Dear Birthmother,

Thank you for taking time to read this letter and get to know us a little bit. We imagine you must be overwhelmed at this very difficult time in your life, and respect what you are going through. As you work through this process, we hope you know that we are thinking about you, and wanting the best for both you and your child. Hopefully this letter helps you get a sense of who we are and the comfort of knowing that we will be great parents.

An introduction to our family

Dave - Husband
I'm 32 years old and was born and raised in northern Illinois. I earned my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and I currently work in downtown Chicago at an insurance company in the IT department. I enjoy running, playing basketball, music, movies, video games, the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family. I'm also a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls, Bears, and Cubs. People describe me as very loyal, humorous, fun, and reliable.

Beth - Wife
I am also 32 years old, was born in Iowa and raised in northern Illinois. I have my master's degree in education and work in the education division of a medical association in the northern suburbs of Chicago. My hobbies are reading, gardening, watching sports, listening to music, playing the piano, traveling, cooking, and taking walks with our dog Apollo. One of my character traits is always finding the fun in life, and people who know me say I can make friends with just about anyone within two minutes.

Apollo - Our Dog
Apollo is an 8-year-old Boxer mix that we rescued as a stray about 7 years ago. He loves going for walks, riding in the car, playing in the yard, and playing with kids in the neighborhood. When he's in the house you can usually find him chewing on his bones, or watching the neighborhood activity out the window. Even though he's 65 pounds, he sometimes thinks he's a lap dog.

Ben - Our Cat
Ben is the newest addition to our family. He's a "Tuxedo" cat who's all black with white on all four paws, his chin, and his chest. We adopted him from a shelter about a year ago when he was 1 year old. He's very curious and loves to be around people. He'll play with any toy, especially if it has feathers attached, and starts purring as soon as we pet him.

More about Dave
Growing up, I lived with my mom, stepdad, and a younger sister in a small town in northern Illinois. It was a "normal" childhood in a blue-collar household. My mom was a registered nurse and worked at a clinic until recently and now is semi-retired. My stepdad worked in a tool & die shop for over 40 years and is now retired. My sister is 2½ years younger than me and now lives in Dallas, TX. My mom and stepdad still live in Sycamore, IL which is about an hour drive from our house. They live only a couple miles from Beth's parents so it makes it easy to see both sides of the family in one trip. They also have a weekend house on a lake in Wisconsin, so many weekends in the summer we're up there boating, jet skiing, and swimming. Apollo loves the lake! Like the rest of our family, my mom is very excited for us and she can't wait for her first grandchild. She loves to knit, so I'm sure she's already working on a baby blanket!

Right: Dave's mom and stepdad.

My dad moved to Dallas, TX a few years ago to pursue a job opportunity. Now that he lives farther away, it makes it more difficult to get together, but we still get to see each other a couple times a year and enjoy spending that time together. I still keep in touch with and am close to my stepsister who now lives near Branson, MO.

I've always enjoyed playing sports and look forward to teaching our child how to hit and throw a ball, kick a goal, or shoot a basket. I especially enjoy being outside playing basketball in the summer. Last summer I trained for my first marathon. I've always tried to stay in shape, but I'd never been a distance runner. I ran in the Chicago marathon in October 2005 and it was an amazing experience. It's something I'll never forget and I may try to do again sometime in the future.

Family and friends are extremely important to me. Our weekend plans usually involve getting together with friends, family or both. All of my family, friends, and co-workers have been very supportive of our decision to adopt. They've had a lot of questions and we've enjoyed educating them on the adoption process.

Right: Dave's dad and sister Amy.

More about Beth
I was born in Iowa, as were my parents and older sister. When I was 4 we moved to DeKalb, Illinois, a university community about 45 miles west of Chicago. I grew up in DeKalb where my younger sister was born. We always had pets - my sister's dog and my cat, along with assorted birds, a guinea pig, hamsters, fish, etc. During childhood my parents took us on vacations all around the United States. Most frequently, though, our summer vacations found us camping. Some of my best childhood memories were made on camping trips.

My parents still live in DeKalb; my younger sister Sara lives in Chicago; and my older sister Lynette, her husband, and their two young daughters Hadyn and Quinn live in Colorado. Having my folks and younger sister nearby (about an hour drive) is great and allows us to see them frequently. Sara and I are God-mothers to both Hadyn and Quinn, which I'm honored by. It's been fun to watch them grow up, and to hear Lynette's stories about each new skill they've learned. Lynette, like every big sister I suppose, is anxious to tell me all about what it takes to be a good mom! And Sara is looking forward to having a niece or nephew live close by! My parents love their roles as "Grandpa" and "Nana" to my nieces and anxiously await our baby's arrival.

Right: Dave and Beth with her family at the zoo.

My parents also have a cabin in Colorado on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, only about three hours from my older sister Lynette's house. We're invited there every summer for several weeks to hike, roast marshmallows over a campfire, and have other fun family adventures.

I'm very talkative and comfortable around strangers. I also like to go new places and try new things. However, I'm also a homebody - probably because Dave and I have done so much work on our house to make it comfortable. I absolutely love our house!

Left: Us on a recent trip to Alaska.

