Gary and James

Dear Birth Mother,

How do we begin? This may be the moment that we are introducing ourselves to the One, the person that has the ability to make our dreams of having a family of our own come true. We’ve puzzled over how to put into this letter an accurate description of exactly who we are and how much we want to be parents. It’s overwhelming! And if we are feeling this kind of pressure to “get it right”, we can’t begin to imagine what you must be going through.

While we cannot fit our entire lives into this letter, we hope that it will give you a sense of who we are and the life of unconditional love and acceptance, amazing fun, adventure and financial security that we promise to provide your baby.

So, while we struggle to put into writing all the aspects of our hearts, the one thing that we know for certain that must be said is “Thank you.” Thank you for taking this time to get to know us, to consider our hearts and to give us this opportunity to share with you our dreams of having a family of our own.

With love and respect,

James and Gary

OUR LIFE TOGETHER…
Life is great! We enjoy life to its fullest. We love traveling together and cannot wait to share this world with our children. We are fortunate enough to be able to take several vacations each year and love to see new places. We love being outdoors, whether it is camping and hiking in the mountains of Colorado, or splashing in the ocean waves at our family’s beach home in Port Aransas, Texas. We enjoy running and swimming and look forward to countless days with our kids in the parks that are everywhere in this wonderful city. We love the theatre, and spend much of our time going to see plays and musicals.

MEET GARY (BY JAMES)
There are so many things I love about Gary – things that someone else might not even notice. For example, he always offers me the last dinner roll. He’s one of the few people that doesn’t make a big deal that I’m the vegetarian – he just makes sure I have something to eat and lets me enjoy my meal in peace. He calls or texts me randomly-not because it’s my birthday or an anniversary, but just because it’s Tuesday and he misses me. He sings in the car (Really.) He loves flowers of all kinds, though tulips are his favorite. He makes me feel like I’m the most special person in the world, just by being himself. What’s not to love about a guy like that?

Christmas is Gary’s favorite holiday. He starts planning it very early in the year, and loves to decorate both inside and out. If left to his own devices, even Santa would think it was over the top. But that’s ok, because it’s the most fun ever! He loves to decorate the tree (sometimes we have two-just because one can’t hold all the ornaments) and gives a whole new meaning to baking at this time of year.

Gary is very much a family man. He is very close to his Mother and enjoys spending time with her. He has two sisters and a brother (all married with kids). We get together on the holidays, and many times throughout the year just to have fun, and we can’t wait until the day that we are bringing our own children to these gatherings.

He’s an amazing musician and loves music of all kinds. He has very eclectic tastes in music, and the playlists on our iPods have every flavor possible. He has taught me to appreciate a lot of diverse music styles, even country which was never one of my favorites but now I enjoy (sometimes!)

Gary worked as a school band director right out of college for eight years and was able to share his love of music with kids of all ages.

Watching Gary interact with his nieces, it isn’t difficult to see how much he adores kids. He never misses a dance recital or a sports competition. They know full well how proud he is of them, and you can see the love they have for him simply by looking into their beaming faces!

INTRODUCING…JAMES (BY GARY)
Everybody loves James. Once you meet him, you’ll understand. He’s the nicest, most compassionate person I’ve ever known. When we met, I knew instantly that he was the person I wanted to spend my life with. I felt so comfortable with him. You know those awkward moments of silence you experience when you are first getting to know someone? We never had those. After that first dinner, James went home to Missouri and I came home to Houston. We talked on the phone for hours every night and all I could think about each day was our next phone call. It made me so happy just to hear his voice. Eleven years later, he still makes me smile. And I love him more than I ever thought possible.

The truest sign of a great father is someone who puts the needs of his children before those of himself. And if anything is true about James, it is that he put other people before himself. He is a theatre teacher and spends his days sharing his love for the theatre with high school kids. He loves his students and they love him. He makes a huge difference in the lives of young people every day – not just teaching them about theatre, but teaching them about life. And how to be a better person.

James is good at everything he does. And he’s so smart. He loves to read and there’s not a book he hasn’t read. Plus, he grew up on a farm, so he knows how to do everything. He’s the go-to man in our family when someone has a random question. What kind of bird is that? What do turtles eat? How do you get skunk smell off the dog? And the scary thing is, he always knows the answer! I used to be the answer man in our family, but now my nieces will call and say, “Hi Uncle Gary, Can I talk to Uncle James? We just found a duck egg and want to know how to make it hatch” I love that! He’s going to be an amazing Dad.

Yes, we have an amazing life! We are fortunate beyond belief. The only thing that would make our lives even more perfect is to be able to share this life and love with a family of our own. We long to share not only the holidays but every day with a house full of laughter and chaos, toys to trip over, diapers to change, and feedings at 2 a.m. in the nursery right outside our door. We want school productions with OUR children onstage, and soccer matches where we can cheer for our very own little team members! We want to read the same book three thousand times, even though everyone knows how it’s going to end, and attempt to answer the never-ending “Why?”s and “How come?”s without saying “Just because...” We want to hold their hand when they’re nervous and assure them that everyone is a little scared on the first day of school. We want to let them (occasionally) fall asleep in our bed when they have a bad dream and let them know we’re there to protect them – even after crawling under their bed with a flashlight and showing them that there are no monsters there – only sneakers and that Transformer action figure they were looking for three days ago. We want to kiss their boo boos when they fall off their bike, and make sure the band aids are the kind they like-the ones with super heroes on them (because we like those kind, too). We want to watch them grow into strong, independent adults with good hearts, confident souls and caring personalities. We want to give them a home where they know they are loved unconditionally, and honored for their individuality. We want to give them what we found with each other – a home.