Gregory and Jessica

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Mother,

We want you to know that as parents, we are all in! We will be there for the fun and exciting times, learning to ride a bike, preschool graduations, band recitals, and soccer games, as well as the tantrums, listening to baby shark playing for hours on-end, the break ups, the parent-teacher conferences, and emotional teenage years. We look forward to every minute!

We cannot imagine what you’re experiencing now. Please know that we see you, we care for you, and think of you often. You are incredibly courageous, and we respect the decisions you are making for yourself and your child.

Jess’s nephew was welcomed to our family through adoption. Since that time we have known that adoption was how we wanted to grow our family. He has grown up with the understanding that he was first loved by his mother, who picked out his parents to care for him and love him.  From a very young age he would do puzzles pointing out which state his “first family” and he came from.  Your child will know that you loved them first, and how generous and courageous you are.

We were both raised to appreciate the importance of family. We spend time together each day, sharing our triumphs and hardships and offering support to each other. Your child will enjoy nightly family dinners, family game nights, and weekends spent having fun and learning together. Your child will be surrounded by love and support. They will be welcomed with open arms, and open hearts.

We will help your child to explore their interests whether they are music, sports, science, construction, or crafting. We will help them to find the resources they need to help them learn and grow. We look forward to summers spent exploring the outdoors with neighborhood friends, seeing who can make the best s’more, and learning how to make water rockets, and winters spent with snowball fights, building snowmen, and contemplating the best way to make hot chocolate.

Your child will be cherished and taught what it means to love and be loved. Your child will know how you made an incredibly courageous and difficult decision, and how you loved them first. We admire you and respect the decisions you are making for yourself and your child.

With love & respect,

Greg & Jess

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Why We're Choosing to Adopt

I underwent chemo and a stem cell transplant, making becoming pregnant more challenging, later we found that I had a condition that would make it hard to maintain a pregnancy.  Well before Greg and I married we talked about adoption as the very special way that we would grow our family. My brother and his wife adopted their first child, and our nephew has been welcomed and loved by our entire family. We are excited to become parents and to share everything we have been blessed with our future child.

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About Greg

Greg is a fun and unique mixture of laid back and analytical. He is loving and grateful and has a great laugh; it’s infectious! He is very family-oriented and would do anything for me, our family and friends. He’s a great cook and loves cooking for our family and friends. He is amazing when it comes to grilling! He also loves to teach, and enjoys passing on what he has learned, almost as much as he loves learning it in the first place. He cares so much when it comes to his friends, family, and animals. He is the “fun uncle” to our nieces and nephews, the one who is always up for a water balloon fight and will be the dad that initiates prank wars and teaches your child how to build the most epic snow forts.

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About Jess

Jess is kind and giving and is always available when I or anyone else needs her. She pays great attention to detail and to the feelings of others. She is very affectionate, caring, and loyal. I love when she sends random texts or emails of encouragement and inspiration and she is great at cheering people up when they are down. She loves spending time with her nieces and nephews, reading books and doing puzzles. She will make a great mom because she will shower your baby with unconditional love and will do everything she can to help them and make their childhood special.

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Our Sweet Pete

Most of our favorite pastimes involve Pete – our sweet Jack-Rat terrier. We enjoy taking him for walks and rollerblading, exploring local state parks, and going for car rides. Pete loves to play and get the zoomies; he also enjoys snuggling on the couch and getting belly rubs. He enjoys squeaky stuffed animals and playing tug-of-war. He loves treats like carrots and especially peanut butter. Pete is also very gentle and good with kids. When our niece and nephews are here he plays with them and lets them hold and pet him.

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Our Home and Neighborhood

Our home is a 3-bedroom, 4-bath, ranch-style house in a quiet neighborhood of our family-friendly city. The house is pretty big with room for your child to play, and a big backyard to explore and play games with Pete and the neighborhood children. The neighborhood is quiet and safe. Everyone tends to look out for one another. In the winter, neighbors will pitch in to help shovel driveways and sidewalks or help a stranded driver.

