Tyler and Sherilyn

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From Us to You

Our vision for our life is simple – a big, happy family that loves to spend time together. We hope to have a large, full table for meals, very loud and fun holidays, and family vacations full of laughter and memories. But life isn’t always simple, and we know that. The decision you are making now is not easy, and we know that we will have tough decisions and conversations in the future when it comes to raising our kids. But we are ready for those moments. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for providing us with the opportunity to have those moments: the good ones, and the hard ones. We can’t wait to tell your baby how much we care about you for the gift that you have given us. We hope we raise your baby to be as strong as you are.

We have known since we started talking about our lives together that we wanted to adopt a child. We will provide a loving and caring home for a child and show them that family is built on love and kindness. We welcomed a baby boy into our family at the end of 2022, and we are so thrilled that our family has grown and will continue to grow in more ways than one. We want our children to have siblings to play with, love, and grow with, and we love that we can provide that for your child as well. Your baby will be so loved, unconditionally, by such a large group of family and friends. They can not wait to meet him or her.

In our family, we listen to a lot of music, cook, read, and spend time playing with our pups in our backyard. We want to foster your child’s own interests and learn things from them as well. We will go for walks around the neighborhood and occasionally walk to the local ice cream shop for an extra special treat. We will go to the library and read with other kids and pick up new books for the week. We will paint our own masterpieces to hang on the fridge and pick tomatoes and squash from our garden to cook for dinner. We will snuggle and watch movies with them, tell them silly jokes, and probably embarrass them from a very young age. We will take trips: whether it’s a day trip to a park to go hiking, a weekend trip to the beach or the mountains with family, a cross-country road trip to explore and see new things, or a month in the summer at Sherilyn’s mother’s cabin in Maine at the lake like she and her brother did as kids. We will show them as much of the world as we can.

Sherilyn intends to stay home with your child to take care of them and to teach them so many things to help them navigate life while staying true to themselves. Tyler works from home, which makes his involvement in your child’s life much greater than we could ever have imagined. He is so excited about getting to see your child on his lunch breaks, in between meetings, and helping Sherilyn throughout the day, which he was not able to do while working in an office. It has been so nice for him to be around our son and be able to spend more time with him. We will be fully present for your child and support them in every step of their lives.

You are making an impossible decision, not only for yourself, but also for your child, and we respect you more than you know for that. We know that we will also have tough decisions and conversations in the future when it comes to raising kids. But we are ready for those moments. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for providing us with the opportunity to have those moments: the good ones, and the hard ones. We can’t wait to tell your baby how much we care about you. We hope we raise your baby to be as strong as you are.

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Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

We have always talked about adoption being a part of building our family.  Sherilyn’s aunt and uncle were adopted, and she always hoped growing up that it would be a part of her family as well.  Additionally, we have struggled with infertility, but we discovered that long after choosing adoption.  Our son was conceived via IVF, which was a long and tiring process.  Pregnancy and his entrance into the world was difficult, but we would do every second of it over again for him.  We feel similarly about adoption – while it has been a long and sometimes difficult journey, we know that every hurdle is one step closer to the right child for our family.  Our future children may or may not be biologically ours, but the way our children become a part of our family will not determine the amount of love we have for each of them.

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About Sherilyn, by Tyler

Sherilyn is the rock of our family – she’s generous, loving, witty, and creative. When the weather is nice, her favorite place is outside in the garden. Some of Sherilyn’s favorite childhood memories are picking raspberries with her grandfather in Maine and eating fresh rhubarb stalks with her mom. As she tends to our newly planted vegetables, she often talks about sharing those same lessons with your child. Sherilyn is fiercely loyal to her close group of friends. She’s an amazing listener and has a knack for making you laugh, no matter what. Sherilyn is going to make an excellent mother because she’s the strongest person I know, someone who’ll be right by your side for all of life’s ups and downs.

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About Tyler, by Sherilyn

Tyler is silly, kind, loving, and always trying to learn new things. His interests change and grow constantly, which keeps life interesting as he tries out new hobbies – like bread making, woodworking, or photography. He knows useless facts about the strangest topics – and he’s always teaching me something new, and would love to teach your child new things too! When people meet Tyler, they instantly love him – he is easy to talk to and loves to be around people. I knew he was the one when I saw him playing on the floor with my nephews without hesitation and continue to do so for hours. He was so supportive throughout my difficult pregnancy, and the second I saw him holding our son, I knew he was destined to be a dad.  He had never been around babies much before, but watching him now is like he’s been doing it his whole life.  He has such a big heart, and I know another child will make him blossom even more into his role of dad.

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Our Lifestyle

When we met we instantly bonded over our love of musicals and our pets – but we learned we had so many more shared passions, and we’ve also discovered new things that we love doing together along the way!

We enjoy cooking together and trying new recipes, spending time reading or listening to music on our back patio, and spending time with our families and friends. We love to hike and explore nature and have a dream of one day visiting all US National Parks together – and with our future children! We are both very goofy and love to laugh. It’s not uncommon for a disagreement to end with unstoppable laughter because we try not to take ourselves too seriously.

A typical Friday night for us involves cooking a meal together, picking a show on Netflix, and snuggling in with our son and our pups.  We like to get out and hike, try new restaurants, and experience new things, but always look forward to the comfort of our home at the end of the day.

