Matthew and Carly

>

<

From Us to You

There is so much to say, and finding the right words feels overwhelming.  First, we want you to know how much you mean to us and how your consideration of us to raise your child is truly remarkable.  You would be making our dream of becoming parents a reality.  “Thank you” seems much too simple to express the depth of our gratitude to you.

We want you to know that you would always have a special place in our hearts.  We know that your consideration of adoption comes from a place of love, compassion, kindness, and understanding.  We look forward to building our relationship and sharing your child’s milestones with you.

We want to make sure your child knows and understands their adoption story and the sacrifices you made in creating a unique opportunity for them.  Your love for your child continued with the choice of adoption, and we are open to building as open a relationship with you as you desire.

We are excited about the opportunity to raise your child as part of our loving family.  Taking them to the park, riding bikes, or seeing them grow in sports, music, or artistic activities are some of the things we are excited to do.  One of the daily routines we look forward to is reading to them at night and tucking them in.

Both sets of our parents cannot wait to be grandparents and build a strong relationship with your child.  You are also making their dreams come true.  For Matt’s parents, this will be their first and only grandchild.  They spend part of the year in Florida and the other part with us in Colorado.  Your child will get to experience both places.  Carly’s parents have two grandkids that live in New Jersey.  They are ecstatic to have a grandchild nearby, as they live ten minutes from us, that they can spoil in ways that only grandparents can.

From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you again for considering us and giving us the most incredible gift.

>

<

Why We're Choosing to Adopt

There are a few reasons why adoption is the way we want to grow our family.  We met online in 2018 and got engaged and married shortly after that.  We have both always wanted to be parents.  Carly has type-1 diabetes, and we met at a point in our lives that this creates an added risk to both mother and child for a traditional pregnancy.  Adoption has always been close to our hearts as Carly’s father was also adopted.  We feel blessed that there are moms who are willing to make the difficult decision to provide this opportunity for people like us.  We can’t wait to add to our family and create a loving home and life with your child.

>

<

Our Home

We are lucky to live in Colorado, close to the Mountains, Red Rocks, and many parks and hiking trails.  Our neighborhood has a great school and school system, where Carly also teaches.  The closest elementary school is within walking distance.  We particularly love the park closest to our home, which has a great playground and huge field to run and play games.  Five young kids live in the immediate houses surrounding ours.  Our home has plenty of space for our small family to grow.  We have a beautiful backyard with a great deck where we love to host BBQs with family and friends.  Both of us also enjoy reading in the evenings out on our deck.  We often sit by the fireplace during winter, drinking coffee and reading.  Our house is the same house Matt grew up in, making it extra special to us.  He has lots of great memories in this neighborhood, and we would love to see your child create lots of their own incredible experiences here.  For the nursery, we have chosen the specific room that was Matt’s as a kid.  Once your child is older, they can have sleepovers, just as Matt did, in the same room.  Kids in the neighborhood like to ride their bikes and often ride them to the neighborhood store for treats, just as Matt and his friends did when young.

>

<

About Matt, by Carly

Matt is my best friend, and I am so thankful he came into my life!  He is everything I ever wanted and so much more.  Matt and I met online in 2018, and I knew that he was someone special.  One of the things I admire most about Matt is his commitment and love for his family and friends.  Matt is very close to his parents and extended family.  Matt loves spending time with them and is the go-to person when someone needs something.  Matt is the most supportive husband.  Whenever I need encouragement or someone to talk to, he is always there for me!  Matt makes me laugh every single day.  His sense of humor is one of the reasons I fell in love with him.  Whether it is work or relationships, Matt brings his all every day.  He is a small business owner and works extremely hard, and I admire the passion he brings to his work.  Watching Matt with our godchildren and niece and nephew has been one of the greatest joys.  I know he will be the most loving, supportive, and fun dad.  I can’t wait to see him as a father!

>

<

About Carly, by Matt

Carly is the most compassionate person I have ever met.  We have so much fun together each day.  I am lucky to be her husband and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.  She is an elementary school teacher and is great with kids.  Whenever I visit her classroom, I can see how much her students love her as a teacher.  For many of her students, she is the most consistent and stable place in their lives, and she helps guide them through many difficult personal issues.  Many students from past years will come and visit her or write her letters telling her how much she meant to them, even years later.  She spends a lot of time with our godchildren, taking them to the park or playing different games.  It is great to listen to her making them laugh.  I love to see her interact with her students, our godchildren, and niece and nephew.  She has a way of talking to children of any age that instantly makes them comfortable with her.  She makes me a better person, and I know she will be an exceptional mother.

>

<

Our Sweet Kitty

We have a seven-year-old Calico cat named Gizmo.  Gizmo’s name comes from the creature in the movie Gremlins.  Like the movie, she has two very distinct personalities.  There is a sweet, cuddly, loving Gizmo, and then the Gremlin appears.  She looks forward to cuddling with, being chased by, and possibly having some hair pulled by your child.  Currently, she likes to sleep by us, specifically on Carly, and we hope that she will spend more of that time with your child.

