Introduction
Dear Birthmother(s),
The day we were married, Julie’s father walked her down the aisle, kissed her cheek, turned to Greg and said “good luck!” We still laugh about it today and knew, at that moment, that not only were we joining two amazing families, but that it was the start of our wonderful, fun, amazing, adventure together.
We are Greg and Julie. We met through match.com back in 2008 and after a few phone calls and emails back and forth, we decided to go on that first date. Our love of family, friends, music and laughter are what drew us closer together. After a few months, Greg was toying with the idea of getting cats (which Julie supported!) so we adopted two adorable cats together, Guinness and Bass (they are really Black and Tan!) This was our first attempt at parenting as a team. A little over a year later we moved into an apartment together, which the cats loved because there were two people there to give them attention, and 2nd floor windows from which to watch the birds and the neighborhood goings-on. We navigated through this new co-habitation, sharing space and little idiosyncrasies. Like all couples, we have momentary disagreements, but have learned through time how to take a step back, listen to each other, see things from both sides, and to compromise. Through it all we grew closer and closer together knowing that this most certainly seemed like a wonderful forever.
In July 2009, Greg got down on one knee in our little apartment kitchen and proposed. In 2010 we married in front of 180 of our closest family and friends (see “family” section). Then in 2012 we bought our first home in a cute suburb outside Boston that was a reasonable commute to work, 20 minutes from family and equally as important 10 minutes from the beach! Julie’s favorite room in the house is the four season, heated sun porch surrounded by windows that we plan to turn into a playroom. We have an awesome, spacious backyard we love to fill with lively cookouts, yard games, lounging in our hammock, and fire-pits by moonlight. We envision future backyard birthday parties, playing games, having picnics and camping out with a child.
We love so many different activities from traveling to home improvement projects but everything is more fun with friends and family. Julie kayaks with the girls and Greg takes in games with the guys. We love the Red Sox and music and try to go to a few games and concerts every year. We visit friends all over and make an annual trip to Tennessee where Greg’s parents have retired. We love to spend time at the beach or by the ocean.
We were both raised Christian and although we do not go to church every week, our faith helped form our moral compass and we plan to raise our child with religion and give them the religious foundation to build upon. We would support our child’s views as they grew older and let them be open to believe what they choose as long as the foundation is love.
Greg is a Civil Engineer and Project Manager. He has worked over 15 years for a small engineering firm just outside of Boston. He specifically works on traffic signals, so if there is one in your town that isn’t working, we may be able to grease some wheels. Greg thoroughly enjoys his job and loves to point out the good and bad of traffic signals and signs as we traverse the roads. Julie currently manages a recruitment team at a major engineering firm in downtown Boston and has risen through the ranks to be an indispensable part of the team over 7 years with the firm. Julie has the flexibility to work from home and plans to take a three month leave once we are blessed with a child. We’re hoping after those three months that Julie will work from home 2-3 days a week and Julie’s parents will spend precious time with our child on other days. We would also use day care as needed.
Growing up by Julie
I had a wonderful childhood and consider myself extremely lucky. I am the oldest of four children, followed by a brother and two sisters. I was 14 when my youngest sister was born and that was the first time I remember being excited about being a mother someday. I wouldn’t mind getting up in the night to help feed her and give my parents a break. I would rock her to sleep and watch her drool all over. When she’d laugh my heart would skip into a million smiles… this was a job I wanted.
Both my parents worked very hard and made sure that all four of us were given the opportunity to try new things, meet new people, and experience other cultures. My siblings and I played sports, musical instruments, visited museums and traveled around the US learning a lot of history along the way. I always loved meeting new people. Even at a young age my parents would find me wandering over to families pretending to speak their language so I could play with their children. This variety helped fill me with open-mindedness and a thirst to always try new things and embrace other cultures, which is how I still am today!
