Bowie and Matty

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From Us to You

Dear Birthmother,

Our names are James and Matthew, but feel free to call us Bowie and Matty. We would like to invite you into our world to see if we could be a good match for you and your child, if you choose to pursue adoption. We know this process is going to be an emotional and trying experience; however, if you choose to let us become a part of this life event we could not be more honored at the privilege to not only have your child become part of our family but you as well (if you would like). To help ease your mind and soul, here is a little bit about us, our lives, our values, and what we will provide for your child.

• We have been married for 7 years, together 10 years, and are so excited to be sharing in our life experiences with another member to our family.
• Our family is large, full of love and open arms, with lots of cousins for your child to grow up along side.
• We will provide a safe and loving home for your child that is full of love, joy, but also rules and structure to promote your child’s growth.
• Your child will never lack support and will be encouraged to participate in any extracurricular activities they are interested in.
• We will always be there to kiss their “ouchies”, give nighttime stories, comfort after their first crush heartache, and everything else in between.

We hope that whoever our birth mother (hopefully) becomes, she can see we are trying our best to be worthy of the love, trust, and honor it requires for us to start the family we crave in our souls. Throughout our journeys in life thus far, we have been blessed with our loving family, friends, and communities at our side. With all that we have we would love to share in the joy, humor, and fun of life while also teaching the need to have respect, love for others, and having an open heart. We both hope that you find peace and comfort in your decision no matter the parent(s) you may choose. While we would love to become the possible choice for your child’s adoptive parents, please know that we hope you still feel our love for you.

With all of our love, support, and admiration, Bowie & Matty

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

The most important question we had for each other on our first date was whether we wanted to create a family of our own someday, to which we both responded with a resounding “yes!”. For us, adoption has always been our foremost dream that we have been working towards since getting married 7 years ago. Now that we have patiently prepared our careers to support our expanding family we would love to provide a safe and loving home that allows your child to grow into the person they want to become. Additionally, we would like to share in the joy and excitement that comes with having a large, close-knit family including two siblings each, more cousins, aunts, and uncles than we can count.

To our future children, we have so much love to give we will always be there for you wholeheartedly. As we continue to create new memories with our growing family we are excited to share and instill our family traditions/values. Also, our fur babies Winston and Norbert, are excited to have a sibling that they can look over and share in the attention that they currently get as the sole recipient.

We know that the adoption process will be full of twists, turns, tears, joy, ups, and downs. However, Matty’s dad had a saying for all family friends, neighbors, and even strangers who needed a helping hand: “Come on in! It’s open!!”.

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Lifestyle

We are very excited to be adopting and hope that this will provide you with some insight into a few of the memories we hope to share with your child in our fun-filled, loving, and exciting household.

• Weekday morning walks with the puppies and a healthy well-rounded breakfast to get the day started.
• Afternoon visits to the huge local state parks that are along the water for trail hiking and seeing local animals.
• Swimming in our pool during the summer or taking the puppies swimming in York River (life jackets included!)
• Nightly home cooked meals including healthy options like chicken based or vegetarian meals during the week and weekend original recipes.
• Weekend adventures to local places like Jamestown City beach, Yorktown, Busch Gardens, or any nature trail with the puppies.
• Weekend family time, if we’re not home we’re likely off visiting our family in Maryland or Virginia.
• Saturday and Sunday movie night or board games or both!

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About Bowie, by Matty

Growing up I was always concerned that I wouldn’t find my match, “partner-in-crime,” and soulmate. That all changed when I met Bowie because as I grew up boating with the buoys in the water, the second I heard his name was “Bowie,” I was hooked. His calm, even keeled, and positive energy soothes my soul and brings me a peace I never thought I could have in this life. When I am with Bowie the world stops and I love to make him happy, laugh, and feel safe. 

When he met my family for the first time my brother said: “Make it work with him or don’t bother bringing anyone else.” The level of gratitude I feel to God for giving me my better half can never be measured. When boating there is a saying: “Make sure the red buoy is on your right to return home.” In land-lover words it means, Bowie is my guide to always come back home and I will always make sure to keep him on my right.

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About Matty, by Bowie

On our first date, I came into the restaurant to see Matty singing and bobbing his head to a made-up song while waiting at the table for me. When he saw me, he came right up and gave me the biggest hug as if we had known each other for years. Matty has always had a charismatic personality that lights up a room and attracts others to him. It is part of what makes him so genuine and why I could not be prouder to have him as my husband! His compassion and kindheartedness are what I love most about him and what I know will make him an amazing dad. He always goes above and beyond when it comes to putting our family, friends, and of course Winston and Norbert, our puppies, above everything else. Seriously though…. they are basically treated as princes in our house! I know that he has so much love to give and will be your child’s compass throughout all the new adventures we will have together.

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Our Home

Our home is a beautiful three-bedroom, four-bathroom townhouse located in Williamsburg, Virginia; a place where we always imagined our journey towards building our family would begin. What drew us initially to our home was its nautical theme as it reminded us of Matt’s dad who loved boating and for Matt who had grown up sailing as a kid. Additionally, our home has provided us the opportunity to be close to our families which is important to us. We know that as we begin a family there will be unique challenges and, for us, having our family and friends nearby is important as we begin this new journey together. We hope that by showing you what our home means to us, you will be able to experience the love and joy that we plan on providing for your child in our home.

• A loving home full of warmth, positive energy, and family.
• Extended family close by with our nieces/nephews, aunts, uncles, and Babs (Matt’s mom) for frequent weekend visits.
• Creating memories learning to swim at our pool, playing mini golf at Pirates Cove, or Busch gardens for a full day of roller coasters.
• Quite study areas either upstairs or downstairs in our home to allow your child to foster their knowledge and hobbies.
• Most importantly, we’re excited to share with your child our koala-themed nursery!

