“Nothing of lasting value comes without a price.” This is the mantra we live by as we are devoted to our families and to our work in the arts. Craig is a voice teacher, actor, dancer, choreographer, and singer. Jeremy is a conductor, pianist, organist, and violinist. We both teach at a university in the area and are blessed to have offices next door to one another. We are extremely involved in our church, leading music and assisting with worship activities. Jeremy plays the organ and the piano and conducts the choirs; Craig sings in the ensembles and coordinates the audio and visual elements. We enjoy hiking, snow skiing, scuba diving, and swimming. Jeremy enjoys trying new vegetarian recipes and going wine tasting; Craig loves playing games and taking dance classes. We are escape room fanatics! We love hosting friends and family and spending time with our cats, Cleopatra and Alexander.

We are both close to our families. Jeremy has one brother and two great parents. We enjoy going on vacations with them every year; we meet in Florida and California for beach time and Colorado for skiing over Christmas. Craig learned to ski in order to keep up with us over the holidays.

Craig’s family is very involved in our lives as well. We were both extremely close to Craig’s mom, whom we lost three years ago. Her passion for her family inspired us to want to expand our family. Craig’s three sisters and dad live in Texas, and we are blessed to travel there for annual holiday and summer trips. Because we live in another state, we often FaceTime with our nieces and nephew, and we enjoy taking them on various adventures. We knew Jeremy was accepted early on into the family when Craig’s dad taught Jeremy the secret family queso recipe.

We live in South Carolina and are extremely involved in our community. Our area school districts are strong and highly regarded as wonderful places to learn and grow. We enjoy the numerous parks, lakes, and hiking trails in our area. Our neighborhood is a great place to live and work! The housing community we live in is only five years old and is filled with friendly and supportive residents. We were fortunate to build our new home here. The active neighborhood organization includes a diverse group of residents who have been welcoming to us. We enjoy decorating our home for the holidays, waving to everyone as we take walks, and conversing with neighbors at the food trucks on Fridays. We have fantastic neighbors and enjoy spending time with them on our porches.

Throughout our 18-year relationship, we have been dreaming about expanding our family. We have enjoyed being uncles to our nieces and nephew, but we have felt the call to be dads ourselves. As we have established ourselves as professors in our community, we are in a position to now welcome a little one into our home. We are so excited to pour our energy into a baby, giving them a loving and supportive home. We would be honored and blessed to be entrusted with the care of a child.