Kevin and Wendy

Dear Birthmother,
We are Kevin and Wendy, and want to thank you for reading our letter! We know that these may be very difficult and emotional times for you and we admire your courage. We are inspired by your selfless act and honored that you are considering selecting our family for your child.

We are blessed to have our three year old son William as part of our lives. We both have always wanted two children in our family, but we were not able to have a second child on our own. We always thought that adoption would be a great way to expand our family and we can’t wait to complete our family through the miracle of adoption.

About us
We met 13 years ago when we were in graduate school for marine biology and have been married for 12 of those years. We connected and bonded quickly after we met due to our common interests: the ocean and its beautiful creatures, rescuing homeless dogs, hiking and camping, sports, and our strong ties to our families. Shortly after we got married, we had to endure some time apart as Kevin went off to do marine biology research in North Carolina and Wendy continued on in graduate school in northern California. It was a difficult year apart and even though we both highly value our careers, the lesson we learned from our experience was that nothing is more important than our family… even if at the time it was just the two of us and our wonderful dogs.

We have been happily living together in southern California for 10 years with stable jobs, Kevin as a university professor and Wendy as an environmental scientist. Both of our jobs offer flexibility in schedules and this will continue to allow us to maximize the time we spend at home with a new baby. Kevin teaches during the school year but during the summer is able to spend time at home during the week in between days doing research. Wendy works several days at home, and does not work on Fridays and after taking some initial time off she plans to work part-time.

We love to do things outdoors and the climate we live in is perfect for this all year round. We often go to the beach which is just twenty minutes away, take William to the nearby pool, take trips to the zoo, or just take hikes with our dogs in the open space park by our house. In the Fall, we love to go to the pumpkin patch, pick pumpkins and take them back to carve (Kevin loves Halloween!) and go to the city’s annual Fall parade. We spend most major holidays with our families in the northern part of the country which means that in the winter we get a chance to go sledding and skiing. We live in a small city that has lots of fun things for families to do and we take advantage of these activities which include carnivals and fairs, train rides, museums, and more. On the weekend, we also spend time in our back yard, playing in the sandbox with William, gardening, playing on our deck, or walking (or riding scooters) around the neighborhood.

About Wendy
I grew up in the country in Wisconsin with two sisters and a wonderful family, including at least one golden retriever. As a kid I enjoyed playing music (violin, French horn, baritone, tuba) and lots of sports (gymnastics, softball, basketball, track, cross country, skiing). When I wasn’t doing either one of these, I was climbing trees, playing with my dog, skiing, or hanging out with my sisters and friends. My family took lots of interesting family trips that always involved being outdoors and usually involved camping, two things that I continue to love.

I am very close with my parents and my two sisters. Growing up, my father traveled a lot and took turns taking his daughters on all kinds of exciting trips – to Finland, Amsterdam, the Grand Canyon and so on – which I loved and have great memories of. My mom is the most caring person I know. She is a retired social worker and continues to volunteer in her community regularly. She has instilled in me the desire to help others and to give to others in need. As a consequence, I have been a volunteer in elementary schools, helping kids learn to read, and tutored kids whenever possible. Though my parents live in Wisconsin, they visit often and we frequently travel to see them.

My sisters both live on the West Coast so I get to see them often. My older sister Leah is married to a great guy named Owen and they live in Washington. She and I talk several times a week and we visit each other often. They have a newborn son and a daughter who is cute, fun, full of energy, and a great friend to William. We are excited that our new son or daughter will have a cousin of about the same age to play with!

My younger sister Alisa lives happily as a professional musician (violinist) in Northern California. She is a sweet and kind person and William absolutely adores her. When she visits, he enjoys playing with her in the sand box, doing artwork, and hearing her play violin.

I went to college in Minnesota and went to graduate school at the College of William and Mary and the University of California Davis. I currently work for an environmental and engineering consulting firm. We help public agencies and private companies evaluate and clean up harbors, bays, and waterways. I love it because there are always new problems to solve and it involves working to improve the quality of the environment in which we live.

I feel very blessed to have met and married such a loving, thoughtful, and reliable husband. He brings me flowers for no particular occasion, always does the dishes, and does nice things for birthdays and anniversaries. One of the things I find most endearing about Kevin is his love for dogs – ours and any dog he meets on the street. While typically the quieter one in our relationship I love hanging out with him because of his goofy side – he has several funny dance moves such as the “shopping cart” and “sprinkler”. He also has a great chuckle which is fun to listen to when he watches his favorite TV show, The Simpsons.

