Dear Birth Parent(s),

Our names are Brad and Sue. Thank you for considering us for your adoption plan for your child. We can not begin to understand how difficult this decision must be; however, we "hope" that you can trust that we are very committed to giving a child a very loving, caring, supportive, and "our-time" filled life.

We were introduced by a mutual friend in 1995 and our nine years of uninterrupted courtship proved we stood on a solid foundation before marrying June 19, 2004. Our similar upbringings in small communities helped to reinforce our common values, work ethics, and talents, adding to our attraction to each other. We are happy to have likewise found a home and community similar to where we grew up to raise our family. Sue's attraction to Brad is his talent to make others (and her) laugh. He is both entertaining and creative with his endless puns and wit. She also appreciates his intelligence and enjoys his sports interests along with his skill and patience noted particularly when he coaches. Brad describes Sue as the "project person", always having an activity on her agenda. Brad notes she has a "can do" attitude, admiring her determination, persistence and ability to laugh at herself. Together, we will give a great balance for a child's upbringing by teaching, helping to bring out their creativity, and instilling a sense of humor as well.

Our journey to becoming parents was tragically taken from us in 2005 when we lost our daughter at our 5th month of pregnancy. Her name was Hope Illene and she lived only 30 minutes following her birth as her lungs were not developed enough to support her. We have tried for the past 2 years to get pregnant again, including the assistance of fertility treatments, all without success. Our path to adoption centers on a shared desire to be parents and to have our lives filled with the blessing, experiences and joy of a child. Through our loss and disappointments, we know that we will be very dedicated and committed to being loving and patient parents, appreciating each moment we have with them. Our heartache has now turned to excitement and anticipation as we truly believe and have great "hope" that adoption is the "master plan" to offer us a family and to be parents.

We certainly have every intention of being open and honest with your child on how they came into our family, portraying you and your adoption plan in a positive light, as a demonstration of your unconditional and unselfish love for their well-being. We will be willing to maintain a relationship with you, representing you as the child's extended family, sharing pictures, letters and video clips. We are also willing to support any privacy issues you may have with understanding if connections with the child may cause pain to you. We view your adoption plan as "a gift of life," with us as your "chosen recipients" to care for, nurture and love this precious life gift.

We hope to give this child a life that is filled with our attention, focusing on their talents and interests. We want them to be life-long learners, encouraging them to try new things and not be afraid of failure while having the ability to have fun in all they attempt. Our upbringings involved "family time" and this will help to influence our focus in putting the child's needs first. We will be able to have family leave from our jobs when we first bring the child home and with Brad's teaching schedule, will be able to limit their time in daycare, giving them summers with "daddy". Our work schedules will also allow us flexibility to attend their special events and care for them in times of illness. We look forward to having our world "centered" on their needs, interests and activities.

In closing, we hope that we have shown in our words how valuable the "gift of a child" is to us. We can assure you that we have the best of intentions to provide a child with a life that is filled with unconditional love, support, laughter, appreciation and most importantly time together as a family. Thank you for taking this time and we would welcome the opportunity to be selected for your adoption plan.

Through our own experience we keep the following saying close in our hearts:

"Faith is being sure of what we "hope" for and certain of what we do not see."

With Greatest Sincerity,

Brad & Sue