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Dear Birthparents,
Thank you for taking the time to get to know us.
We respect and admire your strength in creating
an adoption plan for your child and hope you find
comfort with whatever your decision may be.
We hope this letter conveys that we are committed
to always loving your child unconditionally in a safe
and fun environment.
We will be their greatest fans, expose them to
new experiences and provide a solid education while
encouraging their talents and interests.
We are David and Sheri and together with our daughter,
Sydney, we live in a suburb just outside of
Chicago.
Our neighborhood has an extremely family-friendly
environment, terrific school system and provides easy
access into the City where our jobs are located. We live
just a block away from the elementary school and two of
the many parks within our neighborhood.
We own a cozy three bedroom home with a full-size
finished basement (that we imagine will be taken over
with children’s toys!).
Our community is quite active with many organized
events including seasonal activities, parades and
side-walk festivals.
We have tons of kids on our block and enjoy
watching them play together outside, especially during
our all-day block parties.
We also have a
great park district that offers numerous activities and
sports for all ages.
Our Beginning
We met on the first day of college in 1995 through
mutual friends. We
quickly became friends and began dating shortly
thereafter.
It didn’t take long for us to realize that we were
establishing a life-long relationship.
We dated for six years and got engaged while
vacationing in
San Diego.
We remember spending much of the vacation
relaxing by the beach talking about our future together.
In 2002, we were married on a perfect fall day
surrounded by our family and friends.
After our honeymoon we moved into our condo in
the heart of Chicago where we enjoyed
city-life for the next five years.
We view marriage as a true partnership and work
as a team on everything from household responsibilities
to parenting.
Our marriage is built on trust, respect and
laughter as we try not to take ourselves too seriously.
About Sheri
Sheri works for a
Chicago
medical center as a clinical operations manager for
outpatient clinics, loves that no day is ever the same
and enjoys the flexibility her job offers.
Sheri is home every Friday with our daughter and
will continue this schedule as our family grows.
Sheri is full of energy no matter what time of
day it is and is quite the night owl.
It is not uncommon for Sheri to begin a major
project right before bed.
She has painted a bathroom, started loads of
laundry and baked cookies starting at 11p at night.
She calls this ‘unwinding’ before bed!
She is outgoing and manages to meet new people
even during a visit to the grocery store or on a family
vacation.
Family and friends tend to turn to her for support and
advice, and she thinks nothing of going the extra mile
for others.
Whatever the task, she is determined to work hard and do
it right.
Sheri loves doing anything crafty (though she’ll
never admit to being creative).
Sheri also enjoys gardening, baking and flipping
through magazines while watching a good movie.
About David
David is employed by a major utility company within
Corporate Planning and Strategy.
He is the most sincere, patient and easy-going
person you will ever meet.
He is friends with everyone and is always fun to
be around (even for a finance guy!!).
David is a natural teacher, genuinely praises
other’s strengths and values his family and friends.
He does a great job balancing work and home life
and makes it a priority, even on the busiest of days, to
spend time as a family.
David has played guitar all of his life and loves
learning new songs he hears on the radio.
He also enjoys running outdoors (when the weather
allows it) and reading new books in particular
historical fiction or science-fiction.
He’s always looking for a good recommendation!
While he is not a die-hard sports fan, he does
look forward to the fall as it brings college football
and basketball.
We have always shared a strong desire to have a family
and went through fertility treatments for over two years
before becoming pregnant with twins in 2006.
Unfortunately, Sheri went into pre-term labor and
delivered our son, Parker, at 22 weeks and Sydney at 28 weeks.
It was a sad and scary time in our lives with the
loss of our son and the rollercoaster experience with Sydney in the NICU.
About Sydney
Sydney
is a fun-spirited, independent little girl who finds her
way into typical 3 year-old trouble!
She is curious, energetic and adventurous and
fears nothing.
Sydney has a colorful personality and a silly
sense of humor-much like her daddy.
She is a hands-on type of girl and loves learning
through experiences.
She especially loves spending time outdoors and
looks forward to any moment she can be in the water
swimming.
She is quite the water bug and always has a new stunt to
show off. Sydney plays well with other children and
adores babies in particular.
She is incredibly excited to welcome a baby into
our home and is waiting for the moment when she can
finally take on the role of BIG SISTER.
We are certain she will be a wonderful big sister
and life-long friend to her sibling.
As a Family
We enjoy and look forward to spending time together as a
family.
It’s the simple things in life such as our night-time
walks, baking not-so-pretty cupcakes, reading books or
dancing silly around the house that are important to us.
We have always loved traveling together and gain
just as much excitement in planning our trip as we do
experiencing the new place we visit.
We also spend our time hanging out with our
families, friends and their children.
On any given weekend we’ll head to a park, the
zoo, a local museum, the swimming pool or take a walk
around the neighborhood for ice cream or a little
something sweet at the local coffee shop.
We look forward to the day when we can share
these experiences with your child.
Our Support, Our Foundation
David and Sheri both grew up in very supportive
close-knit families with similar values and familial
priorities.
We are fortunate to have our parents and siblings all
living within the Chicagoland area, which gives us the
opportunity to get together often and share our lives
together.
We are very close to our families and look forward to
spending free time together, much more than just
holidays and birthdays.
Everyone is truly excited to welcome a child into
their hearts and family traditions.
Sheri is the oldest of five and has one sister and three
brothers.
She grew up in a smaller town in a southern suburb of
Chicago.
When we’re together we have a blast!
Sheri spent her childhood summers at her family
summer home, and now we are fortunate enough to share
those same experiences as a family.
We spend several weekends each summer there
relaxing, boating, swimming, jet-skiing, roasting
marshmallows and fishing (though David swears there
aren’t fish in the lake).
David’s parents continue to live in the same home he
grew up in.
He has one older sister who is married with two
daughters (three and 6 months old).
Sydney is always excited
to see her cousins and we have fun watching the girls
play together.
We see David’s parents each Thursday evening.
This is a great opportunity to have dinner with
them and catch-up on what’s going on in our lives.
They host many holiday celebrations bringing the
family together from great distances to enjoy each
other’s company.
For us, becoming parents has been the most wonderful,
fulfilling experience of our lives, and we look forward
to the day that we can welcome the gift of another child
into our hearts.
We are excited to establish a life-long
relationship with you and respect the level of openness
and communication you are comfortable with.
We will always share with your child the love you
have for them along with wisdom and courage you
demonstrated with your decision.
You are in our thoughts, and we wish you the
very best through this time of uncertainty.
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