Introduction
Dear Parents Considering Adoption,
Thank you for taking time to learn about us and consider us as adoptive parents for your child. We are a young couple who have known for a long time that adoption would be our first choice to start our family. In fact we discussed adoption on our second date. Both of us had experiences early in life which shaped our interest in loving and parenting a child who needs a home. We would cherish the opportunity to provide your child with a loving, stable family in which to grow up.
We feel that we have the perfect balance of time, energy and resources to provide a child with a wonderful home. Jaime is committed to being home with our child when he or she is young, and Mac has a very flexible career which will enable him to spend a lot of quality time at home with our family. We’ve been blessed with sufficient resources so that we have already set aside funds for college for more than one child; you can feel confident that your child will be able to pursue his or her dreams whether it’s a trade, a passion or a specific educational goal. We and our extended families, with whom we are very close, can’t wait to share our unconditional love with the child we are blessed to adopt.
The child who joins our family will know parents who really love each other. We have built a relationship with thoughtfulness, romance and good communication. The night Mac proposed, I, Jaime, had been exercising and was wearing an XL t-shirt and workout pants. I was messy and tired and Mac showed up at my house all dressed up, as if he was ready for a fancy date. I wish I could show you a picture of that night. Mac had decorated the gazebo in my backyard with more than 30 candles and all the cards I had given him during the time we dated. He had set the table with plates filled with take-out from our favorite fancy restaurant. After dinner, he got down on one knee and handed me a small box that read “To the world, you are one person, but to one person you are the world.” I opened the box to find a beautiful engagement ring. Mac asked me to be his wife and I said, “Yes!”
We have loved children our entire lives. We both spent summers as camp counselors building relationships with children in our communities. Growing up, Mac’s family volunteered as a foster family for children who needed a home. He saw, first hand, how hard it can be to make the decision to place a child for adoption and the joy a new child can bring to a waiting family. Jaime has devoted her life, through her career as a child life specialist, to caring for and loving children in challenging medical situations. We both believe there are few pleasures in life more rewarding than seeing a child smile. We plan to make sure our child has lots of reasons to smile. We hope to build experiences that help them laugh, giggle, dream and be proud of what they accomplish.
We’ve given a lot of thought to how to raise a child to feel proud of being adopted and to feel secure in the love of both their birth and adoptive families. We want to reassure you that we think it is very important to begin telling our child about their birthparents from the moment we bring them home. It is important to us that he or she knows where they came from and how much they are loved by their birthmother and birthfather. We are open to staying connected over the years. We believe children can understand adoption and can appreciate the love from everyone involved in this courageous choice. We’ll want to know what you want in this regard, but we want you to know we’re open to a continued relationship.
Our Work
Mac: I work as an accountant. Although I work longer hours during tax season (about a 2 month period), my job offers me incredible flexibility for the majority of the year. I look forward to having a very relaxed daily work schedule so that I can attend our child’s school events, after school activities and be an active Dad on a daily basis. I am excited to serve as a coach or cheerleader or simply a fan as our child plays sports, performs in the band or is part of other after school projects. I also receive a generous amount of paid time off to enjoy vacationing with my family. My focus is on spending time with our child and cherishing our time as a couple.
Jaime: My professional background is in child development, specifically the development of children with special needs. For 7 years, I have worked with children of all ages in the hospital who have needed help learning about and coping with an illness or injury. One of the perks to my job has been that I get to play with my patients in order to get to know them better. This includes everything from playing with Barbies and Legos to trying my hand at PS2 and ping pong. It is typical for me to spend an hour on the floor finger-painting or racing remote control cars down the hall. One of my favorite memories at work was a time that a 7 year old boy and I ambushed a group of doctors and nurses with silly string. We both laughed so hard, we cried! In my personal opinion and professional experience, play is a child’s job; it is the way they learn and grow. My education and my work in the hospital setting have taught me never to underestimate the importance of play.
Family Life
During our day-to-day lives, Jaime and I make sure to set aside time to enjoy each other’s company. We look forward to sharing those special moments with our child. We can’t wait to provide opportunities for our child to use his or her curiosity and creativity to explore the world. If she or he would like to study music, take up a craft or hobby, explore some subject until they feel like they know nearly everything there is to know, we’ll be there making it possible and cheering them on.
We enjoy our lives and look forward to sharing fun times with our child. We LOVE holidays! For instance, last Halloween, we bought 2 pumpkins, one for each of us. We spent the evening on the back deck carving our individual pumpkins but making sure that the other one didn’t see our work. When we had finished, we took a picture and posted our pumpkins on Facebook for our friends to judge. We’re pretty sure it was a tie, but we had a great time teasing each other about whose jack-o-lantern was the best! We imagine that will become a tradition in our home!
Mac About Jaime
Jaime’s passion and tenderness are two of her most beautiful attributes. Whether she is focusing on her desire to be a mom, her career, her friendships, leisure activities, or our relationship, she holds nothing back. She puts everything she is into everything that she does. She is also extraordinarily caring. She always goes out of her way to ease the burdens of everyone around her. She takes the extra time to do the little things to make other’s lives better.
