Hello we are... Kevin & Jill

Transcription

1 Hello we are... Kevin & Jill

2 Our Hopes and Dreams... One of our dreams came true when we found each other through a dating website. Both of us had been married once before, but we had faith that there was someone else out there better suited for the lives we both desired. We never thought our paths would cross through an online dating site. We were married after dating for about 18 months. We both wanted to start a family right away but we miscarried. This was not the first for Jill, she had 4 miscarriages in her previous marriage. We were told we would never conceive on our own and we should do IVF sooner than later. However, we knew IVF was not right for our family. We were eventually able to conceive on our own and now have an amazing daughter, Holly. We understand the sacrifice and commitment parents make when raising children. We ve had the sleepless nights and the middle of the night feedings. We ve also come to know more joy and laughter than one could imagine. We have been truly blessed by one miracle, but we know that miracles happen in more ways than one. The next miracle and dream we want to enjoy is to be blessed by the miracle of adoption. We hope to grow our family where each child will have their own story how they came to be part of our family. We are excited to share ourselves with you and your child and open our hearts to you. We hope as a mother you will have peace. This undoubtedly will be the most difficult decision you make in your lifetime. You have chosen the most selfless act, the opportunity for your child to have the life you want for them. We truly honor you for that decision. We will do whatever possible for your child to feel safe, secure, happy and loved more than you can measure! Respectfully, Kevin & Jill

3 Our values and beliefs as parents... Graciousness - As a family, we never want to lose sight of what we have been blessed with in our lives. We thank God every day for the home we live in, the food we eat, the people in our life, and the careers we have which help us to provide. We believe in donating to different charity organizations to help others in need and will share our desire to give with our children. We will teach our children it is important to provide to those less fortunate. We will show our children the joy in giving to others by donating their toys and clothes to those who are in need. Respect - Our relationship with our families and friends, as well as our marriage, are all built on a foundation of respect for others. We show each other respect and demonstrate how to treat our loved ones, as well as complete strangers. We lead by example by being polite to each other, saying please and thank you, and use our words to explain when we are frustrated or get our feelings hurt. We apologize to each other when we hurt each other s feelings, we say we are sorry and ask the other to forgive us. We say I love you every chance we get. Honesty - We value being honest and open in our marriage, in our family, and with the ones we love. It can be difficult to be completely honest because you get worried about hurting someone s feelings. But we feel that the alternative to being honest is to hide the truth and which in effect is being dishonest to the ones we care about. There is a way to be honest and respectful without being mean or rude and hurting feelings. We ask for honesty in our marriage, with our family, and with our close friends. We prefer to be honest and know the truth upfront so we may deal with it appropriately, rather than finding out the truth later and having to deal with a lack of trust. Forgiveness - Family, friends, co-workers or even complete strangers sometimes intentionally or unintentionally hurt our feelings. We do our best to offer forgiveness to those who offend us. We do not believe in holding a grudge or having ill feelings toward others. This is not healthy and it really does not solve anything. Even if the offense was so hurtful that the relationship has suffered and may have deteriorated in the process, forgiveness is still very important to move on and put the event in the past. Relationships - Our world would be very lonely if we were not surrounded by relationships. Whether it s a family member, a close friend, or a trusted co-worker, everything we do in life revolves around relationships. We know that some relationships are temporary, some will be life-long relationships. We pour everything we have into our relationships and our family. God is our number one priority, followed by our family and commitment to each other. We will teach your child about relationships and we will lead by example by respecting our relationship, our marriage, and our family, also by being surrounded by loving family members and friends. Your child will experience different relationships but will have a solid example to follow when building their friendships and their own relationships in their life. We will support them unconditionally, and pick them up when they fall down if a relationship ends, as they sometimes do.

