Christine and Jill
Dear Expectant Parent(s),
We haven’t met you yet, so we don’t know all of your dreams for your child, but we can guess that we probably share some of the same dreams with you. Unconditional love. A sense of fairness. A love of learning. A connection to nature. A faith rooted in love and kindness. Knowing you. We would like for our child or children to know their birth families and their roots, so they can better understand themselves and their place in the world.
We met in 1994, when Jill knocked at a volunteer house at Habitat for Humanity, and Christine opened the door to welcome her. Four years later we made a lifelong commitment to each other at our church, and we’ve now been blissfully married for twelve years. Our house is full of books and our garage is full of camping gear, but we care more about helping others and enjoying life than having lots of things. We value simple living and generosity, honesty and laughter, and trying new things. We’re passionate about sustainable living and being good stewards of the earth. We believe the values we share will help guide us as parents in an open adoption.
Christine (on the left): I’m a practical person. I have a drive to work with my hands to “make stuff.” I like to give gifts of hand-knitted hats and scarves, handmade pottery, and homemade cookies to people I love. My practical side extends to my head and heart too, as I’m not afraid to tackle tough emotional issues head-on. I have a master’s degree in religion and theology, and my work days are spent directing a social service program where I help people meet their basic needs. I have a personal connection to adoption, when I was in college a dear friend planned an open adoption. In supporting her through her adoption experience, I saw that there is a grieving process for both birthparents and adoptive parents, but there is comfort and healing, too.
Jill (on the right): I think listening is one of my great strengths. I try to meet people where they are. People tell me that I’m a very patient, caring person. Camping gives me a lot of joy. It’s a time to feel grounded in nature and in myself—not to mention being able to eat toasted marshmallows! My work as an attorney in a nonprofit law office is both challenging and rewarding. I believe that books, plays, music, and stories are an invaluable part of forming a child’s imagination—and nurturing an adult’s imagination. When I am a mom, I look forward to many family trips to the neighborhood library on Saturday mornings.
We hope to teach our child to believe in himself or herself, and yet not to be afraid to ask for help when it’s needed. We’re strong believers in the power of education—and by that we mean both formal study and also seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and breathing in the world around us. Rather than trying to plan out every step of our child’s development, we look forward to seeing where our children take us, and to growing along with them.
We are deeply excited and ready to become parents, and open adoption is our first choice for taking that next step in our life together. We hope to have an ongoing relationship with our child’s birthparents, and ideally we would find that we have even more in common than our shared love for the child. As with any relationship, we imagine that mutual respect will guide us as we work out the initial details of our relationship, and then as we get to know one another better over time.
We wish for you a sense of peace as you decide on your own next step. If you do choose adoption, and if we have the honor of being the adoptive parents you choose for your child, we promise that we will love that child with all of our hearts, and we will honor your place in our child’s past, present, and future.
Wherever your path may lead, we wish you well.
Jill and Christine