I graduated from high school and moved 2 hours away from home for college which was just far enough for no surprise parental visits but close enough that I could hop a bus and not miss out on family events. I spent four years studying Sociology, making new friends, and marching in the Marching Band. I know, how geeky, but I loved every minute of it! I made amazing friends and traveled around the country – I even marched in a Presidential Inaugural parade in Washington D.C.! Music is very important to me but not just playing instruments; I can’t go a single day without singing out loud or be-bopping around the house to music.
When I was 16 I was diagnosed with PCOS (Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome). It’s not life-threatening but it made me start to gain weight pretty fast among other mild symptoms. I was able to keep a lot of weight off through college by being super active but once I entered the workforce sitting at a desk most of the day the pounds just piled on. It’s been a struggle for me but I have a positive attitude and refuse to let my weight get in the way of things I want to do or try – no matter how difficult. I’ve made a conscious effort to be more active day to day instead of just on the weekends. It’s important to me to be healthy and teach our child healthy habits and how to stay active!
Growing up by Greg
I also consider myself extremely lucky to have grown up the way I did with the family I have. I have one older brother, and we did everything together, from riding bikes around the neighborhood to exploring the woods, trails and streams that were behind our house. We were also lucky to travel a lot, although we didn’t do it by plane – we did it in style in a 1931 Ford Model A coupe, and, later, in a 1928 Ford Model A sedan. My parents have been deeply involved in street rodding since I was 4 or 5, and our summer weekends were filled with going to events (“runs”) locally in New England to as far away as Pennsylvania, and typically went on one big trip a year that involved the Canadian “nationals”, the American nationals, and sometimes another run in some other part of the county. When I was 11 we went as far as Colorado in the car! My parents retired to Tennessee about 10 years ago, but they still have two cars and still go all over the place, and I know that the option to take a ride in those cars will be a part of their future grandchild’s life.
I went to college in NY, and was fortunate enough to make lifelong friends there. I was surrounded by a lot of folks like me (male, good in math and science, some slightly nerdy, some really nerdy) but also enjoyed being exposed to people from all around the globe. It was a great fit for my natural curiosity to learn more about the people, places and things around me.
Another big part of my childhood right into adulthood is rooting for the local sports teams. I’m not just a Red Sox fan but a baseball fan, and not just a Patriots fan but a football fan. I was especially drawn to baseball and all the numbers and statistics, and my brother and I used to devour magazines, books and annual guides about the sport. I can tell you every World Series champion since 1979 off the top of my head.
Music has also been a big part of my life from when I first discovered top 40 radio in my youth right up to today. Julie keeps me up to date by listening to the latest pop hits in the car, and I gravitate towards all different types of music depending on how the mood strikes me. Unfortunately I can’t carry a tune and never showed any real promise with an instrument, but I do still love listening to it!
Why Julie Loves Greg
Our first date I could tell Greg was trying to impress me. It was adorable that he would brave a loud, obnoxious bar scene which was a little out of his element to win my affections. I have always loved Greg for his amazing sense of humor and how we both gel in this arena. Not a day goes by we that aren’t laughing and enjoying each other’s company. He knows how to make me smile even on the darkest of days. Greg is also very smart, especially in math which is not my strong suit. I had hoped to have a partner that would round this weakness out in our relationship and I hit gold. This man can do crazy math..in his head! He also loves Prince (who doesn’t?) and is a closet current pop music fan. I’ve caught him more than once singing or humming the latest top 40 hits. Mostly, though, I love Greg for his warmth, his generosity, and his love. He has so much of this to give. I see him with the children in our lives and know he will be an amazing dad.
Why Greg Loves Julie
I’m pretty sure on our recent trip to Disney World that Julie was the most excited kid there! When we first started dating, from the start I could feel her warmth and vivaciousness. She and I have so much fun together just being silly – jokingly teasing each other, making up silly songs, finding goofy ways to handle even the most mundane household chore. Julie keeps me from taking myself too seriously, but it’s not all silliness – she also has fierce determination when it’s necessary, whether it’s in her job or tackling a home improvement project.
It didn’t me take too long to figure out that Julie will be an awesome mom. I know that she’ll enjoy all the kid activities right alongside our child! I know that her warmth, love, sense of humor and perfect balance of lightheartedness and goofiness will be a perfect fit for our family.