There are lots of children in our neighborhood, and seemingly ceaseless activity in our cul-de-sac. On any given summer night there you can find a pickup game of wiffle ball, a makeshift racetrack or a game of basketball to join in. In the winter the focus is on sledding and building snowmen or forts. There are several parks and playgrounds in our neighborhood and there is a walking path nearby that goes through the entire city.

Our home is quite open and the kitchen, living and dining rooms are all connected for easy communication during art and homework times and within ear shot of the basement where we have games and toys. The nursery is right across the hall from the primary bedroom and is decorated in neutral tones. Continuing the family tradition, Jess will make a quilt that is unique to your child for them to cherish throughout childhood, as she has for all the nieces and nephews in the family.

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Our Family and Friends

We are very close with both sides of our family. We are fortunate to have supportive parents, siblings and close friends who are as excited as we are about our starting a family. Holidays are always spent with family from one side, or both, along with the occasional close friend or coworker; everyone is welcome!

Jess’ parents live in town, so we often have Sunday family dinners together. We enjoy working on home projects with them, then having a relaxing evening on our deck. Papa (Jess’s dad) can’t wait to have water balloon fights in the yard, play catch, frisbee, and go to baseball games with your child. Gram (Jess’s mom) will make certain they know, “when Mom says no, ask Gram!” She has already laid claim to the first sleepover and Disney movie nights.

We frequently make trips back to Milwaukee to visit Greg’s family, as well as Jess’ childhood friend and her family. We also enjoy hosting and entertaining family and friends.

Grandpa (Greg’s dad) will most certainly teach your child the finer points of golf and will ensure they have a club in their hands by the time they learn to walk. Grandma (Greg’s mom) can’t wait to spend time with them in the kitchen – making delicious baked goods and traditional family meals!

Our last trip was to visit Jess’s parents in Florida. We try to make this trip every year to take a break from the long Minnesota winters. While there, we spend time at the pool and visit the Gulf of Mexico. We enjoy taking in the sites and love to go to the Twins’ spring training games and going paddling with the Manatees!

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Our Lifestyle

When we were engaged we wrote each other letters. Greg, being the scientist, wrote a letter titled “Blind squirrel finds nut: A Case Study” which outlined our early relationship according to the scientific method. We have turned this into a family tradition, each year our Christmas letter is a “study” (we use this term VERY loosely) on our year. Previous years have included surviving obedience school with Pete (Nubbin’ Tail dog goes to school), the patterns of canine zooms when quarantining, and “Pete’s hierarchy of needs” outlining the basic needs and desires of our dog Pete. Yes, we are those people.

We really enjoy preparing meals together, especially ones involving firing up the grill. We try to eat well and stay active. Our dog, Pete, helps us with this as he’s always up for a long walk, or a chase around the house. We both like to work out or do yoga during the week. You can also find us trying to solve the daily Wordle while winding down at night. Greg loves golfing and can be found on the golf course or driving range when the weather is nice. Jess enjoys tinkering in the garden, and working on home improvement projects when time allows. We can picture little golf clubs and miniature gardening gloves in the garage next to our own.

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On a Typical 3-Day Weekend

We enjoy relaxing and spending time together. We often use our long weekends to travel to see family and friends, whether it is visiting Jess’s brother and his family, or going to Wisconsin to visit Greg’s family. Regardless, we always enjoy grilling, playing games, water parks or hiking.

If we are unable to get away for a long weekend, we can likely be found spending an afternoon hiking at a local state park with Pete and trying a new recipe on the grill. In the evenings in the summer we will likely have the fire-pit going with marshmallows on sticks and hot chocolate. Sometimes, we spend time with Jess’ family for a day-long get together or do a project in one of our homes.

3-Day weekends with your child, whether visiting family or cozy at home, will be spent together, creating memories and traditions.

