Dear Expectant Parents:

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to “visit” and learn about us.  We are truly grateful for possibilities of expanding our family because of your decision and hope to build a life-long relationship with you through open adoption.

 

We are Nate and Fumiko.  We have been married for fifteen years. After relocating ourselves several times we finally settled in Washington in 2002.  We have lived in Seattle since May 2003.  We like living here because it is a diverse neighborhood where you meet numerous interracial couples and families, many young parents with small children along with retired people and senior citizens.  It is great that so many shops are within walking distance, like Nate’s favorite hardware store, our dog Zumi’s groomer, and our favorite Thai restaurant.  Our favorite park is close, too.  In fact, every evening we take a walk to the park with our dogs, Zumi and Pepe.  We also like living in Seattle for it is roughly half way between Iowa, where Nate grew up and his whole family lives, and Tokyo, where Fumiko grew up and her family lives.

 

We are very passionate about our work.  Nate is currently working as a database administrator.  Computers and the high-tech world have always fascinated him, and one reason we moved to Seattle was for him to get a job working with computers.  In Iowa, he worked in television as a cameraman and video editor.  Another interest is teaching English.  He has taught students of all ages, and in Seattle he has volunteered to teach immigrants English through a non-profit organization and also has taught at area community colleges.  Fumiko has been a college writing instructor for many years.  Currently, she is not teaching but working at the writing center at a local community college as an English tutor where she helps students on one-on-one basis with their writing assignments or improving their English skills.  At college she deals with “big kids,” but she has enjoyed working with little children as well.  She has taught Japanese at elementary school in Iowa as part of the after-school program, has tutored Japanese privately to several children, and has volunteered to help elementary school students write stories.  She has also volunteered for Vacation Bible School at our church for the last few years to help preschoolers and kindergarteners with crafts.  Besides teaching, being bilingual has allowed Fumiko to do a lot of professional translating and interpreting work.  The most interesting interpreting experience was at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

 

Because working at the writing center gives Fumiko more flexibility, she will be a stay-at-home mom for the first few years while Nate continues to work full-time.  Then she will try to go back to teaching part-time, but she can still spend much time at home because much of outside-of-classroom work can be done at home.  Since Nate’s company allows employees to work from home occasionally, one of us can stay home while the other goes to work.

 

Although we grew up in two entirely different places, we had a chance to learn about each other’s heritage.  Nate lived in Tokyo for five and a half years teaching English after graduating from college, and so he has no problem communicating with Fumiko’s parents who speak little English.  Fumiko grew up in a big city and had never lived in the country, and so living in Iowa was quite shocking.  Even though she went to college in California and graduate school in Oregon, living on the West Coast didn’t prepare her for moving to the Midwest.  After six years of living there, though, she became to love the vast openness, small town lifestyle and more dramatic weather in the Midwest, like a real thunderstorm.  Now we look forward to sharing our heritage and cultural values with children.  Also, we would like to share our Christian heritage as we both grew up in a Christian family and know that our Christian teachings have molded our personal and family values.

 

We share a variety of different interests and enjoy doing them together.  Besides a daily walk to the Park with our dogs, we often take long walks from our house to downtown Seattle and come home on the bus.  It is a great exercise, especially walking through the steep hills!  We (well, mostly Fumiko) sometimes peek in some shops on the way, stroll through a waterfront park, or visit art museums before treating ourselves with a nice lunch and ice cream (we can’t resist this one ice cream shop near Pike Place Market). 

 

We go hiking in summer and do some camping, too.  We would like to continue doing these outdoor activities as a family.  We also love doing creative things, like cooking and taking pictures.  Nate has perfected his handmade pizza from the dough to the pizza sauce after many trials.  Who knows?  Some day he may open his own pizza restaurant.  He has also mastered Mexican and Indian cuisine.  Fumiko, on the other hand, enjoys baking more and often bakes cakes and cookies for gifts.  We like to cook or bake with children and think it is a great way to expose them to different cultures.  Also, both of us like to read books and want to encourage children to read.  Fumiko vividly remembers how her parents took turns to read stories to her and her sister every night before going to bed.  It is one of the fondest memories from her childhood, and we hope to do the same.  We like to share these interests with children but like to encourage children to discover their own interests and support them whether it is sports, music or computers.

 

We are truly excited about being able to pass on what we value and cherish and to experience a lot of memorable moments through raising a child.  Moreover, we are glad that open adoption can allow us to share those memorable moments with you through visits, letters, photos, and videos.  We feel fortunate that we can get to know you and establish a life-long relationship with you.  Again, thank you very much for taking the time to learn about us.  We wish you the best with your decision.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Nate and Fumiko