Being a mom has been the most amazing experience of my life that I can’t wait to continue with another child. While I enjoy my job, my life revolves around being a mom and spending as much time with my family as possible. I flex my work schedule to spend more time with William and on Fridays we always have an adventure. Sometimes we meet friends at the beach and play for hours making sand castles (or just digging with diggers and dump trucks!) Other times we meet friends and their kids at open gym at a nearby YMCA where we jump in the foam pits and swing on the bars. And we always go to the library so that we can exchange books for William and get coffee (for me) and pumpkin bread (for William) at some point during the day.

About Kevin
I grew up in a beautiful suburb of New York City with my younger sister. Both of us loved the water, and were competitive swimmers, and we insisted that my parents take us to the ocean for vacation every year. I have always love animals and nature, and combined with the amount of time I spent in the water, it was only natural that I would want to become a marine biologist. I feel very lucky to be a university professor, which is what I always wanted to do in life. I love the two major parts of my job: studying marine life and working with students. I teach classes for college students and I help graduate students learn how to do research on marine animals. Despite the satisfaction I get from my job, one of the most rewarding things that I do is to work with grade-school children in an afterschool program. Several times a year I lead activities for kids who have never had the opportunities that I did to learn about the oceans. I get a lot of joy showing them neat marine animals and telling them about the interesting things that they do.

Though I have only one sister, I have a large family. When I was 11 years old my parents divorced, and both my mother and father re-married within several years. I acquired two stepbrothers, a stepsister, and an even stepnieces and stepnephews! Now, my sister has three children, one stepbrother has two children, and my stepsister has a child. Though I live across the country from all of them, we do family reunions during the holidays, which are great fun because the cousins and step-cousins all get to play together again.

I became a scientist largely because of my father, who also is a scientist. When I was young, he would explain the way that stars work, the solar system, electricity, and many other things that I was curious about. Ever since these lessons I’ve been passionate about sharing knowledge with children and older students. My father also was very handy around the house, and this also inspired me to learn how to fix and build things. This hobby is very useful because I enjoy making improvements to our home. My recent projects have included a deck, a toolshed, and a play area for William that includes a jungle gym, slide, and sandbox. When I’m not working on the house, or spending time with William, I enjoy fixing up old cars, tennis, swimming, and reading science fiction.

The thing I feel most fortunate about by far is my family. I am so lucky to have Wendy and William, and I love being a dad. William and I have had many father-son outings that have included trips to museums, trips to the zoo and the park, airplane shows, and swim lessons. Even though I enjoy my job, I have to admit that I am always looking forward to the end of the day and the weekend when I can spend time with Wendy and William.

About William
William (Will) is a sweet, active, and excited three year old whose talks regularly about expanding our family to include a “brother or a sister”. He loves doing things outside such as playing in his sandbox, riding his tricycle or scooter, helping daddy do work on the house, and walking our dogs around the neighborhood. At pre-school he has been learning all kinds of great things such as letters, numbers, Spanish, sharing, listening, and music. His favorite things to do are play with cars from the Cars movie (and act out the parts), dig with construction equipment in his sand box, or play with his friends at pre-school. He also enjoys outings around town with the family which include rides on the train, playing at one of the many nearby playgrounds, looking at all of the animals in the petstore, or just going to get ice cream. He will be a great big brother.

About our dogs Sunny and Calli
Sunny and Calli are our 13- and 6- year old retriever mixes. We have always felt very strongly about rescuing homeless dogs and they both were adopted from the animal shelter. Sunny is a very sweet dog who is very mellow with children of all ages, and though she’s slowed down with age, she still very much enjoys taking her walks around the neighborhood or in the park and eating treats whenever possible. Calli is a very loving, but spunky dog who absolutely loves every person she meets, especially kids; she also enjoys walks, playing fetch, eating treats, and playing with her neighborhood dog friends. We don’t view our dogs as pets, but rather as important members of our family.

Our promise to you and your baby
We have a great admiration for you and are honored that you have taken the time to learn about us. We are excited to be traveling down this road with you because we have so much room in our hearts for another child. We value learning, caring for others (whether they walk on two legs or four, or even swim in the ocean), a healthy lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise, and providing our children with plenty of opportunities to explore their dreams and passions (whether those passions be musical, athletic, artistic, or something else!). We instill these values in our children and teach them that all people, no matter their position in life, be treated equally and with respect. We will encourage our children to achieve their highest goals while remembering that the things that count most in life are family and what you can give back to others in your community.

With Respect and Admiration,
Kevin and Wendy

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