Dear Birth Parent,
Thank you for your courage and strength. We are grateful for the opportunity we have to share with you a little bit about our family. Ryan and Samantha met at church in 2009. Samantha had just started her first job after graduate school and was working as an auditor. Ryan had just returned from teaching English in China for the summer, fulfilling a dream he had since serving a mission for our church where he learned to speak Mandarin Chinese. We dated for 18 months, and married a week after Ryan finished his undergraduate degree.
Samantha
- Grew up 2nd oldest of 6 kids
- Has an undergraduate degree in accounting
- Has a master’s degree in business administration
- Occupation: Stay at home mom
- Hobbies: Cooking, home improvement projects, gardening, dance parties with our girls, and spending time with family.
- Favorite Food: Pizza either BBQ Chicken or Hawaiian
- Favorite TV Show: Drop Dead Diva
- Favorite Candy: It is a toss-up between Baby Ruth and Laffy Taffy
Ryan
- Grew up oldest of 4 kids
- Has an undergraduate degree in English
- Has a master’s degree in management information systems
- Occupation: Senior Software Developer
- Hobbies: Biking, listening to audiobooks, playing with our girls, and spending time with family.
- Favorite Food: Lasagna or Nachos
- Favorite TV Show: Eureka
- Favorite Candy: Peanut M&Ms
Three years after we were married our first daughter Amelia was born. At that time Samantha was working as a tax accountant and was able to adjust her work schedule to just work during busy season (February-April) and then was able to stay home with Amelia the rest of the year. Amelia is now 6 years old and started kindergarten this year. She loves to meet new people and to take care of those she loves.
Amelia
- Hobbies: Helping mom cook, playing piano, making cards for others, coloring, play dough, playing in the backyard, painting nails and dressing up.
- Favorite Food: Mac and Cheese
- Favorite TV Show: Elena of Avalor
- Favorite Candy: Lollipops
Audrey was born two years after Amelia. At that time Ryan was just finishing up his master’s degree and Samantha was working as a tax accountant just during busy season. Audrey is now 4 years old and started preschool this year. She is our adventurous little girl, she loves to try new things and follows the example of her older sister in saying hello to everyone we walk by. Two years after Audrey was born Samantha was able to start staying home all year round with the girls as a full time stay at home mom.
Audrey
- Hobbies: Play on the swing set in the backyard, paint, play her violin, sing, play board games, and dress up.
- Favorite Food: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
- Favorite TV Show: Team UmiZoomi
- Favorite Candy: Candy Canes
About a year after having Audrey we started trying for another child. We have had quite a few heartaches with lost pregnancies but we are grateful for those experiences because they helped strengthen our relationship and our communication with each other as well as prepared us for adoption. Even clear back when we were dating 10 years ago we talked about adoption as an opportunity to build our family. As we looked into our options of fertility treatments or adoption we have felt that adoption is the route for us.
We are excited to expand our family through adoption and are so excited to meet our new daughter or son. Amelia and Audrey can’t wait for a new baby brother or sister, they are very excited to be mom and dad’s baby helpers. This baby will be very loved and protected by his/her older sisters. We want our child to always know how loved they are both by their birth parents and by us.
We moved into our current home almost 2 years ago. We live in the suburbs in a family-oriented neighborhood with many walking/biking trails, tot lots (small playgrounds throughout the neighborhood), and just down the road from the local elementary school.
Our home has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, with all 4 bedrooms on the top floor. So baby will have his/her own room. We have an unfinished basement which we have turned into the kid’s play area. We have toys, books, an indoor slide/playset, in the winter we bring in the girls’ bikes and they ride down there as well. We have a fenced in yard for the kids to play in as well as a swing set, sandbox and a blow-up pool in the summer.
We love creating and participating in family traditions, a few of our favorites are:
- Making birthdays special
- Having bonfires in the summer and roasting marshmallows
- Making a Jell-O flag cake and barbequing for the 4th of July
- Road trips to visit Ryan’s side of the family out west and to visit Samantha’s extended family reunion in the Midwest.
- Corn maze/pumpkin patch every fall
- Having chili, cornbread, and root beer for Halloween
- Visiting the state fair or county fair
- Making a gingerbread house, then eating the gingerbread and drinking hot chocolate as we drive around and look at Christmas lights.
We like to make holidays, birthdays, and other celebrations extra special family time. If there is a tradition that was your favorite growing up that you would love to pass on to your little one we would love to add it to our traditions and have it be an extra special connection from you to our family.
We feel very blessed to live so close to family. We live 10 minutes from Samantha’s parents and all 3 of her sisters and their families. We also live within 30 minutes of Samantha’s 2 brothers and their families. Cousin playdates and visits to grandma and grandpa’s house happen on at least a weekly basis.
We also are blessed to be able to visit Ryan’s side of the family at least yearly. We have a great time road tripping out west to visit them, and love to plan fun adventures along the way.
Family is very important to us. We make sure we have dinner together every night. We also like to make sure each of us spends one on one time with each of our children. They like to call it mom and me time or dad and me time and always look forward to that.
Throughout our own lives we have been blessed to see doors open through education so we nurture the love of learning. We go to our local library almost weekly and love learning together at home through games or cooking together, as well as visit our local zoos, arboretums, and museums. We have set up 529 college savings plans for both of our girls and will do the same for our new son or daughter as well.
We are excited to share with your child their background and personal story. We would love to keep in contact with you via email and photos, or however you feel comfortable. Depending on where you live, we would love to meet up for a lunch or dinner as we road trip our way across the country to grandma and grandpa’s house out west.
We are so grateful for you and your courage. As you are faced with the decisions ahead we wish you the best and hope that you are able to find the family you are looking for. If you feel that we are the right family for your child, please know that your child will be loved greatly. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a bit. Amelia and Audrey are so excited to meet their new sibling, since we have talked with them about our plan to adopt they ask daily about their new baby brother or sister and the baby’s birth parents. We have let them know that we don’t know who they are yet but that we can pray for them and pray that we might be able to find each other. We want to wish you luck on your journey ahead.
Sending our love,
Ryan, Samantha, Amelia & Audrey
