ParentProfiles.com

Mike & Kathleen are hopeful adoptive parents from Michigan waiting to adopt a baby.

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

Hi. We’re Mike and Kathleen. Thanks for reading our letter. We admire your decision to choose adoption and we hope that we can fulfill your desire to find a loving family for your child. We hope this website will give you some idea of the secure and happy home we can provide.

We are excited about becoming a family. We do not currently have any children, although in the future we would like to adopt more than one. We’d like to end up with two or three children. We think it is important for children to grow up with a brother or sister.

We understand that your decision to choose adoption is made out of concern for the well-being of your child. We will love and cherish your child tell him or her about the sacrifices that you have made out of love.

We hope that we can be the loving parents that you’re seeking for your child.

Why Adoption is Right for Us
We want to share the love and happiness in our lives with a child. We can only get a small taste of that by spending time with our friends’ and families’ kids. We have 6 nieces and nephews between us, and most of our friends have children as well. This has given us a lot of opportunities to explore how it would be to be a parent. We’ve done our share of babysitting and even had a niece and nephew stay with us for a week at a time.

Adoption is not a new thing for our families. Mike’s brother and his wife adopted a baby girl several years ago and some of Kathleen’s cousins have adopted children as well. When we discovered that we cannot conceive ourselves, we embraced adoption whole-heartedly, knowing what a wonderful choice it can be.

About Us We met at the University of Michigan where we were both majoring in Aerospace Engineering. We were friends for nearly three years before we started dating. We dated for another 3 years before getting married. We were married August 30th, 1997, so we’ve been married over 11 years now (yikes). Being friends and coworkers before we started dating gave us a really strong foundation for our marriage. We had the opportunity to get to know each other and to develop respect for each other’s strengths and to learn how to compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Now it feels like we’ve been together forever … but in a good way.

We enjoy spending a lot of time together. We like playing tennis, watching movies, and reading. During good weather, we take our dog, Toby, out for a really long walk or take a bike ride. We also love to travel. Traveling gives us a way to keep in touch with the friends and family we have across the US and the world. Mike has family in Germany, so we’ve been to Europe several times to visit them and to see the sights. Wherever we go, our favorite places are those that involve nature, whether it’s hiking to a spectacular view or just soaking in the atmosphere.

We celebrate nearly every holiday and everyone’s birthday with both families. Kathleen’s extended family is really large, so at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter there’s a gathering of almost 50 people. During the fall, Michigan football becomes the focus of our Saturdays. Our friends often come to our house to watch the game. We have lots of toys for our friends' kids to play with while the game is on so they have a good time, too.

Kathleen
I have one sister. She has 5 children making her a wealth of information on how to raise a child. My parents have a lot of experience with being the adoring grandparents, and they’re thrilled with the idea of more grandchildren to love. We live about 2 hours away from my family. We visit them often, at least once or twice a month.

One of my favorite things to do is to make a special birthday cakes for the kids. They always challenge me with their requests whether it’s for a cake with a beach scene (complete with monster trucks and sharks) or a cake shaped like a horse.

Some of the other things I like to do include trying new recipes, reading, sewing, and planning our travels. I enjoy planning a trip almost as much as I like going on them. I think it’s fun to read about new places and to look for the odd, out of the way places to see as well as the popular attractions.

I also like to play the piano (which I play tolerably well) and the violin (which I play pretty terribly). I think learning to play an instrument is a great experience for kids. If I remember my own first attempts at music accurately, I’ll have to get some industrial strength earplugs when the time comes.

My career path has taken me from engineering, to the pastry arts, to planning science camps for kids, but my main goal is to be a mom full time.

Kathleen Talks About Mike
I feel very lucky to have Mike in my life. I know he’s going to be a great dad. Every time we go some place with kids they always end up playing with Mike. I remember at one family gathering I saw Mike running around with about 10 little ones trailing behind. He has just as much fun playing tea party or being a makeover guinea pig as he does tossing the football and playing tag.

