Dear Birthmother,

We want to thank you for reading this letter. The decision you are making is the most admirable we can think of. To put the best interests of your child before your own is an amazing and selfless act of love. We hope we can help you find peace in your decision by promising to do everything in our power to make sure your child has all of the love, support, and encouragement we can provide. And we want you to know that it would be our great joy to provide a child the same opportunities we both had growing up in loving and happy homes.

In the pages that follow you will learn about us - Elizabeth, Dmitry and Alex.
We invite you to read further and learn more about our family. You will learn that we have a lot to offer a child. We are eager to give the small miracle that you are carrying a safe, loving, happy home to grow up in.

About Us

A Match Made in Heaven
Dmitry and I are kindred souls who found each other in the most unusual and unique circumstances. He was just becoming a citizen of the United States when we met. Originally from the Soviet Union, Dmitry was learning English, going to school and learning about how to live in the U.S. I was an Employment Counselor at the vocational school Dmitry was attending. It was my job to teach job search skills and then to place the students into positions related to their field of study.

We soon found ourselves drawn to each other. We spent our time together telling stories and laughing until our sides hurt. We went sailing, took bike rides, and met each other’s families. It was a perfect match. Although we had grown up in different countries, we shared similar goals and values: we both wanted two or three children; we both valued a close extended family; and we both were interested in traveling and learning about different cultures. Dmitry and I soon realized that we were soul mates within a few weeks of dating.

A year and a half after our relationship started, we were married in August 1996 in a garden overlooking the blue waters of Massachusetts Bay. The day was warm and sunny, perfect for a garden wedding. We had all our friends and family there with us. It was the day that marked the beginning of our very happy marriage.

Family Life
Dmitry and I love children and we always dreamed of having a large family. Within two years of
our wedding, our son Alexander was born. After many years of trying to have a 2nd child, we
learned that during the birth of our son, the physician made an error that left us unable to have any more children of our own. Adoption is the perfect answer for us to realize the dream adding another child to our family.

Both Dmitry and I were brought up in loving families, and we spend lots of time with our siblings, parents, nieces and nephews. Part of our summer is spent at the family cottage up in Ontario. The cottage was built by Elizabeth’s great-grandfather 100 years ago, and is situated on a lake. It is a great place for all of Elizabeth’s extended family to get-together. Days are spent doing outdoor activities such as swimming, sailing, canoeing, fishing, and hiking. At night, we enjoy making a small campfire by the beach to cook hotdogs and hamburgers. While we eat s’mores for dessert, we sing songs and tell stories. We can’t wait to share our family fun up in Canada with a second child.
Our home life is also full of fun with our extended family. At least once a month we have a family BBQ or party. During the week when it is just us at home, we make an effort to sit down to eat dinner together every night. We enjoy going around the table talking about the best and worst part of our day. Alex will usually share that the best part of his day was riding bikes around the yard with a friend or making a “cool” paper airplane that swoops and dives. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to reconnect after our time away at school or at work.
On Friday nights we have movie night. It is our way of stating “let the weekend begin!” Part of the ritual of movie night is to make ice cream sundaes. Hot fudge, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream – what could be better? And then we all sit together on the couch, watching family movies like “Finding Nemo” and “The Lion King”. On the week-end you will find us outside working in the garden, or planning a bike ride on the bike trail that is a few minutes away from our house. We truly enjoy spending time together as a family and being involved in each other’s day. This is what makes a strong and happy family connection.

Meet Elizabeth, by Dmitry
I love Elizabeth for her sense of adventure, her inquisitive nature, her kindness and compassion.She is a great wife and absolutely wonderful mother. Currently Elizabeth works in Human Resources on a part-time basis. She enjoys working with people from all types of backgrounds and handling many different employee issues. Out of a family of four children, she is the big sister and she works hard to keep everyone in touch and involved in each other’s lives.
Elizabeth has more energy than anyone I have ever met. She loves to be outdoors and enjoys activities such as hiking local paths, skiing, sailing and tennis; she is always on the go! Elizabeth is also a great listener and a great conversationalist. She is the kind of person you call for a quick hello and end up chatting and laughing with for hours. She is friendly and open and always has a story to tell – these qualities have earned her many close friends over the years.
She is also a great cook! It has been a longterm goal of hers to learn how to cook and cook well. Her youngest sister used to tease her about her terrible cooking skills and say she couldn’t even boil water without ruining it. From her early attempts at brownies from a box, to the recent chicken piccata from scratch, Elizabeth’s cooking has come a long way - and her sister doesn’t tease her any more!

Elizabeth has a special affinity for children. She is patient and playful. Children are easily drawn to her. Our niece Emily, usually a shy little girl around people, is very animated and playful with Elizabeth. They will sit down and have a pretend tea party or Emily will tell her all about her stuffed animals. Elizabeth believes that children come first and, now that Alex is at school most of the day, she works hard to maintain a part-time work schedule so she can be home with him in the afternoons. She enjoys having the time each day to take Alex to school activities such as karate and soccer. She also spends time with Alex each night reading books. Alex has become a fluent reader.

Alex and Elizabeth go to the library once a week, and afterwards they spend time at the town playground which is right next door. When a second child joins our family, Elizabeth plans to be at home full-time to give the child all the love and attention he or she needs. She believes that as parents we need to be involved and supportive. And in doing so a child will have the confidence to realize their dreams and reach any goal they set.

Meet Dmitry, by Elizabeth
He is warm, sweet and very funny. On Sunday mornings, Dmitry insists I sleep in late while he cooks up a large breakfast. French toast, eggs, bacon and fruit - a perfect start to a new week! He enjoys reading the cartoon section of the Sunday newspaper and then sharing those jokes or stories with friends and families. He is able to get a smile or a laugh from the biggest scrooge.