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Our Furry Children, Winston and Norbert

Winston and Norbert are the newest additions to our family. They are half-brothers and came into our lives at the moment that we needed them most. Norbert is soft spoken and a cuddle bug, he does not leave your side, while Winston is more outspoken and loves to get into puppy trouble. Both of them bring out the best of the other and love to play together! We know that the love that Winston and Norbert have given to us will be even greater when they become big brothers. We are excited for them to share their love with your child in all the new adventures they will create as they are there by their side watching them grow up.

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Our Family

Family and friends are two of the most important things to both of us. We come from very similar families with a brother and sister each. The only difference is that Bowie is the oldest and Matty is youngest; roles that we both play very well and compliment one another. While Matty’s family is more emotionally driven (like saying “I love you’’ 3 times before hanging up), Bowie’s family is more actions over words. Both families have been so supportive while both of us were trying to find ourselves, realize our truth, and live that truth without any apologies.

Getting the groups together often is vital to our happiness. However, if we can’t get the whole clan (or clans) together; we can have fun weekends that are more one on one. Leah (Matty’s sister) and Barb (aka Barbie-Girl – his mother) typically come to spend at least the weekend once per month. Matty’s sister and brother have 4 children between them and adding a new cousin into the mix always gets the cousins more excited than they can handle. We have helped his siblings with babysitting, diaper changes, build-a-bear workshop outings, soccer games, and so much more that gave their parents some time to sleep, eat, or take a shower. Knowing that this foundation and support is there for us gives us confidence and we plan on using that support as our family grows. The one thing that we love the most about our families is the automatic love, support, encouragement, and guidance. They are willing to jump into action when we need them; and we will need them. The unconditional love that our families have shown us is exactly what we hope to instill and show any future children of ours.

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Family Traditions

Christmas, of course, is one of the biggest and most amazing family get-togethers that we celebrate. The only problems we have are which house to go to first and how to hide Santa’s true identity. The next two big traditions that we love in our family are Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Whether we plan a huge firework event for the family, especially Bowie’s mother (who loves fireworks) or a massive Thanksgiving meal where everyone has a seat at the table; we feel blessed beyond belief. Easter is also a fun event where we are reminded why we need to always put family and friends first, hide little plastic eggs, and maybe put in a note where the Easter Bunny “owes you” $5.

Although we have amazing planned traditions, some of the best family moments are the spontaneous get-togethers. We are lucky because our families live close by and we are able to see all of our loved ones to celebrate those we care about. We are beyond blessed to be part of a family where we genuinely love, care for, and want the best for each other. This is a tradition in our family that cannot be fully expressed in words and needs to be felt to be appreciated.

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How We Spend a Typical 3-Day Weekend

Our family absolutely loves 3-day weekends and we try to enjoy them as often as possible. For both of us, this time is important to appreciate our emotional connections we have with family, friends, and of course relax.

Our extended weekends mean:

• Being outside at local beaches or nature preserves with the puppies.
• Day trips to Richmond or Virginia beach to see the museums, sports team, beaches, and historical sites.
• Barbecuing on our grill, pool time, and movie nights.
• Spending time with family on last minute weekend getaways.

When spending the weekend with Matty’s family:

• Enjoying Eastern shore of Maryland beautiful sunset/sunrises on the river.
• Boating for the day on the Chesapeake Bay and local rivers.
• Barbecuing and cooking with the fresh produce from the local farms.

When spending the weekend with Bowie’s family:

• Enjoying 5-star cooking for every meal (his mom LOVES to cook).
• Walking around the local farms next door or learning how to build a vegetable garden.
• Board games (or games of any type)!

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Education & Extracurriculars

All types of education are important to us, not just in the classroom. We want to be able to provide your child with the most well-rounded life that will support their learning style and help prepare them for their future goals. Part of why we love and want to encourage education is because it is a lifelong endeavor. Williamsburg has so much historical knowledge and Richmond (right up the road) has museums & local sports teams that we want every child to be excited about going to for fun on a weekend excursion.

Here are a few of the things that we believe in:

• Making mistakes are ok and we should not be afraid of them.
• Put your best foot forward with confidence, learn from past experiences, ask new questions.
• Strive to become your most authentic, happy self.
• We like sports or extracurriculars to become well-rounded and to find your passion.
• Homework first before TV (unless it’s a really good show and an exception for an episode).

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Our Relationship with Our Child's Birth Mother

Although the adoption process will be very challenging, emotional, and unpredictable; the one thing that could be an easy decision is our relationship with you. We would be so happy to not only bring an amazing child into our family but also an amazing mother. However, we also completely understand if a relationship is not desired by you at this time or ever. For reasons that we may or may not understand, we will accommodate and respect unquestionably the decision that is made by you. We are ready and prepared to welcome anyone who wants to join our family “clan”. Whatever the decision made by you, we are also open to creating a game plan as we proceed through these steps and life events.

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Our Promise to You

• Our number one promise: your child is placed first in everything that we do and decisions that we make as parents.
• He/She will have a safe, nurturing, and loving home to create fun-filled memories.
• Always encouraging your child to explore their own passions through education, extracurriculars, and what makes them happy in life.
• He/She will be provided for emotionally and physically, provided as many opportunities as we can give, but also not be spoiled rotten.
• Our sole job: ensure they have a deep knowing and feeling that they are loved so much.

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A Final Thank You

We are so happy that you took the time to get to know us and we hope that we have provided you with a well-rounded snapshot of the fun memories that we like to have with our family. We know that looking at a profile isn’t always the same as getting to know someone firsthand and we would love to answer any questions, feel free to reach out!

If you would like to see recent photos and activities follow us on Facebook @ Bowie and Matty Adoption Journey.

We hope to hear from you soon.