We love to spend time outside hiking in the mountains with our dog and family, paddleboarding on the river, and whitewater rafting. When we aren't spending time outside we host friends for dinner and play board games. We look forward to going on adventures to waterfalls or on walks through local parks in the future with our family.

Anna loves to play the piano and has taught lessons in the past. She reads lots of novels and loves to spend weekends baking. She enjoys working on different projects, from knitting and carpentry, to jewelry making.

Matt takes our dog to the disc golf course most mornings. He's artistic and paints with oil paints and watercolors. He's also a fantastic cook. We both love to travel and explore new areas, and we can't wait to bring our future child to Alaska and to some of our other favorite places!

We were both raised in Christian households and hold strongly to our faith and trust in Christ.

Matt recently graduated from Seminary where he earned a Masters of Divinity. Since graduating, Matt has been called to be a pastor with plans to begin in that role in August 2023.

Our faith has played a major role in all stages of our lives and it is truly foundational in how we view the world and interact with those around us. Christ said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God and love our neighbor as ourselves which is a key motivator for our desire to know and love both our immediate neighbors and also everyone we come in contact with on a daily basis. We look forward to sharing that love with a child and building a family that loves each other and loves others well.

We believe that an important part of someone's identity is the culture in which they are born and it is important to learn about your birth culture even if you are being raised in a different one. Similarly we believe that it is important to learn about many different cultures to gain a broader understanding of the world around us and the many opportunities which the world has to offer. Matt grew up in a large military community and many of his friends were from different cultural and racial backgrounds from around the world which equipped him well to engage with those people. Anna grew up abroad and moved around a lot which exposed her to many different cultures as well. While teaching our children about their birth culture and their history, we also want to teach them to be loving and respectful to all cultures and not feel isolated. We want them to see just how big the world is and find many places in it where they 'fit' and many people in it who love them.

Czech Republic - Our neighborhood is centered around a square with green space, trees, a large sandbox, playground and benches. There are several great restaurants and shops nearby as well. We are a five minute walk from a very large park where we love to take our dog on walks. Also within walking distance is the zoo, a large castle, and a great river with a river front walk full of shops and restaurants. Where we live, we are well connected to public transit and can get anywhere in the city with relative ease.

There are people of all different ages living in our neighborhood including good friends of ours whose kids go to school at the elementary school on our block and play on the playground in the square. When our windows are open we hear our neighbors taking their dogs on walks, and kids walking to and from school. Our neighbors are always kind and stop to say hi or pet our dog when we see them. We like to walk to a local bakery for coffee and pastries and on weekends we go to a large farmers market nearby where we buy flowers and produce for the week.

Our apartment has two large bedrooms that are connected through a large closet. We have a great living space with large windows where we grow flowers and herbs. We like to have cozy movie nights on the couch with the dog, using our projector.

We're so blessed to have wonderful, supportive families who are so excited about our adoption plan. Anna's parents live in the mountains just a couple hours away, and we love to visit to spend time kayaking on the lake there, hiking, and skiing in the winters. Her brothers and sisters live all over the country, but love to come home for holidays and weekends. Her youngest sister, who still lives at home, is ready to start knitting things for our baby! Anna's extended family has a reunion every few years where we play games, swim, or even go to amusement parks! Anna's family has lots of fun traditions, like chocolate fondue on New Year's Eve, that we look forward to every year.

Matt's parents and grandparents live at the beach and we see them often and spend time at the oceanfront and love to visit local coffee shops and markets. They also love to take trips to national parks (we've been to five together in the last few years!) and spend time outdoors. Matt's brother and sister-in-law just moved to North Carolina from Japan, and we're excited to be able to see them regularly again. When we are with them we tend to play board games, video games, and even lawn games while we talk and have fun.

Both of our families love to spend time together and we all make it a point to see each other often. We look forward to raising a child in such a loving family.

Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to learn about us! We are so thankful that you would consider us to be a part of your story and the story of your child.

We have been married for four years, have known each other for ten, and are ready and excited to grow our family through adoption. The Bible talks about Christians being adopted into the family of God through their faith. Our faith is a key part of our life as we both grew up in loving Christian homes that taught us to think and engage in the world for the betterment of others out of love for others and for God. We plan to raise our children in a similar way. We are both committed to our communities, our families, our future children and helping them to thrive.

To tell you a little more about us and who we are, Matt recently graduated from seminary with a Masters degree and is preparing to work as a pastor in the coming months. Anna works for a hospital helping doctors do research to improve their patients' health. We have a border collie who is super fun, smart and loves kids. Our neighborhood is just outside a city and is full of energy with tons to do and lots of families. It's near a metro stop so we can get into the city for museums and baseball games and other fun events.

Anna was born in Germany and moved around throughout her childhood as a military kid which taught her about many different cultures and experiences. Matt spent his childhood in the same town allowing him to learn to engage with his neighbors and community. Anna has seen a benefit from that experience in her life today, and we plan to offer a diverse experience to our future child through traveling and exposure to lots of activities, people, and places while being rooted in family and community. We hope to raise children to be well rounded and experienced as they go through their life. We want them to see lots of the world and understand how many opportunities they have, how to relate to different people everywhere, and to experience wonderful things in so many different cultures. Not all of life is easy and we want to help our child engage well in difficult experiences, to learn resilience, and to find joy in even the most difficult parts of life. We will strive to instill good character into our future child and to give them the opportunity to pursue their dreams and interests to the best of our ability. Our families and friends are also so excited to come alongside us and love and support this child.

Adoption is such a beautiful and loving thing to be a part of but we recognize that it is also really challenging. We want this child to know how much you love them and to know their story from as early as they can remember! We want you to have a choice in how big your role in our family will be. We will send letters and pictures, and hope to plan phone calls with you as the child grows up. Ultimately, we will always be honest and support this child as they navigate these relationships.

We also know that this must be an overwhelming decision to make and we want you to know that we are praying for you in this! We want to support you in any way that we can throughout the process. Thank you again for considering us as you make this decision, we will continue to be praying for you and the baby and appreciate you taking time to hear from us as you are making this decision.

Matt & Anna