Our families are overjoyed about our plan to adopt and cannot wait for the arrival of the new baby. Diane's niece has a 2 month old girl who will be thrilled to have another baby in the family. Jeff's sister Carrie cannot wait for a baby either. She is hoping our baby will be another playmate for her son.
Jeff is the first of three children. He has a younger brother, Steven and a sister, Carrie. Steven has a son and Carrie has an infant son. Jeff's family lives an hour to 2 hours away, so we only get to see them for holidays, birthdays and special occasions. Although we don't see them as often as we would like, we stay in touch over the phone and through emails. Jeff's step-mother and step-father both have grandchildren of their own. These additional family members make holidays all that more exciting.
Diane's Extended Family at Her Parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary
We are much closer to Diane’s family because they live much closer than Jeff's. Diane is the 5th of 6 children. She has 3 brothers and 2 sisters who are all close in age and share very close relationships. We get together for special occasions like holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. Sometimes we get together just for dinner. We go to professional hockey, baseball and football games, museums and other places together. Diane has 6 nieces and nephews, most are around the same age. One nephew is 11 and loves to get together with us to play soccer and baseball.
Every year we celebrate 4th of July at Diane's brother's house. We always have our traditional polish kielbasa and sauerkraut, lots of burgers, and other picnic food. Traditionally, we play horseshoes, board games, card games, and dominoes. Diane's mom always seems to win 500 rummy. Diane's 11 year old nephew usually beats everyone at a board game. A swim in the pool is always a must before going to the fairgrounds to watch fireworks as a group.
Diane's siblings are very close to their parents. They all visit or talk on the phone with them weekly. Recently they organized a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for their parents. They worked for weeks to reconnect with distant family, neighbors, and old friends. When her parents danced the first dance there was not a dry eye in the place.
Our House & Neighborhood
Our Home
Our beautiful 2 story home is located in a quiet shore community in New Jersey. It has a large wrap-around porch where we enjoy cool summer breezes. The first floor of our home has an open, airy floor plan. The eat-in kitchen overlooks our dining room and living room, allowing for plenty of conversation between rooms. Our sunny office can be converted to a playroom someday. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and a brightly lit walk-out basement, which is great for entertaining or just relaxing in. You walk outside at ground level and you are in our fenced in backyard where we entertain guests around our pool. We love barbequing, sitting around a campfire, and tending to our gardens.
We are a part of our neighborhood association that organizes fun and educational activities for the whole neighborhood, such as planting flowers around our veteran's park and other parks in the community.
Playground 1 Block from Our House
The association organizes our town's holiday parties and annual river clean up. Our town celebrates its anniversary with a street fair, has a Memorial Day Parade, and fireworks on July 4th by the river. Our firehouse hosts the annual Halloween party and Christmas party. There are lots of games, rides, educational activities, and food. We really enjoy our neighborhood "End of The Summer Block Party" on our street with 70 of our closest neighbors. Everyone young and old plays games throughout the day.
Our neighborhood has a lot of young families who walk past our house everyday to go to the playground a block away. The family across the street adopted a baby girl 5 years ago. They are very excited that we want to adopt a baby. Our neighborhood has 3 parks and playgrounds within walking distance. Nearby is a large park with lots of hiking trails and a pond for fishing and ice skating. One block away is a protected nature reserve along the river where we see ducks, geese, swans, and other wildlife. We also have a quiet wading beach with a playground and picnic area.
American Adoptions, a private adoption agency founded on the belief that lives of children can be bettered through adoption, provides safe adoption services to children, birth parents and adoptive families by educating, supporting and coordinating necessary services for adoptions throughout the United States. For more information on American Adoptions please call 1-800-ADOPTION (236-7846).
