that each night in Oregon, there are about 250 children in foster care waiting for an adoptive family.
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He’d been bounced around for more than 12 years, from home to home.
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Rachelle and Dan
Dear Birthparent,
My name is Rachelle and I wanted to thank you for considering us as adoptive parents and looking at our family book. I very much admire your strength and courage in making this very difficult choice for yourself and your child. On behalf of myself and my family, I want you to know that you will always be honored and respected as the person who allowed us the chance to become parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The chance of becoming a parent fills my heart with excitement and hope. I look forward to the days ahead of laughing, growing, and sharing all of the ups and downs that life has to offer with a child thanks to your selfless gift. I just want you to know that your baby will be very much loved unconditionally and cherished in our home.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area to immigrant parents who moved to the United States from France and Israel in order to get a better education and live the “American Dream”. I have one younger sister and growing up our family would always travel overseas to visit relatives or explore new places. My sister, parents, and I are very close where we visit each other as often as possible. My family is a loud, active bunch of people who all love to live life to the fullest. My parents taught me that perseverance, resiliency, and humor can get you through almost anything in life as long as you have loving people by your side. This is why when I met Dan, I knew that I had found someone to love and build a family with since he has all of these traits.
I met Dan through an online dating site. I figured that since I am a great online shopper, I might have better luck online finding someone to share my life with. Dan and I went out on a few dates and the fact that he loved my family and friends made me just fall in love with him. Dan and I wanted children right away and after two years of infertility treatments, we decided to move forward with adoption. Dan and I love to hike, travel, visit with friends, go camping, cook, and just hang out at home watching movies. We have two amazing dogs Olive and Nelley who are spoiled rotten and go everywhere with us. They love kids and play with my nephews whenever they are visiting.
Dan was made to be a dad. He is the most dependable, loving, and helpful person that I’ve ever met. Dan loves to spend time with his family. He is very protective of the people that he loves, always looking out for the welfare of others. I think that not having children to share experiences with has been hard for my husband. I know that his life will never be complete without having a child to cheer on through life. Being the huge Baltimore Raven’s football fan that he is, I can see Dan taking his child to football games and coaching whatever sport our child chooses to play. Even just sitting on the couch Sunday’s watching the games with his son or daughter will be a perfect day in his eyes. Dan’s calm nature will help our child learn patience and levelheadedness. His humor and love will give our child the sense of confidence to overcome any obstacle that comes their way.
Thank you again for taking the time to read my letter and look through our family book. I wish you the best on this difficult journey and hope that you find peace in whatever your final choice may be.
Respectfully,
Rachelle
Dear Birthparent(s),
Hello, my name is Dan and I would like to thank you for considering us to be the adoptive parents of your child. I know your decision to choose adoption must have been tough to make and I totally respect and admire you for it. Without birthparents like you, my wife and I would not be able to have the family we so want. You will be giving whomever you choose to parent your child the greatest gift one could ever wish for. I hope you enjoy our picture book and our story.
I grew up in the Washington, DC area with my mom and dad and our extended family (I am an only child). Holidays were very important to us and called for big celebrations with family and friends. I have many great memories from my childhood. Most of them involve family activities such as summer vacations at the beach, playing games at home, going out to dinner, going to sporting events, spending time with our friends, or just being silly and laughing about nothing in particular. I am looking forward to creating new memories with my child, wife, and family that hopefully will be cherished the same way I cherish my childhood memories.
My mother and I are really close even though she still lives on the east coast. She is so excited about having her first grandchild, she is pinging off the walls already. She will come to Oregon as often as possible to visit and we usually go back east a couple of times per year as well. Recently she asked me what Skype was and at 72 years old she is looking into technology so she can be close from far away. Unfortunately when I was 11 my father passed away. He was the best dad a child could ever wish for. If I am only half as good as he was, I will be an incredible father (I am an overachiever though so just half as good is not acceptable). I know I will make him proud.
I moved west a few years after college and spent three years in Denver getting to know my cousins and family there before ending up in Oregon 7 years ago. About 5 years ago I met the woman of my dreams, Rachelle, and married her 2 years ago. We share similar upbringings, values, and the importance of family is what bonds us together. She completes me. I feel that our relationship is built on trust, unconditional love, and great communication. We are both very upfront and to the point and work out any issues instead of letting them fester and grow.
Once we were married we immediately tried to conceive a child, but infertility issues have prevented that from happening. After 2 years we decided that adoption would be the best way for us to have a child and grow our family. We both have cousins that are adopted (5 total) so you might say that adoption runs in our family. Birthparent involvement is important to us. We want the best for our child and feel it is important that they know their life story. We are open to a couple of visits per year as well as sending letters and pictures.
We are both equally excited to have children. Rachelle is great with children. She works with foster and adoptive kids in the community and especially likes working with teenagers. She is loving, caring, and nurturing to our nephews and friends children. She loves to play with them and read to them, they adore her. Recently our nephew Aidan said he wished he lived closer to us so he could come see his Aunt Shell every day. She spoils me a lot and I am sure she will spoil our children in her special way too. I am especially looking forward to watching our children grow up and have their first experiences in life. We will encourage them to succeed in whatever they want to do and fully support them in reaching their goals. Education is really important to us and we will financially support them thru college, if that is the path they choose.
We can’t wait to share our interests with our children. We enjoy camping, traveling, playing golf, hiking, taking the dogs to the coast and playing games. Hopefully they will teach us to enjoy new things in life too.
Thanks again for taking the time to get to know us a little bit and if we are a good match we hope to speak to you soon.
Respectfully,
Dan
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