ParentProfiles.com

Ray & Jennifer are hopeful adoptive parents from Utah waiting to adopt a baby.

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

Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. Our thoughts and prayer go out to you as you go through this difficult time in your life. We are amazed by your strength and wish you the best as you contemplate what will be best for you and for your child.

Our Little Family ~About Ray~
Ray is an attorney who practices estate planning and tax law. He works for a well known law firm and loves what he does. When he is not working, Ray loves to be outdoors. He enjoys hiking, fishing, backpacking, camping, taking pictures of wildlife, and just exploring. He can name all sorts of plants, animals, and birds.

Ray is also an artist. He has a spare room set up as his studio. He loves to do collage or what you might call cut-paper mosaic. We are excited to see two of his pieces for sale in a bookstore chain. He also enjoys sketching, doing caricatures, and taking photos.

He loves to listen to music while doing these things, especially the Killers and folk singers. He is also an amazing Scrabble player and his score is often in the 300s. Ray is a very happy, affable, funny, laid-back person. He will help anyone in any way he can. His top priority is always his family and he looks forward to expanding his family circle.

~About Jenni~
Jenni is a stay-at-home mom. Outside the home, Jenni has worked with victims of domestic violence, food stamp applicants, and other people who need help from the community.

When Cody came, Jenni gave up her spot in a masters program in social work. It was important to put Cody first. Jenni is the heart of our family. She is very organized and makes our house into a wonderful home. Since buying our first house she has found a new hobby in working in the garden and tending all of the flower beds. Jenni loves to be in the kitchen, baking and cooking. She also loves taking a break from the kitchen and going out. She has made and decorated wedding cakes, birthday cakes, shower cakes, cupcakes, and just about everything else edible and decorate-able. She likes playing the piano. She also enjoys getting together with friends and past roommates, having dinner together or just chatting. Jenni loves to watch musicals, live or on TV, and listen to Broadway music. She is especially fond of the music from Wicked. Jenni is a sensitive person who enjoys being with others and listening to them.

~About Cody~
Cody is a very happy and easy-going child. He loves to read stories (especially Monday I was a Monkey), he loves to go on walks, and loves to play in water. He loves to look at dogs and cats and bark and meow at them. He likes to play the piano. He likes to beg at the table. He doesn’t sit and watch movies, he has no interest in that. At church he likes to coo and clap at all the pretty ladies. He is really attached to his blue blanket with stars. Cody is a very cuddly little guy, and is growing up all too fast. We love being his parents.

~About Petey, our Cat~
Petey is black with a white priest’s collar and we adopted him from the Humane Society. Ray taught Petey to sit and stay like a dog for his dinner. Cody loves this cat.

Where We Come From We met at Utah State University through our roommates. We discovered that we were both Psychology majors and had classes together. We started dating in the spring of 2005. Ray proposed in January of 2006. Jenni said yes, then promptly left for a semester abroad in the Netherlands. After a semester of studying and traveling Europe, Jenni returned home and in August we were married in the Bountiful, Utah LDS temple. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our faith draws us together as a family and inspires us to do our best. We are completely committed to each other, our family, and our faith. We adopted Cody through LDS family services in the Summer of 2011.

We enjoy family life. We take walks with Cody and take him to the park or the swimming pool. We enjoy get-togethers with our extended families. We love to travel and go on vacation. Our most recent trip was to Alaska (amazing!). We also enjoy date nights, but are equally happy to stay at home, hangout, and play games with each other and other families. We have a cat named Opportunity (but we call him Petey for short).

We both come from families of 6 children and are both second oldest. Ray has 4 brothers and 1 sister, Jenni has 2 brothers and 3 sisters. We love our 7 nieces and 2 nephews. Ray is close with his parents, actually working with his dad at the same law firm. Jenni is also close to her parents and siblings. We have siblings in Idaho, Canada, Florida, and Colorado. One year for Christmas we drove out for a surprise visit to see Jenni’s sister in Idaho. It was a blast!

Our Final Thoughts on Adoption Adoption is something we are very excited about! We are not able to have children of our own, and to us, adoption is a miracle. We both have multiple relatives that are either adopted or have adopted. Both of Cody’s birth parents were involved in his adoption, and are still there for Cody.

We have had a very successful experience with our open adoption. We enjoy our visits and emails with Cody’s birthparents and are glad to have their support. We post photos and stories to a private blog that their extended family can view. Once a year we have a picnic with Cody’s birth parents and their extended families.

We know adoption is the next part of God’s plan for us and trust in His wisdom and love. We are excited to open our hearts and our lives to additional people as we go through the adoption process. We both believe it is important for a child to know that they were adopted and to know about their birth parents. We would happily exchange letters, emails, and photos, and we are open to the possibility of visits, if it is something you are interested in.

Thanks again for taking the time to read our letter. We appreciate the love and thought that you are giving this process. We are humbled and grateful for the difficult decisions and selfless sacrifices birth families make.

Best Wishes!

Ray & Jenni