John & Cathy

We are grateful for your consideration in helping our dreams to come true. Being parents is the most important job we will ever have. We want nothing more than to raise a family and to enjoy watching our children grow and learn about themselves and the world. We assure you that we will provide a stable, loving family that provides security and the confidence to succeed in life. If you choose us, we will be sure your child will always know that you made this decision with love and compassion. Preferred Gender: Either

John Cathy Job Description Adult and Pediatric Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon Stay-at-Home Mom Education Medical Degree, Fellowships in Adult and Pediatric Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology Favorites Animal Dolphin Animal Horses and Dogs Food Lasagna Food Fried Chicken Hobby Golf Hobby Scrapbooking Holiday Tradition Christmas Brunch Holiday Tradition Decorating the Tree Movie Empire Strikes Back Movie The Lion King Children Kelly-1 year old

Enjoying an Evening Out

For us, the road to parenthood has been long and difficult. Faced first with infertility, Cathy finally became pregnant in January 2005. Our son, Matthew, was born prematurely 32 weeks later and died after only 11 weeks from a congenital lung defect. His short life taught us how precious a child is and how important it is for us to share our lives with a child.

We had researched adoption prior to beginning fertility treatments. After working through Matthew's death (although he will always be a part of us), we were ready and eager to adopt. In December of 2007, we were blessed to be chosen to adopt our little girl, Kelly Marie. She is a wonderful addition to our lives, and we can't wait for her to have a sibling.

During our adoption journey, we have talked with many adoptive parents and birthparents, and we feel that it is critical to address the concerns of everyone involved in an adoption. We want to deal effectively with any worries our children have as they grow up. We have already started reading books about adoption to Kelly, and we tell her what we know about her birthparents. We want her to feel comfortable talking about her adoption and asking questions. We have also continued to send letters and pictures to her birthmom. We hope to continue this with another child's birthparents if they desire, so we can provide some comfort and information about their life. Your child will be told that our family was made possible by your loving and generous decision.

Our Friendly Family Companions

Cathy loves to curl up with a good book and frequents libraries and bookstores looking for new stories to enjoy. She also likes to scrapbook and record memories of all the important moments in our lives. She hopes to document as much of the adoption process as possible to share with our children in the future. It will be a wonderful way to introduce them to adoption and their birth family.

John has a large variety of interests and hobbies. He loves to golf, bike, and swim and spend time outside. He enjoys watching movies from his extensive movie collection and playing video games. He also loves to participate in and watch many different sports including soccer, football, hockey and stock car racing. Whenever he has the opportunity, he loves to scuba dive and learn about marine wildlife.

At the Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman

Our favorite activity together is spending time with each other, and especially playing with our daughter, Kelly. She loves to go to the park to play on the slides and swing, and is also very enthusiastic about the pool. She has taken swim lessons since she was 6 months old, and can swim like a fish. She also loves to jump into the pool and make big splashes!

We also love walking our dogs and playing fetch. They're full of energy and excitement and they love every moment we play with them - as do we! Sometimes, the perfect evening is just relaxing and watching a movie or playing board games together. Whenever we have time, we also really enjoy traveling as a family. It is fun and exciting to explore new destinations, but we also look forward to returning to our favorite vacations spots. This past holiday season, we all travelled to Disney World to enjoy the decorations and special holiday events. And earlier this year we all took a Caribbean cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. We swam with the dolphins and climbed a waterfall in Jamaica, and we visited a turtle farm in the Grand Caymans. It was a wonderful experience and we have many of fond memories from our trips.

Disney World at Christmas Time

We have two favorite vacation places. The first is Disney World in Orlando, Florida. John proposed during our first trip there on the balcony of our hotel room, overlooking Epcot in the evening. We were able to watch the fireworks from the balcony that evening, and it was such a magical experience. Since then, we have returned every couple of years to relax and enjoy the magic. We go not only for sentimental reasons, but also because we have so much fun! On our last three trips, we went with our three goddaughters and their parents. And last year we had the joy of bringing our daughter Kelly for the first time. We had so much fun enjoying the rides and shows with her and our god-daughers! Disney World is great as an adult, but even more fun with children. The girls love the Disney princesses and we made sure they were able to get pictures and autographs with them. Kelly even had her first haircut in the Magic Kingdom. The memories we have of our trips together are priceless.

The Sunset in Maui During Our Honeymoon

Our second favorite place is Hawaii. We went to Maui on our honeymoon, and had a wonderful time scuba diving, going to luaus, and swimming in the ocean. We took several scuba trips and were able to hold an octopus, and saw sharks, sea turtles and stingrays. We also went sailing on a sunset cruise and hiking near the volcanoes. The people are friendly, the food terrific, and the scenery exquisite. We can't wait to return as a family and show our children all our favorite places!