Being a parent is the most important job in the world. Parenting is so much more than a title. It's a way of life. Being a parent means that the moment this child is placed in our arms, we are responsible for that child until we are no longer in a physical form on the planet. We are presented the honor of raising this child to be kind, loving, adventurous, optimistic, resilient, patient, empathetic, and cherish all things around him/her. Our lives will revolve around this child.

As we write this, Jen is tearful at the thought of what we expect to like most about being parents. There is so much anticipation that has been growing for years and years. We are overwhelmed with hope and joy. We have watched others parent and longed for that blessing. Because we have waited for so long, parenthood will be nothing but joy. We are not naive in thinking it is easy. Jen has worked with kids for 30 years and has experienced the good, the bad, and everything in between. We look forward to doing as much as we can as a family unit. We want to embrace this lifestyle and immerse this child with all life has to offer.

We promise that this child will be our hearts and souls. We will dedicate our entire lives to making sure this child is nurtured and loved from the moment you bless us as this child's parents until we take our last breaths.

We promise this child will always know his/her roots and why they came to us. They will know your unselfish bravery and the courage it took to make this decision. And that your decision was forged from the strongest love there could ever be.

We promise that this child will be special to us and the world. This child will go out into the world and make a difference in the lives of many people, because you did.

We promise that you will be part of the village we need to raise this child to be an amazing human. Love can never be too great of a gift and we will never turn our backs on those who love this child.

We recently moved into the same neighborhood that Jen's mom lives in (and she grew up in). We have amazing neighbors with many children of all ages. Across the street from our home is a cul-de-sac that is safe for kids to ride bikes and play. Also, there is a soccer field and playground in the plan as well as walking trails. Jen's mom lives up the hill from us and has an in-ground pool that our nieces and nephews swim at all summer long. We really enjoy walking our dogs up the hill to get some exercise and visit Jen's mom.

Our home is a two-story with three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. We have two large family rooms, a kitchen, a TV room and a finished basement. Jen really likes vintage decor, so we have some pretty cool things like a 1960's Jukebox. Ben built a large deck for outside entertaining and we have an amazing large back yard perfect for playtime!

The past two years have been very emotional for us. We both lost one of our parents. This definitely made us think very hard about our future and look past all of our anxieties about the adoption process and jump in with full commitment to becoming parents. Jen is an only child and was very close to both of her parents, so now that it's just she and her mom, they are closer than ever. Along with Jen's mom, her grandfather is still living. He is 99 and a wonderful role model for everyone. He is her hero.

Ben is the youngest of seven and lost his mother to cancer in 2018. He and his siblings are very close and we enjoy spending time with our nieces and nephews. We try to get together and do family dinners at least once a month with most of Ben's family. Since we've moved into a larger home, we really enjoy hosting parties! We have Halloween and Christmas parties and we are looking forward to hosting picnics in our back yard this summer. We are hoping this becomes a family tradition. It seems like everyone really enjoys our home and it has become a family hangout!

Hello,

Before we can even begin to write anything we must say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and souls for taking this journey. We love and admire you so much.

We have to be completely honest with you. At first we thought that writing to you would be pretty simple. We're nice people ... we love kids ... we'll be great parents ... yadda yadda yadda. But, as we tried to put down into words our overwhelming feelings of love for a child that hasn't even been born yet, we soon realized that this is one of the most difficult things we've been asked to do. It's not difficult because we don't know what to write, but it feels as though what we write will never adequately express how much this child will mean to us and how deeply we want to share our lives with him/her. One thing that is not difficult for us is to be authentic, because that is what you deserve and that is what we can promise you. We hope you find in this letter and our profile a vision for this child's future. We hope you can close your eyes and see him/her running through our backyard with our dog, fishing in the creek down the road, going on family hikes at the park, swimming with his/her cousins at my mom's house, and being the absolute light of our lives.

Please allow us to introduce ourselves. Our names are Jennifer and Benjamin, but Jen and Ben (or Bennifer) will be fine as well. We are a married couple who have been together slightly over 10 years. We have a built a strong marriage on the blocks of respect, trust, communication, and laughter. We both share the same sense of humor and we LOVE to laugh.

We can't imagine our lives with anyone else and I think we can both agree that we married our best friends. At the same time we know our family isn't complete with just the two of us. Becoming parents is a dream of ours, but unlike most couples we need help making that dream come true.

That dream is what brings us all together. That dream is why you are reading our letter to you. We know you have a dream for this child. We know you love this child more than anything in the world and we know that you are considering making a very difficult decision because of how much you love this child. We can help each other give this child the best life and overwhelming amounts of love and support. All of us together want the same dream and it's pretty amazing that our paths are crossing right now.

We hope that we can build a kinship with you with as much contact as comfortably possible. We would love to share emails and photos, at the very least. But, we hope we can continue to build a bond as well. We have planned to openly talk about adoption from day one with this child and to let him/her know that they are surrounded by love from so many people and that our family now stretches far and wide.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about us.

With laughter, love, and peace,

Ben & Jen