Russ & Renee
Hello, we’re Russ and Renee. It’s our heart’s biggest desire to be blessed with a beautiful baby boy or girl to love and cherish, so that we can begin creating those family traditions and memories that we’ve been dreaming of. We are anxiously waiting for the wonderful news that we will soon meet our first precious little one!
In the Beginning
Our story began as a sweet office romance in 2006; as our relationship progressed, Russ asked Renee to marry him at a local Italian restaurant, where our families were introduced and were secretly waiting for the news. Renee said ‘yes!’ We married in 2007, on the beach near a sea turtle sanctuary in the presence of 11 of our immediate family and closest friends. We returned home to a happy reception with our family, friends, and coworkers before honeymooning for a week on the island of St. Maarten.
Although we were solid, complete individuals up to this point in our lives, we are so much more as a couple. We strengthen each other, much like iron sharpens iron. Neither of us had been married before; we feel that our marriage was definitely worth the wait!
About Us
Renee was born in North Carolina to a military family; they lived in Michigan and Virginia before returning to NC in Renee’s early teen years. She recently earned her Bachelor degree, graduating with honors from a well-known local university. Her hard work paid off – she got a great job as a QA Specialist at a biotech company that’s only 2 miles from home! Renee looks forward to taking lots of pictures of our child through the years, including baby’s first tooth, first steps, and of course, birthdays and holidays. And she’s ready to share in some fun times, such as baking cookies, playing at the park, feeding the ducks, and snuggling up to read a story at bedtime.
Also from a military family, Russ was born on the west coast but moved frequently, living in Italy, New Mexico, Mississippi and California. After graduating from college, he settled here in North Carolina. Russ has built a successful career in the engineering field, and currently works at a company very close to home. Russ earned his Master’s in Business Administration in 2007. Russ also served our country for 10 years in the NC National Guard; during that time, he was a tank platoon leader during a 6 month deployment overseas. Russ is geared up for his biggest assignment: being a doting daddy! He’s great with kids, and he is so ready to give lots of kisses and hugs and rides on his strong shoulders. He’s gentle and patient when tutoring kids in math, or when little ones are learning to tie shoelaces, ride a bike, or swim. Russ can’t wait to share his Boy Scout skills on camping trips, and he especially looks forward to playing Santa Claus!
Our Home 
We live in the suburbs of a major city in NC, where there’s lots of opportunities to check out art, music, science, and almost any interest one can think of. Our neighborhood is a multicultural community with many young families; our home is a beautiful three bedroom, 2 ½ bath home with a fenced back yard. There are lots of little friends to play with at the large community pool and attached playground nearby, as well as a new walking trail and a park in the neighborhood that is just waiting to be explored! An elementary school is adjacent to our subdivision, so we can walk to school and back every day.
We feel blessed that through hard work and careful planning, we are already financially set to provide our son or daughter with the very best of everything: opportunities to experience new and exciting things, and the freedom to explore on the way to realizing his or her potential, including a college education. And when it comes to giving lots of hugs, kisses, and attention, we have plenty to go around! We will cherish our child as the treasure he or she is.
Family Life
Russ’ mom and dad are both healthy and active, living a few states south of us. His sister lives out west with her husband and two grown children, and one baby granddaughter, whom she adores. Renee’s dad passed many years ago; her mom lives nearby and she can hardly wait to be “Nana” by cuddling and spoiling her new grandbaby. Renee’s younger brother and his two boys also live nearby, and she’s had lots of practice being “Aunt Renee” by having her nephews over for movies and sleepovers, taking them along on trips to museums and amusement parks, and as a special Christmas present in 2006, a week at Disneyland.
Renee comes from a large, close-knit extended family with many aunts, uncles and cousins who get together several times a year, even though some live out of state. There are several adopted children in our family, including a newborn baby girl, and her big brother, now 3 years old.
For Fun
Some of our favorite things to do together are playing games, swimming, walking, biking, and watching movies. We also enjoy picnics, music festivals, trips to the zoo, and water parks. We often have friends over for cookouts, movies or game nights, and our home is the gathering place for both sides of our family on holidays. Our kitchen is always open!
Vacations are always a blast, and we treasure our fun times together with family and friends. We have traveled all over the world, but our favorite place of all is Italy – we’ve celebrated our wedding anniversary twice, Italian-style! We can hardly wait to go on family vacations, so that our children can enjoy new experiences and explore some of the wonders of this world with us.
In his spare time, Russ enjoys competing in strategic tabletop games and painting their related models in detail. He is a big fan of sci-fi movies and TV series! He appreciates classical music, loves cooking Mexican food (his specialty), and keeps fit by working out, P90X-style.
Renee’s passions include cooking, photography, fishing, yoga, Zumba, and making her own jewelry. She loves all kinds of music, and especially enjoys going to bluegrass festivals where she often sings along in jam sessions there.
Our Faith
We attend a family-oriented, ethnically-diverse Christian church not far from our home. We love our church family! We often volunteer to work on church and community projects, and we hope to instill that same God-given sense of social responsibility and integrity into the life of our child, as we lead by example.
About Adoption 
Before we married, we both expressed our strong desire to have a family, and we agreed that adoption was a possibility. As it turns out, infertility made it impossible for us to have children biologically, but we feel strongly that adoption is an equally natural and beautiful way to become a family.
We want to thank you for choosing life for your child, and for making the beautiful choice to entrust your child to an adoptive family’s love and care. We promise to love, support and inspire the precious child that’s placed with us. Thank you for considering us in the miracle of adoption, and we wish you peace in your decisions.
If you’d like to learn more about this family contact us by either calling our birthmother hotline operator at 1-877-890-4673 (HOPE) or by e-mailing us.