We are Patrick and Emily. We met in college in 2011 and have been married for three years. We enjoy making each other laugh and giving back to our community. We also love to play pranks on each other! Emily works for the Regional Office of Education in her area. She works closely with the Assistant States Attorney, Guardian Ad Litem, and Judges in all Educational Neglect and Truancy Court cases to help break attendance barriers for at-risk students. You can almost always catch Emily with a book in her hands. Emily loves to read, cook, exercise, play with her pets, and watch movies. She is kind, athletic, organized, and funny. Patrick works for a major hospital. He works primarily at a high school with student athletes and provides them with medical care. Patrick is goofy and is always making Emily laugh. He is also caring, smart, and honest. Patrick enjoys watching sports, spending time with family, and walking our dog.

Family is an important aspect of our lives, and we have a large extended family! Emily is very close with her mother and father and has one brother who is married. Every summer, Emily’s immediate family goes on a vacation together, usually to the beach or to the lake.

Patrick is also very close with his mother and father. Patrick has two sisters, and both sisters have three children each. We adore our nieces and nephews! We spend one week each summer in the Ozarks at the lake with Patrick’s parents, his sisters, and the kids. When his family gets together for holidays, the house is overrun by children! We look forward to Christmas breakfast with Patrick’s family every year.

We live on a quiet street in a three-bedroom house. We share our home with four rescue animals: Ajax (dog), Zeus (cat), Nyx (cat), and Apollo (cat). Our neighborhood is very family oriented. Our home is a block away from a bike path, several playgrounds, and the Rock River. We spend a lot of time in our large, fenced-in backyard playing with Ajax. We also enjoy spending time with family on the backyard patio.

From a young age, Emily knew she wanted to adopt a child one day. Even in the early stages of our relationship, adoption was a topic we discussed frequently. Recently we found out Emily has a hereditary blood disease that makes pregnancy difficult and dangerous. At that moment, we knew we would fully devote our attention to adopting a child. We are so excited to grow our family through adoption!