We want you to know that we will love your child profoundly and will devote our lives to his or her happiness. You will always have a place in your child's life, and you will always be spoken of with love and respect. Your child will always hear about his or her adoption as a story of love and devotion on your part as much as ours. He or she will grow up in a stable, secure, loving home with parents who have a happy, healthy marriage.

Don Teresa Job Description Professor, Teaches College Students About the Brain Professor & Studies Child Development Education Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience Ph.D. in Psychology Favorites Childhood Memory Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney World Childhood Memory Spending Christmas in Caracas Family Activity Sailing Family Activity Relaxing Over Dinner Movie Type Bizarre Comedy Movie Type Drama Musical Group Steely Dan Musical Group The Who Hobby Scuba Diving Hobby Scuba Diving Children None

You can tell from our backgrounds that education means a great deal to us. We will ensure that your child is educated well, to the best of our abilities. Don enjoys teaching kids new facts about plants and animals as much as other Dads like playing "catch". Teresa can't wait to introduce our child to her love of animals and arts and crafts, and we are both so excited about introducing our child to our love of the sea and sand. We can't wait to have a family and think that our city, neighborhood, and work environments offer particularly great learning opportunities for your child. We will support and encourage your child to love life and new experiences, to pursue his or her passions, and to discover his or her talents, whatever they may be. Finally, we will teach your child to always treat others with kindness and fairness.

When it comes to our leisure pursuits, "opposites attract". Don is a little "Energizer Bunny," eager to go and go and go. He loves going to concerts, playing saxophone with his band, hanging out with friends in the evening, and basically running around in a constant flurry of activity. Teresa prefers a more mellow life-style, including visiting animal farms, knitting, relaxing evenings at home and romantic dinners for two.

Over our years together, we have found a beautiful happy medium (although it took Don one or two vacations to learn that Teresa isn't particularly into walking around for 6 hours at a stretch and winding up with sore feet!). We love to spend time with family and friends exploring cities, hiking in the country, hearing music and seeing plays, petting furry animals (a particular favorite for Teresa), and eating. We also like to take long, slow bike rides together. Sometimes, however, all that we want to do is cuddle together on the couch, just us and the cat, watching TV-we agree on CSI, but when Teresa gets into a Red Sox game or some college basketball, Don usually just pretends to watch.

We also absolutely love to cook and eat, both with friends and on our own; we enjoy making big messes in the kitchen, and also like to go to restaurants. We particularly like to try cooking or eating exotic, scary things: On one incredible trip to Japan, we met up with some old friends who are natives of Tokyo, and let them order for us at restaurants where nobody but us spoke English; we're still not sure what some of the things that we ate there were! What is a "sea pineapple," anyway? We ate a little tiny smoked fish whole, head and all!

We love introductions to other cultures, an opportunity to open our minds and hearts to the ways that other people live. We have so far visited Belize, Mexico, the Bahamas, Spain, Japan, and Little Cayman during our vacations. These are very laid back and friendly locations and are great places to relax with children and let them run free in the surf and sand. We can't wait to introduce our child to the wonders of the sea!

Our Beloved Kitty, Cleo

Don says: My vows at our wedding included my describing some of the things that I think are great about Teresa. What I said then still stands. First of all, Teresa is incredibly loving. She loves her family, she loves me, and she loves her cat (sometimes more than the cat wants her to) and all other furry woolen creatures. She is very expressive in the steadfastness of her love, and you never have to wonder or guess.

But she's no softie. Teresa is fiercely intelligent and independent, and would not hide her intelligence for anybody. She's a real feminist, who thinks that women should be unafraid to express their opinions like men; she hates it when people call intelligent women "pushy" (or worse). Sure, she likes shoe and handbag shopping (she has more bags than she has objects to put in the bags), but she also likes arguing politics and laughing loudly at dirty jokes.

It goes without saying that Teresa is beautiful-I am of course biased on this score, but my friends take great pains to let me know that they agree. She is also witty and fun, a great conversationalist who is always game for new experiences. We just have a great time together, and we live an exciting life.

Teresa says: Don is the kind of person that people are drawn to. He can't take a plane ride without the person in the next seat telling his or her deepest secrets, and Don's students consistently vote him their favorite professor. When I met him I knew that we would become close and it didn't take long for me to realize that he was the right person for me. He is probably the most sensitive person I know, and is without a doubt the smartest person I know and these qualities attracted me to him very much. He's very sophisticated in his taste in music and books, yet at the same time he loves bowling and blooper reels (you know, the bits where the actors screwed up, that didn't make it into the movie)! I like to joke that he is like a little boy and a little old man in the same package. His mood is constantly upbeat and he is one of the funniest people I know.

The pain and challenge we have experienced in the last few years have not swayed Don's devotion to me, nor mine to him, and I am forever grateful for that. He is constant and reliable in his love for me and I know that he will be the same in his love for our child. I have learned so much from him and enjoy being with him so much that it's honestly exciting to think of all we have to look forward to together. Being able to include a child in our family will only enhance the great relationship we already have.