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Our Dogs, Mouse & Mister

We have two dogs, Mouse and Mister.  Mouse is a mutt we rescued after we got married, and she is the sweetest dog.  Everyone loves Mouse because she is so mellow, loves a belly scratch, and will do just about anything for a treat.  We got Mister, a Great Dane, when Sherilyn lost her job at the end of 2019, and we like to say that he saved her, because he gave her something to focus on during a really tough time.  Mister is extremely energetic and playful, but is very empathetic and in tune with Sherilyn’s emotions and is the best comfort dog.  Our dogs have been around small children and we know they will happily welcome your child as the newest member of our family.

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Home & Neighborhood

Our home is our favorite place in the world. This house is the first home we bought and lived in together – it holds such a special place in our hearts. Our home used to be a mill house for the nearby historic textile mill (which is now a super cool food hall!). It was renovated right before we moved in, has a huge backyard, and is in a really fun neighborhood.

Our neighborhood has a lot of diversity and we love walking around with our dogs and meeting new people, waving at people on their porches, and checking out the newly renovated homes. Our side of town is changing so much as more people move to our city, and with that are so many new restaurants, parks, and walking trails right outside our front door.

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Our Families

Tyler’s family mostly lives in the same city as us. His parents live in the suburbs of our city, and split their time between their home here and their mountain house about two hours away – which we love to visit! They have both recently retired and are enjoying more time in the mountains. Now, they are enjoying their new titles as grandparents.  They love coming over to see our son, and are always eager to help out and spend time with their grandson – we know they are excited about even more babies in the future! Tyler is an only child and grew up in North Carolina.

Sherilyn’s family lives across South Carolina and Virginia. Her dad and stepmom are both retired and live in South Carolina and we see them a good bit, but usually at their vacation home at the beach. Sherilyn’s mother lives in the same house she grew up in Virginia, right outside of DC. Her brother is a pastor and is married with two sons and they also live in Virginia. Our nephews are ten and twelve years older than our son and love having a new baby cousin.  They will be great babysitters when we take family trips in the future!  We drive to Virginia every year for Christmas and spend a lot of time in the summer with Sherilyn’s mom in her summer home in Maine. It’s a little cabin – nothing fancy – but it’s where a lot of memories are made. We can’t wait to create many more memories when your child joins our family.

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Family Traditions

Our favorite family traditions happen around Christmas. Sherilyn’s brother is a pastor and we usually spend the holiday at his house in Virginia since he needs to be near his church. We go to Christmas Eve services and always order pizza for dinner (this started when Sherilyn was a kid!).  We have the same big breakfast every Christmas morning, and take turns opening presents – the most fun to watch being our two nephews.  We spend the entire day in our pajamas playing games, chatting, and eating Christmas cookies.  We know our traditions will evolve and change as our family grows, and we can’t wait!!

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Our Love of Travel

We love to travel and have such big dreams of traveling as a family. Recently, we bought a school bus and have been working to convert it into a mobile home so we can travel the country with plenty of room for your child. We are learning so much through the conversion process and acquiring new skills along the way. It is going to be so fun to travel in, as we visit our families, parks, see interesting sights, and explore. Our favorite thing to do while vacationing is eat at local restaurants to try new, local cuisine.

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Careers & Callings

Tyler works in tech development and helps build websites and apps.  He is blessed to work for a company that values work/life balance and has a caring team of coworkers that seem to always be there for one another and respect that family comes first.  He works hard, but loves what he does – he often is thinking about how to solve work things, or reading books and articles about his industry during his downtime.  Tyler works from home and will also have full paternity leave when your child arrives so we can bond and grow during the first few months.

Sherilyn had a very successful career in retail management for over a decade, eventually becoming an Area Manager over seven stores for a successful brand.  She lost her job right before the pandemic, and instead of scrambling to find something new, she took the time to focus on her goals and dreams for the future.  Doing so allowed us the time to figure out what was important to us, and realized that more than anything, she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  Since being unemployed, she has spent a lot of time on home improvement projects, reading books she never had the time to before, and spending loads of time snuggling the dogs.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We feel strongly that the race and culture of your child should be highlighted, not ignored. We firmly believe that being “color blind” in terms of race is being blind to part of someone’s identity, and we are not color blind. We want your child to know that they are beautiful and strong and capable of anything BECAUSE of the color of their skin, not in spite of it. We know that your child needs to have positive strong adult role models that look like them, and have already connected with a group in our city that connects adopted families and promotes diversity and inclusion. Having a diverse community in both their school, neighborhood ,and church is important to us. We will teach your child to honor their culture and background, and that the color of their skin is one of the many things we love about them. We hope that the world that your child grows up in continues to fight for change and progress, and we are prepared to raise them to stand up for what is right, continue to educate ourselves, and ensure they always feel loved and safe exactly as they are.

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Our Promise to You

The decision you are making is so hard, and we will always tell your child how much you love them, and the sacrifices you made for them.  We want them to know you and have a relationship with you if that is something you desire. We respect you and want you to feel fulfilled in your relationship with them, so the level of that relationship is up to you.  They will know how much we love you, and we promise to raise them to be kind, strong, and loving.  We will protect them, and cherish them, always.