Dear Birth Family

We would be deeply honored if you would consider us to be a part of you & your child’s life. We are goal oriented people who love to travel and experience new things. As parents, our goal for your child will be love, laughter, and security. We vow that a day won’t go by without them hearing the words “I love you”. We pledge to raise your child in a home filled with laughter, hugs, adventure, evening campfires, board games, living room camp outs, and relaxing pool days.

About Our Family

We have been married for 5 years and together as a couple for 8 years. Ever since our first sushi date, we have been inseparable. As the years go by our love & appreciation for each other continues to blossom. Planning our next big goal every year brings us closer together and strengthens our commitment to each other.

We’re both extremely excited to become parents. We have tried to conceive ever since we got married. Infertility has made it impossible for us to create a family the traditional way. We want to assure you that we haven’t made our decision to adopt lightly.

Brent is a Software Engineer at a major tech company. He is the youngest of three children in his family. His parents are the best! We’re very close with his two siblings. When Brent was younger, his grandmother lived with their family and made Tamales by hand. His brother has kept up the tradition and shared it with us all. His family is always looking for an excuse for us all to get together and spend time with each other.

Melissa works for the Post Office. She is the oldest of 10 children. This gave her a ton of experience with raising children. She is very close with her siblings and we hang-out with them as often as we can. Melissa’s grandparents live nearby as well. They are one of the most loving couples you can imagine. It is our goal to be as happy together as they are when we are 90 years old. Melissa’s family also has many fun traditions including hunting for Easter eggs for 20+ people. There are so many eggs that they have to be labeled by number!

Together we have 14 nieces and nephews so far and most of Melissa’s siblings haven’t started families yet. There will be tons of cousins for your child to play with!

About Brent (by Melissa)

Brent has an amazing sense of humor. He fills our home with laughter every day. At the same time, he is one of the most driven people I have ever met. When he wants something, he goes after it at full speed until he achieves it. There is nothing he can’t do. Brent cares deeply for his family and friends. He is always the first person to get on the floor and play with our nieces and nephews at family get togethers. I am sure he will be an excellent father!

About Melissa (by Brent)

Melissa is an absolute sweetheart. Her giant smile lights up every room that she’s in. She’s the type of person that inspires you to be better every day. Melissa has made me come out of my shell in many ways. I wouldn’t have become an international traveler if it wasn’t for her! I have no doubt that she’ll be an amazing mother that inspires your child to chase their dreams.

Our Home

We own a very beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath home in an extremely family-friendly area. There are schools within walking distance and tons of kids in the neighborhood waiting to meet your child. Our neighborhood has a pool, splash-pad, skate park, and playground. We’re also a small walk away from a giant city park, a new library, a beautiful river trail & a lake. Evenings at our house are almost always spent cooking, playing board games, going for walks, heading to a picnic, or hanging with neighbor friends.

Our Promise to you

● We promise your child will know who you are and how much you love them.
● We promise to raise your child to be confident, compassionate, and kind.
● We will provide a safe and loving home. We are committed to offering your child a bright future full of love, happiness, and stability.
● Your child will travel the world and experience many cultures.
● We vow to instill the habit of saving money and living within their means. We are absolutely prepared to send your child to college debt-free.
● We’ll be their biggest cheerleaders in life and will work hard to help them achieve their dreams.

Thank You

We are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your journey. We hope you see the love, laughter, and stability that we can provide your child. There are so many activities that we can’t wait to do together as a family.

We hope to have many joyful evenings around the kitchen table followed by playing games and enjoying the outdoors. We are very excited to become first-time parents through adoption.

Our loved ones are overwhelmingly supportive and happy that we are growing our family this way. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering us and we sincerely hope that we are the couple you choose to raise your baby.

We come into adoption with open hearts & minds. Together, we will plan the level of contact that feels right so that we can all find our place in this unique relationship.

-Brent & Melissa

Hi – our names are Barry and Heather. We live just outside of Washington, DC. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter and give us the opportunity to share a little bit about our life with you. Adopting our son Malcolm was the best thing that ever happened to us, and we want to share our love and joy with another child. We can only imagine what you are going through at this time. We admire your courage in considering open adoption for your baby and look forward to learning more about you and your hopes and dreams for your child.

