Colin & Marsha

Dear Expecting Parents,

We feel so honored that you would include our story in your decision of finding a family for your precious baby. We have so much to share and look forward to an opportunity to meet with you, but most importantly please know we think you are extraordinary for giving the gift of life to your unborn child. A simple “thank you” seems merely understated when we look at the opportunity you will be providing an adoptive couple and your child. If that couple is us, there will not be a day that goes by that we will not remember the sacrifices you underwent to provide us a miracle, a child we can call ours.

Let us introduce ourselves, we are Colin and Marsha. We met seven years ago, in an unexpected encounter, which lead to our first date two days later and we became inseparable from that point forward, marrying 2 ½ years later. When I met Colin I knew I had a guy who was in love with life, had a contagious laugh, and most importantly, his eyes lit up when he spoke of his family, especially his mother. I knew he was a great catch, which turned into the love of my life. He truly completes my personality. I am one who meets no strangers, am extremely extraverted, has a personality larger than life, and a nurturing soul.

We were both at a perfect place in our live to meet, and after we got to know one another we realized that 5 years prior we were in the same restaurant-at an opening with mutual friends, however, our paths did not cross. We feel that fate lead us to each other at just the right time for us to both be in a place to open our hearts to begin a life together.

We began our married life with immediate hopes of having children, as we both desired to be parents since little children ourselves. Due to circumstances out of our control we are unable to carry a child naturally. We learned this by losing three children through a miscarriage and one child that we were able to deliver. Unfortunately our beautiful daughter, Berkley Colleen was unable to survive and was stillborn. We miss our babies daily, but know we have four special angels in heaven looking after us and waiting to meet us again one day. This led us to our decision to close the chapter of trying to conceive naturally and open a new chapter in our book of life with adoption.

Colin is one of six children raised in Massachusetts, outside the city on several acres of land which allowed him to pursue his first love in life: nature. He worked on a horse farm located nearby at a joining neighbor’s property. He raised German shepherds, had open space to ride his dirt bikes, learned to play hockey during the winter months, ran cross country for the school, and played soccer. When he became a teenager his parents relocated to North Carolina. He then became interested in wrestling and skate boarding.

As Colin grew older, he continued to love nature and animals but pursued his second love in life, food, as a career. He went to college and became a chef by trade allowing him to be a successful business owner in the food industry. He worked full time while putting himself through college as a full time student, determined to work for himself one day. He currently enjoys playing golf, hiking, cooking, and watching movies.

I was raised in Virginia with my older brother in the suburbs outside of a city. My parents provided me the opportunities to explore sports, art, music, and traveling. From a young age I desired to care for others, by pretending to be a nurse when others got hurt, playing with medical equipment when visiting my grandfather who was a paraplegic due to a stroke, and wanting to help others solve their problems. This desire from a young age crafted my career path with an undergraduate degree in therapeutic recreation which allows me to help individuals with disabilities and a master’s degree in counseling focusing on women’s issues. I currently work as a manager in a hospital system over-seeing a behavioral health out-patient clinic and marketing our programs through presentations and media segments. During my free time I enjoying any type of physical activity/exercise, playing with our German Shepherd, Magnolia, who is a pet therapy dog, and spending time with our families, which live in the same neighborhood.

We live in an area that offers many choices for exploring a child’s character. Our child could learn to swim, fish, or boat in the lake which is less than a ½ mile from our home, or participate in the many sporting activities through local leagues offered at the park which is nearby to the house: soccer, baseball, football, horseback riding, or just enjoy playing on the new playground. He or she may decide to stay in the neighborhood and play with the unlimited children utilizing our large fenced in backyard. Our neighborhood has a large number of young couples with children ranging from infants to teenagers. We call our area the “compound” because we look at our neighbors as family. We plan many events together such as cookouts, pool parties, birthdays, anniversaries, tractor hayride for Halloween, mother- daughter movie nights, or a cul-de-sac kick ball game. Children are always playing in the neighborhood with bikes, scooters, and seem to look at each other as siblings.

