I would like to introduce you to our family. My name is Julie, and my wonderful husband's name is Will. I am 30 years old, and Will is 31 years old. We have been married for a little over eight years. Will and I met at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. We had both grown up very involved in our churches, so it seems appropriate that we met at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. We were friends for two years before we started dating. Will's kindness drew me to him. We dated and were engaged for a year and a half before getting married in 2015. Will and I love to travel, and some of our favorite places that we have visited are Spain and Portugal, the Grand Canyon, cruises to the Caribbean, and camping at State Parks, beaches, and other beautiful campgrounds around the Southeastern United States. We can't wait to share our love of travel and the world with a child. We spend a lot of our weekends going to football games, camping in our camper, hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains, and spending time with family either in East Tennessee or Middle Tennessee. I love to capture family adventures and memories with my camera. Since I am a professional photographer, I love to take pictures while we travel and around the local area. I look forward to capturing precious memories of our adopted child as they grow up.

We first crossed paths at Zilker Park in Austin, TX. John was playing lacrosse with friends while Sarah chatted with a friend. New to Austin, Sarah remembers seeing his group and wishing she could be a part of it. John remembers wishing he had stopped her and said hello. Months later, Sarah was invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party on Cinco De Mayo, and we officially met! Six months later we were dating. Sarah knew from the start we were meant for each other—we have now been together for 8.5 years! We got married in New Hampshire in the sumer of 2019. All the Texan guests brought the heat with them, though; it was 100 degrees on our wedding day!

We are laid back, outgoing people with a strong support network of close friends and family nearby. We love spending time together and seeing and experiencing new places, people, and foods! As a couple, we both enjoy spending quiet time at home with our dog as much as we enjoy going out to restaurants and spending time with friends and family. Boating, beaches, and nature fill us both, so we spend a lot of time outdoors and traveling to New England. We also love skiing and snowboarding together.

John is a partner at his firm, focusing on marketing and PR strategy for portfolio companies. We are lucky in that John works from home and he’s able to make his own schedule, so he is looking forward to being a hands-on dad. John is Scotch-Irish, English and German—and a multi-generation Texan! He played lacrosse in college, chaired several social organizations, and started a charity with friends that built 15 public wells in Africa. He currently mentors and sits on the advisory boards of many startup incubators.

Sarah loves animals…a lot! She is obsessed with her dog, Auggie, and three young nephews. They are her world. Sarah is Swedish, Chilean, English, and Scottish. She loves learning about history and family traditions. She has two sisters, one is 11 months older and the other is her twin! Sarah is a former corporate IT manager and experienced project manager. She now consults but is lucky to be a stay-at-home mom for our future child!

Hello! We're Dave and Ashley!

We met in a college class when we were assigned to do a group project together. We began dating a few months later. A week after our first date, Dave found out he was going to be deployed after graduation. We spent a year communicating through emails and video chats. We married a few months after he came home. We've now been married over ten years and our life together continues to be an adventure. Dave finished his military career and is now an ICU nurse. Ashley is a junior high/high school teacher. We have two children, Audrey and Bryce, and love spending time together as a family.

Hi! We're Darrin and Rachel. We first met in 2006 and started dating in 2009 right before I (Rachel) moved to college out of state; so we were long-distance for 3 years. We found a mutual love of comics, card games, adventure, and music. After getting married, we also enjoyed playing volleyball together and watching Seahawks games. We both grew up in the greater Seattle area and after our daughter Ellie was born in 2016, we bought a house here, near family and friends.

Some details about us: Darrin is a former truck driver, who now works in a school district. Rachel is an Aerican Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. Our daughter loves making friends and playing with every kid she meets, and her second grade school year is off to a great start. We have a 4 fish and 6 chickens, and our daughter would love a cat someday.

We met on an online dating site. I noticed right away that Peter was special. He asked good questions and took a genuine interest in getting to know who I was. I was intrigued by him. After a couple of weeks of exchanging long messages, he asked me out to dinner. Our first date was at a restaurant called Smokey Bones. We felt at ease with one another right away and more dates followed, including bowling, a trip to the zoo, going to an indoor amusement park, and trying new restaurants. We enjoyed our second date at a local Thai restaurant where our connection deepened. Later, Peter proposed by setting up a private dinner with food from this same restaurant. He also had a book made that included all of our email messages from when we were getting to know each other online. Since we decided on a small wedding, we had our ceremony at a local park pavilion on the most beautiful fall day. It was a perfectly simple, sunny, and wonderful day. We chose a small wedding with hopes of going on a big adventure for our honeymoon. We went to Ireland, a place I had always wanted to go. Peter had been there before on a high school trip, and had wanted to come back with his wife someday. I guess both of our dreams came true :)

We met thirteen years ago through a friend who invited both of us to hang out at the same event. When Brian arrived, he called his friend to locate her, and Minela happened to be holding the friend’s phone when it rang which kicked off our journey.

