Nick and Jackie

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Mother,

Thank you for taking the time to learn a bit about us and considering us to be part of this journey with you and your child. Since about a month into our relationship, we talked about adoption as the path for us to pursue expanding our family. In fact, this was the first “serious” relationship conversation we had together. After dating for 4 years and being married for another 4, we still hold strong to our decision to adopt. It feels that many of the events in our time together have been leading up to this moment we have been thinking about for 8 years. We knew we were both ready to start pursuing adoption in early 2022, and right there in our basement, we started to search for adoption agencies to reach out to.

We have spent the last several years preparing ourselves to be able to provide a future child with the best environment to grow up in. We’ve made many of our life decisions with the thought of how they would affect a future child. A little over a year ago, we bought our current house. During our search, common questions we would ask were about the school districts, local parks, and play spaces for kids. We would be asked how old our child is, and we would just politely respond that this is for our future child and share that we are pursuing adoption. We are prepared to make the best decisions for your future child because in many ways we already are making decisions to give them the best life we can.

Through this experience, we can only imagine the amount of decisions that you are having to make for yourself as well as for your future child. The future holds a ton of unknowns. If you choose us to raise your child, our goal is to give you the confidence that your child will be safe, happy, and healthy. We are both blessed to have been raised in such loving and nurturing households. Our own families have provided us with a great foundation to raise a child and they will without question be there providing further support in the years ahead.

Looking to the future, we can already imagine the wonderful days to come. There will be everyday moments like naps with our dog snoring under their crib, walks through our neighborhood to the park next door, and watching sports in matching family outfits. There will be special memories like holidays spent baking in the kitchen with grandparents, vacations at the beach playing with cousins, and celebrating milestones with family and friends alike. Not every day can be picture-perfect, but we are ready to go on the journey of life with your child. Most importantly, a journey that includes you. We want your child to know you and hope for you to know them. We would like to share pictures, updates, and visits so that you can watch them grow.

Your child’s life will be an adventure all its own. We promise we will be there with them through each stage of their journey.

With Love,
Jackie and Nick

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

We knew early on in our relationship that we wanted to choose the path of adoption when it came time to grow our family. Our belief that we will provide a loving family to a child is bolstered by the experiences of friends and family members who have been through the adoption process themselves. Once we had both gotten settled in our careers and in our community, we were ready to start exploring the different avenues of adoption and came to the decision to pursue domestic infant adoption. We are hoping to have an open relationship with you so your child can know their heritage. We also want to share your child’s growth with you over the years to come. Life is an ever-twisting road, and we hope to be able to take that journey together.

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About Jackie, by Nick

Growing up, Jackie and her family moved a total of 6 times across 5 different states. Her ability to adapt to any change makes her prepared for anything life throws our way. Jackie’s caring nature comes across each day. Recently, we went to a baseball game with a couple of my friends from high school and their one-year-old son. Their son instantly connected with Jackie, and seeing her hold, play with, and care for their child made me even more excited to see how great of a mother she will be to a child.

Jackie is talented and accomplished. She would be the perfect teacher to help your child develop their interests. Through high school and college, she played the saxophone in her school marching bands. She also learned to speak fluent French and spent time in college studying in France. Jackie accomplishes what she puts her mind to, and it was a big moment to be with Jackie when to celebrate her Ph.D.

Having Jackie by my side over our years together leaves no doubt in my mind that her love and dedication will shine as a mother to your child.

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About Nick, by Jackie

Nick grew up in Illinois, which is also where he went to college and medical school, and most importantly, where we met. We were introduced at a mutual friend’s game night and immediately hit it off. Nick impressed me with his intelligence and sense of humor, but also with his patience. Three key elements for board games with friends, for a long-term relationship, and for a future parent. Nick loves sports and grew up playing soccer and basketball, but he also did theater and improv comedy as a teen. He was even a counselor at a kids’ theater camp when he was in high school. Whether your child grows up to be a basketball player or ballerina, Nick is sure to be at every event cheering them on.

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Lifestyle

Nick works as a psychiatrist and Jackie as an analytical chemist. With Jackie working from home, she looks forward to being present in the early parts of your child’s life. As your child grows, we will be looking for a nearby daycare. Since our jobs often keep us inside, we enjoy getting out when we can. We enjoy going for a long walk around our neighborhood or taking a trip downtown. We are already looking for the perfect stroller for family walks. For our health, we take an initiative each week to go to the YMCA for exercise.

Throughout the year, we love to cheer on our favorite sports teams and we have even grown to love each other’s teams too. You can now hear Nick rooting for the University of South Carolina and Jackie cheering on Nick’s Chicago sports. We look forward to shopping for matching game-day outfits for the whole family. As Christians, religion holds an important place in our lives including attending church services.

