Dear Birthmother,
Thank you for choosing to learn a little more about our lives. Considering adoption is a courageous decision and we admire you for your selflessness, love, and strength in finding a loving family for your child. . Please be assured, if you choose to place your trust in us, your baby will know the depth of your courage and love. We realize that words rarely capture a personality or describe a relationship. However, our hope is that after reading the following pages and looking at a few pictures, you will have some understanding of who we are, and how much we are looking forward to building our dream of a family.

Our Story
We met on 4th of July weekend on the New Jersey shore at a nightclub. After walking a few practice “laps” around the area where Lisa was standing, Mike got the courage to ask her out to dinner. Lisa was immediately attracted to Mike’s kind eyes and sense of humor and said yes. A few weeks later, we had dinner together in little Italy in New York City. We spent our date wishing time would stop while eating pasta and sharing childhood stories. We dated for four years while living in a fun little town just outside of New York City, and then married on a beautiful beach in Key West, Florida with our family and friends. Eager to start a family, we moved to a delightful neighborhood in the suburbs of New Jersey. After attempting to have a family on our own, we were led to adoption. We believe that everything happens for a reason in life. It was no accident that we met that day and it is no accident that takes us to you.

About Lisa
After graduating with a degree in Fashion Marketing and Advertising, her love of fashion and working with clothing led her to her first career as an Account Executive and Merchandiser in the fashion industry. Working in this fast paced business was exciting and fun but as the years went by and we decided to start a family her desire to help people led her towards a more fulfilling and flexible career in health and fitness as a Personal Trainer. Motivating people to make changes in their lives has proved to be more rewarding than she could have ever imagined. Lisa loves to be active and enjoys playing pretty much every sport including kickboxing, yoga, tennis and running. She loves decorating our home, and taking photographs. Lisa is looking forward to being a stay at home Mom, and plans to make her self available to a few of her favorite clients on early morning weekends only.

About Mike
He attended college in Maine where he played baseball, and was very undecided about a career when he graduated. He settled in to a job in finance and 2 years ago started his own business. He will have the flexibility to leave work early, or take some time off for a family vacation. Mike and his partners are always willing to cover any unfinished work for one another so that they each are able to attend their child’s events. Mike is always offering to help around the house, and often times Lisa takes him up on it! He likes to play baseball, golf, basketball and tennis. He is a huge sports fan and loves the NY Jets and Mets. He started a tradition with his father when he was little and they attend most Jets and Mets home games together. Mike is known for his grilling skills at Jet game tailgates. His specialties include breakfast sandwiches, fish, and steak for all of his tailgate buddies. He is a spectacular cook and Lisa looks forward to Sundays at home when he cooks his famous bolognese sauce.

Our Family
As much as we’re a couple, we are also different people from different backgrounds. Lisa grew up in a small town in Western New York and her parents have been married for 35 years. She is the middle child, with two brothers. She has a huge extended family filled with Aunts, Uncles, and cousins, and feels lucky to have grown up with so much love and so many family members around her all of the time. Many occasions were spent at her family’s two restaurants where she and her cousins felt privileged when their uncles let them help in the kitchen. Her friends were like sisters to her, and some of her childhood friends are still her best friends today. They make it a point to get together a few times a year and take turns hosting girl’s only weekends in the different states they each live in.

Mike was born and raised in New Jersey and had a fun childhood with many amazing memories. His parents have been married for 37 years, and he is the youngest child of four. Although his brother and sisters are quite older than he, his neighborhood was filled with kids his age. Mike spent the summers at the lake, water skiing, tubing, and playing every game imaginable outside. His house was the neighborhood playground. Friends were always over and his Mom was constantly trying to feed everyone (as she still does now) and she loved doing it.

Together
We are a great team. We are best friends, and feel that love and laughter has been the key to our happiness. We enjoy doing so many different things together. We are very social, and have a large network of friends from high school, college, and work. Many of our close friends live NYC and in our town, and we get together with them and their children quite often. We are referred to as Uncle Mike and Aunt Lisa by a few of our friends children and we get quite a kick out of that. We are both proud to be godparents, and we love spoiling our godchildren. We like to take advantage of how close we live to NYC and the culture the city has to offer, so we see a lot of plays, concerts and enjoy going out to dinner there. We like to play tennis, basketball, and go running together. We both love the beach, and in the summer we spend much of our time at our nearby family beach club where we are members. With pools, cabanas and the ocean it feels like we are on vacation every time we are there. We are excited that your child will be able to spend their summers here.

We share a passion for travel, and we are really looking forward to making many vacation memories with a child one day. A few of our favorite trips have been Italy, Aruba, and St. Lucia. We both have family in Italy, and we have an open invitation to visit them, and we plan to take advantage of this as much as we can! Some of our best times spent together though, are when we cook dinner at home, sit together on our deck, and do absolutely nothing.

Our Home and Community
We live in a community that is centered around family activities. The town fair is one of these activities and takes place every summer across the street from our house at our local fire house. The kids look forward to this last summer “hurrah” with rides, games and friends, before school starts every year. All of the kids ride their bikes to school, and parents take turns hosting large play dates for their kids.
Our home is located in a beautiful neighborhood with a perfect back yard for big wiffle ball games. Two huge parks are within walking distance to our house and the beach is 3 miles away.

Our Fur Bundles
We share our home with 3 little bundles of fur. Our dog Madison, and our two cats Harley, and Bella Bean. Many of our friends refer to our home as “animal planet” because we tell stories about our animals all of the time and talk about them as if they are people. Madison loves to play and still has her puppy energy. We take her everywhere with us, and she loves to socialize with other dogs at the dog park. When the cats play together Madison tries to join in, but usually is left out. We sometimes wonder if we have a herd of elephants living in our home because their footsteps are so loud when they run around the house. Harley is “the king” of the house. He is more like a dog than a cat, as he sits at the top of the steps in our entryway to protect us. Bella Bean is a little shy, but she is a sweetheart. She spends her days following her brother Harley and Lisa around the house.

We have been blessed to have a beautiful home, financial security, and a wonderful family. We both feel that there is nothing greater than the gift of having a child. Our goal as parents is to provide a home of love and security, to insure that our child is given the opportunity to experience all that life has to offer, and to encourage them to pursue their dreams. Thank you again for reading our story.

If you would like to speak with us about adopting your child or you have any questions for us, please contact your Adoption Advisors at AdoptHelp by calling 1-800-637-7999 toll-free.

Warmest Regards,
Mike & Lisa