost respect for you and the selfless decision you are making. We are eternally grateful that you are considering us to raise this child.

We promise to raise this child in a safe, loving home where they will be surrounded by people who love them and build them up. We have been married for 9 years, together for 13 years, and have 3 children who will be loving big sister and brothers for this child. We are very close with our extended family, and our children grow up closely connected to their grandparents and cousins.

We would really like, to your comfort level, for you to be a part of this child's life as well. We believe you are an important piece of their identity and an important piece of their story. We want this child, along with all of our other children, to grow up with so much respect for you and valuing the hard decision you had to make. We are open to more contact in addition to the letters and pictures we will send, whether that be additional emails or texts, or additional visits throughout this child's life as you are comfortable.

Our family is adventurous. We enjoy spending time outside together playing in the backyard, taking walks, going to parks on hikes, and going on camping trips. We also love going on vacations to the beach and are looking forward to seeing new places in our camper. We like to go to the aquarium, the zoo, and all of the hands-on museums that we have around our area. Normally, for Christmas we get a family membership to a new place in our area and spend the year exhausting every inch of what the place has to offer. Then, the next year we pick a new place and do the same. It has been a really affordable way for our family to do fun things often!

Nicole is a stay-at-home mom and Justin has his own business. This has been really amazing because our schedule is flexible and allows us to have a lot of extra family time to do some of the excursions and trips we mentioned earlier.

We are looking forward to the new opportunities we may have incorporating new cultures and traditions into our family. We are excited to learn more about where this child is from and their culture and family history and how we can continue these traditions in our home. We have seen the value of upholding these cultural traditions with our adopted niece and nephew and how special celebrating their heritage is to them.

Since the moment we decided that adoption was the way we would complete our family, we have been praying for you. We have been praying over your life, and over your health and your heart. We have been praying with our kids for you and for their future sibling. We respect you and appreciate you. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter!

Justin & Nicole