We quickly became friends, started dating, and soon engaged. After a few years of dating and moving around the country, we married in a small courthouse in Texas. We are best friends and use every day to experience life to the fullest. We have always wanted to start a family and when it didn’t happen naturally, we looked towards IVF and now adoption.

Minela is outgoing and loves to be around people and making new friends. She is caring and loving which can be seen when she is interacting with anyone but especially with her nieces and nephews. She loves dogs and animals. She was born overseas and moved from Croatia to the United States when she was 8 years old with her parents and brother and sister. They were all refugees of war. Not being able to speak or understand English, they made America their new home which shows her strength in overcoming obstacles. It took her only 6 months to learn the English language and she is good at spelling but somehow, always gets beat by Brian at Scrabble which we both love to play. We are both competitive.

Brian is also outgoing but also enjoys being home and spending time with Minela and their dog, Harley. He loves watching college football and his favorite team is Florida Gators, which is also why his favorite colors are orange and blue. He loves to stay active with exercise or being outside. He really enjoys his job in engineering and the travel that comes along with it; he has been to Canada, Mexico, New York, California, and Las Vegas to name a few. His favorite weekend activity, besides football, is taking our dog to the park for a walk. It’s become a tradition. Brian is a very courageous, hardworking, loving person. He goes above and beyond in everything he does and does everything in his power to make sure his family is happy and well taken care of.

Together, we have so much love to give and can’t wait to share that love with your child.

Both transplants to South Alabama, we met via Facebook in 2010, after mutual friends suggested getting to know one another, and hit it off immediately! We initially spent hours chatting via messenger until Mark conveniently misplaced his phone during one our conversations and asked Katy to call it–an easy way to get her phone number. Since that time, we have never gone longer than 48 hours without talking, and that was only because Katy was out of the country!

Though born in Tennessee, Mark spent his early years in Alabama before moving to Colorado in elementary school. As an only child, Mark quickly made friends with the neighborhood kids and kids from church–some of these relationships have spanned not only miles, but years! A childhood cancer survivor, Mark, is resilient and determined, qualities that serve him well in his position as a project manager and architect. Mark loves being outside, woodworking, anything sports related (especially the Atlanta Braves and his alma mater, Texas Tech), and making memories!

Born and raised in North Mississippi, Katy is the oldest of three; each of her siblings is the answer to her little girl prayers, and they are two of her best friends and biggest supporters. Married for almost 40 years, Katy’s parents instilled in her a love for God, the value of hard work, and the importance of family, all of which Katy, along with Mark, is working to teach to their own child. A teacher/librarian at a small private school, Katy enjoys reading, baking, crafting, watching girly movies, and traveling!

Our son, Jaxon, was born in the summer of 2018. He is an absolute joy, even in his most stubborn moments, and inspires us each day to be better and do better! Knox was born in the fall of 2023 and placed in our arms by his wonderful birth mother shortly after. The perfect addition to our growing family at just the right time, Knox is hands down Jaxon’s favorite person and the feeling is mutual! Our life can be a little crazy and a little messy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way because it is also absolutely amazing, and we cannot wait to share our life, our love, and our family with a new precious little one!

We have always felt called to adopt, and passionate that families can be defined by LOVE as well as biology. We are grateful to be considered as you make such a loving decision for your baby. 

*Links to our Instagram and Profile Book are in the "Letter" Section* =)

"Adventure is out there!" UP is our favorite movie. It would be awesome to talk more with you and see if you'd like to go on this adventure together!

Alyssa was living in Jackson, MS dancing and touring with a ballet company when Jon moved to California (where Alyssa is originally from) after college. He met Alyssa’s family through a mutual friend, and eventually met Alyssa when she was home on break.  Jon was immediately attracted to her composure, beauty, and secure identity in Jesus.  Jon was able to convince Alyssa to move home. We were engaged for 3 months and married 3 months later.  I (Alyssa) was attracted to his confidence, his looks, and his love of Jesus.  I knew that if I married Jon, I would feel secure and cared for the rest of my life.