We are John and Jessica. We are honored that you are interested in learning more about us as prospective parents. 
  
We met in college and became fast friends. Our friendship grew into romance, and we started dating while studying abroad in 2004. John graduated in 2004, and we married right after Jessie graduated in 2006. We both agreed we wanted a large family. We planned to try to conceive, but we always considered adoption another great option. Over the years, we have been blessed to adopt three beautiful children, two from South Korea and one domestically. Hannah is twelve, Daniel is nine, and Gabriel is three.  
  
John works from home as a software engineer. Jessie worked as a dental assistant until we brought Hannah home. Now Jessie is a stay-at-home mom with no plans to return to a "normal" job. 
  
We're an active family that would enjoy having more children to love and raise.

I grew up in a big family, the third of nine children. All my life, I have been surrounded by family and kids. My parents sure were busy with all of our activities! I loved playing baseball as a kid and continue to play pickup sports to this day. Whether it's a hike with the family, playing football with friends, building sandcastles with the kids on the beach, or just going for a walk, I'm always happier outdoors. 
  
My parents instilled in us a desire to learn and to tinker with things. A highlight of my childhood was helping my dad and brothers to design and build a magnificent playset in our backyard, first building a model with popsicle sticks, then itemizing the lumber and hardware needed to make it, and finally constructing it. This desire to build things led me to learn how to program when I was ten, which I still do today as a software engineer. 
  
I enjoy passing on my passions to our kids, helping teach them to read, taking them on camping and canoeing trips, and coaching them in sports. I've also learned to take an interest in their passions, like superheroes and characters in their favorite books. 
  
Fun Facts about John 
●      I have seven brothers and one sister; my sister was born when I was in college! 
●      I've loved to travel ever since my family moved to Singapore for 3 years when I was a kid.
●      I once hiked a 42-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail in less than one day. 

I am so lucky to stay at home with the kids! My mom is a teacher, and I use the skills and the knowledge I learned from her and my mother-in-law to homeschool the three kids we are currently blessed with. We often go out for adventures or field trips during the day; a trip to the zoo, a visit to a natural history museum, or a nature walk. I love how much time we get to spend together as a family.  
  
My artistic side shines out the best when I am cooking. I love the challenge of making a healthy dinner for the family and having it on the table by 5. I also sing at our church and run a women's group that meets every Thursday night. 
  
I love being a mom and watching kids grow and blossom. I try very hard to teach our kids to live life to its fullest, to be kind to one another, and to laugh often. I love each family member fiercely and am excited to have another child join our family.  
  
Fun Facts about Jessie 
●      I grew up with sheep, pigs, cats, and dogs. I love animals and going to the fair. 
●      I took voice lessons as a kid, and in high school was Liesel in the Sound of Music. 
●      I am the silly parent in the family.  

We live in the historical part of a small city between Baltimore and DC. Our house was built in 1889 and has a fenced-in backyard. Our yard has slowly acquired more and more playground equipment and currently has a swing set, seesaw, and trampoline. We love having dinners on the picnic table when the weather is nice and a small fire in the evenings to roast marshmallows. Jessie has been planting fruit trees in the yard. She got enough cherries last year to make a pie and is hoping for a few apples next year. 

Our neighborhood is very walkable. Main Street is just a few blocks away, and our church is a 10-minute walk away from home. Our neighborhood is full of families, many of whom homeschool like us, and our kids love to get together, play with them, and go on field trips together. 

Our city does a great job celebrating pretty much every holiday. The 4th of July parade goes right in front of our house, so we always have friends over to watch the parade while the kids wrestle for the candy. Almost every home is decorated for Halloween, and hundreds of kids go trick-or-treating. There is a Christmas parade every year near our house. We even started an annual caroling party with our best friends — right around Christmas, we have about 100 people caroling around the neighborhood, spreading cheer and lifting people's spirits. 

We have a huge and supportive extended family. John has eight siblings, and Jessie has two brothers. We have over 45 nieces and nephews! We are very close to all of them. Three of John's brothers and father live nearby, and we often get together. Monday night dinners with Papa are a weekly event for our family. When John's side of the family gets together, there is always music and good food! 
  
Jessie's mom comes down to visit at least for Thanksgiving and Easter. She lives with one of Jessie's brothers, and her other brother lives just 10 minutes away.  
  
Everyone on both sides of the family has been so excited and supportive when we tell them we want to adopt another child. Seven of our nieces and nephews are adopted (from USA, Guatemala, China, and Ethiopia). 
  
Our church family is also very important to us. Our parish is diverse, with large African, Hispanic, and Filipino communities. We have many close friends who live near us and go to church with us. We often get together with them for a BBQ or a pickup football game. 
 
Our friends are all supportive and excited to hear about our next adoption. A few of the families formed a Homeschool co-op a few years ago, and it has been thriving. The moms and kids all get together one morning a week to learn and grow together. 

Hannah (12) is a very responsible young lady who loves babies. She is well known as the neighborhood artist, and we find her teaching her younger brothers art tricks. She also loves to bake cookies and have good books to read. 

• Hannah is a natural artist with any medium; painting, drawing, hair, and baking
• She loves cookies and sweets
• She is very proud that she just finished reading the Harry Potter series! The 7th book in less than a day!

Daniel (9) is a passionate young man. He loves being outside and riding his bike. He loves board games, Star Wars, Superheroes, and eating Hannah’s cookies. Daniel is a natural problem solver and always wants to know how things work. He likes to follow his dad and help with projects around the house. He is a great older brother to Gabriel and loves to wrestle with him. 

• Daniel loves learning football stats. His favorite team is the Ravens
• He loves pizza
• He is very proud that he was just trained to be an altar server at church

Gabriel (3) is pure joy. He loves to 'help' around the house with sweeping and cleaning. He could throw a perfect spiral with a small football and know that BEEF is the best form for basketball by age two. Gabriel has a contagious smile and loves to charm others. 

• Gabriel loves to have books read to him
• He loves pasta
• He is proud that he is able to be in preschool at our homeschool co-op

Our family loves adventure and travel. We go camping, to the beach, to national parks, and even overseas. Last year we took a trip to Austria and Italy. Our family got to walk through historic European castles, see the Sistine Chapel, and eat a ton of pasta. 
 
We like to look at the stars and watch for meteor showers or lunar eclipses. We love to explore nature. This summer, we went out west to the Black Hills, where we saw buffalo and Mount Rushmore, and went kayaking in a mountain lake. 
 
Family dinners are important to our family. It's a time to reconnect and touch base. Often after dinner, we pull out a board game, go for a walk in the neighborhood, or watch a family movie. Though we have nights when we are rushing to basketball practice or a meeting at church, we do our best to have dinner together every night. 
 
Our family is a bit of a patchwork quilt, but we are stronger together. Since two of our kids are Korean and one Hispanic, we try to incorporate their heritage into our lives. We all love going out for Korean BBQ and eating kimchi.  
 
The kids have started a Spanish class and have tried practicing their Spanish with some people in the neighborhood. We think it is very important for kids to learn about different cultures and customs. 

We are blessed to have these three children, but we still feel our family is incomplete. We have plenty of room in our hearts to love more children. 

Each of our kids has had a different story about how they came into our family. We cherish their birth families and honor them for all they have done for these children. We are open to contacting birth families through letters, pictures, or visits. 

We try to give our kids a chance to have music lessons, join sports teams, take art lessons, and let them try new things. We make them try new foods to have them see different cultures and where our family history comes from. We try to fill their days with much joy and laughter. 

Thank you for considering us. We will pray for you and your decision. 

With Love,

Jonh and Jessie