If I’m a little bit Classical, Mike’s a little bit Rock ‘n’ Roll. He can change the atmosphere of a whole room just by being there. One time we went to a karaoke bar and everyone was trying very hard to be professional and singing very nicely. They were doing a good job, but it seemed kind of tense. Then it was Mike’s turn. He got up there and belted out some rocking tune and it totally loosened everyone up. It was a real party after that. It was truly amazing to see.

Mike is also very caring and empathetic. Early in our relationship, I saw how caring he was when his dog was sick. He stayed up all night to sit by her, making sure she was all right. One time when I was sick, he made me brownies from scratch because I was craving a specific recipe. And he never cooks so this was a big challenge for him.

Mike
I have one older sister and an older brother. My brother and his wife adopted a baby girl several years ago, so adoption is not a new thing to my family. I doubt any child has been loved more. She has been the center of the family since she arrived. My parents love being Opa and Oma and can’t wait for more grandchildren to cherish.

I enjoy playing sports, mostly raquetball, tennis, and basketball when I can get enough people together. I’m a big fan of Michigan football and of the Lions as well. I’m convinced one of these years the Lions are going to surprise us all with a winning season (Superbowl 2010 anyone?). I read a lot, mostly science fiction. I have a fairly embarrassing level of knowledge of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (seriously, ask me anything). I also like hanging out with my friends and their families. I’m fortunate to have several close friends that I’ve known since grade school, who live nearby.

My career has been in automotive engineering for 14 years. I am an engineering supervisor in charge of designing the mirrors on vehicles. It’s an exciting area to be in because the function of mirrors is changing from just being a reflective piece of glass to including other technologies like lighting, mirror defrost, and rear view cameras.

Mike Talks About Kathleen
Every day that I’m with Kathleen I consider myself blessed. She is the most caring, loving person I know. I am also constantly amazed by Kathleen’s ability to create things. One time she made these elaborate Renaissance style costumes for a wedding that we were in. Then she modified the pattern to make a costume for our dog, Toby, too, so we could all dress up for Halloween.

Kathleen is always coming up with culinary masterpieces as well. She has a tendency to modify recipes on the fly, but it usually turns out really well (although there was a night or two we ended up with take-out instead). When she sends her chocolates with me to share at work, word travels fast and I become the most popular guy in the office.

Kathleen also has a really good sense of direction, so it’s a good thing she’s in charge of planning our trips. She’s like a human GPS. I would be quite literally lost without her.

Our Dream of a Future with Children We’d like to raise children the way we were raised. We’ll surround them with love and encouragement. We’ll guide them and teach them to take responsibility for themselves and make good decisions. We’ll help them to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others with patience and good humor. We’ll show them the wonders of learning, the value of family, and the importance of kindness and respect. We’ll encourage creativity and expose them to all kind of music and books. We’ll explore the world together and learn about people in other cultures. We’ll experience the glory of nature.

We want to provide them with a good education. We believe that education is critical in helping a child reach his or her full potential. We will encourage them to set high academic goals for themselves and give them the resources to achieve them. We also believe that education outside the classroom is important as well. Every activity can be an opportunity to grow, especially if it's fun.

We’re look forward to the everyday things: bedtime stories that we’ve read hundreds of times, kissing the boo-boos, soothing the nightmares, dinner as a family. We look forward to celebrating the milestones: learning to walk, learning to ride a bike, learning to read, going to college. We look forward to the special occasions: big family holiday gatherings with lots of cousins to play with and birthday parties with special cake creations just for them. We look forward to a future as a family.

Thank you Thanks for taking the time to read our profile. We hope that by getting to know us, any doubts and fears that you have will be replaced with confidence and peace. We look forward to developing a relationship with you. We can promise that we will love your baby as much as you do. Let us know if there are any questions that we can answer. You can send us an e-mail through our Contact Us page or call us Toll Free at 1-866-409-1382.