Hello! We are Tyler and Verity. Thank you for taking the time to learn about us and for considering being a part of our story.

We met at a board game day hosted by a mutual friend. After joking and laughing, while Verity won every game we played, Tyler knew he had to get to know her better. We started texting, and he bravely asked if she had been flirting with him over the games. She decided that retroactively, the answer was yes!

Our first date turned into nine hours of talking about everything you aren't supposed to talk about on a first date, and we have been in love since. A year later, Verity proposed to Tyler with a sword, and in 2021, we eloped with a friend officiating our tiny Halloween wedding.

We always knew that adoption would be part of our journey – Tyler has his own loving adoption story. Continuing that legacy has always been important to us. We had hoped to also have a biological child, but with PCOS, this was not possible. After years spent trying, we decided that it was better for us to put all our heart and energy into building our family through adoption.

When I was very young, my parents told me of my adoption story. Since it was a closed adoption, I have not had any contact with my birth parents and have very little information about them; however, I know they made the very best decision because I grew up surrounded by the love of my immediate and extended family. 

I have always been passionate about music and participated in band, chorus, and theater in school. We had family game nights where I learned to love board games, which grew to include role-playing and video games. Creativity, wonder, and storytelling are important parts of my life.

Through my work, I have had the opportunity to travel around the world. I love exploring new places and learning about the history and cultures of wherever I am. I am passionate, dedicated, patient, and calm. I love to cook, travel, spend time with friends and family, and play games that involve strategy and telling stories. My life, and our family, is filled with love and support which I look forward to one day sharing with a future child.

When I was a child, I didn't have a dream job for when I grew up. Instead, I would answer that I wanted to help make people happy. I didn't want anyone to feel alone or hurt. This idea followed me into college, where I joked that by focusing on psychology and theater, I was majoring in making people happy.

The greatest thing about this is also the downside: there are so many ways to serve people and make them happy. Eventually, I found my way into content strategy and user experience. This field let me use my empathy and focus on others to tell government agencies how to design their websites to serve people better. I am also pursuing a Master's in Management and Leadership.

I care about improving the lives of others and love visiting our local animal sanctuary. I have marched for women's rights and universal healthcare, and I try to be a good steward of the Earth and a member of my community. 

One of my favorite people to spend time with is my goddaughter. I have fun teaching her to bake and garden, and love that I get to read her bedtime stories almost every night.

Our house is a unique seven-bedroom house from the mid-90s. It was a four-bedroom home, but the original owner added to it for a bigger family. We love cooking in our open kitchen while our friends' kids play in the connected living room. There is even a built-in cabinet just for toys and books for kids! 

Our neighborhood was a major reason we bought the house. When we drive up, it's so nice to see kids playing together and their parents talking nearby in the shade of the trees. Everyone greets and waves to each other. Right outside our back gate is the community playground where we take our goddaughter to play. She made fast friends with the neighborhood children who are similar in age. 

While our neighborhood has a lovely small-town feel, it's nice to have easy access that comes from being in a city. We live close to museums, restaurants, parks, schools, and transportation hubs. We love taking our goddaughter to the zoo, going for walks in local parks, or even hopping on the train to visit other states. We are looking forward to sharing these adventures with a child.

We are lucky to have both a loving, supportive family and a "chosen family" friend group.

Tyler's family is especially excited that we are starting our adoption journey. His parents adore our nieces and nephews, and each summer, have them come visit for a full week. Meanwhile, Verity's mom has been asking her about grandbabies for the last 20 years, and can't wait for a child to be a part of her life. Between the two of us, we have five brothers, one of whom is a social worker who has spent over two decades supporting adoptive families and children! We see our parents multiple times a year and talk with them often.

Just as important to us is the family we built from love: our incredible friends. We took "it takes a village" to heart and bought our house with two of our closest friends, the parents of our goddaughter. While we live upstairs and they live in the apartment downstairs, being close means we can support each other. We get to help them with our goddaughter, which is very special, and we know they can't wait till we welcome a child into the family.

Each season brings its own hobbies and traditions to share with family and friends, and we look forward to sharing them with a child.

In the spring, Verity starts seeds inside, preps the garden, and transplants the seedlings when it is warm enough. We like to take time around the spring equinox to explore new areas around us, whether a different city or a different hiking area.

Summer brings some of the busiest times in the garden, fresh home-grown tomatoes, and weekend trips to the local farmer’s market or craft fairs. In August, we go to a game convention. 

Fall is one of our favorite times of the year. Once it cools down, we like to go hiking and camping with friends, visit pumpkin patches, and take part in Halloween celebrations. We host a large Friendsgiving to spend time with family and friends.

Winter has Christmas, solstice, and Tyler's birthday to celebrate. We love going to look at lights together!

We also enjoy a wide variety of nerdy activities year-round, including:

• Playing board games
• Reading
• Console and PC gaming
• Playing Magic, the Gathering
• Painting
• Playing D&D and other tabletop RPGs
• Collecting vinyl records

Thank you for taking the time to read our story. We are incredibly grateful to be considered as potential parents. Contemplating an adoption plan is an incredibly brave and loving decision, and we admire and respect you for this.

We dream of being parents, and after so many years of trying, we are excited to be closer to that dream. We will give the baby everything we can offer – love, acceptance and nurturing, a healthy lifestyle, an excellent education, a large extended family built from intentional choice and love, and more. 

We hope that someday we will be able to meet and will stay in contact throughout the child’s life. Even if this is not the level of openness you prefer, we will always remind the child of the loving choice their birth mother made for them to have a life with our family, and know how loved they are by you and us.