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Waiting Families

Sarah and Karen

Karen and Sarah

Dear Birthparents,

My name is Sarah and I have struggled trying to find the correct words for this letter. I want to thank you for taking the time to read my wife and my letters and looking at our photo book.

I am 29 years old and work as a police officer in Oregon. I really enjoy reading, and doing outdoor things, such as hiking, camping, backpacking, and gardening. In my wife Karen I have found another person to do all of these activities with. Karen and I met about 2 years ago through a friend and went out on our first date a couple days later. She is the spontaneous side to my structured side. We dated for about 14 months before we were married. My parents were so excited about our wedding that they invited almost everyone they knew and we were worried that we were going to run out of room, and food.

My parents and grandparents have been a large part of my life. My parents were very active in both my little sister and my life. They attended all school and sporting events, and even went as chaperones to some away events. I intend to be as active in my child’s school and extracurricular activities as my parents were for me. Currently Karen and my schedules work out so that we will only need daycare on the weekends and my parents are looking forward to being our weekend daycare. Karen’s family lives in Southern California where she is from, and we try to go there at least twice a year. Both of our families are very excited to welcome a new member into the family. My little sister moved to Europe, and so our child will get to experience different cultures when they go there to visit.

Once we learned that neither Karen nor I could carry a healthy pregnancy we knew right away that adoption was the path we were met to take. We have friends who have adopted, and I grew up with other children who were adopted. We both feel that it is important for a person to know where they come from and therefore are excited for an open adoption. We are open to yearly visits and letters and pictures.

I know Karen will be a wonderful mom. I have seen Karen with her nephews and nieces and I know from experience that she is going to be a very patient and supportive mom. Karen always encourages her young nephews and nieces to work towards becoming their very best and is always there for them to share their successes and heart breaks. She talks to all of them on the phone at least once a week. Now we are able to Skype regularly with all of our family members.

Karen and I spend our extra time with each other, our friends, family and our dogs. Once the weather is nice we take our two dogs, Remi and Jack, out camping or hiking. We want to share all of these activities with our child. Karen and I also spend our extra time coaching a girls soccer team. I have been coaching them for almost 4 years and Karen joined in when we first met. Coaching has shown how wonderful it is to see a child happy and proud when they succeed. I am definitely looking forward to being an active member in my child’s life.

I want to thank you again for taking the time to read our letters, and wish the best for you in the future.

Sincerely,
Sarah

Dear Birthparents,

My name is Karen and I want to thank you for taking the time to get to know us through our letters and pictures. I want to let you know how much I admire and respect you for making such a tough decision and considering an adoption plan for your child.

Growing up I was primarily raised by my grandmother, aunt, and uncle. I considered myself a lucky child for having such strong positive role models in my life, especially my grandmother. She was originally from Central America and worked very hard to give her children and grandchildren the life she never had but always wished for. My grandmother taught me many things but she always stressed the importance of being humble, honest, and of course treating others with respect. There were so many stories and life lessons that I learn from her that I want to share with a child.

I met Sarah through a mutual friend over 2 years ago. I am very lucky to have found her. We are in a committed, healthy, loving, and respectful relationship and want nothing more but to add to our small family. Since the day we met Sarah and I have been very open about our desire to become parents. Currently it is just us and our two dogs. Their names are Remington who is a 5 years old Shar-pei and Jack who is a 6 years old Chow Chow mix.

Sarah is a selfless, funny, and loving person who puts her family and friends above herself. As a parent I see Sarah being very hands on in our child’s extracurricular activities. Currently we volunteer and coach a girls’ soccer team. We both played soccer growing up and we find it important and influential to coach soccer in our community. We have grown very close to the parents and children on our team. When at practice our soccer girls see Sarah as a positive role model. I have had some of our team moms come up to me and just rave about Sarah and how much their children look up to her.

Sarah and I are very outgoing people. We enjoy camping anywhere water is present, hiking in the mountains with our dogs, and traveling to visit family around the world. We are very excited for our child to be included in these activities especially traveling. Claire, who is Sarah’s sister, lives in Spain so we plan visiting every chance we get. We think that it is not only important for our child to know their family but to be able to embrace other cultures.

Sarah and I both have small tight knit families who are very supportive. We both grew up spending a lot of time with our grandparents and we hope that our child can do the same. My family currently lives in California where I grew up and we visit them a couple of times a year. We have lunch a couple of times a week with Sarah’s parents, attend weekly family dinners, and go on family vacations. We have arranged our schedules so that we will have the child with us during the week, and Sarah’s parents will be daycare when we work on the weekends. Which they are very excited about!

We are lucky to be surrounded by a great group of friends and their children. We have many friends who have adopted as well as friends who are adopted. I feel that I am lucky to have them in my life to help understand the needs and thoughts which our child might experience. We also feel that it is important for the child to know their birth parents and have a positive relationship with you.

Again I want thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I hope that it gave you some insight as to who we are as a family. I look forward to getting to know you during this journey.

Thank you,
Karen