You decide whether you would like to let them adopt your baby.

We are here for you to help make the decision that best suits your needs.

Dear Birth Mother,

Thank you so much for considering us as a potential family for your baby. We understand that this must be a difficult time for you and that you have an important decision to make. We admire you for your strength and courage and your desire to select a solid and happy home.

We are Jim and Michael and we have a two year-old daughter named Emma. We have been together as a couple for almost nine years and had a legal commitment ceremony six years ago. We adopted Emma at birth and ar thrilled to be her parents. We have always loved children and have always been close to our nieces, nephews and the children in our large circle of friends. We knew we would love to be parents but had no idea how much. Having Emma has changed our lives in the most wonderful ways. She has opened our hearts to so much love and we can't wait to share that love with another child.

About Us

We live in a big old house in San Francisco with a huge yard and garden area (for a house in the city, at least), including outside play areas for the children. There are many other children in the neighborhood and a park and a playground nearby. Michael likes to garden and we both like to cook and entertain our friends and family. We also have a vacation house in the country where we like to spend weekends and a few weeks each summer. The house is on top of a mountain just a short distance from the ocean and from the Russian River. We have lots of fun up there hiking, reading, gardening and swimming in the pool or taking our dog Lucy to swim in the river.

We also love to travel and believe it is important for our children to see as much of the world as possible and to learn from as many different cultures as possible. Emma has already been to seventeen states and four foreign countries. She has visited for a week or longer in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico and Argentina. We plan to raise our children to speak Spanish as well as English and hope to spend a month each year in a Spanish-speaking country. We spent March of 2005 in Argentina and hope to spend a month in Spain in 2006.

Michael

Grew up in the small town in Pennsylvania where his parents still live. He has one older sister who is married and has two grown children. Michael has a grandniece and nephew who are two and four years old and great playmates for Emma when we get together. Despite the fact that we live in different parts of the country, we do see each other at least a couple of times a year.

Michael is a stay-at-home dad and he intends to continue to stay at home with the children until the new baby is at least a few years old. Before Emma was born, Michael worked as a lawyer and a law school professor, and he has always been involved in the community. He has served on the board of directors of a group that counsels men who have domestic violence issues, and he is currently on the steering committee of a parent support group that organizes family social events and meets two Saturday mornings each month to discuss various parenting issues ranging from specialized ones like adoption and being part of a multiracial family to those confronted by every family like how to choose a school, how best to discipline our children, which books are age-appropriate, or how to potty train. In addition, Michael volunteers as a tutor of school-age children from the San Francisco public schools.

Jim

Grew up in a tight-knit family in a very small farming community (300 people) in the heartland of Iowa. He is still very close to his sister who lives in Southern California and to his brother and sister-in-law and their three children, one of whom just had a baby a couple of months ago. Emma is especially excited to have a new cousin-baby Caroline.

Jim is the Chief-of-Staff of a major hospital in the Bay Area. Although his is now in charge of the operations of the entire Medical Center, he was trained as a pediatrician and still sees children two mornings a week. In addition to his job, Jim is very active in the community, especially with respect to health-related issues. He recently completed a two year fellowship with a foundation focusing on health care reform within the State of California. Jim previously served on the board of directors of various non-profit organizations, including one which works with HIV positive people on treatment issues. He is currently a board member of a non-profit organization focusing on health and well being of the youth and families.

Emma

Emma is a very active and happy two year old who seems to grow and change every day. She spends most weekdays with Michael (Papa). Jim (Daddy) makes sure he is home every night in time for dinner and to play with Emma for a couple of hours. Our whole family spends weekends together. Emma also spends time two days a week with her nanny, Tia (Aunt) Gloria so that she has the consistent presence of a woman in her life. Tia Gloria is helping all of us to learn or improve our Spanish and she and Emma communicate only in Spanish when they are together. Emma loves books and drawing and can make a game out of playing with just about anything. She goes to music class once a week and to gym 'n swim class once a week. We also make regular trips to the playground, have plenty of play dates with other children, and like to go to the zoo, aquarium, beach and discovery museum as often as possible. We are sure Emma will be a great "big sister" too. She loves to "take care of" our dog, Lucy, and cat, Betty, as well as her man stuffed animals and dolls.

We value education and hope that our children will be happy and secure as children and grow up to be happy, well-rounded and open-minded adults. We are glad to be living in a city as wonderful as San Francisco where our children will interact with people from many different backgrounds who have an unlimited variety of interests. We want them to have as many role models as possible in their lives, and to believe that every opportunity is available to them so that they feel free to be whoever they want to be.

We are extremely grateful for our life together. We are hardworking, loving people with strong family and community ties and many close friends who will serve as positive role models for our children. We love being parents and can't wait to bring a new baby into our home. We know that Emma will be a great big sister, and that we will love and care for both of our children and provide them with a happy, stable and loving home.

If you would like to get to know us better or meet us, please call us at 1-800-484-6394 (at the double tone, enter 3191) or e-mail us at oginther@pacbell.net . You can also call our adoption attorney Susan Romer at 1-800-U-ADOPT-US (1-800-823-6788). We look forward to meeting you, getting to know you and learning about your wishes for your child.

Best wishes,

Michael and Jim

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