American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency

All Smiles at the Ironman Triathlon

Our interests cover a little bit of everything. Neal has been a long distance runner for 14 years and has run a total of 15 marathons. His biggest athletic accomplishment was completing the Ironman triathlon in 2002, which is a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and finished with a 26.2 mile run. Martha ... watched him. She is an excellent spectator.

Hanging Around with Our Niece, Eva

We enjoy traveling and learning about other cultures. Our trips have taken us to different parts of the country and world. Following college graduation, Martha moved to Mexico and lived with a Mexican family for three months where she studied Spanish and traveled throughout the country. While there, she fell in love with the culture and treasured the warmth of the people she met. Neal has also lived outside the U.S., spending three months working in Okinawa, Japan.

We also love the arts of all kinds. We have both been involved in theater, and Neal is currently an active board member on our friend's theater company. There is a great children's theater in our neighborhood where we'd love to bring a child. We also like going to our neighborhood street festivals or bringing a picnic to the park to sit under the stars and listen to live music. This year, we've taken our nephew Sam to many of our area's wonderful museums, and we often think about how much fun it would be to have a little one of our own to bring.

Ready for a Night Out

As we have tried to build our family, we've thought very carefully about what it means to us to have a child. To start, we both grew up in happy, loving families ourselves, and dream of parenting a child the same way. We imagine how much fun it will be to share our holiday traditions � Christmas Eve dinner and presents at Aunt Paula's, making homemade tamales with Bapa's old beat-up recipe, walking the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. These traditions run deep, reaching back to before we were born, and we want to continue them with a child.

Holidays are special punctuations throughout the year, but we also look forward to nurturing a child through everyday things that will shape his or her life. Education is important to us. We want to foster a love of learning and curiosity about the world through school and activities that give life richness. Be it sports, music, science, or art, wherever his or her passions lead, we will give a child the opportunity to explore them, just as we had.

At the very heart, though, is how a child feels about him or herself and developing a strong, confident sense of self. We will do that by being present for that child, by listening, and by guiding. Seeing a child take pride in his or her accomplishments, make good friends, and show compassion towards others: that is happiness. That's what it means to us to be parents.

Relaxing in a Peaceful Spot

Since adoption is how we are choosing to grow our family, how could we feel anything but excitement and gratitude about it! This is how we will approach our conversations with a child. We are glad that society is becoming more open about adoption. We don't think it is healthy to keep secrets, and we believe that every child has a right to know their family history. If a child doesn't know, he or she will probably always wonder, and we would much rather replace wondering with information. We are also mindful of the fact that a child's understanding of adoption will change over time, so our conversations will always be age appropriate with an emphasis on what he or she can understand based on his or her developmental stage. We will share as much about you as you are comfortable with, always speaking lovingly and with respect for the difficult choice you made. If your child has questions, we want to be able to answer them so that there is never any doubt that he or she is loved, by you and by us.