Dear Birth Parents:

If you are reading our profile, your choice to pursue adoption was likely a difficult path, as ours has been in pursuing parenthood. Your selfless decision will positively impact all of our lives, and we hope it provides peace.

We would like to tell you about our 15 years of life together. We met as college students in 1992 while working with disabled children at The Ohio State University and became instant friends; were we only 20 years old. 
Jenny: “I was immediately attracted to Rod’s outrageous sense of humor.” 
Rod: “I was attracted to Jenny’s physical beauty and apparent extraverted personality.” 
Jenny: “I recognized that Rod was gifted at science, so I started studying with him to improve my grades. Over the next several months, Rod often sat in the coffee shop I worked at studying between classes. Although he likes to say he liked the coffee, I like to say he came by for other reasons.”
Rod: “I enjoyed hanging out with Jenny during our study times and soon found myself developing strong feelings for her. And it is true…I did spend A LOT of time at the coffee shop where Jenny worked.”

Our relationship with each other was slow to develop over the next several years. During Rod’s last year at Ohio State (1995), we took a camping and hiking trip to the Colorado Rockies that seemed to solidify our bond to each other; we had been “friends” for over 2.5 years at that time.

After four years of dating, Jenny finally graduated and we married in November of 1997 at the age of 25. Jenny began her career as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and Rod began his long journey (six years) through two graduate degrees; first a Master’s at The University of South Carolina and then a Ph.D at Case Western Reserve University. During our early-married years, we decided to wait to start a family after Rod finished his Ph.D training.

Those were a long six years and Jenny often worked 7-days a week to help pay the bills. The challenge of surviving the rigors of graduate school and multiple moves only deepened our bond with each other. Our third move was to Chicago, IL (2003) where Rod began his post doctorate training at Northwestern University.  Jenny continued working with children in the school systems with the special education department and was becoming well experienced in pediatric therapy. We have now spent the last seven years developing our careers and began to look forward to parenthood. Unfortunately, nature could not take its course as we discovered significant problems with Jenny’s fertility that would not allow pregnancy. Our medical options were to use donor eggs, as Jenny was unable to produce her own eggs; this would still allow Jenny to experience pregnancy and childbirth. Two years were spent attempting to be a candidate for this procedure with fruitless results. The rollercoaster ride during the medical treatments led us to recognize and appreciate the needs of children whom need homes through adoption and in June of 2007, our fate was set.  

To fill our void to nurture, we adopted two adorable cocker spaniels, Lady and Drake, which were a very welcome addition to our life. Lady and Drake have been a major focus of our lives and have served as great surrogates for children during the past two years. Their love for us and ours for them has helped heal our loss of parenthood. The best moment of the day occurs when we walk through the front door and see them eagerly wagging their tails. They have been the happiest addition to our lives in 10 years of marriage.

We share a love for the outdoors that includes gardening, camping, and swimming, biking, snow skiing and long dog walks. We have had the time to explore various areas of the US and some of the Caribbean.  Our favorite places are the Florida Keys, Hilton Head Island in South Carolina and the ski slopes of Colorado. Rod is also a fabulous cook and often celebrates these skills with family and friends. We look forward to teaching children how to snow ski, fish and other outdoor activities, and passing on family cooking skills and recipes.

We are new in our neighborhood but are quickly getting to know the families nearby.  Two neighbor girls are constantly asking to come over and play with Lady and Drake.  Our home is next to a park, has access to bike trails, and is within walking distance to a new public elementary school and a short drive to the area parochial school.  We are near a recreation lake, state and federal parks, camping grounds and an indoor aquatic center.  Although we now use the aquatic center for lap swimming, we look forward to taking our children there someday, as the center has a child and baby appropriate pool areas with big slides and water features. 

We hope you have an idea of the type of people we are and the possibilities your child could have if placed in our lives.  Most of all, we want to be parents.  Life is not full without that role. We are here to relieve any concerns you may have about your child’s future.

Jenny and Rod, Drake and Lady

Contact us through Hillary Merryfield at 913-642-7900