Seeing a child grow and become a strong contributing member of society will be one of the most rewarding aspects of being a parent. However, the everyday moments will be the most enjoyable. We look forward to hearing about our children's day, playing with them, and taking part in the activities they enjoy. Being a parent to us means providing the knowledge, wisdom and love to him or her so that they can achieve anything they want in life. We also think parenting is about helping them to appreciate and respect the world they live in. We want our children to respect all living things and plan to raise them around pets that will help them be compassionate and caring. Our most important job is to be kind and loving role models for them to look up to. We were lucky enough to have role models like these and want to pay that forward to our children.

In our leisure time we love to explore everything related to food. We are avid gardeners and can't wait for spring so we can pick which vegetables to grow for the coming year. We love to cook recipes from around the world in our own kitchen and then feed and entertain our wonderful friends and family. When we aren't cooking we are exploring the wide array of foods here in New England. One of our favorite spots is the local ramen joint where we enjoy hot bowls of noodles on cold winter days. When we aren't planning our next meal you can probably find us planning our next trip abroad. In the last 5 years we have travelled to Morocco, Spain, Italy, Japan and Egypt.

In Alexis' leisure time without Mike she can be found enjoying an old movie and knitting. Mike, on the other hand, enjoys a more active downtime of bike riding, skiing, running and carpentry work.

We feel it is our destiny to adopt. We have been married for 12 years and in that time have been unable to start a family of our own. We have infertility of unknown origin, so basically a mystery as to why our attempts were unsuccessful. During these struggles the idea of adoption was at the tip of our brains. We knew it would be a beautiful way to expand our family. However we felt we needed to try surrogacy first. Despite normal embryos with a healthy carrier, even surrogacy didn't work. Interesting, the morning of our final failed surrogacy attempt we got a sign. It is our daily ritual to solve the wordle (it's a word game whose purpose is to guess the daily word which changes every day). That fateful day, the word was ADOPT. A destiny written in the stars, or should we say written in the New York Times.

We live in a close knit neighborhood in Rhode Island where homes have stood for over a century. We have spent time with all of our local neighbors who are very friendly and helpful. There is a broad range of ages in our neighborhood from active seniors to parents with young children. The neighborhood has an association with community gatherings on a monthly basis.

We live in a house that was built in 1926 and sits on 1.7 acres. We have enjoyed restoring all the rooms of the house. The house has four bedrooms, a formal dinning room, a study, living room, family room, and a finished basement. We have an active garden and private outdoor space.

Our home sits close to the water and there is a community dock available for use. We have a beautiful nearby state park that has basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields, and baseball fields. There is also a long bike bath that is easily accessible from our house and goes for miles through neighboring towns.

Our home is approximately two miles from the town center. The town is warm and historical and its citizens take great pride in maintaining it. We love the neighborhood and the town and consider the house our forever home.

We are blessed with a large and lively extended family. Between the two of us we have seven nieces and nephews, three of whom were adopted. We are lucky enough to see them regularly even though they live all across the United States. When they visit we are constantly doing things like kite flying, playing board games, going for picnics in the park, and cooking big family dinners.

We are also lucky to see our parents regularly. Alexis' mom lives only 25 minutes away and we love having her over for meals and going antiquing around our quaint New England town.

Even though Mike's parents live on the opposite coast, we are thankful that we are able to see them a few times a year. Our favorite family tradition with Mike's parents is around Christmas time. Mike's mom makes 6 different types of Christmas cookies. Even when we can't see them for the holidays we can always count on a sweet-filled package in the mail. This is a tradition we are carrying on at home. So far we make two types of cookies, the trusty snickerdoodle and a delicious lemon bar. We can't wait to introduce these traditions to our new child!

We have such deep gratitude for you in considering entrusting us with your child. Our story of trying to start a family started 13 years ago. We got married on May 21st, 2011. We always assumed children would follow. After years went by with no luck, we looked towards IVF and ultimately surrogacy to try to grow our family. We have been told countless times that there was no reason found for our infertility. We ultimately had 3 failed IVF transfers and 3 failed surrogacy attempts.

We are both doctors. We are trained to look for logical explanations for ailments. When science could not get us any answers to why our efforts failed, we looked for a spiritual answer. It was clear that we were destined to start our family a different way. While a 13-year battle with infertility might break some spirits or end some marriages, it did not for us. It did the opposite. It made our purpose clear. We were put on this earth to be connected to you and your child through adoption.

We have a very personal connection to adoption. We are the adoptive aunt and uncle to 3 high spirited children. Mike's sister and her husband, also with fertility challenges, found the family they had always dreamed of via adoption. They have not had any regrets and they inspire us daily.

While the struggle with starting a family may seem daunting, we do not want you to feel sorry for us. We have enjoyed our life without children. We had the opportunity to excel at our jobs, travel the world, and pursue our hobbies. We have made lasting friendships. We lived and we experienced life. We share this with you not to say our lives are fine without children. But more so to show that for 13 years we have been accumulating the wisdom of these joys and heartaches and this will ultimately help us raise your child. We are ready to be parents.

When we envision our future family, we see the house we poured our heart and soul into as the backdrop of our dream life. We see a baby boy or girl surrounded by hand knit stuffed animals made lovingly by Alexis in a nursery with custom finishing hung with care by Michael. We see evenings by the fire with story time and bedtimes filled with Alexis singing Disney songs. We see our child surrounded by our beloved pets, showing them early on to respect all living things. We see dinners in the kitchen with Alexis roasting the perfect chicken and Michael making his famous Greek salads.

As this child grows, we will help them figure out their place in life so that they can achieve their goals. We both value education. This child will have all of the best schools to choose from. We also understand the limitations of traditional learning. We want to actively participate in teaching our child all of the things you cannot learn from a classroom. We want him to learn the beauty of art and architecture not from a book, but from visiting the ancient cities of the world. We want them to learn about other cultures not from just from a device screen but by traveling the world and meeting new people and eating their foods. We look forward to showing your child every joy this diverse world has to offer.

We also are not naive. We know the reality of child rearing. Things won't always be like a fairy tale. We are equipped to deal with the physical and emotional issues which may arise. We are open to getting our child therapy if needed and as doctors we are trained to recognize any medical issues which may present themselves. We are blessed to have friends and family nearby that will be willing to help us every step of the way.

We hope you read this letter and see our pictures and videos and recognize that this child will be loved. We hope you will stay involved. We believe the more people that can love this child the better.

With gratitude,

Mike & Alexis