4 Our home... We have a great home, filled with love and laughter. We are lucky to have a beautiful home with a fenced in backyard, a great neighborhood with a lot of parks nearby and three swimming pools to visit during the summer months! Our home is in a quiet suburban area, but also only about 30 minutes outside of a major metropolitan city full of museums and fun things to do. We are close to movie theatres, great restaurants, fun parks to visit, and even water parks to visit during the summer. Our home is very comfortable. We painted our entire house together after we moved in. We chose the colors together and chose all warm colors to make our home welcoming to others. Our family room has an old piano and a big comfy couch to snuggle on. We have a lot of fun family time in this room when Kevin is playing piano and others dance and sing along! The living room connected to the kitchen has a warm fireplace that we use during the winter time and is full of toys! It is easy to watch playful activity as Jill and Kevin prepare the family meal. We have a large oversized chair with an ottoman where we love to cuddle with blankets during family story time. We love to entertain family and friends, people feel very welcome when they visit our home. We have pictures of our family all over. We have our whole house babyproofed so our friends who have children are able to let their children play freely without worrying about their child getting hurt. There are so many toys to choose from, including a tent and a fun jump house in our living room for the kids to enjoy. Jill s office is by the front door and the shelves are packed with children s books and home-made cards that we have made each other over the years. We love to fill our home with laughter, silly singing, dancing, music and educational activities. Both non-smokers Hobbies: Adoptive Mother: Working out, listening to live music, travelling, spending time with family and friends, playing any type of sports, i.e., soccer, softball, volleyball, and basketball. Adoptive Father: Fishing, playing piano, gardening, cooking, running, working out, spending time with family and friends. Professions: Saturday and Sundays are much more quiet for us and start with the most delicious pancakes, topped with blueberries and strawberries! We try to get outside as much as possible and often visit our neighborhood pools, go on family walks, play at nearby parks, and also work in the yard and in our garden. There is a grade school across the street from our neighborhood that has a large playground, an open field that s perfect for flying our kite or kicking the ball around, and much more. We also attend church on Sunday mornings. We visit the Catholic church in our area as well as a Christian church about 20 minutes away. We like to visit both churches, each one offers a different experience. As our children grow we will continue to expose them to Christian churches to help build the Christian foundation, but will also help them discover what church they relate to. We are so excited to bring a child home. We can t wait to share our home, our heart, and our entire lives. The baby s room is just down the hall from our bedroom. The room is bright with 3 large windows looking out to a big tree in our front yard. We have a few pieces of furniture and more toys than you can count. Kevin s mom loves to knit and will be busy making a new blanket for the baby soon. We have painted our whole house together so we will paint this room together too. Holly can t wait to paint a special picture for her sibling that will hang on her/his wall. Adoptive Mother: Mortgage Loan Processor Adoptive Father: Director of Accounting Education Level: Adoptive Mother: Bachelor s Degree Adoptive Father: Bachelor s Degree

5 Our family... We met through an online dating site, E-harmony. We chatted online for about a month, then Kevin decided to ask Jill to meet for coffee, which turned into a five hour first date. We went out a 2nd time and decided to meet at a local pool hall. Jill did not get a chance to tell Kevin how good she is at pool, but he quickly found out after losing the first 3 games! We dated for about a year and a half then Kevin proposed. Kevin always calls me his puzzle piece. He s always told me that we fit perfectly together and there s no better match for him. On the day he proposed we spent the day together by the waterfront, had lunch and then went walking around. We were watching all the boats when he pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him and be his puzzle piece for the rest of our lives together. We have both been raised by great parents and been blessed with siblings to share our lives with. Jill s parents have been married for 49 years and Kevin s parents have been married for 43 years. The dedication and commitment our parents have shown to each other has filtered down to all of us children and we want to continue to demonstrate this to our children and theirs to come. As a married couple and parents to a toddler, we recognize the importance of having time alone as adults to continue to grow our marriage and our relationship. Our favorite activity is to listen to live music and are always searching for a concert to see. Some of our favorites are Zac Brown, Tom Petty, Amos Lee, Counting Crows, Lenny Kravitz and Coldplay. We also enjoy just going out to dinner together and playing pool. We try to get out for date night about once a month to keep our relationship fresh. We look forward to creating more memories and growing our family. We have some really fun family traditions we can t wait to share. Whoever s birthday it is gets to invite everyone out to their favorite restaurant. If everyone is able to make it then we need a reservation for 17! Another tradition we like is to collect Christmas ornaments from everywhere that we visit. So if we visit a new state or someplace special we get an ornament. The idea is that we use the ornaments to remind us of all our great experiences. We then save the ornaments over the years and when our children become adults and have their own Christmas trees, their trees will be filled with memories and ornaments from their childhood. Holidays are usually shared with both families, or we alternate each year depending on the holiday. Kevin s extended family always plays the white elephant game at Christmas time. The family members age in range from 2 up through 66 so picking a white elephant gift can be a challenge! But we try our best to find fun and creative gift ideas. There s a lot of laughing and joking around during the game. We hope to create new traditions with our family. If you have any traditions you would like us to share with your child, please let us know so we can create that tradition with your child. We have a strong family network and support system and are excited to introduce another baby into this great family. We are committed to our marriage, our families, and our friends. We have so much love to give and are hoping to grow our family through adoption. Our families and friends support us with the adoption process and are willing to help us any way possible. We truly understand unconditional love coming from our families, and now having a family of our own. We are excited to share ourselves with you and your child and open our hearts to you.