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Joseph & Jennifer are hopeful adoptive parents from Massachusetts waiting to adopt a baby.

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

To our friend. Dear friend,

Thank you for taking the time to read our profile. We are so happy and humbled to get to know you--parent to parent. From the moment we met our son, Ian's, birth mom, we realized what a special, lifelong journey we were on--and the absolute privilege it is to have that unbreakable bond with the one person on Earth who loves Ian as we do.

We can say with absolute certainty that you are special, you are respected,and (most importantly!) you are loved.

At just barely 3 years-old, Ian knows Valerie's (his birth mom) name, face, and voice. He knows who she is and, most importantly, he knows that she loves him. There is a woman at our church who bears a remarkable resemblance to Valerie, and when their family once walked into Sacrament Meeting a few minutes late, Ian pointed and announced (with a well-projected, giddy glee), "It's my birth mom! Look! It's my birth mom!" Her name is mentioned daily in his prayers, her voice is heard on a myriad of videos from his birth he treasures, and sometimes he simply pauses in quiet moments to say, "Can we talk about how I'm adopted?"

That is how we want to raise our children--to know that they are special because their circle of love is so broad--because we are not the only parents who love them. In our family, your child will never wonder what you look like or how your voice sounds or how much you love them. It will be your name that they hear as we share their adoption story, pray, and express our gratitude for the one who gave them life.

Not a day goes by when we don't look back and think of Valerie--and the pivotal role she will always play in our family...And so, too, do we mark the passing days as we look to the future by thinking of you--the person with whom we will embark on a lifelong and miraculous journey.

Our adoption story started soon after our marriage in 2003—we knew that adoption was our road to parenthood almost immediately, and began the paperwork at LDS Family Services as soon as we could—spending April 29th, 2005 (our 2nd anniversary) at the Provo, Utah Agency with our social worker filling out paperwork. Almost nine months later, nearly to the day, Ian, was placed with us, and we became adoptive parents.

Our family is our highest priority. We love spending time together and exploring all that the greater-Boston area has to offer. We love to cook together and play games...we love to go camping and picking fruit at orchards. Our extended family is close enough that we can see them often--Ian certainly loves the proximity he has to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

We Three. When I (Jen) try and describe my husband, Joe, I know there are three things that define him best:
1. He can fix anything, I promise.
2. He is incurably optimistic, and
3. He knows the value of hard work and play.
Joseph makes me laugh--sometimes until I cry, and he is a pro at finding the bright side in any situation. He is patient and is completely unashamed to show love and affection. Joe is unapologetic in his dedication to our family and is so fun to be around. He's also the sole reason why I now love (instead of loathe) long road trips--Joseph is the best company, hands-down. He's the kind of guy you'd bring with you to a desert island, I promise.

Jen is my favorite person in the world. I love that she is so organized. Her talent for devising strategies to keep shelves, binders, computer folders, and closets tidy is astounding. She is a very effective communicator, and a great example of an involved mother. She opted to designate her primary occupation as such, and does a great job teaching Ian good manners, language, and often takes him on memorable day trips to help him build a greater understanding of people, cultures, and the features of which this world is made.

Lastly, Jen has a fabulous knack for cooking. She has been known to cook cakes, cookies, and pies just because she had a hankering for a taste for a certain flavor (then letting me share the treats with coworkers). She is innovative with creating recipes of her own, and very experimental when following recipes she has never tried before. I would describe Jen as traditional, in that she wants to make her own pie crust and tortillas, whereas the world at large would prefer to buy pre-made.

Ian (2 1/2 years old) has been an amazing addition to our family. He's incredibly funny, and, quite frankly, has a wit about him that can stand up with most adults we know! He loves anything with wheels--trucks, garbage trucks, fire engines, trains, etc.--but has a special place in his heart for airplanes. Since Joseph is a research engineer and spends most of his time working on aerial vehicles, Ian has taken a special fondness of planes. Usually, Ian intercepts Joseph's aerospace engineering magazine that comes every month, and spends an hour or so looking at all of the pictures. His love for airplanes runs so deeply, in fact, that dropping off family or friends at the airport evokes actual tears because he wants to ride on the airplane, too. He loves playing soccer and baseball and going to the park--and he especially loves going camping. Recently, we caught him in the living room piling up his blocks, making a mysterious, lumpy pile. "I'm making a camp fire," he explained, "I'm roasting hot dogs!"

Love. We have a happy life together--and we are so excited to know you. We're grateful that you’d consider adding us to a trusted circle of love in your life.

In our living room hangs Arnold Friberg’s painting, “The Finding Of The Infant Moses,”—a painting that has come to stir up so many tender feelings for our family. We keep it as a fond reminder that we are not the only family that loves our son. Moses was great prophet and champion for the Lord’s people, but his circumstances were the result of not one, but two courageous women: first, his birth mother, who lovingly and heroically placed her son into that basket amongst the river reeds, full of faith and hopes and dreams for her baby; and second, his adoptive mother, who, with equal courage and love, raised Moses in the court of Pharaoh—further helping him fulfill his great mission. Looking at this painting always gives us such an overwhelming love for Ian’s birth mother—an amazing woman who loves Ian as much as we do—as well as the birth moms and birth families of the children that will yet come to our family.

As parents, it is a blessing for the two of us to have the unique opportunity and responsibility to raise adopted children, and to make sure that they feel the love that inevitably comes from all directions—from us as their adoptive family, from their extended birth family, and especially from you—the parent who loved them first and always.

We have established a website where you can learn much, much more about our family. In keeping with the guidelines of ParentProfiles, we cannot place the link here...but we're happy to share the link with you if you Send us a message.

Thank you for considering our family to continue that circle of love.
With gratitude,
Jennifer, Joseph, and Ian
Send us a message

A note from Ian's birth mom. Dear friend,

The decision to place my son for adoption forever changed my life. My decision, like yours, was incredibly difficult and emotional, but I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the love that has grown from that choice.

My friendship with Jen and Joe began several months before Ian was born, and they were soon an invaluable part of my life. Their love and compassion for me spoke loudly for the love and care they would show for their children. Since Ian's birth, my relationship with this little family has changed and matured. But I am always happy and excited to see new pictures of Ian, to read Jen's stories of the crazy little things he says and does. I am able to see my son grow and know without a hint of doubt that he is happy and growing up to be a genius.

It really is all about love. It's not about loss and separation anymore--it's about an enormous, ever-growing circle of love, centered on that little life of your child. This family will embrace their children with all the love they posess, but we get to love them too.

I hope and pray that you will be comforted as you make these decisions, and that you will know the excitement we all have to expand this circle of love.

Your fellow birthmother,
Valerie