Dear Birth Parent(s),

We want to thank you. We are so grateful that you have taken your time to consider us as adoptive parents for your child. You are amazingly compassionate, giving and obviously loving.

We can not fully understand how difficult this decision is for you. But please know that your child will be loved with every ounce of our hearts. Your child will be cherished and adored. The child will be part of a close, loving family that includes wonderful aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends.

We are Chris and Melissa, and we are truly and deeply in love. After six years of marriage we still thank God everyday for bringing us together. We have a three year old daughter, Katie. She came to us after a long, and often heartbreaking struggle with infertility. We have tried unsuccessfully to have another child to complete our family. We feel that adoption is the best path to fulfilling our dream. We truly believe that adoption will be a wonderful and positive experience for our family. Our first child, Katie talks about her brother or sister all the time. She can not wait! She understands adoption to be the way you get a sibling. Many of her friends and their siblings are adopted; to Katie adoption is the normal way that a family grows. It also feels very natural to us. We also can not wait for another child to love. Your child would be a gift from heaven and would be loved and adored just as Katie is. Both children would be given every opportunity we can give, emotionally, spiritually and financially.

We have been blessed to be able to live our dreams thus far. Chris has a wonderful career with the US government that is financially, but more importantly emotionally rewarding. Melissa is a stay-at-home mom. She feels extremely fortunate to have such a great opportunity. Living your dreams is really important to us. We want our children to live their dreams as well. Our goal as parents is to give our children all the love, support and nurturing they need to do this.

Parenting to us means unconditional love, constant encouragement and unwavering support. Parents are there to guide children through life and to give them the tools to discover and maneuver through this great big world. Parents hold and comfort sick children, no matter time of day or what else is going on in life. The needs of the child come before all else. They encourage their children to always do their best, and are always there with unwavering support and pride. Most importantly, parents love their children and give their children the ability to have a high self esteem and confidence in themselves. We feel we have many strengths as parents. First of all, we already have one child, a 3 year old daughter, Katie. She is anxiously awaiting the arrival of a brother or sister! We know the challenges of having children, and we also have some experience in handling them. We know how a child changes a relationship. Our marriage evolved into something more wonderful than it already was. Who would have thought! We can only imagine how great another child will be. Our commitment to each other and our children is the single biggest priority in our lives. We just can't wait until you, and God, helps to complete our family.

The most fun we have is when we are spending time as a family. We love to take our daughter outside to do chalk drawings in the driveway, or for a wagon ride around the neighborhood (a wagon built for two)! We go to arts & crafts festivals on the river in the Summer, and pumpkin picking in the Fall. The best part is coming home and carving the pumpkins into silly jack-o-lanterns. We have a lot of fun during football season. We often invite our friends and their kids over to watch the games and eat great food. We also spend a lot of time at the zoo. We love animals. We have three cats and a dog. They are a big part of our family. Our family loves to travel. Whether it's a short weekend trip, or two weeks in a faraway place, it's always fun. Traveling gives us the opportunity to experience other places and people. It is important to us that our children know the whole world and learn to appreciate its differences and similarities.

Your child would not only be a gift from God, but obviously from you. We understand that there is no more generous or compassionate gift than that of a child. Your child would grow up knowing what a wonderful woman you are, and how much you love them. Your child will know that you sacrificed deeply to help fulfill their dreams. If you desire, we will gladly send you pictures and letters. We want you to see your child grow up happy, healthy and proud; proud of themselves, and proud of where they came from.

We were blessed to grow up with many opportunities. Your child will have those same opportunities and more.

With our deepest gratitude,

Chris & Melissa