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Dennis & Beth 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! We are Beth, Dennis & Katie Thank you for taking the time to read our letter and considering us as adoptive parents for your child. We realize your decision has not been easy and would like you to know how grateful we are that you are thinking about adoption. Even though we cannot begin to know what you are going through, we know that your decisions are being made out of love for your child. We hope our letter will help you learn about us and why we would like to become parents again.

We both have an enormous amount of love to give and feel the most meaningful and fulfilling way we could spend our time is raising children and helping them succeed in life. We promise to provide your child with unconditional love and support throughout his/her lifetime. We are easy to talk with and look forward to an open and friendly relationship with you. We will welcome communication through phone calls, personal contact, e-mail, letters, or whatever is your wish.

Who We Are We met eight years ago through mutual friends and quickly realized that our personalities were very compatible and that we really enjoyed spending time together. We shared many of the same family values and interests, as well as a lot of laughs. We both dreamed of finding our soul mate and our dreams came true, when after two years of dating, we married on November 10, 2001. We feel fortunate to have one another and have a very close and loving marriage.

We both had a strong desire to be parents and discussed wanting to have a lot of children. We began trying to conceive right after we married. After a couple of years of trying on our own, followed by several unsuccessful infertility treatments, we were even more determined than ever to start a family. In the summer of 2004, we began the adoption process. After a couple of months, we unexpectedly conceived our precious daughter, Katherine Elizabeth or “Katie” as we call her. She was born on September 3, 2005. Katie is truly a blessing in our lives. The joy we have found with our daughter has reinforced our hope to add to our family through the gift of adoption.

ABOUT BETH

I was born in Chicago and am the oldest of four children. I have two brothers, Bill and Mike and a sister, Margie. We are all close in age and were born within five years of one another. I had a very happy childhood, playing a lot of baseball and basketball with my brothers. I guess I was sort of a tomboy, fishing, catching frogs and climbing trees and I was never afraid of getting dirty! I loved animals and my parents allowed us to have many different pets. We had two cats, Jimmie and Zorro and two dogs, Lucky and Thumper. We also had various birds, gerbils, fish and chameleons over the years. Today, my parents live nearby and we see them often.

After high school, I went to college in Iowa and graduated with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I worked in various hotels and restaurants in Chicago and then obtained my paralegal certificate. I worked as a paralegal in a Chicago law firm and saw some interesting cases and had opportunities to assist the lawyers in the courtroom during a jury trial. After Katie was born, I took a year off and now work part-time, two days per week. After we adopt, I plan on staying at home full-time with our children.

I feel very fortunate to be married to Dennis and to have such a wonderful family. Dennis is a devoted husband and amazing father. He is intelligent, patient and has a friendly, easy-going personality. Even though Dennis works hard at a career he loves, he always puts family first. He has integrity, character and a loving heart. He spends a lot of time playing with Katie and teaching her new things. Watching Dennis care for Katie has made my love and admiration for him grow stronger. He will be a very loving father to our next child.

ABOUT DENNIS

I am the youngest of three children born and raised in Texas. I have a sister, Joanne and a brother, James. I was raised with extended family close by and learned the importance of strong family ties. While growing up, I enjoyed playing football, basketball and tennis.

After graduating from college, I decided to become a high school teacher, teaching economics and history, because I wanted to help build a successful school and make a difference in young people’s lives. While teaching, I took another look at my interests and decided that I wanted to help build businesses. I obtained my Masters in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. After graduation, I entered corporate banking because I liked financial analysis and sales. I specialize in providing financing to the healthcare industry. I enjoy my work and find it challenging. I also enjoy being active in college alumni groups and professional organizations and closely follow football, baseball, business and national affairs.

I thank God for my wonderful wife and incredible child. I always knew that Beth had strong maternal instincts and would be a great mom. Beth’s “heart of gold” is readily apparent when I watch her care for Katie. Beth beams with joy when she holds Katie or our friends’ small children. When I see this, I am reminded of how much she truly wants to raise another child She is honest, giving and fun. Her family is her number one priority. These qualities add to my love for her.

ABOUT KATIE

Katie is a happy, energetic, talkative, bubbly two-and-a-half year old. She already has a sense of humor and makes us laugh everyday. She loves to read books and play hide and seek. She loves “Elmo” and animals, especially dogs. She also loves to color, play with stickers and sing songs. Katie is at the age where she is developing her personality. It has been wonderful to see her progress through the different stages from infant to child. Katie has a great time playing with her cousins and can’t wait until our next visit with them. We know she will be a loving big sister.

