When we were first married, we intended to live in California for five years to be with David's family and then move to Indiana to be close to Marisa's family and start a family of our own. As you may have guessed, that plan did not go as expected. Life has a way of throwing things your way that you never anticipate. Illnesses and passing of family members mixed with lack of job opportunities in Indiana kept us tied to California. With the higher cost of living, it made it more difficult to afford to have children and raise a family so we had put it on pause. Through a job opportunity at David's company, we ended up moving to North Carolina where we were finally able to afford a house and intended to start a family. However, now that we feel we are finally financially secure and ready, time has passed so quickly that we fear that we might not be able to have a child of our own due to fertility issues.

Although we are very happy and love each other very much, we feel like something is missing in our lives. We want to be able to teach a child new things or watch them experience something for the first time - like trick or treating or running downstairs on Christmas morning to open presents. This is something we long for. I know we have so much love and support to give to a child and we want to do our best to fulfill that void through adoption.

Before it was cool to find people on the internet, we found each other. We were both in a Christian chat room and within the first few sentences it was love at first type. We discovered that we both had a lot in common, our love of Jesus and video games! We both were big fans of The Legend of Zelda which sparked our conversations and we grew closer everyday since. David being from California and Marisa in Indiana, we endured a long distance relationship for a number of years before we could even meet in person. After David took a few flights out to Indiana and Marisa took a flight to California, we got engaged and were later married in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, where Marisa's parents also were married, to keep that tradition.

We have been married 14 years but we still feel like newlyweds and never tire of each other's company. We both have a good sense of humor and enjoy making each other laugh, even when we're the only ones who get the joke.

Through hard work and dedication Marisa has earned a position as a Senior Accountant for a real estate investment company.

She is a sweet, kind-hearted person. She is not just intelligent, but also has a great sense of humor that brings levity to any situation. She is typically quiet and reserved around new people but opens up when you get to know her.

Marisa gets her sensibility, rationality and common sense from her mother which helps her think through situations and always make the right moral decisions in her life.

Her fun-loving personality and humor she gets from her father. She is always thinking of witty things to say and will make you laugh.

She is supportive to her husband, loves her family unconditionally and would do almost anything for them. Her parents mean the world to her and she is the favorite of her nieces and nephews.

Marisa also loves both her dogs and is always taking care of them. She keeps them fed and happy and will wake up early in the morning if they need letting out or are hungry.

Fun Facts

• Trying to learn Japanese on DuoLingo! (Though she is very much a beginner)
• Loves to build adult lego sets
• Current favorite musician is Billie Eilish
• Voted funniest and most artistic in her class
• Favorite subject in school was math
• Is a fan of crafting and has started to learn how to quilt - three baby quilts have been made thus far!
• Favorite shows are The Office, The IT Crowd, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, and Freaks and Geeks

David is the single most caring individual I have ever met in my life. Any person or creature he encounters that needs his help, he will stop what he is doing and help them - always putting others before himself.

He has a somber and somewhat introverted personality, but somehow he manages to be very proactive and assertive when it comes to the tasks of daily life. He graduated with an associates degree in computer science and has been working in the video game industry for almost 20 years. He truly loves his career and feels blessed for the opportunity to do what he loves.

As much as David loves technology, he also has an equal love for nature and animals. Part of what draws me to love David so much is seeing how much he loves and cares for animals. He once hand-fed an orphaned baby bunny with a syringe for weeks until it was able to eat solid food and be released into the wild. Every spring, a bird will build a nest on the beams near our doorway entrance. David will check on them daily to make sure the mother is still alive and can feed them. This type of compassion and nurturing is innately part of who David is. There is no doubt in my mind he will make a terrific father.

Fun Facts

• Father was a Bulgarian immigrant who came to America to escape Communism
• Loves hiking and walking on nature trails
• Played high school basketball and tennis
• Also likes to build adult Legos.
• Likes to fix things around the house and tinker with electronics
• Loves retro video games
• Favorite TV shows are the Andy Griffith show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and I Love Lucy

We have two dogs named Theo and Charlotte. Everyone who knows us know we spoil our pets perhaps a little too much. Charlotte is a 4 year old American Fox Hound. One day we were taking a walk through our local mall when they were having a pet adoption event. As soon as we saw Charlotte, we knew she was the dog for us. Charlotte is very proper and has a quiet, docile personality that is very mindful and respectful of others. Charlotte loves cold weather, shade, treats, and meeting new people. Charlotte dislikes rough-housing, baths, and rain.

Theo was originally Marisa's sister's dog. He was deemed as a "problem" dog that her sister could not handle and was going to return to the pound. Having already met Theo and fallen in love with him, we took him in so he could stay in the family. He is the complete opposite from Charlotte in every way. Full of energy and mischief he keeps us on our toes almost 24/7, but his sweet and affectionate personality make him worth it. Theo loves water, rough-housing, playing fetch and tug of war. Theo dislikes random plastic bags at the side of the road, motorcycles, and being separated from us.

Marisa is the youngest of 3 children. Her family all live in Indiana. She has a mother and father, two sisters, two brother-in-laws, 3 nieces and 2 nephews. Her niece and nephews ages range from 7 months to 12 years old. Marisa gets along with all of her family and cherishes any time she gets to spend with them. She speaks with members of her family virtually almost every day and visits at least once a year for Thanksgiving. She has a tight knit relationship with her immediate family, and when they are together they tend to play games, watch movies and goof around with each other.

David is the youngest of four children. He has two sisters and one brother. His brother lives in California with his wife, his oldest sister lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three kids. His other sister, Becky, is an elementary school teacher and lives here in North Carolina with her husband. Their children live in California but visit twice a year. We are very close with Becky and see her and her husband several times a year. We spend Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July with Becky and her family.

David's mother recently moved to North Carolina from California to be close to David and his sister. He calls her every day to make sure she is doing ok and sees her regularly once or more a week.

We celebrate all the major holidays! We love Christmas and Halloween in particular! We enjoy the scents and chilly weather as the holidays approach.

We look forward to trick-or-treaters and carving pumpkins every year together. For Christmas we like to make gingerbread houses. We tend to deck our house out in lights for each occasion.

We like to spend Christmas Eve driving around looking at Christmas lights with family then come home, snuggle around the fire while we watch Its a Wonderful Life, drink eggnog and open one present. We can't wait to share this with our chi

Throughout our years together we have been to a many places around the country. We have driven from Tennessee to California stopping at the Grand Canyon and all up the coast of California. We took our honeymoon trip 7 years after we were married to Hawaii (where Marisa's aunt is from).

We enjoy staying in cabins in the mountains where we can walk our dogs on scenic trails. We also like to take weekend getaways at the beach, luckily we can drive to the beach or mountains within a couple hours.

We also enjoy seeing historical sights, touring museums and going on ghost walking tours to discover interesting history.

We're hoping to explore more and anticipate annual family road trips and getaways.

David's dream trip is to visit Japan since he has always found that culture interesting.

Marisa wants to visit Scotland to get in touch with her heritage and see the beautiful countryside and castles.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us. We hope we connected with you on a personal level in some way. We want to open our hearts to you and your expected child and promise to do the best we can to accommodate any wishes you may have on how you want to proceed with the adoption.

Know that whether you decide to choose us or not, we will love and pray for you to make the right decision for you and your child.

- David & Marisa