Bill’s Whole Family at Thanksgiving

Bill has three older brothers, as well as one older and one younger sister. His five siblings have nine children between them, five girls and four boys, who range from pre-school through college age. Bill's parents, now retired, keep busy these days tending to their large fruit and vegetable garden as well as with volunteer work. And of course they love to spend time with family.

Beth’s Family at the Beach

Two of Bill's brothers live fairly close to us and we see them often. Although Bill's parents live in another state, they are only a three hour car ride away so we see them often as well. Every Thanksgiving, all of Bill's siblings and their families will spend a few days together at his parent's house. Everyone looks forward to Bill's mother's delicious food. After dinner the whole family enjoys a competitive game of trivial pursuit and Bill's mother's homemade blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry rhubarb pies. The whole family is thrilled about our decision to adopt, and Bill's parents are especially looking forward to welcoming their tenth grandchild to the family.

Beth has two younger brothers. The first brother is married and has two children, a four- year old boy and a one-year old girl. The next brother is also married and has a two- year old boy who is adopted. Both brothers live relatively close by and we enjoy spending a lot of time together in each other's homes and in the summer, cooking out at the youngest brother's house (Beth makes her "famous" turkey burgers) and swimming in his backyard pool. When Beth's parents retired, they moved to Florida, and although they have very active volunteer and social calendars, they still make a lot of trips "up north" to visit their children and grandchildren.

We spend time together with Beth's family during Holidays in Florida and at the beach in the summer. One of our favorite things to do in Florida is hand feed the giraffes at a local zoo. Beth's parents also live close to Disney World and can't wait to take their new grandchild on his or her first trip there. The whole family is very supportive and excited about our adoption plans.

Our Home

We love our house! We live in a four- bedroom brick home, which was built in 1936, but believe- it- or- not, is one of the "newer" homes in our neighborhood. We live in a small, coastal, colonial, town in Maryland. Many of the homes and buildings in our town and in our neighborhood were built in the eighteen and yes, even the seventeen hundreds. And, although our home is old, we have spent the last few years remodeling the interior so it looks and feels very open and modern inside. Our favorite "room" is our screened front porch. We love to eat dinner out there, especially steamed crabs, and entertain friends and family often. We can walk to almost everything from our house including parks, restaurants, shops, museums, our local library, and our church. One of our favorite things to do is walk into town for lunch on Saturday and take the water taxi home, which drops us off on a pier at the waterfront park at the end of our street.

Riding Bikes in Our Neighborhood

Our neighborhood is large and has residents of all ages, including a lot of families with small children. There are many good schools in the area, both public and private. A few yards from our home, there's a park, tot lot, and nature trail, which leads to a children's museum. We are also within thirty minutes of two major cities where there are many more museums, an aquarium, historical and cultural sites, and numerous professional sports teams. We always have something new and exciting to do and explore.