Dear Expectant Mother,
We are Rhonda and Clifford. We are so grateful that you are considering us as adoptive parents. We hope that this letter will help you to learn about us and we hope to get a chance to talk and meet you as well.
We met in college, and after dating for two years, we married and have been blessed with a loving and committed marriage for 27 years. We have wanted to become parents for a long time, but despite years of fertility treatments we have not been able to have a child. Through this experience, our desire and commitment to become parents have grown even stronger. We have two god children who are now 11 and 17 and we have been very involved in their lives since they were infants; teaching them to rollerblade, ski, and traveling with them. As our godchildren have matured, we realized that we had postponed creating our own family and began exploring open adoption. We feel ready and excited to become parents.
We are a Christian family and are active in our church. Clifford sings in the gospel choir and Rhonda is an usher. Spending time with each other is our favorite thing to do. We enjoy traveling, sporting events and playing games together as well as spending time with family and friends.
Clifford
I am a native of San Francisco. My father (now retired) was a construction worker and my mother was a seamstress. I have three sisters and an older brother. As a kid I had a morning paper route and was involved in sports; football, track and basketball. After graduating from High School, I attended San Francisco City College for two years and was then recruited to the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania on a football scholarship.
Shortly after college, I returned to the Bay Area to work for a sporting goods company. For the past 20 years I have worked for the San Francisco Newspaper Agency in various management positions. I enjoy outdoor activities such as biking, attending major sports events, racquetball, golf, and skiing. I also like board games and crossword puzzles.
Rhonda
I grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania and have 8 sisters, though I was the only child that my parents had together. I was raised by my mother until the age of 4 when she suffered an aneurysm which left her handicapped and unable to parent me. My maternal grandparents stepped in and raised me. My grandmother was a stay-at-home mom and my grandfather was a police officer. Most of our family gravitated to my grandparents home and I was, and still am, very close with my cousins. Although I did not know my father while I was a child, he reached out to me when I became an adult. I was able to work through many of my feelings and we were able to develop a strong and loving prior to his death 19 years ago.
As a child, I loved learning and did well in school. I was involved in many activities such as ballet and violin lessons, Girl Scouts, swimming and French Club. After graduating from high school I attended the University of Pittsburgh and worked for financial institutions upon graduation. About ten years ago, Clifford encouraged me to attend culinary school because I love to cook. I now have a Certificate in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management. I am employed as a General Manager of a restaurant in San Francisco. Going to the movies, theater and ballet are some things that I enjoy. Being an active person, I love water sports including windsurfing and kayaking as well as traveling and learning about different cultures.
Our home and family
We live in a quite neighborhood in Oakland, California which is just across the bay from San Francisco. We recently renovated our two bedroom home that also has an enclosed backyard. We know all of the neighbors on our block and feel a real sense of community. Our home is close to parks, schools and a zoo. Education is important to us and we plan to send a child to private school.
We have a very large family. Most of Rhonda's family lives on the east coast in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. Every July, we attend a family reunion, which has been put on for the past 80 years. We also travel back east 2-3 times a year for visits and to celebrate special occasions. Our family also comes out to California often. We talk regularly on the phone and Sundays are our family phone day where we connect and catch up with family and friends. Both of our mothers live near us and we see them weekly and we all belong to the same church. We also have lots of nieces, nephews and cousins on Clifford's side of the family who spend time with us. We often babysit them and our friend's kids on the weekends. Our friends and family are very supportive and excited about our plans to adopt.
Final Thoughts
We look forward to raising a child in a supportive encouraging environment so that he or she will grow up to be a happy, healthy, contributing member of society. Our belief is to allow a child to discover his or her unique gifts by providing a child with a loving and secure home. We will create an environment in which a child will have a strong education and participate in our church community.
We hope that this letter will give you some insight as to who we are. We deeply would like to thank you for your consideration and let you know that we would be thrilled to have the opportunity to talk, meet, and get to know you. Please feel free to call us at 1.877.632.2066 or email us at Clifford.Rhonda@gmail.com. You may also call our friendly adoption attorney, Susan Romer, at 1-800-U-ADOPT-US (1-800-823-6788) or email at adamsromer@aol.com.
Warmest Regards,
Rhonda and Cliff
