Choose A Family : Parent Profile

Emily and Steve

http://web.me.com/ejsc/Steve_and_Emilys_Adoption_Profile/Welcome.html

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter and learn about us as potential adoptive parents for your child. Whether you choose us or another couple to parent your child, you are granting a family a priceless and cherished gift, and we are grateful for your kindness, generosity, and selflessness. We are thrilled to embark on the adventure that is parenthood, and we can’t wait for the new experiences, opportunities and challenges it will bring. We promise to raise a child who understands the ultimate gift of love that you have given them, and to make sure you always have a special place in all of our hearts. Our journey through infertility has strengthened our marriage and helped us develop the patience, persistence, and most importantly, the gratitude necessary to be good parents. We have three close friends who have adopted in the past two years, and we are thrilled to be following in their footsteps! We most look forward to getting to know our child - seeing the person our child will develop into. It is the littlest things we will appreciate – even the getting up for a 3:00 a.m. feeding when we have to work the next day. We have wanted to be parents for a long time and cannot wait to embrace every aspect of it – the good, the bad, and the dirty diapers!

Getting where we are today
Steve grew up in Houston and had a wonderfully happy childhood riding his bike all over the neighborhood with friends, playing in bands with his brother, and enjoying every sport imaginable, from soccer to tennis to swimming. Steve’s best memory is spending weekends and summers at the family beach house, where he spent all day in the water. His passion then, as now, was music and it has always played a significant part in his life.

Emily grew up in Southern California. Her days were filled with exploring the creek and orchards near her home, playing soccer and baseball, and making up stories with her sister in their playhouse. Emily’s favorite memory is watching baseball with her dad – she is a diehard Angels fan and she goes to at least one game a year with just dad, and looks forward to sharing her love of the game with a child. Both of us come from rather small families – Steve has one brother and Emily has one sister. We are so fortunate to live near our siblings’ families. We have four nephews, and are close enough that we can watch them play soccer, cheer them on as they earn new belts in karate, and appreciate being a part of their everyday lives. Emily’s parents live just 20 minutes away, and Emily treasures her weekly shopping and dinner “dates” with her mom. While Steve’s parents live in another state, we see them several times a year for holidays and for summer family vacations in Banff, Canada. Our families are so excited to welcome a new member to the family, and as the youngest, he or she is sure to be the center of attention and spoiled by grandparents, aunts and uncles, and older cousins!

Both Emily and Steve enjoy their dream careers – Emily as a high school history teacher (not the boring kind!) and Steve in the music industry. We both love going to work and are very passionate about what we do. When we aren’t working we have many hobbies, both individual and together, that keep us busy! We love so many of the same things: spending time with our family and friends, biking around our neighborhood, watching football on Fall Sundays, listening to any kind of music from alt rock to classical to 80s new wave, exploring the shops and restaurants in our community, going to Angels games on Sunday afternoons, long walks on the beach, working in our garden, taking weekend trips up the coast for wine tasting with friends, good-naturedly debating the issues of the day, snuggling into the couch watching The Office, American Idol or 24, and entertaining – we throw two big parties each year that have become legendary among our friends, as well as several smaller gatherings throughout the year. One of the things we most enjoy is travel. As a child, Steve and his family spent summers in Banff visiting his cousins, a tradition Emily has eagerly embraced. Emily’s family enjoyed camping all over the U.S., and as an adult she has traveled throughout Europe and lived and taught in Hungary. Together we have also traveled throughout California and to several other states, as well as to England and France. We are planning our next trip to Hungary, so Emily can introduce Steve (and hopefully a new addition!) to her other home and the friends she made there.

We both love to celebrate Christmas, and the house becomes a Winter Wonderland with multiple decorated trees, decorations from around the world, and lights galore. We are looking forward to sharing our favorite traditions of venturing out to a tree farm with our best friends to chop down the tree, hosting a tree-trimming party with our friends – we feed them and they do all the work, and Christmas day brunch with our neighbors.

Steve’s expert opinion on Emily
Emily is the most thoughtful, caring person I know. She is always the first to send a thank you card to a friend, a get-well card to a sick co-worker, or a birthday card to a family member (even on my side of the family). She is a very loyal friend to those around her and is one that can always be counted on to be there to support others during the good and the bad. One of the things that amazes me the most about Emily is her interest in learning about anything and everything. She is a voracious reader and knows more than I do on just about any subject that comes to mind. She is also a huge sports fan, and can hold her own with the most avid football, baseball, and soccer fanatics.

Emily has an incredibly creative spark as well, which comes out in her scrap-booking, writing, decorating (she could do this for a living), gardening, and ability to turn herself into Madonna for 80’s night at our local community dance. She has a way of making everyone around her feel very comfortable, and accordingly, is a wonderful host anytime we have friends or family over at our house. She loves to entertain and always sets aside an area for our nephews and our friends’ kids with coloring books, crayons, and special treats. She even had an entire ‘kids’ zone at our wedding with activities for our nephews and her goddaughters! I am always in awe when I think of her decision to teach in Hungary for a year, though when I think about her independent spirit, love for travel, and love of educating, it all makes perfect sense. I see this passion for learning about new cultures in our every day life in that Emily loves to seek out and plan walking trips in historic areas in our state. I treasure her opinion, good spirit, and her selflessness. She continues to shape the person I am for the better. I am incredibly lucky that she said ‘yes’.

Emily’s expert opinion on Steve
One of the things I love most about my husband is his sense of responsibility and character. He always does the right thing – and doesn’t believe in taking short cuts. When he makes a mistake (which are infrequent of course!), he owns up to it, and he has the maturity and self-confidence to admit it when he is wrong, and move on. Steve has a very healthy sense of who he is and what his abilities are, and always looks for opportunities to improve himself at work, at home, and as a person.

