Dear Expectant Mother...

Dear Expectant Mother and Family,

It takes incredible courage, kindness, and love to choose adoption for your child. We want to thank you for choosing life and for reading our letter. We realize this is a very difficult time for you, but we hope it gives you some peace and comfort to know how much your decision can change the lives of people like us who could not otherwise be parents. We would be honored to raise your child in a loving home as part of our family.

We’ve been together for six years now, and married for four years. At the age of 24, Kelli lost the ability to conceive or carry a child. We knew that we wanted a family and adoption seemed like the perfect choice. We have so much love to give and find that adoption is simply the way God planned for us to have a family.

If you’d like to know what kind of environment we could provide for a child, it will be one filled with love, affection, respect, safety, understanding, encouragement, honesty, and humor. That is how we live our lives with each other and we can’t wait to pass that on. We are also surrounded by incredible warmth and support of our family and friends and everyone is very excited about the possibility of welcoming a new addition.

We live in a small town located halfway between two major Michigan cities. We have great schools and a family-oriented neighborhood with a year-round schedule of events, such as Easter Egg Hunts, picnics, Art Fairs, a Fourth of July children's parade, Halloween parties, cider mills, apple orchards, and of course the annual visit from Santa. Our house is in a safe, friendly subdivision, with many playgrounds and parks nearby. We go on daily walks with our dog through the sub, meeting many children and pets along the way! One of the reasons we chose our home was that the area is so family-friendly, with many playmates, a neighborhood playground and pool, and a close location to our family and friends.

We met while working out in a local gym, and still enjoy working out together. In fact, the gym we are members of caters to families, with a children’s play area and children’s and family pool. We got married in the church that Kelli has belonged to since she was born, the church that John began attending with her shortly after we started dating, and the same church where Kelli’s parents and sister were married. We then traveled to Hawaii on a wonderful honeymoon and can’t wait to return someday as a family with our child! We loved Hawaii so much that we named our dog Maui! In Michigan, we are lucky to have the change of seasons to experience different activities throughout the year. In the winter, we enjoy playing in the snow with our dog, and are waiting for the day we can build a snowman in the front yard with our child. In the spring, we love preparing our house for summer, planting lots of flowers and getting our lawn nice and green! In summer, we love to be outside with our dog, walking and biking, swimming, laying in the hammock, and going up north to John’s family’s cottage on the lake for fishing, boating, jet-skiing, and campfires. John can’t wait to share his fishing knowledge with a child, just like he taught Kelli how to fish a few years ago!

We love to spend time together, just hanging out, working on our house, going to church, shopping, going to the zoo and amusement parks, attending ball games, watching movies, and get together with family for Game Night! It doesn’t matter where we are or what we are doing, as long as we are together, we are having a great time!

We are able to spend so much time together because our work schedules are pretty flexible. Kelli is an elementary teacher with a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood. Kelli had always wanted to work with children and has been lucky enough to teach 4th grade, 1st grade, Pre-Kindergarten, and now 2nd grade. Kelli loves her “teacher schedule”, with weekends, holidays, and summers off, and of course…snow days! It is the perfect schedule for a mom! In fact, we plan on sending our child to school in the district where Kelli teaches. John is fortunate to have a flexible schedule as an independent painting contractor. We feel lucky to have both sets of parents who are more than willing to baby-sit whenever we need it, so a day-care facility will not be necessary.

We are very close to our families. Kelli is the oldest in her family, with a younger sister and brother. John has an older sister. Both families live close by, and we are lucky to be able to see them often. We are “Aunt Kelli” and “Uncle John” to our two nephews and godparents to both. We also have a niece or nephew on the way and are so excited! We can’t wait to bring a child into our wonderful and loving family!

All in all, we have worked very hard to establish a loving, healthy, strong marriage and a quality life together, which we plan to use as a solid foundation for a happy family. Everyone tells us how much life changes once you have children and we are eager and excited to experience those changes ourselves. We already have the nursery planned and a collection of kid supplies that keeps growing and growing!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter and considering us. This is a very soul-searching decision for you and we hope that we have given you a peek into what we can provide for a baby to help him or her grow into a well-balanced adult. We also plan to be honest and open about the adoption, answering the many inevitable questions with only the most positive, admiring words about his or her birth parents and this amazing gesture of love and selflessness.

If you would like to discuss anything at all with us, please know that we can be easily reached and available for any support you may need. We have the utmost respect for your courage and integrity during this challenging time, and no matter what choice you make, we wish you nothing but peace and happiness.

Sincerely,

Kelli and John