Dear Birth Parent(s),

First we would like to thank you for taking the time to get to know our family and for considering adoption. Adoption creates families and makes dreams come true. We met in 1992 when we were teenagers and began dating shortly after meeting.

We both went to the same university and obtained degrees in Social Work. We both knew that we wanted to help people and Peter went on to work in a hospital while Amanda worked as a geriatric social worker.

After dating for six years Peter proposed and we married a year later in 1999. We always knew that having a family was a top priority for us. After two years of marriage we decided to build our family through adoption. Less than a year later we adopted our son Alexander from Russia. He came home at the age of 1yr. We made a scrapbook of the journey for him to help answer any questions he may have. We have always talked openly about his adoption and his birthmother. He is aware that her decision to put him up for adoption was a decision made out of love. He has been an absolute joy to us and we could not even imagine life without him. We are thankful every day for the gift that we have been blessed with.

We moved to North Carolina two and a half years ago. Peter is still working as a social worker in a hospital, and Amanda now runs a very small licensed home daycare. Amanda has the privilege of watching two other children during the day. When we moved to North Carolina we did not want to place Alexander in childcare and since Amanda's minor was in family studies, we decided that opening a daycare would provide him with the opportunity to have mom home full time while still being able to work. Amanda loves her job and plans to be doing it for many years to come.

Our neighborhood is very family oriented. We have two pools, a park and there are numerous community events held throughout the year. This includes soccer, swim/tennis lessons, holiday parties and annual pool parties. We have fantastic neighbors with whom we are very close with. There is a new elementary school within walking distance of our home and the school district is one of the best in the state. There are also many higher education opportunities nearby.

In our free time we love to spend time together as a family. Every night we take the dog for a walk and usually go for a bike ride. We visit with neighbors and friends on a regular basis. We also enjoy visiting parks, museums, and taking day trips to the beach and mountains. In the summer we spend a large amount of time at the pool. We encourage Alexander to try new things. He has found that he enjoys playing soccer, swimming, skating, gymnastics and horse back riding. Peter plays softball two nights a week so Alexander and Amanda try to attend when possible.

Another important part of our family is our animals. We have three cats and one dog, all of which were rescue animals. They are all loving and friendly and are an essential part of lives.

Our families are very supportive with our decision to adopt again. Amanda's mother has a sister who was adopted and Peter's cousin adopted as well. We also have numerous friends who have adopted.

We decided as a family that we are ready to open our hearts and lives to another child and thus we have decided that it is time to adopt again. We are all very excited about the thought of a new member joining our family. We hope that this letter helped you to get to know a little about our family. We want to thank you again for considering adoption as it has to be an extremely difficult decision. We promise to provide your child a loving, supportive home and give them every opportunity that we are able to. We also want to assure you that we will send you letters and pictures so that you can see how your child is growing and developing. The decision to put your child up for adoption is a selfless one and your child will know that you made this choice out of love.

Sincerely,

Peter & Amanda