Dear Birth Parent(s),

Though we don't know you personally yet, we thank you. Thank you for the gift that you are going to bless someone with, parenthood. You may be in a difficult situation, which has led you to create an adoption plan for your child…but deciding, out of love for your baby, to turn a hard time into a thing of beauty is something we admire. We have already been blessed by becoming parents through adoption. So we have witnessed first hand, the importance of this experience.

We had been unable to conceive after ten years of trying. So adoption for us was an exciting choice. We were blessed two years ago, when we adopted our son Martonio. Being parents is even better than we dreamed it would be! Now, we are thrilled at the prospect of a new bundle of joy joining us!! We explain to our son that he will have a new brother or a sister soon and he excitedly says, "Baby!" That's 2-year-old for 'I can't wait!' He's going to be such a great big brother. He is sweet, affectionate and fun-loving.

The satisfaction we get from pouring our lives and love into a child is so gratifying. We want a large family, knowing that we have so much to offer children…not just material comforts, but what we believe is even more important. We provide a deep sense of security, a home with tons of laughter, a committed faith in God and a love for each other that is obvious in our everyday life. We celebrate individuality, positive attitudes, creativity, honesty, integrity, respect, affection, laughter and above all else, love. Our goal as Christians is to live a life that would make God proud. The precious thing is to see how secure a child feels in this type of environment.

Mark is Puerto Rican, black and white (German/Irish). His dad is from New York and his mom is from Puerto Rico. Michelle is white: mostly Scottish, German, English and European. Our son is black and white…so we are a culturally rich family. Our common bond is that we are all unique! As far as what cultures we identify with-quite a few. We live in a racially and culturally rich city. Our friends are mostly black, white and hispanic. It's always been important to us, for children to be exposed to others who look both alike and different from them. We encourage them to enjoy and celebrate who they are, racially and culturally-but most importantly, to celebrate that each are God's precious creation and that while He made them beautiful on the outside, it's the inside He truly cares about.

Our favorite holiday is Christmas. Michelle gets so excited to decorate that she usually starts the day after Thanksgiving! We stream the house with lights, moving reindeer, a fresh Christmas tree and our stockings hung up together. Of course, there's lots of time spent with family and friends. We usually get together for a block party, too. Christmas morning is filled with piles of presents, tons of food and opening gifts with our families. We usually wind down later in the day by going to a movie or renting one, eating leftovers and just enjoying each other.

Our most favorite thing to do is to be together. Whether it's biking, going to a movie, traveling, camping, exploring, shopping, eating out, playing, walking, visiting family, having friends over or just lounging around talking, our best-loved times are ones spent with each other.

And after a fun day of activity, we will do the same thing with this second child as we do with our first. We wind down before bedtime and as we're holding him/her, we talk about all the fun things we did that day, all the accomplishments made, how proud we are of them and how much we love them. We will continue to treasure as blessings, these children we are so grateful for.

We have very open communication and our goal is that even when they are teenagers, to have them feel comfortable coming to us when they're hurting or facing challenges. We will be there to comfort them if their girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with them, if they lose a close friend, when they have difficult choices to make or any other time that we can listen, put our arms around them and offer gentle guidance.

While education is important to us, (we're both college graduates) we absolutely support children in pursuing their own dreams. So we expose them to lots of experiences, hobbies, places and careers, so they can discover what they are interested in. Our deepest desire for them is that they love God and that they are happy. We're excited to see what they do with their lives but focus on who they are inside.

If you desire, we'll happily send you pictures and letters to assure you that you have made the right decision. And we will pray that God will continue to bless you for the loving choice you made.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Mark & Michelle