John and Katie

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We know you are currently in the process of making a very tough decision for the benefit of your child. You are deciding the road that your child will travel in life. We hope that we can be an important part of your decision.

For us, we are ready to add to our family through a second adoption. We chose to adopt our first child, Jack, after dealing with infertility issues. We were blessed to be involved with our son's life from the day he was born, and we are fortunate to still be in regular contact with his birthmother through email, letters, and pictures. We learned that adoption can be an incredibly wonderful journey, and we are looking forward to experiencing it again.

We met ten years ago while playing an intramural volleyball game, and have been together ever since. While growing up, both of our parents instilled in us that a good education is extremely important, providing many opportunities for us later in life. We still hold that belief. John used his education to pursue his love of teaching, and is currently a teacher at a school close to our home. Katie uses her skills as a buyer with a manufacturing company owned by her family.

We enjoy our jobs, and we also enjoy our flexible schedules and summers off which allows for a lot of family time. Since we both come from large families – there are thirteen brothers and sisters between the two of us! – finding time to attend festive birthday gatherings, family picnics or just a quiet dinner with one sibling who happens to live down the block is extremely important to us.

Katie – "I consider Katie a very warm, friendly and easily approachable person." says John. "She is also someone who is always trying to see the other side of the picture; being fair minded and sensitive to others' feelings is important to her. If someone cuts us off in traffic, she is the one trying to figure out what caused that person to have such a bad day!

Katie also has a silly side as well...she's been known to dance around and sing songs to Jack actually to the point where he tells mommy to "turn the music off" so he can sing too! Since becoming a parent, Katie has realized how important it is to create and maintain family traditions. She has such fond memories of getting all dressed up to drive with her parents into the 'big city' to see a show when she was young, and she can't wait to share that with her kids. Teaching jack how to water the petunias, bake chocolate oatmeal bars and sail away with her on a sailboat are all things I know Katie is looking forward to in the future."

John – I see John as a very caring and adventurous person, and definitely a hands-on dad." says Katie. Building a fort out of blankets, climbing inside and reading a book by flashlight with Jack is often the highlight of his day! And teaching is John's passion, which comes in handy when he tries to show Jack how to pitch a baseball, ride a tricycle without falling or hammer a nail straight into the wood. Exploring the world around us is also something John enjoys doing. Hiking up beautiful Mount Rainier, kayaking in the waters of Puget Sound or skiing near Lake Tahoe are all adventures he has had. I know that John feels there are many more things to see and do in this world, and he is looking forward to doing them with his kids!

As parents, our primary goal is to prepare our children so they grow up to be well-adjusted adults. Challenging Jack to hit a baseball, hike through the woods and find 'hidden treasures', or chase the soccer ball with his friends are all activities we encourage for building self esteem, learning the importance of teamwork, and learning respect for other people as well as nature. Volunteering our time to help others is another way we like to demonstrate to our kids the importance of appreciating what we have and how important it is to give back to our community. In general, we want to offer our children as many varied life experiences as possible so they can find our who they are inside and out, and what they want to be.

Our home was built three years ago in a quiet wooded suburban neighborhood. Since we moved in we have had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. With friendly neighbors and plenty of kids, there is never a shortage of activities. BBQ picnics, kids playing pick-up ball games and neighbors handing out water balloons are common activities in our cul-de-sac. We know that Jack and his sibling will have lots of fun growing up with the neighborhood group.

We adopted our son Jack two years ago, and he has brought so much joy to our lives. Jack is a very busy little boy who loves to 'fix' things around the house and see how everything works. Since home improvement projects seem to be always going on in our house, Jack finds lots of opportunities to imitate John by working at his tool bench or helping Katie move furniture around and redecorate the living room. Whether it is play-time, such as visiting all the neighbors' swing sets, or quiet time reading his favorite Curious George book, we enjoy Jack's activities because it means we get to act like kids again too! Jack is very excited to have a little brother or sister help him with his projects.

Our child is a daily reminder of how special adoption is to us, and we want Jack and his sibling to know that. By sharing their adoption stories with them, and maintaining connections we have with other families created through open adoption, we hope that our kids will better understand where they came from and help define who they are with regard to adoption.

Dreams of our future include lots of adventures, silly moments, love, laughs, graduations, weddings, grandchildren, and time to just grow old together!

We want to offer your child a life filled with love, security and opportunity. We would love to hear about your hopes and dreams and to work with you toward the common goal of providing a wonderful life for your child. We look forward to the opportunity to learn about you as well. If you would like to get in touch with us, please email us at , or call us at 952-443-4704. We look forward to hearing from you!