Children
Although we don’t have any children of our own, we are blessed through friends and family to have lots of children in our lives. Greg’s college friends, who have 5 sons, asked Greg to be godfather to their third son, made Julie godmother to their fourth son, and made Greg and Julie godparents to their fifth son. We see their family often, and have a special bond with all five of their kids. We love to go to sports games, school events, birthday parties, etc and feel like an extended part of their family. Greg went on a couple Disney trips with them when there were only two boys, and we spend a long weekend at a beach house in Maine every summer with the entire family, including both sets of the boys’ grandparents and a few other college friends.
Julie has a cousin who has two young daughters, and another cousin who just had a baby. At every family get-together (of which there are plenty!), Julie is the first one to talk to, play with, and have fun with those kids. You can guarantee that if we are somewhere where there is a baby, Julie will be holding that baby! Julie also has two young first cousins, and we made sure to make the children in our life part of our wedding. Greg’s friends’ oldest three boys served as ring-bearers, and Julie’s cousin’s girls and one of her first cousins served as flower girls.
We look forward to growing a family of our own that we can build lasting memories with. We would enjoy the outdoors, from our backyard to local parks and playgrounds, to taking in ballgames and other outdoor activities. We would support and encourage the child to have interactions with other children, from playdates as a toddler to sleepovers, sports, music, art, cub scouts/brownies,etc as the child gets older. We wish to give a child the same happy childhood we were blessed with, while exploring the child’s own unique qualities and be able to give them every opportunity to succeed. We have a savings account started for college tuition or trade school to support the child’s education, so they can grow and continue to follow their dreams.
Family
We were both bred from mostly Irish Catholic stock, although Julie mixes in some Lebanese thanks to her paternal grandmother, while Greg has some French and Italian in the mix. Julie’s mother is one of eight siblings, her father one of three. Julie has 21 cousins who double dip as close friends. Greg’s father was an only child, but his mother was one of four which gives him 14 cousins with Greg as the baby. Family is the foundation of who we are. Our immediate and extended family have always felt like giant, white, puffy clouds of warmth, compassion, support, humor and love. We both feel so lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives who care about us and that we care deeply for. The years are filled to the brim with family birthday parties, weddings, confirmations, graduations, holidays, and family parties for no reason other than we actually enjoy our families’ company. Our family is open and loving and so excited to be with us on our journey to adopt.
Why are we looking to adopt?
Adoption was always something we had considered as a way to build the family we knew we wanted to have together. Greg and Julie have friends who have adopted children as well as friends who were adopted themselves. Given Julie’s Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis we also discussed adoption, due to the fact that women with PCOS find it extremely difficult to conceive. However, this is one area of PCOS that seemed to not actually be an issue for us.
In late 2013 we found out we were pregnant and were over the moon. We lost the pregnancy at 9 weeks and were of course heartbroken. We learned this happened more often than we realized and decided to try again right away. Just three short months later we found out we were pregnant again! This time, we decided to play this pregnancy a little closer to the vest. When we finally hit 12 weeks with a healthy heartbeat, we told our parents and siblings. At 16 weeks we sighed a breath of relief and told the world. We were so ready to start our family the whole event was just making us beam with joy. At almost 20 weeks, however, Julie went into labor. We delivered our son, Jack Everett, on May 6th, 2014. We were devastated. We took time to heal and grieve our loss. After some time had passed we collectively decided that we were down…but we were certainly NOT out. Our dream of a family of our own would not end here.
Today our path has crossed with yours.
We understand the challenge before you and only want you to know that you are so incredibly brave and selfless for considering an adoption plan. We realize this decision is not an easy one. We can only promise your child a life of compassion, understanding, support, love… and lots of giggles. We would love for you to be involved with our child’s life if you choose and to be able to cultivate this important connection. If you would like to learn more about us, we would love to get to know you! We encourage you to contact us through Full Circle Adoptions at 1-800-452-3678.
Whatever your decision, we truly wish you the very best.