Cherie & Richard In Arizona

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We met in high school starting as friends and dating a couple years later. We started dating just as we were becoming adults which we always say is an interesting place to be because you are just figuring out who you are individually and you either learn to grow together or go separate ways. We think, personally, its made us stronger. We both see each other as best friends. We’re like peanut butter and jelly: individually good on our own but put together we make a better combo.

We both have a passion for bowling, unbeknownst to us until later, we both grew up with parents in bowling leagues. We love playing pool, going to arcades, farmers markets, food truck festivals and having a fun time in the pool summer BBQ's are one of our favorite things. We both come from different family situations, but have the same values in what the meaning of family is.

We live in Gilbert, Arizona. Cherie is a medical assistant in a family medicine clinic. She loves working in healthcare and plans to enter the nursing program. Cherie is the biggest Disney fan you will ever meet even to this day!! Her favorite princess is Belle, and she has to admit she was more ecstatic than the children with the chance to meet her at Disney. She loves watching movies and will watch any genre except horror. Richard is the horror movie fan in the house.

Cherie feels that music is truly a part of her soul and one of the many ways she loves to express herself. She loves all genres of music. She also enjoys reading when she has the time. She thinks there is nothing better than a good book in her hands vs a Kindle or Ebook.

Richard works at home as an IT support agent for an internet service provider that serves parts of Missouri. He has his Bachelor of Science in Network and Communications. Richard is an avid gamer/nerd, football fanatic. His favorite football team is The Dallas Cowboys. Like Cherie, he loves watching movies both in theater and at home. He also enjoys plenty of TV shows, like Big Bang Theory, Smallville, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, Scrubs, Simpsons and more. Richard enjoys quite a few genres of games: RPGs (Role Playing Games) are his favorite.

We live in a big community here in Gilbert, Arizona. We moved to this community intentionally because it's very family friendly. They have community sponsored activities, like food truck night, spooky bingo, yoga, etc. In our community, there is also an elementary school that's part of our area school district. The community really is geared towards families including several parks and pools, which also include a toddler pool. There is also a splash pad connected to one of the parks. Near one of the community areas there is a big lake where you can feed ducks or fish.

Gilbert, Arizona also provides a lot of family events. We live in a 4 bedroom house together with Cherie's mom. She's going to make the best grandma! We have a room we are currently are in the process of turning into a nursery. It's actually getting painted next week. We don't have any pets but do have big front and back yards. We both have grown up in areas of diversity. Being in Arizona, it's a cultural melting pot of all different types of people from different backgrounds.

We come from very different family dynamics. Cherie's family is small with one sibling she isn't in touch with, and her mother who has lived with us since her dad passed away. Cherie and her mom are like best friends.

Richard comes from a big family and gets his passion for football from them. His dad also loves football, and this is something they share. Richard has two sisters, one older and one younger. His older sister has 6 kids of her own, one of which is adopted. We love all her children as our own, and we try to babysit them when we are able. Richard also has many aunts, uncles and cousins who all have an individual place in our hearts.

We also value our small, but close circle of friends. We have a few friends with kids who we spend a lot of time with. We watch their kids pretty regularly as well. Their kids know us as aunt and uncle and are excited to meet their expected adopted cousin. To us, family isn't only blood relatives but also those who choose to be in our lives and add to it with joy, love, enrichment and all that comes with life.

The biggest holiday tradition Cherie had growing up was participating in an activity of giving back, like donating to a book drive, Christmas Wish or holiday toy drive. Her family still actively does this today. Richard's family are all close and do a family reunion every year. Their traditions include family BBQs, swimming ones if possible, usually at his parent's house. Christmas Eve has always been a big deal with a big gift exchange. Richard's family also likes to do family trips and outings like food festivals.

We have always wanted a family. Unfortunately, we came to a point where we realized our goal of having our own family was unachievable. We decided we would rather have the joy of a child in our home than not have it and this led us towards the road of adoption. Adoption will help us create the family we've always dreamed of. And we thank you for that.