>

<

Our Families and Friends

Family and friends are very important to both of us.  We love spending as much time as possible with all of them.  We get together with family at least once or twice a week, whether planned or casually.  We are very close to our parents and look forward to your child getting spoiled by both sets of excited grandparents.  Our niece and nephew are so excited that they will finally have a cousin to play with when we visit them in New Jersey.  Each of us has a brother who can’t wait to have his first niece or nephew.

We are fortunate to be the godparents to 5 amazing kids and know that each will have a blast playing with your child. Our god children range in ages from 3 to 11.  Our first set of godchildren belong to one of Carly’s dearest friends.  We see them every few weeks and love spending time with them playing games.  We also have two godsons who are the sons of Matt’s cousin.  Matt and his cousin work together, so we see them often.  The boys are 3 and 7 years old, and we spend a lot of time with them.  We love having them over to the house where we build legos and play in the backyard.  We also enjoy taking them to local attractions in our area like the zoo or the indoor climbing and trampoline park.

We both have family on the east coast.  Our niece and nephew are also our godchildren, and we see them about twice a year since they live in New Jersey.  We often take trips with them to the mountains in Colorado and have even visited places like DisneyWorld together.  Your child will get to travel and see and experience so much.  Matt’s parents and brother live in a beautiful town near the beach in Florida.  We vacation in Florida often and love to go on cruises together when visiting them.

>

<

Our Lifestyle

We enjoy a lifestyle that includes spending quality time with each other and our family and friends.  We love to watch TV shows and movies together and are avid readers.  Our favorite reality show is The Amazing Race, where we like to pick our team to root for.   We both have a great sense of humor and a love of classic and new comedies.  Some of our favorite comedies include cartoon movies; we look forward to sharing these with your child.  We also love stand-up comedy and often go to live shows.  A couple of our favorite comedians are Jim Gaffigan and Amy Schumer.  We also enjoy watching documentaries and historical shows.  Often, we will read the same books and love sharing our thoughts about them.  We started reading books together just a few weeks into our relationship and have loved sharing books ever since.  Recently, we have enjoyed learning how to cook together and love trying new foods.  We both love sushi and Mexican food and usually go out to eat a couple of times a week.

We are excited to expand our day-to-day experiences to include a child.  We can’t wait to do movie nights, make popcorn, and find the newest funny kid’s movie.  We will be able to have our very own game nights.  Our family dinners will be very important and a time for us to connect and learn about each other’s days.  We have a tradition of making pizza with our godchildren where they can roll out the dough and add all of their favorite toppings; we’re excited to do this with your child as well.  Another way a child will enhance our lifestyle is by introducing your child to activities like swim lessons, sports, and mommy-and-me music classes.

Racial and Cultual Diversity

We love and celebrate all races and cultures.  We were both raised to appreciate and respect all races and cultures and continue to do so.  The world would certainly be a better place if everyone were more open to celebrating our differences.  We think it is great to know about one’s race and culture.  For example, both of us have an Italian heritage which we learned about growing up.  Whether your child shares our race and culture or comes from another, we will make sure that we all explore their culture.  We will raise your child to be accepting of all people.

>

<

Family Traditions

Our family traditions include large holiday gatherings, such as Christmas Eve, when we see the kids experience the same things we did growing up.  Each year Carly has a holiday “bake-athon” with her best friends and their kids, getting together to bake Christmas cookies and treats.  Usually, the kids will start by decorating their cookies with colored frostings and sprinkles, after which they often lose interest and go off together to play games while watching movies.  We also like to go on family vacations, including cruises.  We have seen kids enjoy the ship’s waterslides, miniature golf, and ropes courses.  Plus, there are camps for the kids with many activities like scavenger hunts.  We are excited to continue this tradition to include your child.  We also love to visit Matt’s parents in Florida and our niece and nephew in New Jersey.  In Florida, your child will get to join us at places like Busch Gardens, boating, and ocean fishing.  When visiting New Jersey, your child will get close to their cousins and experience all New York City has to offer.  When Carly’s brother and his family come to Colorado, we love spending time in Estes Park in Rocky Mountain National Park.

>

<

Our Relationship with You

We can’t ever thank you enough for making our dream come true.  We are excited to get to know you and build a fantastic relationship with you.  Together we can share in the journey of your child’s life.  We will share as much of the experience as you are comfortable with, including communication, photos, etc.

>

<

How a Child will Enrich our Lives

We know that your child will bring so much joy and fulfillment each day. They will become our number one focus. It will be our dream to watch them grow and develop their personality. Depending on their interests, we look forward to taking them to music lessons or signing them up for sports or other activities. Your child will be the grandchild our parents so desperately want and the niece or nephew our brothers have never had. They will be an integral part of many people’s lives and make our family more complete.

We will encourage your child to explore new things and we will support them in developing what interests them the most. We want your child to be socialized from a very early age, creating their own life-long friendships. Your child will always feel loved and open to talking to us about anything. We want them to learn from their own mistakes and know that it is ok to make mistakes.

>

<

Our Promise to You

Our promise to you is to love your child unconditionally.  We will always be there to support and encourage their dreams.  We want your child to experience as much as possible, and we will have the support of the entire extended family to guarantee this.  We think it is important that your child knows their family history and the sacrifice you made out of extreme love for them.