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Joe & Stacy are hopeful adoptive parents from Arizona waiting to adopt a baby.

If you are pregnant and considering placing your child for adoption, please read the following Dear Birthmother Letter.

From Us to You First of all, we want to express just how much gratitude and respect we have for you. We can not possibly understand the depths of emotions you are going through right now, but please know that we are praying for you throughout this adoption journey. Thank you for choosing life for your child and for showing the ultimate act of selfless love by choosing adoption. We believe that adoption is one of the most beautiful, unique things we could experience in life in that it brings people together, who may have never otherwise met, through one common bond: the unending love for a child. We want you to know that we are committed to not only this child whom we have yet to meet, but you. We pray for our future birth mom and future child daily and can't wait to share the love in our hearts with a baby we will love and raise as our own. We are humbled that you would take the time to get to know us and see if we might be the right family to do so.

Our Love Story We met on a December night in 2006. It was my (Stacy) first time visiting a new church and Joe spotted me right away. Within minutes, we were chatting. I noticed his gorgeous eyes and he noticed my blonde hair. That night we became Myspace friends (that was cool back then!) and continued getting to know each other. Despite Joe's best efforts, I kept him in the 'friend zone' for quite a while. It wasn't until May 2007 that we FINALLY became boyfriend and girlfriend. But once I fell, I fell hard. On Christmas day 2007 (just over a year after meeting), he got down on one knee, in front of my whole family, and asked me to be his wife! We were married just 7 months later on July 18th, 2008. We would both agree that it was the best decision we ever made! Now here we are 4 1/2 years later ready for the next chapter of our love story as we embark on the journey of parenthood together.

Our Adoption Story Like many couples, we thought that when it was time to start a family, it would happen quickly. After about a year and a half of enjoying married life as two, we decided we were ready to become a family of three. But months went by, then years, and we were still just two. After two years and no answers of 'why' we weren't conceiving, we prayed over which direction to go next: infertility treatments or adoption. During that time of heartbreak and unknown, God kept putting adoption on our hearts and we realized that this was truly the call for our lives. In May 2012 we started the adoption process. A few months later our prayers were answered. We got matched with a birth mom who would be due in February of this year. For the next 6 months we got to experience all the joys of preparing for parenthood and fell more and more in love with the son who would soon bless our lives. The nursery was ready. Our bags were packed. Then just like that, our dreams of parenthood came crashing down. The day before we were to fly out for the birth of the baby, the birth mother had a change of heart. We were devastated. But within a couple weeks, we were graced with the hope of parenthood once again when we were matched with a birth mother who was due in April of this year. Unfortunately, that journey also ended with the birth mother's a change of heart to parent. Amidst the pain and grief, we have an overwhelming peace that the child that is supposed to come into our hearts and lives is still out there somewhere. We trust that God not only knows who our future birth mom and child are, but that He will bring us to each other, binding us together by the greatest gift in this life: love. Even through these unexpected detours, our commitment to adoption has never wavered. We are completely confident that this is how we are to grow our family and look forward to the day when our birth mom becomes a part of our lives!

With each adoption process, we have learned something new along the way. We joke that we are becoming seasoned veterans of the adoption process! We believe that our two previous matches have served to teach us and make us wiser for when the right birth mother and child do come into our lives. After much reflection, we have taken what we learned and have come up with a couple things that we see as essentials for our next adoption match (aka our must-haves list!). Just like we're certain you have specific things that you are looking for in an adoptive family, we too, have things that we are looking for in a birth mother.

The first being attending birth parent counseling. We understand firsthand just how difficult the adoption process can be and have seen how a lack of counseling can really hinder a successful adoption experience for everyone involved. We truly believe that having a counselor walk each of us through this complex journey is one of the most important components of adoption. So as a way to protect our hearts and yours, we have decided that we will only enter into an adoption match with a birth mother who will regularly attend adoption counseling throughout the duration of the pregnancy (which we will cover financially of course). Don't worry if you don't have a counselor yet, we will be more than happy to help you find someone you feel comfortable with!

Lastly, we want to make sure that we are able to give our hearts fully to the birth family that comes into our lives, but we also know our limits. We know that emotionally we can only enter into a match with a birth mom who has 4 months or less left in the pregnancy.

We hope you understand that these things have been carefully thought out and prayed over so that we can be the best adoptive family to our future birth mom and have an adoption that flourishes. We anxiously await meeting our future birth mother. We know you're out there somewhere!

Our Life Our Everyday:
Our home and our lives are filled with lots of laughter, silliness, joy and love. We spend our free time enjoying our backyard, swimming in our pool, hanging with friends, hiking, playing with our dogs Hope & Moby, serving at our church and just relaxing at home. We are surrounded by a beautiful community of friends that we are blessed to have. They are the kind of people that would do anything for us and are truly a blessing to our lives. Our lives are shaped by our faith and love for Jesus. We love deeply and genuinely. We love to talk about the 'deeper' things of life, yet equally love just letting loose and being silly together.

Our Work:
Joe works full time as an Aerospace Engineer at a company that specializes in launching satellites and government defense. He makes it a priority to leave his work at work. He works hard during his 40 hours a week, but can't wait to come home to spend time with Stacy and their dogs and looks forward to the day that he can come home to a child to spend time with.

Stacy owns her own wedding photography business. Having an at-home business gives her the freedom and flexibility to work as little or as much as she wants. Like her own mom, Stacy plans on being a stay-at-home mom to her future children. Working from home gives her the best of both worlds.

Our Families:
Our families are a huge part of our lives, even though they don't live in the same state as us. Joe's parents still live in Oregon where he grew up and his sister lives in NY. Stacy's family lives in WI where she grew up. She has 5 older brothers and sisters, 12 nieces and nephews and wonderful parents who have been married for 43 years. Our families can't wait to add another member to the mix. The nieces and nephews ask about about and pray for their 'new cousin' all the time!

Our Dreams:
We want to raise our children in a home that is filled with unconditional love, faith in Christ, honesty, openness, trust, silliness, laughter, spontaneous dance parties, tickle fests, lots of cuddling, bedtime stories, family inside jokes, beautiful traditions, family vacations and lots of sweet memories.

In Closing:
We can't begin to understand how difficult the decision is that is in front of you. All we know is that you are a beautiful, strong, selfless woman for making the choice you are making. We have such a heart for birth moms and you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. We truly believe that God has the perfect family picked out for your child and our prayer is that you can trust in that and have a peace about your decision. You are doing a beautiful thing. I hope you are encouraged and loved throughout this journey. We are hopeful that the birth mom that is meant for our lives will see that we will love their child as our own and that our home was meant for their baby. Here's to praying you find the right family for your child. Perhaps we are the ones...