Jaime challenges me in every way. She always encourages me to excel intellectually, physically, and emotionally. Many times Jaime understands my needs better than I do. For example, she knows that I love golf and it helps me relax after a stressful week. Even though she may want to make other plans, Jaime encourages me to take time for myself and get out and play. Although it may not seem significant, I realize she is concerned for my well-being and it is an act of love on her part.
Jaime is great with kids. I have seen her interact with our nieces and her kids at work. I know she will be protective, patient, understanding, firm (when appropriate), and above all, loving. I can’t wait to be a Dad and, together with Jaime, give a child the love we were given by our families.
Jaime About Mac
Mac is the most patient man I have ever met. I once watched him attempt to teach my mother how to download her pictures from her digital camera to the computer. She was not a quick study, but he worked with her quietly and considerately, for several hours, without once getting frustrated or losing his cool.
Mac is an honest and noble man. He always wants to do right by those around him. I know that he will work hard to instill strong values of integrity and kindness in our child.
Mac is committed to his family. He makes all of his decisions based on what is best for the happiness and well-being of our family. I know that in the future he will always take care of me and our children and will be a loving and nurturing husband and parent.
Mac is not a chef… he has to read the box to boil pasta, but he makes awesome pancakes and will deliver them to me in bed.
Home
We live in a wonderful area of Boston where strollers and family dogs await their owners outside every coffee shop, restaurant and store. There are many parks for playing, picnicking, and enjoying the outdoors. We often see children having joyful snowball fights in the winter and playing in fountains in the summer.
Our home is charming and comfortable. Our favorite part is the back deck which has a red umbrella that lends shade to a round table and chairs. The railing of the deck is lined with window boxes that Jaime has filled with red geraniums, potato vine and morning glories. It is our little haven, and we often eat our dinner outside whenever the weather allows us.
Our Values
Above all else, we value our relationships with our families. We both love to spend time with our parents, our siblings and our nieces and nephew, not to mention our grandparents, numerous cousins and their children. Mac’s grandmother’s 92nd birthday, attended by 34 of our family members, was a warm time to acknowledge and celebrate our close family.
We are also both lucky enough to have several friends that we have loved since a very young age. Jaime has 5 friends that attended pre-school with her, all of which are on her speed-dial and with whom she is in constant communication. Mac shares strong bonds with elementary, high school and college buddies who still call on him for advice and to share stories of their lives.
We both place a high value on education and will make sure that our child is afforded every opportunity to excel educationally. Between the two of us, we have 3 masters’ degrees. We feel a good education depends on parents taking an active role in a child’s development by encouraging them at school and taking the time to teach them outside of the classroom.
Our Family
This child will be Jaime’s parents’ first grandchild. They are both “over the moon” to welcome him or her into our family. Mac’s parents have 8 grandchildren, including Lilly, who was recently adopted from China. Both sets of grandparents will play an active role in the life of our child… likely going on vacations with us, taking our child on special adventures, and spoiling them on Christmas and birthdays. Jaime’s mom is an artist and a gardener and would love nothing more than to enjoy these activities with a grandchild.
Though her dad is a doctor, in his spare time he raises cattle on his farm. He is excited to spend time showing his grandchild all of the animals (cows, turkeys, deer, etc…) that live just outside his door. Mac’s mom loves to spend time with her grandchildren. She will often take the kids on special adventures. She recently took two of our nieces to a museum where they spent as much time riding the escalators as they did viewing the exhibits. She is also very creative and makes up Dora the Explorer treasure hunts at her house. Mac’s dad is a gadget guy. He has telescopes, toy trains, and all the latest computer equipment. Although he loves to show off all of his ‘toys’, he has been known to play tea party with his “princesses.”
Now and in the Future
We want to make sure that you have received wonderful support, both medically and emotionally, during your pregnancy and while making an adoption plan. It is our hope that you will be comfortable keeping the lines of communication open between us if you choose us to be the parents for your child. We would welcome the opportunity to share pictures and stories about your child as they grow up and for us to get together in person if you’d like.
We understand how making an adoption plan can be one of the most loving acts a parent can show to their child. We believe that your decision to entrust your child to another family is both courageous and selfless. We cannot imagine the amount of stress that must be involved in this decision. We hope you will be comforted and reassured when we tell you that, if you choose us, we will spend every day of our lives making sure your child is surrounded by all the love that you would want your child to know.
We would be honored if you picked us to be the parents for your child. We believe that children are life’s greatest gift. We promise to raise your child as a wonderful and precious gift…vowing to cherish that gift with every ounce of energy we have.
If you would like to speak with us directly or learn more about us, please call Full Circle, toll free at: 1-800-452-3678. We would welcome the chance to speak with you. We wish you comfort and peace with all the tough decisions facing you at this time.
Warm thoughts,
Jaime and Mac