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Greg and Deb

Dear Birthmother,

Thank you for choosing to read our letter and giving us the opportunity to share our story with you. We are Greg and Deb and we have been married for 8 wonderful years. We feel very blessed to have a beautiful daughter, wonderful parents, a loving family, and each other. To us, there is nothing more important than family-and we are grateful that you may consider opening your family to ours.

We know that making the decision to place your child for adoption is difficult, as well as one that takes great courage. We can not imagine the pain, sorrow, and confusion, you must be feeling. Without even having met, we know you to be a courageous person to even consider such a selfless act of love. We know we cannot make this decision any less difficult for you, but we hope that by sharing our story, we can help you find the answers for which you are searching. Whatever your decision may be, our hope is that this process brings you comfort and peace.

Our story began in 1994 at the University of Illinois after being introduced by a mutual friend who thought we'd make a "great couple." Greg was in his third year of law school and Deb was finishing her graduate degree in Communication. Our first date was an Illini football game on a scorching hot day in September. On that day, we realized we shared a lot of interests and as Deb would put it, "I knew we would spend the rest of our lives together." We knew it must be a sign when the Illini won the game. After a 5-year courtship, Greg proposed on Valentine's Day in 1998 and we were married in April 1999.

As we were dating, we always talked about raising a family and how excited we were to have children. We both agreed that before we had children, however, we wanted to enjoy some time together as a couple. We traveled often, purchased a home and spent quality time with our friends and family. After 3 years of marriage, we made the decision to start a family. After two years of trying to conceive, we sought the help of fertility experts. Dealing with fertility issues and not being able to get pregnant on our own has been the toughest challenge we have had to face in our marriage-however, it brought us closer together and strengthened our marriage. In November 2004, we were blessed with a miracle, our daughter, Kaitlyn Elizabeth.

Kaitlyn is a vivacious, outgoing, imaginative and loving toddler. She loves to read, dance, swim, play outside with her friends and chase our orange tabby cat, Max. She is also a big fan of Elmo as evidenced by the many stuffed Elmos you'll find in our home. Kaitlyn will make a wonderful big sister to a new baby and often asks mommy and daddy when we will bring home a new baby brother or sister.

When Kaitlyn was 18 months old, we decided to expand our family. Knowing the challenges we experienced before, we again sought the help of fertility experts. After several unsuccessful fertility treatments, we learned that we would not have any additional biological children.

While this knowledge was painful, we truly believe that everything happens for a reason-even if we don't always understand why. Being parents has been the most rewarding experience of our lives. We know we are incredibly blessed and through this experience, we know more than ever, that we have so much love in our hearts to share-it is this love that has led us to adoption. While we have a biological child, we can assure you that we would love your child unconditionally. And, your child would grow up with a loving big sister and experienced parents, who would nurture, teach, guide and love him or her with all of our hearts.

Central to our lives are our families. We are both very fortunate to have wonderful parents and siblings who are a very large part of our lives. Greg is the oldest of three, with one brother and one sister. He is from a very large, close-knit family. There are frequent family gatherings that include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. In fact, every December the entire family gathers at his grandmother's house to make homemade raviolis for Christmas dinner.

Deb grew up in a small town in Central Illinois. She has an older sister and three beautiful nieces. We often take trips down to Deb's hometown where we can enjoy some "downtime" and some peaceful country evenings. And, Kaitlyn loves to play at grandma and grandpa's house with all of her cousins.

Greg is an attorney for a large firm in Chicago. He loves sports (especially football) and enjoys playing golf on an occasional weekend in the summer. Deb works in the field of communications for a large company located in the Chicago suburbs within 6 miles of our home. She is fortunate to have a flexible work arrangement that allows her to work out of the home and have Fridays off to spend with Kaitlyn. After maternity leave, she plans to stay at home to care for the children. She enjoys reading, scrapbooking and traveling.

As a family, we love to be outdoors, go bike riding, play tennis and spend time with our friends. We have many special traditions that we would love to share with a child. We take an annual camping trip on Father's Day with Deb's family in Central Illinois, where we like to fish, catch fireflies and make s'mores. We also have our annual Fourth of July family celebration which includes a trip to the zoo, fireworks and taking part of all the festivities in our community. We also love to take vacations together. Whether it is spending the weekend in Galena, IL celebrating Greg's mother's birthday or playing with the dolphins in the Florida Keys, we love to do these things together as a family. In the end, we are an active, energetic and happy family that cherishes the time we spend together. For us, it is more about taking advantage of the simple, every-day pleasures and doing them with people you love. We are looking forward to sharing these moments with our children.

Our neighborhood offers us many opportunities for these special times. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac in a suburb of Chicago that has many families with small children. In the summer, you can find many of the neighborhood families grilling outdoors and hanging out together while the children play. We have also just started a neighborhood playgroup that meets every week. Each week, the children take turns playing at each other's home or meeting at the swimming pool or a local park. Kaitlyn is very excited to take her new baby brother or baby sister to meet all of her friends.

Along with family and community, our religious faith is an important part of our lives. We plan to raise our children with strong values. We both believe in honesty, respect, compassion and integrity. As parents, we know that we must role model these characteristics for our children. We are also Christians and hope to instill our faith in our child.

Neither you nor we expected to be in this place in our lives and yet, we find ourselves on a similar journey, sharing one common goal: to provide a healthy and loving environment to a child we will all love. Part of that environment is to provide an open relationship for our child-our child will know their birthmother and how special you are. They will always know how much they are loved, by our family and yours.

Thank you for allowing us to share our story with you. You are in our thoughts and prayers today and always.

Sincerely,

Greg and Deb

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