We grew up in different parts of the country. [her name] spent the first 20 years of her life in a small town, about 20 miles form the family farm her mother was raised on. While her older brother assumed a "farm-boy" identity, [her name]'s family always consdered her more of a "city slicker" -despite her best efforts to blend in. [his name] was born in a major metropolitan area and he thrived there during his childhood. When he was about 10, his family relocated to a rural area in a neighboring state. Though [his name]'s three sisters seemed to acclimate well, he never quite felt at home there.

 

Despite our different backgrounds, our paths intersected when we both moved to a major city in another part of the country in the early 2000s. We were drawn there by our desire to be a part of a non-denominational Christian church "plant".

 

We got to know each other by serving on our church's multi-media team - managing the technology that displayed lyrics of worship songs, and playing the occasional movie clip as part of the message. After realizing that we both connected well with our Pastor's tween/teen kids, we took a leap of faith and offered to mentor them together over the course of a summer. That is how we fell in love.

 

We were married the following summer, and one year later we relocated to be nearer to [his name]'s family. We hoped to start a family of our own and thought we could use their support in doing so. But things didn't transpire as we'd hoped.

 

After 12 months of unsuccessfully trying to conceive, we agreed to seek medical help. [her name]'s preliminary tests looked normal but [his name]'s revealed that getting pregnant naturally would be a major challenge for us. The doctors gave us a 5-10% chance for success. We were devastated.

 

We considered several options for finding a way to have children, but one by one we realized they weren't going to work for us. About 10 years ago we made the difficult decision to quit pursuing medical interventions and traditional adoption.

 

We tried to make the most of our "child-free" status. [her name] attended seminary and graduated with a Master's Degree in 2018. We traveled to places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Scandinavia, and several places closer to home. We spent time going to music concerts and a few theatre productions. It was all fun, but throughout it we just couldn't shake the feeling our family wasn't complete. Embryo adoption seems to be the perfect way for us to welcome the child we've always wanted.

 

Currently our family includes two 14-year-old cats--Ralph (an orange tabby) and Molly (a tuxedo). We lavish them with love every day. On that note, we suspect they would welcome another family member who would draw our affection, allowing them to sleep in peace.

 

We live in a townhouse in the suburbs. We both have hybrid schedules for work--three days in the office and two working from home. [her name] works for a University Foundation as an Executive Assistant in both the Finance and IT departments. [his name] works in Finance at a brokerage firm, continuing a career he began in 2005.

 

We enjoy reglar exercise and we eat relatively healthy. [his name] loves riding his bicycle and racks up more than a thousand miles every year. [her name] prefers working out at home (yoga, pilates, Barre 3, etc.) and walking with friends. Both of us enjoy getting into nature for a hike. [his name]'s favorite spectator sport is baseball and he's been loyal to his home team for his whole life. [her name] watches women's gymnastics and figure skating, especially Olympic competitions.

 

We both love listening to music. [his name] has an impressive and eclectic vinyl collection, which includes artists as diverse as Bob Marley, Florence and the Machine, Simon & Garfunkel, John Coltrane, and the White Stripes. He often grabs his guitar and picks out melody lines while listening to an album.

 

As kids we were both bona fide book worms. As adults we continue to make space in our lives for regular reading of both fiction and non-fiction.

 

Our extended family includes two nieces and six nephews, though they all live in different states than we do. At home we have a number of good friends that are "like family". They would all make excellent honorary aunts and uncles.