Personally for us, being culturally diverse and understanding different religions and ways of life is crucial. We live in a neighborhood that has many different races, many international students and young couples. Several times a week we work with Duke University with international students, some of whom have young children and others who have just recently arrived from other countries. Through our work we host many of these people in our house and share food from their culture and learn about their traditions. It is exciting and rewarding for us to learn new cultures, traditions and foods from the new people we meet. We continue to have fantastic dinners at our house with international students and their families. All these good friends know our desire to grow our family through adoption again.

Our daughter India, whom we adopted in 2025 is bi-racial. As she grows up we are excited to help her appreciate her cultural and racial identity. As you can see this child will be exposed to many different cultures and we think this will be fundamental in life as we grow with them.

There are certainly no dull moments in our family. While Anita is an extremely great nurse, she is also an amazing cook. She loves getting up early on Sunday morning and baking fresh bread and pastries. When the weather is beautiful it is usually a toss-up for her to either go biking or spend a day at the beach. One activity at the beach that Sidney has had fun teaching Anita is how to go surf fishing. In fact the first time we tried, we managed to pull some fish in.

Sidney, not one for sitting around, spends his leisure time either playing hockey, biking or fishing. We both love going to hockey and baseball games. Our daughter India loves attending these with us. One of our favorite baseball experiences is Yankee stadium on a fall afternoon. When hockey playoffs come around in spring time, you will see Sidney heading off with friends and family to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins play.

We love to go on evening walks and find this a great time for reconnecting and spending time together after a busy day.

When it comes to a vacation spot, we have to do rock, paper, scissors to decide on where we are going to go. One of our favorite places to go is the very end of Long Island. There is absolutely exquisite beaches and extremely prolific fishing opportunities. We have friends on the island who are more than to host us and we have enjoyed this for the last 10 years.

An hour outside of our favorite city Nashville, there is a large property that family friends own. It is a Christian retreat on a large lake and is a beautiful place to spend a week or weekend. In less than an hour you can access the Smoky Mountains where there are streams and many views to see.

Another destination we have gone to for the last couple years is the Outer Banks in NC. There are many trails to hike on, and the beaches and sand dunes are known as one of the best. We love it there and have spent many days fishing and hiking and spending time in a beach house. We can't wait to make more memories and have special moments with this child some day!

We both come from large families and have many nieces and nephews. Anita's parents and 3 of her brothers live in South Dakota and we enjoy visits in the summer and face timing in between. When we do get together for seasonal visits, our nieces and nephews love to go sledding in the winter, biking, hiking and swimming in the summer. Everyone is very excited about welcoming another child into our family. Anita's mom especially is routing for twins since she is a twin herself.

Sidney's grandparents live in NY state and for years we took care of them. They have enjoyed spending time with our daughter India and can't wait to receive this child into our family.

Most of Sidney's family including his parents live in NY state, and every summer or winter we get together and have BBQ's, fellowship and enjoy ice skating. In summer, Sidney's nieces and nephews love playing games like kickball and soccer. These gatherings usually end with Sidney playing guitar and everyone else singing. All of Sidney's family is so excited to welcome this child.

Because we live in close proximity to Duke University, we have an international neighborhood with many families and young children.

We live on a residential street with local families, enjoying the parks and the trails on the East campus of Duke. Our daughter India loves to go the swings and climbing frame on the weekend where she meets many other children. Imagine the day she can come to the park with this child and shows her favorite swing set.

Our house has a fire place and large sitting room, where we have fun playing board games and connecting with our friends, especially in winter time. There is swing set, sandbox, a patio and a small play area in the backyard with landscaped gardens and a grassy area for children to play. The favorite place is the front yard and the adjacent empty lot where there is a large lawn to play on. Many evenings there are families that we know that come over for camp fires and games.

Our favorite destinations for a day trip are to drive 2 hours east to the North Carolina coast and enjoy the beautiful sand dunes and beaches. Two hours west we get to experience the Blueridge mountains which is a majestic place to go hiking. We are 20 minutes away from enjoying the local professional baseball team, which makes for a fun-filled summer evening experience.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and following us on our journey to adoption. We would love to tell you about ourselves, but we first want to thank you for making the bold and loving decision to consider creating an adoption plan for your child. Please know that we will be praying for you and your baby.

We went to the same middle school together, and have known each other since we were in 3rd and 4th grades. We ended up going to the same high school, so long before we started dating we knew each other and each other's families very well. After high school, our families moved and we did not connect for about 8 years. We met again when Anita ended up caring for Sidney's mom who was sick with cancer. Shortly after that we started dating and the following year, November 2015, we married.

The first years of our marriage we were able to travel quite often. One of the highlights was traveling to Greece. We also went on shorter trips in the U.S. to help various organizations deal with natural disasters, and through this we have connected with many people.

Anita graduated nursing school in 2005 and has spent most of her time helping people in this role. She recently stopped working as a nurse to be a stay at home mom for our daughter and also babysits some children of friends from our neighborhood. On most weekends our house is either full of university students who come over for dinner, or kids from the neighborhood who Anita loves to cook and bake for. We can only imagine how happy your child will be in our family. Anita is able to encourage many people with her bright personality and thinks the best of everyone.

Sidney went to school in the trades industry and while he enjoys wood working and house renovations, he has spent most of the last 10 years being a maintenance manger for large properties. He is extremely social, has an outgoing personality and can just about befriend anyone.

The first 9 years of our marriage, we prayed endlessly for children of our own, but unfortunately we were not blessed with this miracle. We have experienced difficult times, not knowing what direction to go with our family, however we love each other more than ever and after years of praying about it, our first child was given to us through adoption. This adoption has been the biggest blessing of our lives but our family doesn't feel complete. Our families are very connected to us and they support us endlessly and cannot wait to welcome another child into the family.

We want to share with you your child's growth, experiences and milestones as they grow up through letters and photos and visits if possible. We can't imagine how hard it is for you to consider adoption for your child, but please know and believe that the love you have for them and how hard this decision was for you will always be reflected positively to them. Please know that this baby is already loved so much. We promise lots of love, laughter and adventure for this child.

Wishing you God's blessing and all the best,

Sidney & Anita