About Us
We’ve been together fourteen years and married for ten. We grew up in very different places. Barry is originally from South Africa, while Heather grew up in a small town in western New York state. We met in Angola, a country on the west coast of Africa, where Heather was helping to resettle war refugees and Barry was running a medical assistance company. Today we live in Maryland, where Heather works in public relations and Barry works for a non-profit.
Becoming parents to our son was a dream come true. We only had 24 hours notice about Malcolm’s birth and we still remember the giddy feeling of being on the plane, flying out to meet our son. Nothing compares to being parents and we have had such fun (even through the hard times) raising Malcolm. Both Heather and Barry have siblings that we are close to, and we would love to complete our family by welcoming one more child into our home. We promise to love them, be there for them and allow them to become the person they are supposed to be, just as we are doing for Malcolm.

Our Home
Our relationship is filled with a lot of fun and laughter. It is important to us that our home be a happy, filled with friends, kids, family and pets! Many of our friends have young children of their own and we have fun playing games and hosting child-friendly get-togethers. We live in a large, comfortable home in a safe, multi-racial neighborhood that has lots of kids. There are two parks within walking distance, and our house has a large, fenced-in yard with a swing set and playhouse.

We love to take walks to the parks together as a family, host cook-outs on our patio, and make the most of being so close to DC by taking Malcolm to the zoo, festivals and other kid-friendly activities.

We share our home with two dogs – Sasha and Gunner – and a cat. All the animals are important parts of Malcolm’s life – he likes cuddling with the dogs and feeding the cat.
We enjoy holidays and make a big deal of decorating the house for Halloween and Christmas. Heather spends an entire day baking cookies to give to our friends and neighbors at Christmas-time while Barry spends hours plotting how to add more lights to the yard so that Malcolm can say, “Wow cool!” We always celebrate Christmas with lots of family and look forward to a Christmas when we can add another stocking to the mantle.

About Heather (by Barry)
When we were asked to re-do this particular portion of our application for our second adoption. I thought that it would be really simple to write, because, how much can one really change in the relatively short period of time, since our first adoption process – I mean really change?

Heather still has all the great qualities I wrote about the first time. She is still a person that hand writes thank you notes, and is still an extremely dedicated and motivated person at work and at home. Her honesty and high moral standards are still qualities that she has, and even builds upon. Ensuring that the many family traditions are still adhered to, all of which to Heather are still extremely important, is still a major priority, a priority today, which is even more important ever

Well, I am really pleased to say that we do not really change, and Heather certainly has not. What does however change, are circumstances, and it is these situations and life events, which bring out traits in a person, that one may never have before seen, mainly because the circumstances for them to be visible, did not exist Why, what life changes have occurred since our last application has brought out attributes in Heather that I have never seen before? I’ll even tell you the date and time, it was, 12:26 p.m on Tuesday 26th April 2016, and what the event was. It was when she was handed a little 7lb 4oz little boy with a thick mop of black hair, and it was our new son, Malcolm Oscar.

Heathers instantaneous bond to Malcolm brought out in her, the maternal instincts and love for a child that was impossible to see before Malcolm was made ours. Her patience, her ability to give unconditionally of herself, her perseverance and tolerance in teaching and nurturing Malcolm, is unlike anything I have ever seen and experienced.
Heathers ability to communicate and show her love for Malcolm, and watching Malcolm’s positive response to those emotions, is something that moves me daily.

I know that when we are again afforded the opportunity of not only adding another child to our family, but also giving Malcolm a sibling, that these behavioral qualities in Heather will simply be extended to the new child.
A child, who, like Malcolm, will be one of the luckiest kids in the world, because, Heather will be their mother

About Barry (by Heather)
Becoming Malcom’s father has been the biggest joy in Barry’s life and he can’t wait to add another child to our family. His absolute delight in spending time with Malcom, talking about trains, or a favorite book, is apparent every day. Barry was a stay-at-home Dad for the first 18 months of Malcom’s life and their bond is special. Malcom loves calling Barry, “My Dada” and Barry’s smile each and every time he hears that brings a smile to my face. Barry is looking forward to the adventures he will have with both Malcolm and another child.
Barry truly is a social being– he loves people, talking to them and finding out their story. Being a good host is very important to him – this is something we share. He loves to cook and I think he is happiest when he has a large group of friends or family around and he is cooking a braai for them all. (A braai is a South African barbeque with a lot of meat!) He can’t wait to pass along some of his South African traditions to his child.

