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Dear Birthmother: Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We respect the courageous decision you are making, and we are both eager to get to know you. Our journey with infertility has been long and difficult, but we are excited about welcoming a child into our family through adoption. We hope that the rest of this letter will give you insight into our lives. About Us Our names are Erin and Rob, and we have been happily married for 12 years. We met during the first week of college, and soon became best friends. We continued to date throughout college and married in August following graduation. Family and friends came from all over to celebrate the big event! As a teacher, Erin has worked with children for most of her life, and we have talked about having a family since early in our marriage. We went through some medical procedures to have a child, but nothing ever worked! Turning to adoption has given us renewed hope in our quest to have a family of our own. We grew up in Illinois but moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1997. While we lived there, we traveled a lot on the east coast, all the way from Florida to New York. While we loved North Carolina (especially the winters) we missed our families, so we decided to return to Illinois almost four years ago. Now, we get to spend a lot of time with our siblings, parents, nieces, and nephews. We live in a house in a suburb outside of Chicago. The school district is wonderful, and the park district offers a lot of great programs for children. The local library also offers a lot of activities for kids. There are many families with children on our block, and we have an annual block party. Our Catholic faith is important to us, as is giving back to our community. We enjoy taking needy children shopping for the holidays (through a youth project), running a fun fair for kids, and giving out books at our church's Thanksgiving celebration. About Erin I work as a school media specialist in an elementary school, where I teach library and computer skills to children from kindergarten through fifth grade. I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was in the second grade! I've always loved being with kids. I have been an elementary teacher for 10 years and taught kindergarten, first, and second grades before moving into my current position. Rob and I have planned to have children, so teaching seemed to be the perfect career choice. It is great to have lots of holidays off, as well as the entire summer. I like to spend time with our nieces, nephews, and neighbors, and I enjoy being a Godmother to my 4-year-old niece, Sarah, and 1-1/2-year-old nephew Julian. I enjoy babysitting for our nieces and nephews. We play games together, go out for ice cream, shop, read books, or make cookies. In December, I took my 10-year-old niece, Jessica, to a Hannah Montana concert. We had a great time, though our eardrums took a couple of hours to recover from all of the screaming girls! I like music, dance, and theater, and I was recently in a community musical-theater production. I'm currently taking tap and jazz dance lessons and enjoy comparing notes with a few of my fourth and fifth-grade students. Tennis and softball are my two favorite sports. I played on my college and high school tennis teams, and I still try to play regularly. I also enjoy reading and writing. As a media specialist, I read all kinds of children's books. Both my mom and mother-in-law are librarians, so there are lots of readers around us. I have also written some young-adult books which are yet to be published. About Rob I grew up in a small town with an identical twin brother and two older brothers, who are also identical twins! Our childhood consisted of lots of sports. As a family, we would travel to see relatives or go camping at a nearby campground. Our family is very close and almost everyone lives within an hour of our home. I enjoy spending time with our nieces and nephews. We play games and sports, and we cook and read together. I also really enjoy being a Godfather to my 7-year-old niece Maria. Professionally, I work as a statistical analyst. My position allows me to analyze sales and other data for Kraft Foods. I help Kraft to promote their food more effectively. I recently earned a master's degree, which enabled me to further my career interests. My education has had a very positive influence on me both personally and professionally. I am involved in several community projects, and I especially like working on Habitat for Humanity or Rebuilding Together projects. In my spare time, I like watching baseball and football games, renting movies or reading thrillers by David Baldacci or John Grisham. I also play tennis and enjoy taking long walks. Rob's Thoughts about Erin From the moment I met Erin, I knew she was a very kind person. Erin is someone who always takes others' feelings into consideration. She has a quick smile and a great sense of humor. She is also great with children. Both her giving nature and her experience with children will make her a wonderful parent. Erin's Thoughts about Rob From the first time I met him, I've seen
how thoughtful Rob is. He is generous and patient, and he is especially
wonderful with his nieces and nephews. Rob is always quick to lend
a hand to family and friends. He is calm and understanding, and he
goes above and beyond whatever he is asked to do. He is dedicated to
his family and community, and he will be a great father. In Closing Thank you for taking the time to read our letter and learning a little about us. We are looking forward to being parents, and we will bring a child up knowing the importance of love, family, faith, and education. We hope to meet with you soon to get to know you better. Please feel free to call us toll free anytime at (866) 844-2023. You can also contact our adoption counselor, Tobi Ehrenpreis, at (800) 869-1005. We wish you strength and peace as you face some difficult decisions. Warmly, About
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