Dmitry is active and enjoys playing volleyball, soccer, skiing and hiking. He is a do-it-yourselfer, and does most of the handiwork at our home. He has built a deck on the back of our house, renovated our kitchen and is currently renovating our basement for a children’s playroom. He takes a lot of pride in our house.

Dmitry has worked hard establishing his career in the United States. He has his master’s
degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and has worked at his current place of employment for over six years. He has every other Friday off, where he spends time on family events, projects around the house, and Alex’s after school programs. Dmitry is big sports fan. Monday night football is a big event in our home. We arrange dinner, phone calls, and all nightly activities around the game. He is also a great soccer player. And, until recently when he broke his ankle, he played on a local soccer league.

Dmitry was raised in a family where education and family time were most important. His mother
was a cardiologist in Russia, and currently his sister and her husband are both physicians in
Massachusetts. We are very close and visit them often for birthdays, anniversaries, and family gettogethers. Dmitry has instilled in our family a strong sense of education and family focus. As a devoted and involved father, Dmitry builds model airplanes with Alex to teach him about airplanes. When Dmitry gets home from work, he and Alex go to the back yard to play soccer or walk to the pond to look for pond life. In the winter, they enjoy building snowmen or snowcastles together.

Whether it is making paper airplanes, playing a game of chess, or helping Alex with his math homework, Dmitry is a warm, supportive father who provides a consistent, stable and positive environment for Alex.

Meet Alex
Alex is 7 years old. He was born August 11, 1998. He is a very happy, active child. He is in the second grade and enjoys reading,
math, Spanish class, and - most importantly - recess! He is well liked in school and has many friends. A big reader, Alex is reading chapter books, such as the
Magic Tree House series. At home, he spends time with his best friends, Ben and Chris, twins who live next door to us.

Alex is involved in several sports activities. His currrent favorite is karate. After 2 years, Alex is proud to wear a red belt. Karate is a wonderful program that teaches children self-discipline, respect towards others, and how to be goal-oriented. He also enjoys swimming lessons in the summer and skiing lessons in the winter.

Alex has always asked for a brother or sister. Most children want a dog or a cat. But Alex wants a sibling. He wants someone to play with, teach karate or soccer, and read stories to. He is very
aware that we are going to adopt a baby. He is excited and he is always talking about life with a
new baby. I am confident Alex will be a positive role model and excellent big brother to a baby
brother or sister.

Our Home
We live in the rolling hills of Massachusetts. Our town is a quaint, charming New England town, with a population just over 10,000. We have lived here for 7 years. We chose this town for the excellent public schools and family- oriented neighborhoods. We live on a quiet street with sidewalks where children ride bikes, mothers push babystrollers, and neighbors meet to say hello.

There is a small pond on our street which is a gathering place for the neighborhood. We make fishing rods out of sticks and twine for the fishing line. The children love to search for turtles and other pond life. Two geese return to the pond every year to make a nest and lay their eggs. When the baby cygnets hatch, we watch them as they learn to swim, walk and eat. Treasure hunts are a popular game with the neighborhood children. The kids are given a list of things they need to find, like pinecones or acorns. Prizes, such as paper airplanes or yo-yos, are given to the kids for a job well done. It is a wonderful experience to have nature so close to our backyard.

Our neighborhood is a busy, social place to live. Most of the families on the street have young children between the ages of newborn to ten years old. We enjoy hosting playdates with several families from our neighborhood. Because we host so many playdates we have been given the nickname Camp Ushamirsky. Our neighbors know that we are very attentive and involved parents. We enjoy watching the children play with their trucks in the sand box or helping them to put on binoculars and spy glasses as they search around the yard for bugs, lizards or chipmunks. We started the annual neighborhood Halloween Party. On Halloween night, the families in the neighborhood come over for a “ghoulish” Halloween dinner of pizza (with gummy worms on it) and eyeball drinks (large plastic eyeballs from the local party store). We play games like Mummy. In this game the kids compete to roll their dads in toilet paper. The end result is fantastic - the dads are mummies! And the costumes the kids wear to the party are great. I’ve seen babies dressed as Winnie the Pooh or yellow bumble bees, other children dress-up as Harry Potter or Spiderman. Alex’s favorite costume is Spongebob Square Pants. It is always a fun night!

Our house is a typical New England style colonial house. It is situated on the top of a hill and faces the south. We get the benefit of the warm sun all year round, including on the coldest days of January. There are four bedrooms, and there is a large family room, which is open to our kitchen. It is the main gathering place for the family. The house has a nice backyard with a swing set and sand box. In the summer we bring out a large swimming pool for Alex and his friends. Further in the backyard are woods where white birch, maple, oak and pine trees grow.

Our Promise to You
We feel that our experience as parents has prepared us for a second baby to join our family. We are familiar with changing diapers, late night feedings, the so-called terrible twos stage, the explorer stage (where a toddler wants to get into everything), and potty training. We promise to you that we will give your child all the love, patience, support, attention that will help him or her grow into a happy, active, healthy child. We also promise to love this child through-out his or her life and to do our best to provide the utmost opportunities for education and a happy, successful life.

Thank You
We feel that adoption is the most unselfish and loving gift a birthparent can give their child. As a birthmother you have a huge decision to make and we hope that our letter has helped you to see the kind of family we are and long to be. We want you to know that your newborn will be loved with all our heart and soul. Your child will have every opportunity you can dream of for a safe, happy home, with financial stability and a loving family.

We want to thank you for reading our profile and wish you the best in your decision. We would
enjoy discussing any questions you may have about us. Please call Cindy Simonson, A Loving
Alternative, if you would like to know more about us or arrange an initial phone call.

Again, thank you for reading our letter.

Sincerely,

Dmitry & Elizabeth