Dear Birthmother,

    We are Jonathon and Tina. We have been praying for you for many months. We don’t always know why God allows certain events to happen, but we know He will work through them if we allow. We pray that He will work through us together to provide this child a wonderful life with loving parents. Please read the following few paragraphs to learn more about us.

    We first met at Tina’s nephew’s baby dedication at our church. We didn’t speak much that day, but an attraction started. Over the next two years our paths crossed often. We started dating in June and were married 16 short months later, on a warm October day. We honeymooned in New England, touring the historic, autumn countryside by car.

    We live in a split level home in a safe, older neighborhood in South Kansas City. Our two-year old black lab, October Ann, loves running in our spacious, large back yard and taking walks through the tree lined streets. We often walk to get lunch or dinner, picnic along the creek that flows through our neighborhood, and watch the deer drink from the creek.

    Besides walking with October, our free time is filled with hobbies, both together and apart. Jonathon plays his guitar every Sunday for the church praise band. We also sing in the choir and small ensemble. Tina decorates birthday cakes for our many nieces, nephews and young friends. Jonathon likes to watch sports with his brothers while Tina scrapbooks nearby with friends. We also plan frequent visits with nieces, nephews and friends to the zoo, library, petting zoo and parks.

    Every few months we take an extended weekend to travel to places we haven’t been before. Early on in our marriage we dreamed of the day when we could tour historic nature areas with a child as a family, making each mini-vacation a time for learning along with fun. Our large families are important in our lives. Jonathon’s two brothers and their wives, and Tina’s sister and her family live in Kansas City also, which allows us to get together often. Jonathon’s sister and her family live in Colorado Springs. Jonathon’s parents live in Iowa in the same house where Jonathon grew up. Tina’s parents and three brothers live in Iowa. We love our weekend trips to the country to visit family. We love being “Aunt Nina” and “Unca Jonasson” to our three nieces and four nephews. All of our family is looking forward to being grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to the special child who joins our family.

    When Tina was an infant, she needed many abdominal surgeries. Because of all the surgeries, today she is healthy, but has a lot of scar tissue which impedes conception. Before we started dating, we had each accepted adoption as a wonderful way to grow a family. We discussed adoption might be an option together before we were even married. We vowed, “Even if our children are ours through adoption or biologically, we will love them no differently and raise them no differently.” Our largest desire is to be parents. Because our desire to be parents so outweighs the desire to have children biologically, we spent only 6 months pursuing infertility treatments.

    We love children. We have devoted much of our time to influencing the lives of all children around us, creating safe learning environments. We love teaching the toddlers and rocking the babies in church the nursery. Tina taught a babysitting class for the junior high school girls at the church, while Jonathon is always involved teaching Vacation Bible School each summer.

    Tina has been a pediatric nurse at Children’s Mercy for the last 3 years and will begin teaching newborn and infant care classes at a local adoption agency. One of the benefits of Tina’s job is she works only three days a week. Her job also values children and will allow her to spend 12 weeks off when we bring our child home. Since Jonathon works at a bank, he has scheduled hours, which will allow him to be able to enjoy his special “daddy time” when Tina is at work.

     Jonathon desires to be a dad so he can carry our toddler in a back pack wherever he goes. He also looks forward to cheering them on in baseball games or listening intently to their choir concerts. Tina yearns to be a mother to daily interact with a child teaching and discovering this world. We want to experience so much with our child, to wake at the midnight feedings (and the three o’ clock feedings); to watch first steps (and tumbles); to look both ways and hold hands before crossing the street; to cry on the first day of school; to worry about the first date (supervising just out of view); to cheer at the high school graduation and encourage through college classes. We want to be there for all the big days of our child's life, but we will be there for all the routine days also, for the bumped heads, skinned knees and tear stained cheeks. We want to comfort and love and celebrate the life of the child someone has given so graciously to us to raise.