Jen and Hank

Jen & Hank

We are thrilled to be adopting, and we feel that we have a great deal of love, laughter, and opportunities to share with a child. We've wanted to be parents for as long as we can remember! After dealing with infertility, adoption became a natural choice for us: we have friends who were adopted, and family and friends who are adopting.

By reading this, hopefully you'll get a picture of who we are and the quality of life we can bring your child. We know that you have difficult decisions to make and hope that this one will be made a little easier as you read our letter.

Our life together started one sunny day in September. A mutual friend invited us to a 5k race in Minneapolis. We started dating, and right away we knew this was something special. Now married, we've been together five years. Blending our lives seemed very natural since we value many of the same things, like faith, trust, respect, communication, and joy. The activity we share together most is laughter! We approach every situation with humor, and we can make each other giggle at almost anything. We will approach parenthood with optimism, warmth, and love. As future parents, we look forward to providing a stable home for our children, as well as playfulness, understanding, family traditions and strong values.

According to Hank, "Jen is someone who laughs at my jokes and cries during sappy movies. She's a junior high English teacher, and I'm amazed at her patience. I love the way she lights up when she's telling me about the funny things 'her kids' do and say. Jen really cares about her students, and that's one reason I know she'll be a great mom. She's been like a second mom to nephews six-year old Koby and three-year-old Kendrik, teaching them card games, playing soccer, and reading them bedtime stories. Jen's always there to kiss a boo boo or scare away the 'monsters' under the bed. Since she gets summers off and other school holidays, she'll be able to spend lots of time at home being a mom."

In the words of Jen, "Hank is truly the funniest person I know. What first attracted me to Hank was his ability to laugh at himself, and I love his openness and honesty. His easygoing, friendly personality serves him very well in his profession as a medical sales executive. With lots of diverse tastes and interests, he's always surprising me. He has run Grandma's Marathon, and we now walk half marathons together. Hank's main passion, though, is flying.

As a licensed pilot, he loves taking friends and family for airplane rides. When I watch him with his nieces and nephews, my heart melts! Whenever we pull up to one of his sibling's houses, all of the kids jump around in the doorway and do the 'Uncle Hank' dance. Then he greets each child, lifting up and kissing the babies, tickling the toddlers, and wrestling with the older kids. Hank will be a wonderful dad!"

Family is most important to us, and we spend a great deal of time with all of them. Our children will have more than twenty cousins to play with! We spend a lot of weekends with Hank's family, and we host celebrations in our home for the whole crew. We're also close to Jen's family in northern Wisconsin, so we go to visit them over holidays and for birthday parties and other events.

This Thanksgiving, we traveled to Wisconsin to spend time at Jen's grandma's house, where Hank supervised a football game involving kids and adults alike. Then we hosted a Thanksgiving celebration for Hank's family (32 people!) in our home. Our neighbors couldn't stop laughing as they saw all the kids singing "Jingle Bells" and walking in a single file from our house down to the park a half block away. Your child will be welcomed with open arms into our big families.

Our lives are marked by activity and adventure. We love to have fun! One of the things we most enjoy is traveling. We've taken trips to Ireland, Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, Las Vegas, and more. Family vacations are a must for us, and we're looking forward to showing our kids places like Glacier Park, the Grand Canyon, and other countries.

In addition, we have recently purchased lake property in northern Wisconsin where we plan to build a cabin. We are so looking forward to spending summers and vacations in the Northwoods! Closer to home, we're members of the St. Paul Curling Club, and we curl together in a league. Our children will grow up with a mixture of adventures, sports, activities, and fun together as a family.

Our home is a great place to raise kids. We live in a western suburb of Minneapolis, half a block from a huge park full of playgrounds, trails, ball fields, and ice rinks. We have a large backyard for kids, with room to play games and run around. Education is important to us, and we have a variety of schools to choose from, including a Spanish immersion school, the local elementary, and our church's Catholic school. We love the close community of our church, and we're looking forward to involving our children in activities there.

We deeply appreciate your taking time to get to know us. Thank you! We would love to talk with you as you create an adoption plan for your child. Please don't hesitate to call us. We wish you the best as you make this important decision.

Jen & Hank