There are many reasons we have to be grateful to you. We are grateful that you have chosen to give life to this child so he or she may be raised in a family. We are indebted to you for the sacrifice you are currently making in behalf of the child—through the pregnancy, the decisions, and the labor of giving this child life. We hope to share the joys and successes of this child with you through an open adoption. We look forward to regularly telling our child about the miracle of how he or she joined our family because of your tremendous gift of love.
For many years Carmin and I have anticipated becoming parents. As a father I look forward to the day when I will be able to play with my children. I love getting down on the floor and joining in the fun children are having. On one occasion I laid on the carpet as my niece showed me the moving parts of her doll house. On a separate occasion a niece was slowly moving along the kitchen floor on a children’s tricycle. I then began moving her swiftly around the room on a circular race track. Long after I was tired from pushing the tricycle did my niece tire of speeding along the kitchen. I also look forward to teaching our children. My father spent a lot of time with me through teaching me how to work.
I have always looked forward to being a stay at home mom. This means I will spend all day with my children to enjoy their discovery of life. I have collected many children’s books, and I love the excitement of sharing stories with children. I can hardly wait to have my child’s head next to my cheek as we turn pages together and tell the story in animated voice. As my children grow older, I want them to feel empowered to learn any skill they want to. This will begin at home in their earliest years, when we make cookies together and their little hands help with the sticky dough. Or maybe this confidence will begin during an art project, or dancing together, or doing small science projects . . . all because I will be with them, making sure the best interest of my children is considered in our daily activities.
Every Monday night, Sam clears his throat and booms out, “We would like to welcome everyone to family home evening tonight.” I smile back at him and nod as I say, “Thank you.” We have established patterns of family home evening and weekly dates because we enjoy each other’s company. We want to set the pattern in our marriage now that our family is each other’s first priority and we enjoy working together and playing together. We have found lots of opportunities to explore the beautiful area where we live. We have hiked to a glacier, biked along a lakeside, gone cabin camping (in both winter and summer!), gone canoeing, and hosted game nights and dinner parties with friends. It will be an easy transition to include our child in all of our activities, because we look forward to sharing the excitement with him/her. We also enjoy doing home improvement projects in our house and yard and keeping up with our garden. Whatever we do, it is easy to enjoy it because we are together!
Our promise to you is that all children placed in our home will be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will not be perfect parents, but we will work hard to ensure that children placed with us will be loved and cared for. We know that much of life’s happiness can be found within a family. We anticipate the day that our family will be blessed with children.
Love,
Sam and Carmin