Where We Live, What We Do We live in a three bedroom home in a family friendly neighborhood in Chicago, called Lincoln Park. Our home has a large playroom filled with toys, tricycles and art supplies. It is perfect for spending family time with Katie or having friends and family over to visit. There are a lot of families close by with young children and babies. We love our neighborhood because it offers many recreational and educational opportunities for children. We live within walking distance to many parks, public swimming pools, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the lakefront and the nature museum.

WE LIKE TO HAVE FUN!

Our family loves the outdoors and we try to spend as much time as we can outside. Since Katie has so much energy, we spend a lot of time with her at the parks. She loves to climb the monkey bars, swing on swings or run around and kick her ball in the grassy areas and on the baseball fields. We enjoy going to the beaches, public swimming pools and water parks. The Lincoln Park Zoo is our favorite because they have a farm zoo for kids where you can pet real goats and feed the cows. We enjoy sharing our love for animals and nature with Katie. Some days, we just go for long walks in the park and look at all the trees, leaves, birds and flowers. We can’t wait to share these experiences with our new child.

Our family loves to travel and we have taken Katie on many out of town trips for vacation and to visit relatives. Last year we went to California and all really enjoyed going to the beach and visiting Sea World where we saw “Shamu”. Last July, we traveled to Texas to visit Dennis’ mother and brother. They had a big family reunion while we were there and we got to visit with many relatives from all over the country.

Our family also enjoys the holidays and we celebrate them with extended family whenever possible. During Thanksgiving and Christmas, Beth enjoys cooking a big turkey dinner and making lots of yummy pies. Halloween is Beth’s favorite holiday and she looks forward to taking our children to the pumpkin patches and trick or treating.

We all enjoy exercising. We have a family membership at a fitness facility nearby and go there often to swim or to run runaround and play ball. Dennis loves to ride his bike and play an occasional game of golf. Beth enjoys almost all exercise especially, biking, running and swimming. She has run several 5 and 10K races, two half marathons and a triathalon. We feel very blessed to have such amazing opportunities and joy.

Our Families, Our Values We believe there are many important factors in raising children: family, friends, religion and education. Our families are important to us and we are very close to them. Together we have five brothers and sisters and fourteen nieces and nephews. Some live in the area and some live out of state. We try and visit them as often as we can.

We both have personal experience with adoption as well. Dennis has two cousins who are adopted and another cousin who has adopted children. Beth also has two cousins who were adopted. They have been a very positive influence on our decision to adopt. We have learned from firsthand experience that love creates bonds, not biology. Our extended families are excited about our plans to adopt and look forward to us expanding our family.

Our friendships are important to us and we have many friends in the area with children whom we see often. For the past two years, we have been meeting every Wednesday with a playgroup of other children Katie’s age. Katie has developed quite a bond with these children and looks forward to seeing them every week. Most of these women are having their second child, so our new child will have many playmates. Dennis also remains in close contact with his friends from high school and college who are now married and have families. Every other year we go camping with them on a lake in Texas. Our friends are also excited about our plans to adopt.

On Sundays, we go to church as a family. We belong to a nice Catholic parish with a large community of families. They have many fundraisers and festivals throughout the year that we enjoy attending. Our faith is very important to us and we believe strongly in raising our children with a religious foundation and values.

We plan to provide our children with a foundation built on education. We believe that this will improve their confidence and prepare them for life. We will send our children to excellent schools where they will be able to develop their skills to the fullest extent possible and have a sound basis for decision making, yet still be able to smile, laugh and enjoy the journey. Currently, Beth and Katie enjoy a parent/toddler class based on Montessori teaching principles.


IN CLOSING

Being parents has been the best thing that has happened in our lives. It has brought more joy than anything we could imagine. We promise to provide love, guidance and a lifetime of opportunity to your child. We look forward to growing our family and are optimistic about our future.
We realize that you are struggling with a very difficult decision and we want to do what we can to help. We invite you to contact us if you have any questions or would like to talk. Our toll free number is (888) 660-9744 or Send us a message. May God bless you and your child.
With sincere admiration,

Beth and Dennis