Barry is also one of the best friends I have ever met. Not just with me, he is remarkable in keeping up with all of his friends and their lives, no matter how far away they may be.
He has a great sense of humor and sees few things in life that can’t be approached with humor. It has been a joy seeing that Malcom shares a love of laughing with Barry. Barry loves travel, adventure and the exploring the outdoors, whether through fishing or deep sea diving. I have loved sharing in some of these adventures with him, although parenthood has been our best adventure. We can’t wait to continue the adventure with another child.

Our Family
While family has always been an important part of our lives, it became even more important once we adopted Malcom. Heather was fortunate to have grown up with her first cousins and strives to give that same experience to both our son and the next child we hope to adopt. Heather’s sister and her family live near to us, and we frequently host cousin sleepovers. Heather’s Mother and Father spend a lot of time with us and share a special bond with their grandson. They are all just as eager as we are to welcome another child into our family.
Barry’s family is more spread out in South Africa, England and he has an adult daughter living in Australia. We get to go on some wonderful trips in order to see them all and introduce Malcolm to Barry’s family, and it’s been our great joy to welcome them to America when they come to visit.
Hobbies

Barry loves planes and flying and is a big history buff. He also loves watching and playing sports and has developed a love of baseball and hockey since moving to the United States. He can’t wait until Malcolm and our other child are old enough to go with him to a game.

Heather grew up on the East Coast, and winter is her favorite season. She considers teaching Malcolm to ride his sled and catch snowflakes on his tongue as essential life skills! Heather loves reading to Malcolm and story time is an important part of every day. Heather also loves music – pretty much any kind – so there is almost always some kind of music to suit her present mood playing in the house.
Both of us have spent significant time living in other countries and love of travel is something we share. Planning our next trip somewhere, discovering hidden gems in out-of-the way places or eating a fabulous meal someplace new are some of the great joys of our life together, which we can’t wait to share with our child.

Our Values
Laughter is a big part of our lives. We share a curiosity about our world, and love planning our next adventure together. We believe strongly in the importance of compassion and service. We both spend time volunteering in our community and plan to instill the value of service to others into our children.
We both believe in the value of education, as we have spent time in countries where children were often denied the privilege of going to school. Yet we also know that education doesn’t just happen in a classroom – that children should be exposed to all the diversity and wonder that the world has to offer. We hope to teach them the patience and compassion to learn from others, and the curiosity to never stop learning.

Thank You
We appreciate you taking the time to read this, and wish you the best in your journey. We hope you will want to learn more about us because we very much would like to learn more about you.

Sincerely,
Barry & Heather

Dear Friend,

We want to first thank you for your selflessness and choosing life for your baby. We cannot imagine how difficult this must be for you and pray that God will help you find peace in the days to come.

We are Eddie and Pam. We live in a small, southern town and have been married for 13 years. We have two boys. Sam is 14 and entering 9th grade. Eli, 11, is entering 6th grade.

Our love story is our favorite. Pam was married back in 2000 to her high school sweetheart. In 2004, they adopted Sam through Act of Love. After returning home from Utah, Pam’s husband was killed in a car accident when Sam was 10 days old. Suddenly, after the excitement of finally having a child, Pam was heartbroken. Eddie went to church with Pam and her first husband was actually a friend of his. God had a marvelous plan in the works! We began to hang out as friends, began to date, and God’s plan fell into place as Eddie fell in love with Pam and Sam. We were married in 2007 with Sam by our side. We found out in 2007 that we were expecting Eli. What a blessing these boys are to us! We enjoy every minute of being their parents, yet our hearts still yearn for another child and feel that our family isn’t complete.

Pam suffers from Poly cystic Ovarian Syndrome and getting pregnant with Eli was very dangerous and difficult. The pregnancy and birth was dangerous as well. After knowing since adopting Sam that we wanted to experience this again and how special adoption is, we are ready to start this journey!

