Dear Birth Parent(s),

Hi! We are Tim and Susan, and we thank you from the deepest part of our hearts for considering us as potential adoptive parents of your child. We have much love to share and want more than anything else to raise a boy or girl with stability, acceptance and affection.

The adoption process has been quite a journey for us; we are very excited to become parents! As you read about earlier in this profile, we have a close, caring family, as well as many friends who support us in this process.

Although we were both born and raised in Upstate New York, we have resided in Middle Tennessee since June 2000. Tim works as an adult education teacher, helping men and women to better themselves by learning valuable computer skills. Sue works as a graphic artist, designing stationery and brochures for people and businesses all over the country.

In fact, "the arts" factors heavily into both of our lives. Tim is a singer and acoustic guitarist; Susan creates traditional arts and crafts. We love music, nature, animals, conversation and 80's pop culture. We often blend our interests together. For example, Sue sometimes creates computer-based picture slideshows to share with friends and family members, and Tim adds his original music to the shows as a soundtrack.

For fun we enjoy spending time in coffeehouses with our friends, laughing and sharing the events of our lives. We love lighthearted, social activities such as bowling, hiking, canoeing, and visiting libraries and museums. Our favorite foods are Italian and traditional American; in fact, one of the things we enjoy doing very much is sharing a Papa John's pizza at home while watching a rented movie together!

Although there is no way for us to know what you are going through emotionally with this adoption process, please know that we offer you unconditional acceptance, support and a willingness to help in any way that we can.

We can offer a child a "soft place to fall." By this we mean not only security in the essentials-shelter, clothing, food, health care, etc.-but also an honest, open-minded and willing environment where the child is always free to express whatever is on his or her mind or inside his or her heart.

Because Tim works from home, he will always be near the baby. Susan plans to take a leave of absence from her job so that she can be nearby as well. Therefore, we will be able to spend as much quality time together as possible! As we mentioned before, our extended family resides in Upstate New York. We are considering the possibility of moving closer to family. We believe that it is so important for a child to have a close extended family. We value family relationships and want to instill that in our child.

Please know also that we believe very strongly in honest and open communication. That is to say, we are ready, willing and able to tell our child the story of his or her birth. In fact, we look forward to the opportunity to have many such heart-to-heart discussions with the child. Unless it is not your wish, we would love to have our child know who you are and what a special place in his or her life you have.

We intend to make the child's adoption an "open book" topic for our entire family. We will ensure that there is never any doubt or shame associated with the way that the child came to us. We are so excited to be parents-we look forward to sharing that excitement with a child. We will want the child to know that he or she is special because they are adopted. We are meeting with friends who are also adoptive parents and reading books on the subject to learn the most effective, loving and accepting ways to discuss adoption with the child.

Also, please understand that you will never wonder what your child looks like as he or she grows up, or what his or her favorite interests and activities are. We will keep you posted with photographs and letters so that you always remain a part of our family.

We feel called to adoption and want to again thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering us as possible adoptive parents. You will always hold a special place in our hearts and lives.

Tim & Susan