We know that you are making one of the most unselfish and important decisions in your life and that you want your baby to be in a happy and loving home.  We admire your courage and selflessness for considering adoption.  As adoptive parents, we will do what is best for the baby, and we will assure you that we will help this child understand that your decision was made out of love.   We will look forward to openly sharing this experience with you, and bringing joy into our home.  Let us tell you a little about ourselves.  We are Rich  and Dana and we would like to share our story of 18 years of love and life together.

Our Beginning

We met through mutual friends who introduced us at work when we were 19.  They knew we would be a great match, and guess what; they were absolutely right.  We dated for five years, taking our relationship slowly, and then realized that we wanted to move to the next level in our lives.  We took a leap of faith into our future and were married on   11-2-96.  Great decision, because we are a very happy duo. We waited a couple of years after we were married before trying to start our family.  Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful through the natural biological process.  We agreed that a fertility specialist’s opinion would be our next step in creating an option for a family.  But after six years, and all that occurs within the fertility process, we learned that we were among a small percentage of prospective parents, who will not be able to enjoy this biological experience.  We would like to love and share our lives with a child, and this has brought us to adoption.

We live just outside of Kansas City in a town that has excellent schools, parks, a low crime rate, and lots of shopping and entertainment.  Rich works in manufacturing for a bio-pharmaceutical company.  Dana works for the Parks and Recreation Department, so of course we have the inside track on all of the great parks knowledge for playgrounds, as well as, instructional activities and athletics!  We will always encourage our child to be outgoing and involved in all types of activities with other children.  We try to take a vacation and explore our horizons in other states (outside Kansas and Missouri), but on occasion, we take a long weekend and we just relax and go camping and trout fishing at Roaring River.  Because both of our families own lake houses, we are able to enjoy, from spring to fall, wonderful weekends and beautiful sunsets with family and friends.  Fishing, swimming, boating, riding the Sea Doo are just a few of the exciting activities we enjoy.  We cook out, laugh at family antics and just relax while we are breathing in the fresh air of nature.  Both of our families live within a 15-mile radius of our home, so we will have the support of a family that  lives right around the corner! We get together for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and any time we have the opportunity.  Rich is the eldest of four children and Dana the youngest of three so we never run out occasions to get together and always have a crowd for our celebrations.  Our child will have three aunts, four uncles, two cousins and two sets of very loving grandparents.  The entire family is very excited about extending our family, especially our two nephews.  They’re looking forward to having a little cousin to play with them.   We adore Chase and Coby.  Children have and always will have a place in our hearts and in our lives.

Dana’s World (Per Rich)

Dana was born to travel.  When she was a week old, she went on her first camping trip.  Although it was just to a local park in the Kansas City area, she was still experiencing the great outdoors.   When she was three months old, her family packed up and drove to Oregon to visit family.  From that moment forward, Dana and her family went on vacations together almost every year.  Most of the time, Dana and her family enjoyed camping vacations in Colorado, but she did manage to travel to every immediate state north, south and west of Missouri, before the age of 18.  Since our marriage, she has added Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean to her travelling repertoire.  Dana is also very creative and likes building projects.  When she was growing up, she was always in the garage helping her dad with one of his many projects.  She is fearless when it comes to trying something new.  Last winter, we tiled our kitchen floor.  We didn’t have any experience with tiling, but it looks great!  Dana has a wonderful memory.  She can recall everyone’s birthday on time and is an avid reader.  I can only reiterate that’s why the kitchen tile was such a success.  Those How-To books are amazing.   She also manages to fit in some gardening, fishing and stamping into her schedule.   Dana is a very warm and compassionate person.  She follows through on what she says she will do and she is always ready to help a friend in need.  She has made all of the difference in my life and I know she will do the same for a child joining our family.

Rich’s Niche (Per Dana)

Rich is a loving, generous, and patient man.  He sits down with our nephews and teaches them a new game or the workings and antics of a new toy.  No matter how many questions they may ask, he will always explain again and again, with a few jokes thrown into the equation.  This probably came from the fact that he is the oldest of 4 siblings by 7 years.  He became a true master of teaching his brothers and sister the true art of playing.  Rich is very easy going and always keeps a positive attitude.  He is witty and he definitely keeps me on my toes.  He entertains me by singing (more like bellowing), a song which is definitely off key or dancing around the house or whereever, to an 80’s tune.  But don’t challenge him with song and sports trivia.  He’ll outscore you every time.  He also keeps active with fishing, bowling, softball and golf.  Rich is a natural teacher and he will be an incredible father.

Pet World

We have an amazing dog named Sadie.  She is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  She spends her days chasing squirrels in the back yard and comes inside to sleep in her kennel at night.  Sadie loves to visit the dog park to run around and play with the other dogs.  Its difficult to tell her “no” when we go to the lake and the first place she heads is the water to go swimming.  Retriever – Water – YES!

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us.  We also look forward to having an opportunity to meeting you and talking more about our future adoptive relationship.  Again, we have great respect for the love and selflessness you have for this unborn baby.  Please know that whatever your decision, we wish all the best for you and this child.

Sincerely,

Rich and Dana