Thank you for viewing our profile! We are Jeremy and Esther, and we hope that this glimpse into our lives will help you get to know us! One of our foundational beliefs is that amazing blessings are often forged out of difficult circumstances. We understand the gravity of your decision and are grateful and humbled to be considered.

In college, we were friends for several years before we started dating. As our friendship grew, so did our romantic feelings. We had mutual friends, and Esther hung out at Jeremy's family's house all the time! Esther asked Jeremy to work on school assignments together, thinking she was being covert, but he was on to her!

When we first started dating, people who didn't know us well were shocked because, at first glance, we seemed like oil and water. Esther is bubbly and loud, while Jeremy is quieter and reserved. Our personalities are different, but what grounds us is our shared sense of humor, interests, and values, such as honesty, self-sacrifice, hard work, and forgiveness. After a year of dating, we were married in 2013.

Esther battled misdiagnosed reproductive health. During this time, we were presented with options to help us conceive, but we were not interested in them---adoption was always in our hearts. As Esther's health made a complete turnaround, we knew it was the right time to pursue expanding our family.

We are excited to bring a child into our family through adoption. We believe one of the biggest reasons adoption has always been our path is because we are surrounded by loving families who have adoption in their stories. We know we have their support and can count on their help to navigate circumstances specific to adoption.

Jeremy is one of six siblings in a tight-knit family. As I am good friends with all the siblings, I can confidently say that he's the favorite brother! The qualities that make him well-respected and loved by those around him certainly ring true in his relationship with his brothers and sisters. Jeremy is very easy going and meets people where they are, making them feel very safe and comfortable.

All through our marriage, I have seen qualities that give me confidence Jeremy will be a good father. The best qualities of Jeremy that I admire most---his kindness, integrity, wisdom, and selflessness---add up to this: he prioritizes family over himself. This has been a constant theme throughout our marriage. At the start of our marriage, Jeremy was a full-time graduate student while working an extremely demanding job. He worked at UPS, and the hours were very difficult (2:00 AM - 9:00 AM). Jeremy did not complain and worked diligently to provide for us. After obtaining his master's degree, he decided to advance his career at UPS because he knew the benefits from the company would work best as a future father. While I was working full-time and obtaining my graduate degree, Jeremy supported me through it all the way! Jeremy is great with children. Like adults, children are drawn to Jeremy's kindness. I saw this firsthand when we would run children's programs together. I am confident that Jeremy's selfless love will be a driving force in our family!

My favorite thing about Esther is her outgoing personality. Our common interest in music made it easy to become friends. Esther is fun to be around and was quickly welcomed by my family, especially my siblings, who are classical musicians as well. They performed together at school and church concerts frequently. When walking by the classrooms in college, it wasn't hard to locate her---her contagious laugh is hard to miss! When we got married, she was a great support as I juggled work and school.

She's a gifted teacher, and children of all ages are naturally drawn to her. She is currently an English teacher but has taught math, history, and music. I also saw her work with children of all ages at school events. It's amazing to see the impact and connection she has with her students. She's often their favorite teacher, and past students and parents still reach out to her and invite her to events or ask to play at their weddings now that they're all grown up.

Kids are naturally drawn to her energy, but her real gift is being able to understand how they're feeling. Maybe that's why our friends call her the "baby whisperer." I know she'll be a great mom, and I appreciate how she's had so many years of experience working with children from infancy through high school. Esther is passionate, self-reflective, and nurturing, which are perfect traits for a great mother.

We live in a great community. It's very safe, and kids are always playing outside on their bikes all season long! There's a tennis court, two playgrounds, several basketball courts, and a pool. At all times of the day, you'll run into friendly neighbors walking their dogs.

In summer, you'll usually find us by the pool. Nothing beats lounging in a cool pool after a full workday! Especially in warmer weather, we love taking advantage of how close everything is. The local family-owned movie theater is a five-minute walk down the road, and the local park is only ten minutes away, with a large soccer field, volleyball court, walking trail, playground, and grilling area. The grilling area has hosted Esther's annual family reunion for as long as we've been married!

Thankfully, our community consists of diverse ethnicities. What does this mean? Delicious restaurants and, more importantly, ethnic grocery stores galore! Whenever we're on vacation, we're reminded of how spoiled we are at home with all the great Asian restaurants nearby!

One of the great benefits of Esther being a teacher is that she's well-connected to various people who run programs for children. The community rec center (5 minutes away) has lots of programs for children of all ages and a new splash pad for younger kids. Esther's friends with the volunteers and leaders of the programs offered there. There are also local zoos, aquariums, and amusement parks that we can't wait to introduce to a child. We also can't wait to include a little one in programs that Esther's directly involved with: drama, summer camps, music lessons, and church programs.

We both grew up with lots of family support. Jeremy comes from a home of six children, and Esther grew up with many cousins. This makes for exciting (and crowded) holiday celebrations! We are lucky to have so many supportive people around us!

Most of our family lives under a 30 minute drive from us, and it's not uncommon to spend an afternoon just hanging out with Jeremy's family. Esther's family is very outdoorsy, so we'll likely be found hanging out with them at a beach, fishing at a creek, hiking on a mountain, or kayaking on the river!

Holidays are the best, and we're lucky that so many family members live close by! We house-hop on holidays and visit multiple relatives for these gatherings in one day. On Thanksgiving, we attend four separate gatherings: brunch, lunch, dinner, and a second dinner!

Both sides of the family are extremely supportive and have showered love on us since we decided to adopt. We have been very involved in the lives of our younger cousins, nephews, and nieces, and we're so grateful to know that they will be there for us as we raise a child.

We love going to the beach and amusement parks---Esther has been known to go to Six Flags twice a week, taking young family members, friends, and former students with her. We've been season pass holders for several years. We always look forward to our next trip to Florida (we actually prefer Universal over Disney... scandalous!).

Weekends usually consist of family time, whether hanging out at a cousin's house, going out to eat, or catching a movie. Recently, we discovered a love of hiking, so we've been looking for opportunities to hit local trails. We are also involved at our church, so some weekends are spent volunteering there.

During the week, you'll find Jeremy reading and Esther grading papers or prepping for her next classes. Oftentimes we support young family members and Esther's past students by going to their various extracurricular activities---concerts, plays, and sporting events.

Summertime always consists of at least one family vacation (usually to some place with a coast or beach) and drama camp. Esther is involved in a drama camp run by her aunt, and Jeremy helps wherever he's needed.

Thank you for taking the time to read about us. We sincerely appreciate being considered as adoptive parents.

We truly believe in the beauty of adoption and have unique strengths that will help us be wonderful parents. We are passionate and experienced at loving the children in our lives and are surrounded by families that have been beautifully expanded through adoption. The differences in our personalities give us the strength to face any challenge.

If chosen, we promise to be loving and supportive (and fun!) parents. We desire to raise a child by meeting his or her emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. The child we welcome will be surrounded by a large and loving extended family. We are open to discussing whichever type of adoption is most comfortable for you. To us, an open adoption would include updates of the child through photos and cards.

Being an interracial couple, we have first-hand experience meshing two ethnically diverse cultures in our marriage, so we know how important it is to honor, preserve, and celebrate heritage and culture. We want to honor the full heritage of the child, which includes honoring their ethnicity/race and preserving their adoption story.

Adoption is the path for us to embrace parenthood. Everything in our lives, our gifts and strengths in addition to pain and grief, has been stitched together to prepare us for this journey. We look forward to the future in great anticipation and hope to meet the birth mother who will make our dreams become a reality.

With love,

Jeremy and Esther