Steve is the ultimate glass is half – full person: an enormously balanced, well-rounded man who keeps everything in perspective. He is genuinely grateful for the opportunities and the wonderful life that we have, and refuses to engage in “what ifs.” Steve greets each new day with a smile and his energy and excitement get me going in the morning. His relentlessly positive attitude makes me a better, happier person because it is contagious. I am amazed at Steve’s musical ability – I can be cooking dinner, and he will sit down at the piano for 15 minutes, then hop up and say “I wrote a new song – I’ll have to work on that a bit this week to get it ready.” Steve is never afraid of embarrassing himself: instead of giving a traditional toast at his brother’s wedding, Steve wrote, played and sang a song (and while he is a fabulous drummer and pianist, his singing – not so much!). He has also written fun songs and melodies for our friends’ kids and for our neighborhood “family.” Steve’s creativity is evident in other areas as well – he has a good eye for decorating, both in our home and our garden, and we have so much fun together working in the yard, creating a welcoming space, and shopping for antiques. While I am a little shy, Steve is the opposite – he loves meeting new people and learning all about them. He will talk to anyone – and some of the best conversations he’s had are with taxi drivers, waitresses, and random people in elevators. Steve is also a total ham – if there is karaoke somewhere, he is the first on the mike! I am so proud of my husband, and so lucky to be married to him.

We love where we live!
Our home is a warm and inviting bungalow in a historic neighborhood in a Southern California beach city near Los Angeles. We live on a fabulous block with a core group of neighbors whom we consider family. We have begun a tradition of annual block parties in the summer that feature four dueling barbecues, a dessert contest, and karaoke for entertainment. Our community is wonderfully diverse and very family-oriented. Within walking distance we have several parks, two children’s art studios, the best elementary school in the city, a children’s dance studio, a city library branch, and a weekly farmer’s market with activities for adults and kids. If that doesn’t keep us busy enough, we can always ride our bikes to the beach! Our neighborhood hosts a number of year-round family activities, from Friday night movies in the park to monthly art walks to weekly concerts in the park. We love exploring our city and community on foot or on bike. Our happiest weekends are the ones when we never have to get in the car – we can get everything we need and go everywhere we want just by walking or hopping on our bikes.

A typical weekend for us begins with a Friday night barbecue with our closest friends and their kids. Saturday morning, we are up and out of the door by 7:15 to join our community walk. Individuals, couples, families, and dogs join in the 4 mile walks exploring all different areas of our neighborhood. After the walk, it is back home to make breakfast and plan the day. Saturdays we work in the yard, clean house, watch sports, or go for a bike ride in the city or at the beach. Saturday nights we might make dinner just the two of us, or get together with friends and neighbors for dinner at home or at a local restaurant. Sunday mornings are sleep-in time. We spend the morning catching up on the news of the week, reading the newspapers (Emily does the crosswords), and getting ready for the workweek. In the Fall, Sundays mean NFL, and we might get together with friends or Emily’s parents to catch the games. Sunday afternoons are often spent relaxing in the garden by the fountain, making dinner (usually homemade pizza – Emily’s specialty!), and catching up on our recorded shows. We can’t wait to discover the new routines and family habits we will create when our family grows!

You never would have guessed…

• Emily can recite all 43 American presidents in order – and if you ask nicely she’ll even spout off a fact or two about each one’s presidency while she’s doing it
• Steve composes music as a hobby, and has had a song in a Morgan Freeman movie as well as songs in several television shows
• Emily can single-handedly complete the NY Times Sunday crossword
• Steve was in a band signed to a record deal – with the signing bonus he bought a 6 foot wooden elephant sculpture because it was the most random thing he could think of to spend money on
• Emily pretends that the elephant sculpture makes her crazy and she keeps trying to “lose” it, but she secretly likes it – it reminds her of how talented her husband is
• Steve is a morning person – he is at his best at 5:00 a.m. (which really is no help for being in a band)
• Emily has traveled to 18 countries and can say “please,” “thank you” and “Do you speak English?” in 11 different languages
• Steve hates it when people are late – and all of his friends know it, so they showed up to our wedding 2 hours early
• Between the two of us, we have been to every state in the U.S. except Alaska

As parents we promise our future child that we will

• love you unconditionally
• hug and kiss you frequently, especially when you are 12 and wipe off the kisses because it isn’t cool
• encourage you to follow your dreams, even if you want to be a player in the NBA and you are only 5’7”
• celebrate your successes and commiserate over the times you don’t quite reach your goal
• love you unconditionally
• help you with homework, even math
• believe in you and have high expectations of what you can accomplish
• embrace your passions even when we don’t understand them, and support you in everything you do
• love you unconditionally
• assure you that you can achieve anything
• catch you when you fall
• play with you everyday
• love you unconditionally
• teach you but also …
• learn from you
• laugh with you when you are happy, and cry with you when you are sad
• love you unconditionally
• introduce you to new experiences, cultures, and people through travel and education
• cherish your birth story and the miracle that created our family and talk about it whenever you want
• foster in you a sense of wonder and delight about the world around you
• and most importantly, love you unconditionally

Closing
We have so much more about our lives that we would love to share with you.

We wish you peace and clarity as you make this important decision, as well as the understanding that you are doing the most selfless thing possible and granting a couple their dearest wish. Thank you.

Emily and Steve

If you have an questions for us, or would like to talk to us about adopting your child, please contact an AdoptHelp advisor by Calling 1-800-637-7999 or clicking the "Contact Us" button below.

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