Dear Birth Parent(s),

We respect your courage and maturity to realize that you may not be ready for parenthood just yet. And we understand the difficulty of the decision that you face today, but we cannot image how hard it is for you. We want to thank you for considering us to be a part of your life and a part of your decision.

Our names are Mike and Marla and we have been married for six years. We were set-up by mutual friends when Mike asked a friend of his to find him a "red-head". Several of us went out to eat as a group and Marla was not told that she was being set-up, but eventually figured it out. It didn't take long for us to become inseparable. We were married 10 months later, to the delight of our friends and both our families.

We have discovered that we are in some ways total opposites, yet we have so much in common. This has served us well in our years together. We respect each other and encourage each other in our hopes and dreams. Our greatest hope now is to become parents and to experience the joys of parenthood in its entirety. We look forward to the many sleepless nights, piles of laundry, and runny noses as well as the smiles and hugs that come with it.

We both knew that we would one day be parents and assumed that it would be the next step after marriage. But it did not come easy for us. We tried for years to have a child before we decided on adoption. We had discussed adopting a few times, but not seriously until a co-worker was adopting a baby. Their original adoption did not go through, but days later adopted twins, which was great for them and for the twins. But we were concerned for the baby that didn't get adopted. That was an "Ah-ha" moment for us both. We immediately contacted the lawyer involved, about the baby. It was not meant to be, but we learned that we were both really ready to commit to adoption. Ever since we started to seriously pursue adoption, we have learned of several people in our lives who have had very successful adoptions. We watched as a neighbor, two co-workers, two friends, and a cousin became adoptive parents. And we have discovered that a couple of our adult friends were adopted as babies, as well. We believe that God has been preparing us to adopt for sometime, now. We are very excited to be adopting and we want to express how very grateful we are to you for giving us the opportunity, if you choose us.

We both had strong role models growing up and we know how important that is. Everyone needs encouraging words and we will make it a priority to give all the encouragement necessary for a child to grow up confident and successful in anything that he chooses to do.

We will give your baby everything that we had growing up; a loving home, a supportive extended family, an education, and many wonderful experiences. We can't wait to share our love, our lives, and our traditions with a child. Halloween costumes, birthday parties, picnics, bike rides, swing sets, and family pets are all part of our future together with a child.

We will encourage the child to experience the many things that we did growing up such as camp, swim lessons, music, and fishing: as well as the things that we wished we had experienced such as karate, sports, and travel to new places. Life is an experience, and we believe that everyone must find his own path. We will give your child an opportunity to find his path.

We will share with you your child's life and experiences through pictures and letters. We will answer his questions about you truthfully and honestly. We will make sure your child understands that you will always love him and that he will forever be in your thoughts. You will always be a part of his life and we would never diminish you in his eyes. We will be forever grateful to you if you choose us and will speak positively about you always.

Thank you,

Mike & Marla