Dear Family

Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about us.  We have so much respect and awe for your decision to consider adoption, and we can only imagine how difficult your next decisions may be. 

Our names are Adam and Jen.  We met when we were young, and we knew that our future would be together.  We have been together for almost fourteen years and have been married for close to nine years, and we are even more in love with each other now than when we first met.  From the beginning of our marriage we knew we wanted to adopt, and our daughter Maya came to us through a domestic open adoption in June 2008.  She is the light of our lives and brings us incredible joy each day.  We have always wanted at least two children and are thrilled to begin the adoption process again.

About Us

Adam on Jen… Jen is one of the most amazing people I know – a wonderful wife and even better mother.  She is caring, brilliant and loves to laugh.  When I see the look on her face whenever she sees Maya, I love her even more.  You can see the love pour out of her whenever we are all together.  Every day, I am more touched by her capacity for love and patience with our daughter, and I am excited to share her love with our future children.

Jen on Adam…Adam is the most caring man I know.  He is so charismatic and everyone he meets is drawn to him immediately.  Adam has a great sense of humor and loves to make me and Maya laugh.  He is a wonderful father and loves spending time with Maya playing with legos or cars, reading, or just being silly and dancing in our living room.  I can’t wait to watch him with Maya and our future children as they grow, teaching them everything from how to play baseball to how to be a kind and caring person like himself. 

Together…Our home is on the north side of Chicago in a neighborhood full of children and families.  We are always busy taking advantage of everything the city has to offer, whether visiting the museums, taking a walk to the parks in our neighborhood or to our favorite ice cream store.  We love going to the Aquarium, the Nature Museum, the Children’s Museum, and the Lincoln Park Zoo with our friends and their families.  We can’t wait to go see the ivy at Wrigley as a family. We look forward to helping Maya and our next child discover their own passions and interests.

Many of our favorite times together are spent with our families, who adore Maya and are thrilled at the idea of having another child to love.  Adam's relatives live in the northern suburbs of Chicago, in central Florida (forty-five minutes from Disney World), and in New York City, while Jen's relatives live in Atlanta.  We keep in touch with our families almost daily through phone and email, and Maya video chats with her grandparents several times a week.  We visit Adam’s parents in Florida each winter to enjoy the sunshine.  We go to Atlanta to visit Jen’s family often, where we have a wonderful time playing with Maya, her nephews, who are four and six, and her doting aunt, uncle and grandparents.  We also go on at least one beach vacation each year with Jen’s family.  Our families also visit us in Chicago regularly.  We see Adam’s family here in Chicago often too, especially because Maya adores her ten-year-old cousin and because her great-grandparents want to see her as often as possible.    

We believe strongly in the importance of education.  We both graduated from college and then went to law school to pursue our interests in history and government.  We are both professionals – Jen works as an attorney for the federal government, and Adam works at Walgreens’ corporate headquarters.  During the week, Maya is at home with a nanny and another child and will be starting preschool this fall. 

Maya is African-American, and we look forward to adopting another African-American or bi-racial child.  We hope our children will bond through their similar experiences as part of a transracial family.  Although we know we may face challenges in raising children of a different race, we believe that these challenges will only make our family stronger.  We live in a diverse community and will continue to do so and to surround ourselves with families like our own. We look forward to the opportunity to teach our child about their cultural heritage together as a family.  We believe that providing our children with strong racial and cultural identities will help instill them with self-confidence.

The greatest joy of our lives has come from being Maya’s parents, and we cannot wait to have another child to share in the fun.  We would be honored to have you in our lives if you choose (as we do with Maya’s birthmom and her four half-brothers), and we will always teach our child about your enormous love and about the amazing decision you made for your child's future.  Thank you again for taking the time to read about us.  We wish you the best of luck in all of your decisions. 

Love, Adam, Jen and Maya