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 Expectant Mother,
We can imagine that your journey toward making this decision has not been easy, but we believe you are an incredible person for taking this courageous step, and we admire you more than you know.

We are Louise & Gary and we have been happily married for six years. We are excited to welcome a child into our family through open adoption. For us, family comes first and we look forward to sharing our life with a child. We hope this letter will give you an idea of the type of home and future that we are committed to provide.

Our Story
We met just six days after Louise moved to California, and have been together ever since. Over time, we have developed a strong partnership that is based on being there for each other, through good times and difficult ones. We support each other, we talk things through when we need to, and feel that honesty has helped us to build a solid foundation on which to grow our family. Because we both work from home, we will be able to give a child the love and attention that only two fulltime parents can provide.

Louise
I grew up in New Hampshire, where I spent much of my time outdoors, usually in a pair of skis, skates, boat or kayak. Because I always knew I wanted to work with children, I earned a Master's degree in Special Education and Rehabilitation, and began working with children who had special needs. Eventually, I worked in a pediatric rehab hospital helping children and families in crisis get the specialty medical care they needed. I loved being surrounded by children, and even back then hoped to start a family. I just had not met the right man.

After moving to California in 1999, I knew I'd made the right move when I met Gary just one week later. We both wanted to have a future together filled with children, laughter, and adventure! We were married two years later and I became step-mom to his son, Chris, and grew to love him more than I'd ever imagined and my hopes to raise a child grew even stronger. About a year ago, I left my job in healthcare so that I could prepare to become a stay-at-home mom. Now, I am running my own part-time personal chef business from home and in charge of my own schedule. I also have the time to write a cookbook, grow my own organic herbs and vegetables, all while preparing to be a parent and researching great resources for children in our community.

About Louise (from Gary)
Louise absolutely loves children and she gravitates to them wherever we go. When I met her, my son was in his teenage years, which can be a difficult time. Louise rose to the challenge to become a wonderful step-mom to him. She is extremely nurturing and kind, and has a strong commitment to family. I admire Louise's creativity in the kitchen as well as in other areas of her life. She has the ability to visualize and create things 'on the fly'. Lucky for me, she is possibly the best cook I have ever known.

Gary
I grew up in Wyoming in a big family where I was the oldest of four children. When I was 17, my family moved to California where my father was a school teacher, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. I feel extremely grateful for the love and nurturing of my parents, who participated actively in my education and other organized activities. My father even coached several of my baseball teams, something that I was fortunate enough to also do for my own son.

I received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Engineering from U.C. Berkeley, where I was also a member of the crew (rowing) team. During graduate school, my brother and I qualified for the Olympic trials in pairs rowing, and later placed in the finals at the Pan American games. We still reminisce about those days when we get together with his family, as they live only a few miles away.

Starting new companies is something I love to do, and now that I have created and run several in Silicon Valley, I'm glad to have the opportunity to run my current company from home, where I can be a very involved dad. I have invented a device that monitors clean water for communities, and I'm really proud to be promoting a safer environment.

About Gary (from Louise)
When I first met Gary, he was the single parent of a 16 year old son. He really impressed me with his constant dedication, his never-ending patience, and his ability to balance fatherhood with the rest of his life. I just knew he was 'the one' for me. Now that Chris is gone off to college and on his way to becoming a successful young man, I can appreciate the experience Gary has gained from parenting Chris, and every day I'm amazed at how excited he is to do it again! Gary's great gift to me is to love me for who I am, and not just what I do. I know he will give our child that same unconditional love and acceptance.

Our Family
We both have big families with lots of kids. Louise's family is split between California and New England, but we are lucky to have all of Gary's family right here. Nearly every vacation since we have been together has been a family reunion in a new place. Florida, where Gary's son Chris is in school, South Carolina, Canada, Martha's Vineyard, the Oregon coast, even Paris were all places we have been able to visit with our families.

Our child will have two sets of grandparents, lots of aunts & uncles, and many cousins on both coasts that are eagerly waiting to share in our dream of becoming parents through open adoption.

Our Values
We both believe that a strong family, a solid education, and true sense of self are the cornerstones to building a happy and healthy childhood, and we intend to provide the very best for a child placed in our care.

Although we are both Caucasian, our extended family is multi-racial. Louise's cousin is African-American and was adopted when she was 5 months old, and Gary's sister married into a wonderful Latino family. We have friends of all ethnicities and backgrounds, and we love to celebrate their cultural uniqueness especially by sampling the foods! We welcome a child of any race, and we are committed to educate and support a child in the development of their ethnic identity. Our parents, relatives and friends share our feelings and will embrace him or her as well.

We believe that adoption is the loving decision to entrust a family with the important responsibility of raising a child the very best they can and we would be honored if you selected us as that family. If you are comfortable sharing, we'd like to know more about you so that throughout a child's life, we can remind him or her of the love and thoughtfulness involved in your decision.

Our Home
We live in a safe family oriented neighborhood just across the bay from San Francisco. Because the schools in our community are ranked so highly, our neighborhood is very popular among families with young children. Our home is within walking distance from several public and private schools, and is just a bike ride away from a beautiful lake with a park for picnicking. Our home has four-bedrooms and there is plenty of room for a child to play. We have great weather year round and we try to make the most of our outdoor spaces- a beautiful deck, fenced-in yard, and lots of grass to play on.

On weekends, we love to explore the natural beauty that California has to offer. We are just an hour away from the beach, and only two hours from the mountains. Yet, we love spending our free time barbequing for friends and family in the back yard. Our cats, Lucy, Magic and Pepe, love to lounge around in the sunshine, as well

In closing, we hope that you share in our thoughts idea of a happy fulfilled future for your child; we hope that you will contact us to get more information. Our friendly adoption attorney, Susan Romer, will be happy to take your calls or questions at 1-800-U-ADOPT-US (1-800-823-6788) or you can call us directly at 877-236-3773 or email us at hope2adopt@LouiseandGary.com.

Louise and Gary

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