Dear Birthmother,

We write this letter to you with respect and hope. Respect for you and the difficult decisions you have made and those that you have yet to make. And hope that someday soon we will be blessed with a child to love. We hope that the following will help you get a sense of who we are. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us.

A Little Information About Us

Then… We met 14 years ago, while we were both working for the summer at the same restaurant. We started dating a year after that. Then, 12 years ago, we were married. We married young, when Tarl was 19 and Cheryl was 21. Many people though we were crazy to get married so young, but we decided that we wanted to live and grow together. Having married young has allowed us to build a life together and a solid relationship.

Now… During the past 12 years, Cheryl went to law school and now works as an attorney in a small law firm. Tarl has built a career in network engineering. We both have flexible jobs that will allow us to devote time to our family.

We have a two family home in a Boston suburb in a great neighborhood with a big yard. We have two friends that live in the downstairs unit, along with their two children, Daniel and Benjamin. Benjamin is Cheryl’s godson. Although we are very close to the city, our town has a “small town” feel to it and has a great school system.

Most of the things we do we do as a couple. We love spending time together and each consider each other our “best friend”. We are pretty active. We love traveling, camping, hiking, skiing, diving, visiting friends and doing just about anything outdoors. We think of ourselves as easy to get along with and fun. And we can’t wait to teach our children to pitch a tent and make S’mores!

We are both looking forward to adding a child to our family, and sharing some of the things we love to do with that child. We can’t wait to share our love of nature and travel with a child, and to experience the world together.

As parents, in addition to spending time doing fun things as a family, we feel that it is important to instill good morals in our child from a very early age. We feel that honesty and respect are among the most important of these morals. We will do our best to raise our child to be a respectful, honest, self-confident person.

The “Kids”

We have two cats (Boo and Pookie) and a dog (Sammie). All of the “kids” are friendly and love being around people. We love them all to pieces! Boo has been with us since 1997, when we moved into our first house. His favorite pastimes are laying in the sun, playing in the bathtub and chasing catnip toys! Pookie joined the family shortly after Boo, when he was just 6 weeks old. He brought out the kitten in Boo. Pookie’s favorite thing to do is, well…eat…a lot! Sammie is the newest addition to the family. She is a one year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She is a happy puppy that LOVES people and children and life, and she especially loves her kitty “brothers”. She is known to shower Cheryl’s godson with kisses!

Tarl

What Cheryl Says About Tarl: “Tarl has a great sense of humor. He loves goofing around and just having fun. He enjoys playing with our puppy and running around the backyard playing soccer with Daniel. When I see this, I know he’ll make a great dad.”

Tarl’s top 5 favorite things to do:
1. SCUBA diving
2. Playing with Sammie
3. Camping
4. Spending time with friends and family
5. Building (and flying) RC model airplanes

Cheryl

What Tarl Says About Cheryl: “I’ve always felt Cheryl would make an excellent mother. She’s supportive, caring, fun-loving and adventurous. Her eyes light up immensely when holding her godson. She even laughs at my stupid jokes.”

Cheryl’s top 5 favorite things to do:
1. Travel
2. Gardening
3. Ballet
4. SCUBA Diving
5. Spending time with family, friends, and, or course, Sammie!

Our Family

Family is very important to both of us. Our families support our decision to adopt. Since Tarl is an only child, and Cheryl has just one sibling that is much younger (he’s 19!), they can’t wait for us to bring the first grandchild into the family. Our families are unique in that Tarl’s mom has really become part of Cheryl’s family and we all spend the holidays all together as one family.

The Farm

The Farm is our home in upstate New York where we plan to raise our family. It is an old farmhouse on 98 acres with woods, pastures and a pond. It would be a wonderful place to grow up. Having both grown up in rural areas, we both have always wanted to live in a place with lots of natural beauty, and we’ve always dreamed of raising our family in such a place.

A handful of pictures and a couple of paragraphs cannot tell you everything there is to say. We have always wanted to have children, but it has been a long journey that has brought us to this point. The decision to adopt is something that we have given a lot of thought to, and we want you to know that no matter what you decide, we have the utmost respect for you.

If you choose to place your child with us we will share as much or as little of your story as you want with the child. He or she will always know what a wonderful gift you have given us. It is important to us that our child understands his or her past and knows that he or she was welcomed to this world with love. We look forward to the day when we can welcome a child into our home!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about us. Please call Cindy Simonson, A Loving Alternative, if you would like to know more about us or arrange an initial phone call.

Sincerely,

Tarl and Cheryl