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Family Traditions

We enjoy eating dinner as a family every evening. This typically starts with a prayer and is followed by each of us talking about what we are most grateful for that day. Your child will have the opportunity to share their day with us and to talk about whatever is on their mind that day. We typically get together with family for Christmas, New Years, Easter  the 4th of July and Thanksgiving. These gatherings involve LOTS of delicious food, games, laughter and love. If we are in Milwaukee, Greg’s mom does the cooking, and has her specialties like duck with dressing and French silk pie. As we and our siblings have gotten older, we have become more involved in meal preparation and trying new things, so we are developing our own traditions. Greg’s family likes to play Catch Phrase and other fun games after the meal. When spending a holiday with Jess’ family, everyone participates in meal preparation, and then there is time spent playing with nieces and nephews. Each summer, we have a big family get-together at a Minnesota Twins’ baseball game which is always such a fun time. We also try to visit Jess’ parents in Florida each winter to enjoy the sunshine. While we are there we enjoy the weather and outdoor activities like golf and a spring training ballgame.

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Ethnic and Cultural Diversity

We are excited to incorporate celebrations, foods, or other aspects of your culture into your child’s life. We look forward to learning about and sharing their unique story and background with them. We will teach them their story and encourage them to embrace it. We will help them explore role models who have the same ties and encourage them to discover and establish their identity. We promise to initiate conversations and welcome questions they have about their identity.

We have the honor of being surrounded by diversity in our community. We have both developed friendships through our roommates, classmates and work colleagues throughout the years. It isn’t unusual to get together with friends from work and realize that we are the only people who were born or raised in the United States. In fact, there have been times when every continent was represented at a small social gathering (with the exception of Antarctica of course). This has afforded us a variety of rich experiences and a sincere respect and appreciation for diversity and different cultures. We have shared holidays with friends from India, celebrated Mass with a friend from Italy, and learned how to make recipes from Ethiopia, Ghana and India from friends from these countries. Your child will grow up knowing people who share their background.

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How a Child will Enrich our Lives

A child will multiply the joy, love and happiness that we currently share. They will remind us of the magic in the little things and the wonder of the universe around us. They will remind us of the importance of patience and the beauty of the simple things in life. We will enjoy passing on the wisdom and knowledge we both have accumulated through our lives. Eventually, we will enjoy activities together, like hiking, sporting events or playtime with Pete. We look forward to sharing life events and accomplishments with your child whether that is their first steps or words, scoring the winning goal, or celebrating a first job.

We will teach your child the importance of family, faith, perseverance and hard work. We will teach them how to love generously, and how one kind act can ripple around the world. We will teach them that a grateful heart can make even the worst of days more bearable. We will teach them to use their individual talents to the best of their ability, and to respect the rights of others. We will teach them to think as an individual, and to recognize their emotions. We will teach them that failure is okay and to keep trying until they succeed.

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Our Careers

Jess – I have dreamt of working in health care since I was in first grade. I have been blessed to be able to see that dream come into fruition. I have had the opportunity to work as a nurse in the ICU setting and over the past several years have been working in family medicine as a nurse practitioner. Every day I have the honor of helping people take steps to improve their health.

Greg – My parents recognized my skills in math and science and encouraged me to go into engineering at a great school in Milwaukee. I enjoy problem solving and implementing this into reality. I was a successful researcher in graduate school and did this for many years in my former career as a research scientist. I also enjoy teaching and demonstrating to students, so I did a bit of teaching after graduate school and have done some online tutoring on the side. I have recently gone back to school to improve my computer skills and am pursuing a career in data science.

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Our Promise to You

Your child will know that you love them. They will know how incredibly strong, courageous, and generous you are. They will know that they are loved and respected by all of us. They will never doubt your love for them.

Overwhelming gratitude fills our hearts that you have taken the time to stop by and see what is special and unique about us, our love for each other, the kind of life we dream of providing for your child and the family that is praying daily for you and your baby. Should adoption be the right answer for you, and you believe that we are the ones to be parents to your child, the love you have for your baby will never be forgotten and we will continue to surround your baby with that same kind of unconditional and never-ending love.