Tom and Laura
Dear Birth Parent(s),
Hello, we are Tom and Laura. We cannot possibly understand the challenges you face in your decision to consider adoption, or the difficulties you have and continue to experience in your journey. But please know that, whatever your decision, we wish you peace and contentment. We too have been on a journey. We have struggled with infertility for the past few years. They say everything happens for a reason and we believe that perhaps we have been led to each other. It has become our greatest hope and desire to expand our family through the blessing of adoption. We have an abundance of unconditional love and patience and would welcome your child with open minds, hearts and arms.
About Us… We met in March of 2003 while attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Tom would say it was the “luck of the Irish” that we met (Tom’s mom is Irish). Laura would say “Tom was just plain lucky!” Our courtship was very fun and exciting. We quickly discovered all the things we had in common and enjoyed doing together. Tom proposed in Laura’s kitchen; it was actually more romantic than it sounds! Tom did not get down on one knee that day, but he did so years later in that same kitchen before we sold that house and moved to our current home.
We were married on June 11, 2004, on a beautiful beach, with just our immediate family present. Our nieces and nephews served as our attendants making it fun for everyone and a real family affair. Since then we have grown as a family. On December 17, 2006, our daughter Ava was born. Ava attends preschool and also goes to Sunday school. She is a happy, well-adjusted, outgoing, imaginative, and creative four year old. She enjoys music and dance. She is athletic and looks forward to participating in organized sports. She would love to have a brother or sister. Of course, her ideal situation is to have both! The addition of Ava to our lives has truly been our greatest blessing to date and we hope to receive that same blessing through adoption of another child.
We love to do many things as a family. We like to travel, attend sporting events, and explore the amenities our local area provides. We like to attend concerts, plays, and musicals. In the winter, we enjoy skiing, sledding, and ice-skating. In the warmer months we like to go to recreational parks, amusement parks, water parks and the beach. We enjoy the outdoors and like to swim and boat as much as possible in the summer months. We live in an area that allows us to enjoy all four seasons, and we love it!
Laura on Tom… Meeting Tom has been a dream come true. He is hard working, energetic, fun, kind, considerate and extremely attentive and loving. Tom already had lots of nieces and nephews when we met, as did I. I immediately got to see what I already knew to be true—that Tom would be an outstanding father. In fact, Tom has proved to be an even better father than I could have imagined. Seeing the interaction between Tom and Ava makes me fall more in love with him each day. He is not afraid to play dress up and knows all the princess’s names as well as I do, maybe even better. He is also a wonderful teacher and takes great pride in teaching Ava new things whether it is something educational or something recreational. This past winter Tom began teaching Ava to ski. It is something he had wanted to do since she was able to walk, but I said he had to wait until she was at least four. A few weeks after she turned four, we hit the slopes.
Tom works hard to provide financial stability for our family. He is a manager of his own business and has been very successful for over 15 years. His job has plenty of flexibility, which allows him to be very involved on a daily basis. He arrives home late in the afternoon and is always ready to take on the role of Daddy!
Tom brings so much happiness into my life and the lives of our family and friends. It is just not as fun if Tom is not around!
Tom on Laura… Laura is my best friend, and the love of my life! Laura had been working in human resources for about ten years when we met. But when Ava arrived, we decided together that it would be best for our family for Laura to be a stay at home mom. It was and continues to be one of the best decisions we have ever made. Professionally she was successful, but her greatest success is at the toughest job in the world—being a full-time mother. With Laura at home, we have been able to really focus on our family.
I could list endless examples of what it is that makes Laura such a fantastic wife and mother, but you would really have to meet her to truly appreciate her. She goes all out for holidays and special occasions by decorating the house from top to bottom. She prepares unbelievable meals. She bakes until the house smells so good you want to eat everything in sight! Laura is generous with her time by volunteering at the preschool. And, she is a committee member for the National Pancreas Foundation. But Laura’s greatest joy is being a mother and taking care of our family. I cherish every moment of the life we have together with our daughter.
Our Community… We live in the suburbs thirteen miles from one of the “most livable cities”. Our city has many wonderful things to offer: museums, libraries, parks, a zoo, professional sports, and cultural events. Our schools are ranked among the highest for our state. Our home is situated on a corner lot, with a wooded back yard. We are blessed to live in a four bedroom, two-story home. Our neighborhood is home to many families with lots of kids. Our community has wonderful organized programs for all ages whether it be educational or recreational. We live only minutes away from our community recreational center.
Our Values… As parents we would like to teach our children the value of contributing to society, how to give back and to respect the world we live in. We are committed to providing, a loving, nurturing, and stable home to raise our family. We hope to instill in our children a passion for learning and will encourage them to pursue their interests and fulfill their dreams. We look forward to sharing fun family traditions, as well as creating new ones. We believe in the importance of family. We both come from large families, and have a wonderful and supportive extended family that has taught us the true meaning of unconditional love. We are a lively bunch and spend holidays, birthdays, and other important milestones together whenever we can. Laura’s grandparents will soon be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. Our family and friends have been very supportive of our desire to adopt, and are eager to embrace the next member of our family.
We believe adoption is to be open and celebrated. We plan to tell our child their story from day one. We plan to celebrate adoption day like a birthday. But we will also respect and honor the level of openness that you are interested in and with which you would be comfortable. Thank you for taking the time to read about our family. There is much more we would like to share with you, but hopefully this has given you a small glimpse into our lives.
Sincerely,
Tom and Laura