Dear Birth Parent(s),

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter, for being so courageous, and for giving couples the opportunity to start a family. We cannot imagine the difficult decision you have to make but hope that you are receiving all the love and support you need.

Our names are Ray and Donna. We met by fate at a football game in 1999. Donna thought she was in the right seat and section and asked Ray to move. Later in the game Donna realized SHE was in the wrong section. It was fate that brought us together and we have been happily married since 2002.

While we were dating we talked of our future. We even discussed adoption and that if having biological children was not possible, that we would absolutely plan to adopt. The common thread in all of our plans was that we would have a family.

Your child will be the most cherished blessing in our lives. We will love, protect, and provide to the best of our abilities for this child. We plan to create an adoption story that will be updated throughout this journey. We envision this book to be a favorite, like his/her bedtime story, a book that will be read again and again. You will always have a special place in our hearts and lives. We will provide as many pictures and letters as you want. Your child will always know your decision to place him/her for adoption was made from love.

Ray has been with the same company for sixteen years; he is a Senior Systems Analyst. Donna's been working for fourteen years and is also in technology. Ray will continue to work full time and Donna will work part time after the adoption. Donna also plans to take an extended leave (six months) from work after the placement. We plan to use Donna's company's on-site child care. Both of our jobs are flexible so that we can work from home as needed.

We have a large extended family with many nieces and nephews. Donna's family lives within 20 minutes of each other. Ray's family lives 45 minutes away. When we talked to the families about our plans to adopt we gave each family a binder we put together about adoption. We talked to everyone and encouraged questions, but we felt that if they had a question when we weren't around, the information we provided would be helpful. We feel it is very important that everyone in our family understand adoption and talk openly about it. Your child will always be supported and loved by all our family members.

We have a warm, loving, and caring marriage. It's an old cliché to say that married couples are best friends, but for those fortunate to have found the right person it is really true. We have a sense about one another that allows us to know when the other needs some special attention, like having a bad day and the other volunteering to make dinner. We are an active couple, run in charity 5K's, ride our bikes, go for walks, play softball, and golf. We like to do home renovations, actually Donna has the visions and Ray builds them. We have taken wonderful vacations together. We plan on taking many road trips as a family and build many more memories. We hang out at home quite a bit too. Thursday nights has been our 'TV night'. We make a nice dinner and thanks to the wonderful invention of TIVO we catch up on all of our favorite shows. On those cold nights, we relax and watch movies or play a TV Trivia game.

We live in a four bedroom home, in a suburb just outside a large city. Our home is directly across the street from the grammar school, park, and athletic fields. We bought the house with the intention of raising our family. The suburb has excellent schools, parks, community activities, and tree-lined streets. Plus we are close enough to the city so we can take advantage of the many diverse cultural festivals.

As we go about our day we strive to be good people, being honest, respecting others, being considerate and compassionate, and sharing each other's love. Our lives are blessed with great family and friends, but we know we are missing the greatest gift of all, children. We hope our prayers will be answered and soon become parents.

We appreciate you taking the time to read our letter. We hope that after reading about us you can envision the good people that we are and bless us with the joy of raising your child.

Sincerely,

Ray & Donna