We love family! Anything our children are involved in, so are we! We love spending time outside swimming as well as going to movies and trying new restaurants. We love to travel to new places. We live close to Pam’s family so our boys get to enjoy lots of cousin time. Sam and Eli are over the moon about a
new brother or sister.

Eddie and I have a strong marriage. We can truly say that we are each other’s best friend. Eddie is a landscaper and owns his own business. Pam taught school before Sam was born, but came home to be a stay at home mom and will continue with a new baby.

We hope to teach our children that humbleness and having a servant’s heart is very important. We want them to love others.

Having a child is honestly like having your heart live outside your body and we love our boys and will love your child with all of our beings. We do not use corporal punishment, but instead
we use time outs and loss of privileges.

We imagine that you are experiencing many emotions as you make a
decision about your child. We admire you. The thought of your child joining our family brings excitement and light into our lives. Please flip through these pages to learn more about us and life we want to share with your child.

Thank you for considering us and giving hope to us. Though we are strangers now, we pray to share this amazing journey with you.

With Love,
Eddie and Pam

Hi There!

Thank you for taking the time to consider us. We are so excited to be adopting a little one, and we can’t wait to become parents. Before we even got married, we discussed how important family was to both of us. Now that we have been married for a few years, we’re ready to start our family. Luckily for us, God’s plan for us included adoption. So, while we have an amazing life, we’re ready to add to our family and become parents. We are ecstatic to take family trips to the beach, camp, go on hikes together, and have competitive game nights.

Open Arms – Open Hearts

We believe an open adoption is very beneficial for the child, birth family, and adoptive family. We’re comfortable having an open adoption which includes texting/calling/video chat, social media, email, and visits.

Together

We both grew up with parents who exemplified a loving, balanced, committed, and exhilarating marriage. When we are both at home, we naturally find ourselves in each other’s company. Our favorite things to do in our downtime are to travel, camp and explore in nature, challenge each other in board games and puzzles, and get cozy with our cat on the couch to watch a movie and snack on Peanut M&Ms.

About Mark – By Abigail

On our very first date to a college baseball game, I could already tell Mark was different than all of the other guys I had ever met. Despite being confident and intelligent, Mark is down-to-earth and caring.

He has this fierce desire to take care of others, often putting the needs of others before his own. Even on our first date, he gave me his jacket as I had forgotten to bring one. Ever since then, he has been taking care of me by helping with chores around the house and making sure my needs are met.

Mark also has this child-like quality which leads him to plan fun adventures and trips for us to go on. He loves to travel and explore new parts of the world, try new things and kinds of food, and meet different types of people.

However, two of the most attractive qualities I recognized in Mark when we were dating is his passion to serve God and start a family. Because of his Christian beliefs, he will make the best father by putting our family first, making sure to take care of our needs, and also cultivate good relationships with our children.

About Abigail – By Mark

Perhaps the most defining trait that Abigail has is that she is a genuinely caring person who never gives less than 100% effort into anything she commits to. While most reserved in public, she is the life of the party around close friends, always making everyone feel welcome with her warm personality and rambunctious laughter.

One of the most attractive qualities of Abigail’s personality is her kind and compassionate spirit towards any person or animal that is suffering. Loyal to a fault, she is fiercely dedicated to those she counts as friends and family.

When she is not working as a substitute teacher at an elementary school or nursery, she can be found bundled up on the couch with our cat while planning our next trip or watching her favorite BBC shows. While she loves to travel to new places and discover new things, I have observed that she is happiest when she is simply enjoying the company of family and close friends.

I am confident that, true to her nature, Abigail will be the most dedicated and loving mother that any child could ever wish to have.

Our Home

We live at the end of a cozy cul-de-sac in a quaint English village. Our house is spacious with three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. There is a playhouse and swing set in our backyard, which looks out upon a picturesque field. Down the street is an amazing and beautiful county park with ponds and tons of walking paths.

Our Promise

We want to say thank you. Thank you for giving your child the gift of life and giving us the opportunity to be a part of it.

In turn, we promise to:
• love them unconditionally
• bandage every wound – both physical and emotional
• help them fulfill their dreams and goals
• provide them with the best education
• show them how to treat others with respect to every race, origin, or religion
• help them know and understand the tremendous sacrifice
you made out of love

In us, they will always have parents, a should to cry on, someone to lean on, and someone who will always support them.