Raleigh & Alyssa
We are Raleigh & Alyssa. We have been together for the past 8 years and married for 4. Alyssa works for a home visiting, social work program and Raleigh is an engineer, with a background in social service and mentoring. We enjoy outdoor activities, playing board games, binge-watching Netflix, volunteering, and spending time with friends and family. We are looking forward to growing our family and partnering with you!
ABOUT US
We met while serving at a homeless shelter while we were in college at Anderson University. After a few months getting to know each other, we started dating and four years later we got married. Our relationship is fun, loving, goofy, committed, and respectful. Service has always been a big part of our relationship and we have made it a point to continue serving at shelters and even became mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Outside of that, we love to have fun! We enjoy being outdoors, hosting parties, singing (poorly) in the car during road trips, and going to our nieces’ and nephews’ extracurricular activities.
ABOUT RALEIGH, FROM ALYSSA
Sitting here thinking about Raleigh makes me smile. One of the first things that attracted me to him is his ability to take leadership positions and talk to people from all walks of life. When I let my emotions get the best of me, he can often keep me grounded and be realistic. I appreciate his ability to be confident in any situation. For example, when I start a home project and decide it is too difficult, he can swoop in to save the day. Raleigh is the person I love to sing with in the car, laugh with during movies, and is the person I always want to end my day with.
I love watching Raleigh with our nieces and nephews. Throughout the years Raleigh has joined in on wiffle ball games, nerf gun battles, Mario kart races, or can be seen cheering for them from the sidelines at their sporting events, dance recitals, or gymnastics practices. I am confident Raleigh will be a loving and very involved dad.
ABOUT ALYSSA, FROM RALEIGH
Alyssa is first and foremost a nurturer. She has always concerned herself with the needs of others over herself. It comes through very strongly in her line of work as a social worker. But even outside of work, she just has to make people feel comforted. She likes to see the best in people and in situations. But just because she is a nurturer, that doesn’t mean she can’t also be strong willed. She has a strong sense of justice, and if you were to wrong someone that she loves she is not afraid to take action and protect her own. She is headstrong and it makes her a great leader.
Now I know all husbands say this about their wives, but I truly believe that Alyssa will be the best mother around. Every time I see her interacting with children, I can’t help but think that is what the universe has planned for her. I have seen her laugh with her nieces and nephews in the good times, and cry with them and support them in the bad times. She also comes from an amazing family that is so ready to welcome another little one into the mix!
PARENTING
We started our adoption journey after struggling with infertility. We decided to shift our focus to adoption, as it has always been part of our plan, it just came a little sooner than expected. We have had some incredible role models in our own parents who have taught us how to build an encouraging and loving home. We are confident in our ability to work as a team throughout the parenting challenges. We hope to raise our child to see the beauty in all people, to have confidence in themselves, to be independent, to have a strong work ethic but not take life too seriously, to be well rounded, and to know they will always have us to support and cheer them on throughout their life.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Our friends and family play a large role in our lives. Alyssa’s siblings both have families and our weekends are often spent traveling to spend time with them and her parents. Alyssa’s parents will not be new to the grandparent game. They are very active with taking trips to the zoo, going fishing, playing games, baking sweets, and taking library visits. They are so excited to add another little one and will be very involved in our child’s life. On Raleigh’s side, this will be the first grandbaby and everyone is looking forward to welcoming a baby.
As for our friends, they have been a big support and are involved in our lives on a weekly basis. We often spend time playing games, watching the latest Netflix shows, or grabbing dinner together. They are excited for us to be parents and already fighting over who will get to babysit first!
OUR HOME AND COMMUNITY
We bought our house 2 years ago on the northwest side of Indy. We love our home and our neighborhood. The neighborhood is quiet, and we often see kids riding their bikes up and down our street. We regularly take walks in the evening and enjoy seeing other families doing the same. We appreciate the diversity of our neighborhood and school district, and our neighbors are already excited to meet our future addition to the family. Our backyard is fenced in and we enjoy spending time out on our patio or in the backyard playing yard games.
At home, we have started decorating the nursery! We often walk by and take a peek in to smile and dream about having a baby sleeping in the crib.
- I am the second oldest of five siblings. I have two biological brothers, a step brother, and a step sister.
- As a camp counselor in California, I once chased a bear into the woods to keep it away from the middle school aged campers.
- I worked for nearly 5 years in the social work field and then abruptly made a switch to an engineering role, even though I have a college degree in Religious Studies.
- Growing up, I played ice hockey and was even able to play in Canada a few times. To this day I am still a big fan of hockey.
- I like to think I am a pretty handy person, but really that just means I am good at looking at tutorials on YouTube and I’m not afraid to try fixing anything.
- In high school I got my fifteen seconds of fame by being on Oprah.
- 80% of the things I say is quotes from movies that I saw as a child. Quotes from old Adam Sandler movies make the most frequent appearance, or any movie with Will Ferrell.
- Alyssa has never seen me without a beard (except in pictures).
- My favorite animal is a tortoise and I am trying to convince Alyssa to let me get one as a pet. I’ve already picked out a name, Geppetto. I want to take it on walks with a leash around the neighborhood just to see passerby’s reactions.
- I had to get stiches in my chin three times, all before the age of 12. Once was from falling while ice skating, once from flipping over my handle bars on a bike, and once while trying to jump over a large Tonka truck with my Razor scooter. #daredevil
- I have two brothers who are 9 and 13 years older than me.
- When I get home, I immediately change into comfy clothes.
- I can be competitive and do not like people to “go easy” on me because I am a woman.
- I enjoy fishing with family during the summers.
- I went to college to study something math related and then fell in love with social work.
- I enjoy running so I can feel less guilty about eating whatever I want.
- I can get pretty obsessive with games where I want to play them over and over.
- One of my favorite parts of summer is going to different festivals.
- I can easily get into sporting events even if my team is not playing.
- I could eat microwave popcorn and drink a fountain pop every night.
