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Lance & Sharon are hopeful adoptive parents from Illinois waiting to adopt a baby.

If you are pregnant and considering placing your child for adoption, please read the following Dear Birthmother Letter.

Hello! Before we introduce ourselves, let us start by saying that we admire the courage you are showing by considering adoption. We realize that it's not easy for you to try and see into the future, and what will be best for your baby. We know it is a decision you are making out of love for your child. If you choose us to become the parents of your baby, we will be sure to raise this child with an understanding that you chose adoption as an option because of your real love.

ABOUT US
We met in a swing dance class, and we both love dancing! Sharon jokes that Lance danced his way into her heart! We've been together 8 years and were married in July of 2005. We both feel lucky to have found this wonderful connection with each other, and are excited to be building a family together. In November of 2007, we were thrilled to have our adopted son Cameron enter our lives! He's the most precious gift we could ever imagine! We hope you'll be the one to bring Cameron a brother or sister!

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT EACH OTHER

What Sharon has to say about Lance
*She loves Lance's patience, and that he's always sweet.
*He's affectionate with lots of hugs and kisses, and shows his love through many kind actions every day.
*Lance makes her laugh with his silly side, which is why he's great with kids.
*Lance has 2 engineering degrees and an MBA. He works as an engineer with highly technical machinery.
*He is a fantastic father and has so much fun playing with our child!

What Lance has to say about Sharon
*Lance says Sharon is a unique combination of "book smart" and "people smart."
*Sharon's worked with the same company for 15 years doing design/development for interior products. Her position allows flexibility to work at home half-time.
*Lance says Sharon is creative with a degree in interior design and an MBA.
*Lance loves that Sharon gives people the benefit of the doubt and stresses the positive in others.
*Lance knows Sharon will teach our children kindness.
*Lance is amazed at what a good of a mother Sharon is and how much effort she puts into her family.

Interests we share
As mentioned earlier, we love dancing together, and we love city life balanced with trips out in nature. We enjoy museums, and exploring new places together. We both share a love of travel and in total we've been to 49 states and over 30 countries. Our son has already been to Italy and sat up for the first time in the Colloseum! Sharon recently got Lance a 6 person tent so we can go camping with children. We plan to travel and explore with our children so they learn about the world. We love laughing with friends and family, and look forward to building many fun family memories together! Now that our son has entered our lives, our most preious memories are watching him learn, grow, and experience new things for the first time!

We live in the city on the lakefront. We can walk to the beach, parks, museums, and a zoo. The city has much to offer for children, the neighborhood schools are excellent, and so are the medical facilities nearby. Also, we love that the city offer diversity. We want our kids to grow up safe and secure, with friends of many races and religions. We hope to raise kids with open minds and open hearts!

Top Ten Reasons to Consider Sharon and Lance as Parents! 10. We love laughing with friends and family, and look forward to building many fun family memories together!
9. We live in a wonderful city on the lakefront with a beach, a number of parks, museums, and a zoo within walking distance.
8. The local schools and medical facilities are excellent.
7. Education is important, and we have teachers on both sides of our family.
6. Travel is a passion, and we plan to explore the world with our children.
5. Lance is great at math and science, and will have fun helping our child with homework and science projects! Sharon has a closet full of craft projects for our nieces, and is excited about exploring our child's creative side.
4. We both have stable careers that will allow us to offer many wonderful opportunities for our children.
3. Our family has been touched by adoption many times already. Because our circle includes families built through adoption, our child will understand that adoption is a loving choice and a natural way to form a family.
2. Our children will be welcomed with open arms and open hearts by 2 parents, 3 doting grandparents, 9 loving aunts and uncles, 7 playful cousins, and a large and loving extended family.
1. We love our adopted son with all of our hearts and know we'll love your child, too!

Sharon & Lance Growing Up Sharon's family
Sharon grew up the oldest of 5 children in part of a large family. She has fond memories of ice skating in the backyard. When the kids got a bit older, her dad got snowmobiles and pulled the kids behind on sleds. Then later he bought skis for all the kids, and they spent weekends on the slopes. Mostly Sharon remembers parents that encouraged her to try many things. They always told her that she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

We want to encourage our kids in that same way. We hope to raise optimistic children with good self-esteem that are eager to experience the world. We think unconditional love and good self-esteem are two of the gifts we'd like to give our children. We'd like to offer as many wonderful chances in life as possible to our children.

Lance's family
Lance grew up as the youngest of 3 children. His dad, Travis, is a retired airplane pilot and his mom, Sylvia, is a retired teacher. As a teacher, Sylvia had the summers off work, and used this free time to take her children on trips around the world. Lance has fond memories of these vacations, and still has a love of travel today because of these early trips with his mom.

Lance also has fond memories of family camping trips organized by his dad. Lance, his brother, and his sister had fun exploring the woods, swimming, building campfires, and roasting marshmallows. Lance is close with his sister Darla and his brother Dane, and the family still likes spending time together outdoors for weekend boating trips.

The Gift of Family Building our family
Our son Cameron is the most precious gift! We have an open adoption with Cameron's birthmother. We all feel fortunate to be building a relationship based on respect for each other and love for our son. We'll always be grateful to her, and she's now an important part of our lives. Sharon loves being part of a huge family, and Lance enjoys being part of it now, too. We read a quote about marriage saying "forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family." We imagine a warm, welcoming house full of our children, our kid's friends, our family, and our long-term friends. We want our kids to grow up feeling safe and supported by family. We both enjoy all that a big family has to offer, and want our kids to feel the same joy. Family is very important to us and we are excited to be creating one of our own!

Family Values
Our family values played a big role in shaping the people we are today, and will guide us as parents. Our families taught us to be independent, yet to be responsible and honor commitments to others. They taught us the value of education, and the value of hard work balanced by just having fun. They taught us to care for those we love.

We hope to raise optimistic children with good self esteem that are eager to experience the world. We think that unconditional love and self esteem are two of the gifts we'd like to give our children. We know that we are lucky people, and that our families gave us many wonderful gifts. We'd like to offer as many wonderful chances in life as possible to our children!

The Gift of Family
We would feel very grateful to become the parents of your child. If you put your faith and trust in us, we would warmly welcome your beloved baby into our family. It is our greatest joy to be parents. Like you, we believe that life is a wonderful gift, and admire your brave decision to pursue adoption. The gift of your child is the most important gift we can imagine.