Hello! We are Amanda & Mark from Richmond, Virginia along with our children Olivia, Luca, Noah and Asher. We are excited to grow our family through adoption and hope you find this glimpse into our lives helpful as you make this selfless and loving decision. No training wheels here! As seasoned parents of four children, we're ready for Round 5 of sleepless nights, potty training and lots of snuggles. We're a fun loving family and want for you to know that we will do everything possible to ensure your child is raised in a warm, nurturing home surrounded by family and friends.

After experiencing fertility issues and pregnancy complications with the birth of our 4th child, we decided that adoption was the best option for adding another child to our family. We are so excited about the prospect of adding another little one to our family!

We met on an online dating site 18 years ago and have been together ever since our first date where we talked for over 5 hours until the restaurant closed. We have supported each other and our family through the highs and lows of life and came out stronger every time.

We firmly believe "everything happens for a reason,” and we were meant to find each other and be together!

Hi! I'm Amanda. From a young age, I knew that I wanted a large family and that I wanted to adopt one day. I loved the hustle and bustle of growing up with a large extended family, especially around the holidays and celebrations, and I have always wanted that childhood for my children. My favorite part of parenthood is helping each of them realize who they are as a person. They are all so uniquely different and special in their own way!

I am a humanitarian at heart and have dedicated my life to the service of others. I have spent over 20 years developing new medicines to treat cancer and derive tremendous joy in giving patients more time to live their best life! I also spend time as a child advocacy volunteer.

I enjoy the simple things in life like walking the dog, cooking, baking and decorating. I also have a strong sense of adventure and enjoy white water rafting, snow skiing, kayaking, rowing and paddle boarding.

Amanda is a wonderful mother and role model for our children. She is patient and compassionate. We are adventurous and like to travel and experience new things together. She is an amazing cook. Her eggplant parmesan and deviled eggs always get great reviews! We have been married for 16 years. We had a traditional wedding, and I would marry her all over again tomorrow.

Hi! I'm Mark. Growing up, I lived in a busy neighborhood where all of the kids played together. Some of my favorite memories growing up involved good games of street hockey, fort building and sledding. Knowing that my children would grow up in a large family, around other children, in a safe neighborhood was important to me.

My mother was a teacher and people say that I inherited her gift for teaching and imparting life’s lessons to children. I’ve coached soccer teams, been a therapeutic foster parent and taught our children to ride their bikes.

My work is important to me because it gives me the opportunity to help companies protect the environment and promote employee diversity.

I like to golf because I grew up golfing a lot with my dad. When I wasn’t playing team sports, we would spend time together trying new courses. As I’ve gotten older, it has become a way for me to connect with friends and relax.

Mark is a faithful and affectionate husband and fun-loving father. There are piggy back rides in abundance in our home! He has been working in financial research for over 15 years. Mark loves golf! He would gladly golf in the snow if he could still find the ball. Thank goodness for indoor driving ranges.

• Olivia is 13 years old and looking forward to starting high school. She is a gifted artist and enjoys karate and spending time doing her makeup. She has a huge collection of stuffed octopuses and is always looking for an opportunity to add more to her collection. She loves spending time with friends and her grandparents and making ice cream sundaes. She wants to move to Japan one day and become a famous anime artist.

• Luca is 11 years old and looking forward to starting middle school. He is very athletic and enjoys playing soccer, riding his bike, playing vintage video games and building Legos. He wants to be a military fighter pilot when he grows up and can’t wait to get his pilot’s license. He enjoys listening to music and singing along, playing piano and family movie nights. He loves playing with his little brothers!

• Noah is 2 years old and enjoys playing with his cars and trucks, especially outside where he can dig in the sandbox. He loves going to see model train displays, visiting parks and going to preschool with his friends. He finds the joy in everyday life and is a perpetual ray of sunshine! He is kind, empathetic and loves to read books and cuddle. He loves his big family and always makes sure that everyone is accounted for where ever we go!

• Asher was born in August 2023. He is such a happy, sweet baby! He enjoys trying new foods, playing with his big brothers, and being on the go. He loves going outside for walks in the stroller and using the new words he is learning.

We live in the suburbs in a neighborhood with so many children that we have 2 bus routes! One of the best parts of living in our neighborhood is that we have a boat dock on the largest river in Virginia that is a great place to go fishing, paddle boarding, kayaking, and tubing. We also have 3 community pools (with water slides!), a large playground and hiking trails.

Our basement is one of our favorite areas of our house because we like to watch movies as a family in our theater, play with trains on our train table, and visit with our guinea pigs. We love popping popcorn and playing board games or watching a good movie together!

We have a pretty impressive Lego collection and it is proudly on display. Mark also saved all of his childhood Lego sets with instructions, and Luca spends time collecting and building vintage Lego sets. Luca also collects newer Lego sets and proudly decorates the house with his creations!

Our parents have been married since before we were born, and we were each raised with a brother. Our families are spread across the United States, and we get together for holidays and vacations. We have lived in our city for over 18 years and have a lot of friends and a strong support system. Our home has a revolving door of children from around the neighborhood playing together, including our next door neighbors, who are some of our closest friends. We are lucky to have great friends and a family who supports us in raising a large family!

We rescued our 3-year-old golden retriever, Blueberry Bristol, from a family who needed to rehome her because of failing health. She is the sweetest, most docile, well trained, quiet dog, and we love taking her for walks. She loves playing fetch and snuggling. She is happy being a part of a busy family with young children. When she isn’t playing with her stuffed duck, she is Mark’s co-worker and spends her days lounging in his home office.

Thank you for taking time to get to know us. We admire your openness to adoption and understand that you are considering one of the most important decisions of your life. Whatever your decision, we are grateful that you are considering us as adoptive parents for your baby. We respect you and your decision and, as biological parents ourselves, we understand that you are and will always be an important part of who they are and how they identify with the world. We will make sure your child knows that their adoption was an act of courage and love. We love being parents and hope you will entrust us to shower your little one with lifelong unconditional love.