This is an easy answer for us: we love spending as much time outdoors as we possibly can, and our favorite vacation spot is anywhere that puts us outside. Growing up, both of our families spent a lot of time on camping trips. Thomas spent summers at the local Yogi Bear campground in his family camper and Jocelyn would go to Green Lakes state park for weeks at a time in her dad's old 8-man army tent. For both of us, most of summer was spent at a campground, making new friends, and having dinner by a campfire. This is something that we continue to do and still make multiple camping, hiking, or backpacking trips a year. Whether it is packing all of our gear and food and carrying it ourselves or flying to an amazing outdoor experience in a different country, we are excited to do it. We are also excited to immerse our child into these activities. We want to teach them that there is so much more to life than technology and that we should take advantage of the beautiful outdoors while we can.

Like many in Washington DC, we met at a local hangout spot in one of the downtown neighborhoods while we were there celebrating two different occasions. Thomas was the first to muster up the courage to walk over and talk to Jocelyn. We ended up talking for quite awhile before it was time to head home but we exchanged phone numbers before heading our own ways.

To Thomas’ surprise, Jocelyn texted him the next day asking him if he wanted to go to the Washington Capitals (NHL Hockey Team) game the next day. Jocelyn will tell you that Thomas responded immediately that he would love to attend. Thomas was almost late because he was trying to find a Capitals t-shirt, but he got there just in time. We had a great time and our first brief kiss before we parted ways for the day. We dated from that point forward and the rest is history!

We have agreed to always be open and honest with our child about his/her adoption. Transparency and honesty are important values that we want to bestow on our new child and it begins with being honest about who they are, where they came from, and their background. If our child comes from a different cultural or ethnic background than us, we will challenge ourselves to learn as much as we can about that culture so we can celebrate it with our child. We understand that this will require us to have conversations around where they come from and why we are celebrating something that might be different than what other families are doing.

We also agree that when we share information about birth parents and what led to the decision to adopt, it is important to understand that everyone arrives at the decision for different reasons but that that no matter what, the child is loved by everyone. We believe that there is a right time and place for that conversation and that it may happen multiple times over the years. We will lean on others that we know, who have gone through a similar process, to guide us in how best to talk about the child's origin story.

We have a big family and can't wait to add to it! We have twelve nieces and nephews, ranging from a two-year-old to 18. Thomas' family (two sisters and one brother) is very close with each other, which means that Christmas is always a lot of fun. Last year Jocelyn surprised Thomas by getting everyone -- even the dogs -- matching pajamas for Christmas Eve. Whenever we visit family in Indiana we always play a lot of games, and we always try to see a Colts game when we are in town too!

Thomas' older sister has three adopted children, all of whom are Asian. Everyone in the family cherishes them so we have no doubt that our family will be loving and accepting of any child we are lucky enough to raise.

Jocelyn's brother lives near by, so we often go watch his kids at their hockey or soccer games, or host our oldest niece for a "girls' night" sleepover. Last year, Jocelyn's brother bought a lake house in Upstate NY where Jocelyn grew up, so our summers now include trips to Syracuse to spend time on the lake. Jocelyn's sister lives in Upstate NY, about an hour from where she grew up. Her sister and her family love camping almost as much as we do, so we have started an annual tradition of meeting in Pennsylvania for a summer camping trip where we spend a lot of time around the campfire roasting marsh-mellows.

We live in a very diverse neighborhood in Washington, D.C. We have both lived all over in D.C., and love all of the culture we have right at our doorsteps. Several years ago we moved to a more family-friendly neighborhood, where we could buy a 4 bedroom home with a fenced-in yard. One of the things we love the most about our new neighborhood is how community-oriented it is: Every spring we host "porch fest" where local bands come and play on our porch and neighbors join us for the afternoon. Every fall there is a big festival with bands, local food vendors, face painting, and even dog costume parades! We also have within blocks of our house a community pool, multiple public playgrounds, and Rock Creek Park - a beautiful national park that runs right through the middle of the city.

Our home is always the place to be. We love hosting friends and family for BBQs and game nights. We hope that we can continue to host lots of play dates for our child too, with art projects in the living room, grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup, and freeze tag in the yard.

Even before we began trying to conceive naturally, we always knew that adoption would be part of our lives. Thomas' older sister has five beautiful children, three of whom are adopted. Growing up (and marrying into) a family with adopted children has shown both of us that there are so many ways to build your family. When we realized that we may not be able to conceive without fertility treatments, we immediately knew that we would consider adoption. Thank you for taking the time to consider us. We met in January 2017, when Jocelyn asked Thomas out to a hockey game. We quickly learned that we share a passion for trying new things together - whether its trying new recipes on the smoker, exploring national parks, or just going for a bike ride on the weekends, its always more fun together. We also love to travel and have been lucky enough to see many places on our "bucket list," like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and visiting Chile's Patagonia. In our TV room we have a scratch off world map and only scratch off places we have been to together!

Currently, Thomas works for a restaurant software company, remotely managing a region including the Texas Gulf Coast. His job appeals to his competitive and goal-oriented side and he loves coming up with fun and creative new ways to motivate his team. His job also affords him with a lot of flexibility. He works from home and sets his own schedule. Before joining his current company, Thomas "grew up" working in restaurants, starting as a bartender at Buffalo Wild Wings and eventually managing several quick service restaurants. Because of his long career working in restaurants Thomas feels strongly about giving back to anyone working in the service industry.

Jocelyn works at an international law firm. While her "day" job is to work as a commercial litigator, one thing she loves about her law firm is that it is very community oriented and supports its attorneys with a strong pro bono program. Every year Jocelyn finds a new pro bono case to work on, including to represent immigrants who are trying to get legal status in the United States and to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers. We are very excited for our future and cannot wait to share our lives with a child. When we think about the future with a child we think about holidays with our families and our twelve nieces and nephews; we think about Jocelyn baking an entire kitchen table worth of cookies and pies just like her mom always did and Thomas smoking the Turkey for Thanksgiving; camping and ski trips with the cousins; Sundays cheering on the Indianapolis Colts; swimming lessons at the local pool; and of course, traveling the world together as a family.

For a future child, we value the importance of education, and will encourage any child to do the best that they can do. We will support any child in their personal interests, even if its not something we are good at ourselves. And most importantly, we are committed to teaching any child how to be a good person, to care for others, and to give back to our community.

We will share your child's growth and experiences with you and are happy to send email updates with pictures and stories. We will always be open and honest with a child about their adoption story, and we will make sure that your child knows they are loved, and that every decision was made in their best interest. Most of all, we are making a commitment to love and care for your child, and do everything we can to support them on their path to becoming the best person they can be.

Thank you for considering us as potential parents for your child.

Sincerely,

Thomas & Jocelyn