Family & Home

We are a family that loves spending time together: playing games, cheering on our favorite sports teams, watching our favorite TV shows and movies, cooking together, and listening to and singing our favorite songs.  We enjoy exploring the local farmer’s market, going on hikes, and checking out new restaurants.  We are so excited to begin sharing these activities with the child we adopt, introducing them to our favorites and experiencing new ones together with them.

In 2018, we purchased our home with the mindset that this would be the place where we would raise our family. We are so lucky to have found a home in a welcoming and diverse community full of families with children of all ages. We have a fenced-in backyard with a deck where we unwind and listen to the frogs chirp at night. There are trails where we regularly walk our dogs and a community pool for relaxing in the summer. We are also within walking distance of our local elementary school and playground.

Growing up, family vacations for both of us included time at the Delaware beaches or the New Jersey shore.  Both Jess’s parents and Andy’s mom have now retired to these locations, and they are eager to continue this tradition with a future grandchild. Our favorite adult vacations have been those where we explore a new city or rent a cabin in the mountains with our dogs. Our plans now include a list of cities that would be fun to explore with a child, as well as favorite cabin rentals that are kid-friendly.

Winter holidays are full of fun traditions. For Thanksgiving, we host and cook for our extended families. We love watching the parades together in the morning and the dog show that follows that afternoon.  After dinner, it’s time for Scrabble and apple crisp (a recipe Jess learned from her Grandma). Christmas includes our annual Christmas Movie Marathon, and we decorate our tree with ornaments from our childhoods and ones we’ve collected each year since we started dating. We plan to continue this tradition with a new ornament each year for the child we adopt.  

As teachers, summer holidays are some of our favorites. We generally celebrate with our neighbors and local friends. We enjoy grilling out together, spending time at the community pool, backyard games, and evenings spent around the fire pit.

We are also excited to add family traditions and cultural celebrations from the biological family of the child we adopt.  We are hopeful for an open adoption that will allow for celebrating these things together with the child's biological family.