About James:

Written by Trent (who is totally not biased)

James is the man of my dreams. When I was little and dreamed of my perfect husband, James would be the man I would dream about. He has all the traits that I have always loved and admired! Just to name a few of my favorite things, he is fun, caring, zany, adventurous, courageous, creative, loves to travel, and always surprises me with some new amazing skill that I didn't know about. An example is about 3 years after we were married, we were playing with our niece and nephew, and he casually brings out balloons and just starts making balloon animals like some kind of party magician. Introducing the kids to this skill, but also me. Apparently it was something he had learned decades ago and was waiting for the perfect time to surprise us all, and he did! I was like, "What else are you hiding? Juggling? A black belt?" I very much look forward to his creativity helping our child grow. From crafting Halloween costumes to creating games to play, to reading stories in silly voices, his pirate voice is chef's kiss. But most of all, watching his big heart love a child.

About Trent:

Written by James (trying not to get too mushy gushy)

I'll do my best here not to get too mushy gushy talking about my husband. :) Trent is my rock, my ultimate best friend, and the perfect partner for me in this journey of life! He makes me laugh and smile all the time, he surprises and impresses me every day! I vividly remember our first date and looking into his eyes that were filled with such kindness and interest. I felt overwhelmed with the feeling of being seen. I mean truly seen, you know? It was that moment I knew he was special and someone I wanted in my life forever! He is compassionate, thoughtful, present, a visionary always thinking of new projects or little things to make things better or to bring someone joy. He is always down to just have a relaxing night at home spending time with each other and our two doggos (who are definitely spoiled), although in a heartbeat is ready to plan a new adventure. Whether it be going on a new hike we've never done before, or flying across the ocean to a country we've always wanted to visit, or jumping in the car to take a road trip to visit family!

He loves his family so much, and when he is with our niece and nephew, it's magic! I've never witnessed someone shine so bright with joy as he does with our young niece and nephew as well as our godson! The way he engages, plays games, and takes care of whatever their needs may be. It is like watching a masterclass! When our nephew was a baby, we got the honor to babysit him and his older sister for the first time. While Trent was with our niece, I was working on putting our nephew down to sleep and was just having no success. I called Trent for help, and he just puts our nephew on his chest and leans back on the couch, and the little guy just falls right to sleep! Like some kind of baby whisperer! I was beyond impressed, and my stomach filled with butterflies wondering how I got so lucky to be with a man like him. Trent has always been a master of making one feel comfort and safety! He's done it for me for over a decade! I cannot wait to see him share his love, joy, knowledge, and strength with a child of our own!

Between both families we cover 6 different states from west coast to east coast, and extended family adds a couple more states to the mix, we're basically a cross-country operation. We both are midwestern-born boys, and after growing up in the Midwest, moved to sunny California. Mainly to get out of the cold. I mean, seriously, winter can keep its snow. But also to start our careers. Trent is the oldest of 5 including step-siblings, and James is the youngest of 5. We complement each other's family very well that way! Family has always been important to us, and since we both love to travel, we try to visit family all over the country as much as possible. It is a great way to adventure and have a place to stay! Free lodging is a bonus!

Trent grew up vacationing in Florida, where part of his family resides. It would be an event that the younger members of the family would look forward to all year, building sand castles on the beach and playing in the gulf with cousins. Now that we are older, we still keep the tradition going, and we look forward to taking our child to play with their cousins the way Trent did. Warning: sand will get everywhere. We've accepted this as a fact of life. :)

As a Midwest transplant, Trent started immediately working in the TV/film industry, starting at the bottom as a Production Assistant (a.k.a. professional coffee runner and problem solver) and working his way up to producing. As he got deeper into his career, he focused mainly on children's programming, working television shows for Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. He works in a freelance capacity, which means some months he's busier than a one-armed paper hanger, and other months he gets to be Mr. Mom (or in this case, Mr. Dad).

James, also being a transplant from the Midwest, made the bold move from a small town to the west coast on his own at a young age. The film and television industry was his passion and drive. After some time in part-time jobs and working in the film and television world, he got into the set painting department and fell in love! Having always been an artist, a painter, an entertainer, and a person who knows his way around tools—thanks to his dad and grandpa—given a rough block of foam and being told to make it look like real rock really inspired and excited him. He worked for many years at Nickelodeon as a painter and scenic artist. From there he continued his path, continuing to work for other studios/shows and even went to different countries following the sets he worked on and touching them up in different cities. Basically, he's a professional artist bringing visions to life, and it's awesome.

After living in Southern California for 20ish years, we finally settled down into a house in the Lake Balboa area. We love our neighborhood with 8 square miles of parks and 2 lakes within blocks of our home. Having this much open space and nature in Los Angeles County is rare, and we feel lucky to call it home. We spend most of our weekends walking through the park with our spaniels, sitting on our back porch enjoying the weather, watching the dogs play in the yard, and having friends and our godson over to enjoy our pool. It's basically paradise, but with better tacos nearby.

Trent loves to exercise his green thumb with planting gardens and flowers. James surprisingly loves to clean and build things (yes, we know—a unicorn). We both love biking, hiking, and finding the next best Mexican food spot! This is serious research, people, lol.  But our top three favorite things would be musicals, disney and travel! When people ask what kind of music we listen to, or ask us to put on music, the first thing we can think of is showtunes or Disney songs. If you looked in our windows, you might see one of us cleaning and the other one playing with our plants, but both singing Frozen or Hercules (Honey, you mean Hunkules) at the top of our lungs. Our neighbors either love us or have invested in very good noise-canceling headphones. We are excited to one day take our new family on a Disney cruise or go to other Disney parks in and outside of the United States!

One of our favorite travel locations is Ireland! It's so mesmerizing—visiting a castle in Kilkenny or listening to traditional Irish music in Dingle, we are in our happy place when we are there. We cannot wait to take our child to see the walking paths along the cliffs of Moher and see all the sheep that live there (so many sheep!), and hike through the woods of the Wicklow Mountains catching the sights of waterfalls and rivers along the route. Fair warning: we will absolutely embarrass them by trying to pet every sheep we see.

As we have mentioned, travel is very important to us, and we are excited to see the world as a family. Sitting next to a waterfall and enjoying different cultures around the world is our church. We feel that being together experiencing these things teaches the strongest values we can share with a child. We plan on having an open conversation with our child about their adoption right away, discussing and talking with them about their birth mother and/or father, explaining what that means for all of us. If you would prefer to be anonymous, we respect that. Or if you wish to be included, we would send updates and photos to you about how they are doing and progressing as they grow older. We can discuss phone calls, video chats, or in-person visits with each other. We promise to send only the good photos—no weird mid-sneeze shots or anything like that. Just kidding, we'll send those too because they're hilarious. :)  In the end, it is what relationship you want to have. We thank you again for taking the time to get to know us! If you have questions or want to know more, we would love to hear from you.

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