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Vacations

For both of us growing up, family vacations were a nearly annual event. Jackie’s family would often gather at a condo on the beach in South Carolina that her family owns. Nick’s family most frequently visits Florida. Nick also has great memories of other family vacations to Jamaica, Mexico, as well as several destinations throughout the United States. What we love about these family vacations is the opportunity to get everyone together even when we lived far apart. Spending time having fun with grandparents and cousins at a beach was a favorite memory from both of our childhoods and a tradition we want to carry forward for your child.

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Our Dog, Porter

We have a six-year-old black lab named Porter. He is a big cuddly dog who loves treats, walks, and napping on the couch. We adopted him in 2019 from the humane society. Originally from Texas, he had been living on the streets and was very underweight. His love of food soon fixed that! He loves to go to the dog park and run around with the other dogs, but people are his favorite. Wherever we are in the house is where he wants to be. Whenever Porter meets a small child, he loves to give them a big sloppy dog kiss on the face because they’re at the perfect height for him. Porter has been preparing himself to be a great big brother by graduating from Dog Manners Class. We continue to take him to training classes because we love learning new skills with him.

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Home & Neighborhood

In early 2021, we moved to our house in Wisconsin. We live in a two-story, 3 bedroom house with a partially finished basement. We picked out one of the bedrooms on the second floor with a seated window overlooking the front yard for a nursery. With a spacious basement, there is more than enough space to play. With many children in our neighborhood and being near a park, there are also ample opportunities to have fun outdoors. During our time searching for this house, we had the plan of adoption in mind. We specifically looked for an area with a great school system and a family-friendly neighborhood to raise a child. We enjoy living in a suburban neighborhood while also being a quick drive away from exploring downtown.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

Living in an urban area, we have a lot of different cultures represented in our area. We are committed to introducing your child to their own heritage as well as all of the cultural backgrounds around us. Some of our favorite yearly events are the German Christmas Market, Irish Fest, Polish Fest, Pride Fest, Dia De Los Muertos Festival, and Bronzeville Week, which is a week-long celebration of African-American culture and art. The city in our area is called the City of Festivals because it has so many! We look forward to sharing our multicultural city with your child.

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Our Families & Friends

Family and friends remain an important part of our lives. With Jackie’s parents raising two girls and Nick’s parents raising two boys, it set up a perfect blend of knowledge in child-rearing. Nick’s parents and brother live just a short drive away near the city. Even with being in Missouri, Jackie’s parents have shown to be more than willing to take the drive up for events and holidays. While many of our cousins have had kids, our parents are excited to welcome their first grandchild. We are grateful for all of the love and support between our siblings and their spouses. It is probably safe to say that we are a dog-loving family with a total of 8 dogs in our immediate families. Our friends also hold an important place in our lives. In fact, it was Nick’s best friend from college who introduced us at a game night, as he was working in the same lab group as Jackie. We are learning so much from our various friends who have started raising families of their own. Whether it be meeting at a baseball game or having a zoom party, we have a lot of happy memories with our friends.

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Adoption in Our Lives

From Jackie

Adoption has been part of my life since I was a child, and so for me, it feels like a natural way of making a family. My grandparents adopted my Aunt Nancy, which was open knowledge throughout her childhood. Both Nancy and Janey, my mom, never felt that it was a big deal. It was a closed adoption, which was common at the time, but Aunt Nancy did later connect with her birth siblings to share medical information. Two long-time family friends that I think of as aunt and uncle, Theresa and Roger adopted both of their children. Their kids were like extra cousins to me and my sister; we were always just one big group. One of my best friends from college Becky adopted her son Kevin from Hungary when he was 3. Watching Becky and her husband go through the process gave me a lot of insight into what our journey would be like.

What we have learned from these first-hand connections to adoption is that families come together in many different ways. What matters is the love that you share for each other.

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Family Traditions

Holidays are an annual get-together for our family. Between our families, we alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas. All of our holidays involve making lots of food, playing games, and spending quality time with family. Each holiday has its own special traditions that we look forward to sharing with your child. At Christmas, we decorate the whole house and host the family for a full day of gifts, food, and games. For Easter, we go to church together as a family followed by brunch. Nick’s family hosts a 4th of July barbecue every year. We love to go to the Wisconsin State Fair and Harvest Festival each year. As a family, we enjoy sitting down with each other and playing card and board games whenever we get together. We look forward to expanding our library of kids’ games and teaching your child all of our favorites.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to love your child.
We promise to bring our best every day to raise them.
We promise to give them the best opportunities in life that we can.
We promise to provide them with a safe and healthy home.
We promise to accept them for who they are.
We promise to be with them through the ups and downs, at every stage of their life.
We promise to love your child unconditionally for all time.