I've always loved to read; one of my favorite things to do on winter weekend afternoons is curl up with Apollo and a book in our big living room chair after Dave starts a fire for us in the fireplace. Another one of my hobbies is flower and vegetable gardening. I enjoy watching the plants grow, and like to spend time pulling weeds and watering the plants. Gardening was something I did with my dad when I was growing up. Since I also like to cook, I'm especially proud when lunch or dinner consists of vegetables grown in our own garden!

Us as a couple
We first met when we were 15. We're both now 32, which means we've known each other more than half our lives! Throughout high school, although we lived in different towns and attended different schools, we dated -- supported each other in extracurricular activities, helped with each other's homework, went to a lot of school dances (including 3 proms), and talked on the phone (a lot!). We even discussed getting married after college. During our college years we dated off-and-on, keeping in touch and still caring for each other.

After Beth graduated from Bradley University and started at Northern Illinois University for her master's degree, our relationship picked back up, even more serious than ever. Dave was completing his bachelor's degree at the same university, so we were able to spend a lot of time together. We had both grown and matured during our three years apart, and the time was right for us to make a commitment to each other through marriage.

On October 3, 1998 we were married in Beth's home Lutheran church in DeKalb. It was a fun day celebrating with all our friends and family.

We enjoy vacationing and visiting family and friends around the country. When our trips involve driving, we make a good team - Dave drives while Beth navigates. We're members of a nearby zoo, so when our nieces or other friends with children come to visit, we usually take them to the zoo. Sometimes on a weekend afternoon we'll go there by ourselves to walk around and watch the animals for a couple hours.

We spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer, listening to music and Cubs games on the radio while gardening and working in the yard. On summer weekends we also frequently go to Dave's parents' weekend house in Wisconsin to boat and jet ski on the lake. Apollo loves to go on the boat and swim in the water. Whenever we tell him he gets to go in the car he gets so excited!

Beth calls Dave "the grill master" because he's so good at it! In the summer we grill dinner a lot. We also love to entertain friends, and everyone who comes over comments that our house is a very comfortable place to be.

We enjoy going to the movies, out to dinner, and cheering for our favorite sports teams. Since Dave is such a huge fan of the Bulls basketball team, we have season tickets. When our child gets older Dave is looking forward to taking him or her along to the games.

We truly enjoy each other's company and are each other's best friend. Our favorite thing to do is just to be together.

Our home and neighborhood
Two-and-a-half years ago we bought a house in a near west Chicago suburb. It is two stories with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. We have spent a lot of time and effort fixing it up. We have a double lot with a large side yard where Apollo loves to run and play. There is plenty of room for a swing set or sandbox, as well as games of catch or soccer. Ben doesn't go outside, but spends a lot of time watching the birds and squirrels in the trees from his view by the window.

Our neighborhood is definitely family-oriented. There are children of all ages who enjoy riding bikes, drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, and getting a treat from the ice cream truck that drives around.

There are many parks in our town, and the local grade school is only three blocks away. We also live in a very highly rated school district, so our child will have many opportunities while growing up.

Our faith and values
We were both raised in the Lutheran faith. While Dave doesn't attend church regularly, Beth is a member of a Unitarian church in a nearby town. We plan to raise our child in this welcoming congregation, which has a great religious education program. We believe in God and the religious teachings of loving, caring for, and helping our fellow human beings, along with being honest and respectful. Our families have instilled strong values in us, and encourage us to live a good and kind life, trying to make the world a better place for those around us.

Right: Dave and our Godson Justin having fun.

A history of adoption in our family
We have been trying to start our family for the last 4 years. After undergoing increasingly painful unsuccessful infertility treatments, it was a natural decision for us to turn to a domestic adoption. Adoption is not new to our family - Dave's mom was adopted as an infant over fifty years ago. Also, two of Beth's aunts adopted their children. Beth has two cousins from Korea, and one from Vietnam. So as we were making choices about how to build our family, adoption was always an option for us. Everyone in our circle of friends and family is so excited for us, and can't wait to welcome our new son or daughter! We are thrilled that our dream of building our family is close to coming true, and are excited by the prospect of sharing our love, guidance, and support as our child make his or her way through life.

Our goals for the future
We are blessed with a supportive family, strong educations, and a stable financial situation. Those are things we also want to pass on to our child, along with a whole lot of love! We look forward to trips to the zoo, walks with Apollo, holidays with our parents and siblings, and the million other little everyday experiences that make a family. We also want to know the dreams and hopes you have for yourself and for your baby, and look forward to learning new things and supporting our child's interests as he or she grows up. We are committed to giving everything in our power to provide our child with love, support, and every opportunity to reach all of his or her own dreams.

After our child joins our family, we both plan to take some time off from our jobs to stay home and bond as a family. One of us will stay at home during the first critical several months. After that, Beth plans to work part-time.

Right: Beth and Abby spend some quiet time reading.

Thank You
Your baby is blessed to have you considering his or her needs first. The best thing we could wish for you is inner peace that the decisions you make are the right ones for your baby and for yourself. If your decisions involve us, we would be delighted to meet and get to know you. We are open to welcoming you as part of our extended family if that's what you are comfortable with.

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter and for considering us to be the parents of your child. If you choose adoption you will be helping to make the dreams of a loving couple come true! We trust that you will make the best decision for your baby, and support whatever decision that is.

If you choose us as parents for your baby, we promise to love him or her unconditionally and support his or her dreams. You will never be forgotten and will always be welcome in our life.

If you would like more information please contact Sunny Ridge Family Center.

Sincerely,

Beth and Dave

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