We have plenty of room in our home to provide an entire floor for the nursery, create a playroom for imagination, and a learning center consisting of a computer, music station, books, and space for arts and crafts. We have lived in our home for 5 years and plan on living here for a very long time. We enjoy participating in our niece and nephew’s lives, on a daily basis, with them living down the street from us. Our house has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a full basement, a country front porch for rocking, and a deck in the back for grilling. The backyard is fenced with plenty of space for a future play set.

Colin and I both have highly involved and supportive families. We always have family coming in and out of our home, which we enjoy being the “hub” for holidays and family functions. I think it is due to Colin being a chef, they know the food will be good! We have a combined total of 6 siblings, 9 nieces and nephews, one grandparent still living (she is 92 years old, the monarch of the family), both of my parents who have been married 40 years, and Colin’s mother, a widow who lives 45 minutes from us. Colin’s parents were together 38 years when she lost her soul mate. As you can tell, family is a large part of who we are and how we were raised, which is one of the many traditions we will continue with our child.

Our philosophy toward raising our future child is simple, “Love”. We will provide your child a positive, safe, stable home with all of our undivided attention and love to give. Teaching them to respect themselves and others, staying true to who they are in life, encouraging them to follow their dreams, and providing them courage to stand up for what is right in life.

We are strong believers in fate and feel individuals who we come in contact with or who cross our path, during our journey through life is not just a coincidence, but a sign of God placing us on the path of his choice. In this case, the crossing of our paths could be the miracle we have prayed for, for five years.

We appreciate your time to consider us as prospective parents, and look forward to an opportunity to meet you in person.

Sincerely,

Colin & Marsha

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Adoptive Family at a Glance

Date of marriage: 09/01/2007

Children: None

Interest and Hobbies: We enjoy spending our time together by sharing it with the family who live in the same neighborhood, grilling out on our back deck with the neighbors, movie night, bowling, hiking, trying new foods through eating out or cooking from a new recipe, riding bikes, walking at the park, traveling both nationally and internationally, running in races, golfing, and going to music festivals/concerts.

Home: We live in a three story home with four bedrooms. With plenty of room for our child to have an entire floor dedicated to them: their bedroom, bathroom, a learning center, and a playroom nestled in a great neighborhood that has children from infants to teenagers. With a variety of fun activities occurring regularly: Halloween tractor hay rides, roasting marshmallows over a fire pit, Fourth of July picnic with fireworks, or just a game of kick ball in the cul-de-sac or riding bikes around the neighborhood. We live a few blocks from the lake and a local park with a newly designed children center.

Pets: We have one dog (Magnolia) that is 6 years old. Very well trained and visits the local hospitals as a volunteer dog to brighten the spirits of patients undergoing treatment.

Finances: Blessed to be very financially stable and prepared for our future endeavors

Why are you interested in building a family though adoption: Colin and I discussed early in our relationship our interest in adoption since we were both little. We feel it is the most amazing process and gift one can give. For an individual to love their child so much to give them to another couple who may not be able to have children of their own…this is nothing short of a miracle. We would love to give the love we have, the blessings God has provided us to a child through adoption.

Openness to Birth parents: We believe in following the expecting parent’s desires, whether this is an open, semi, or closed adoption. We feel that the expecting parents need our support and flexibility when deciding what will be best for them to heal with as much comfort and ease that we can provide them during this time. We will be open to visitations, pictures, letters, etc. As long as the expecting parents determine this best, we look forward to including them in our family as they have provided us the biggest gift of all…a child we can call ours.

Childcare Plans: Since we would have waited over 5 years for a child, we will make him/her the center of our universe. Marsha will take a leave of absence for over 4 months from work as well as Colin will take off an additional month to ensure 100% of our attention will be with our newest addition during the transition process. At this time, we will rearrange our work schedule to accommodate our child’s needs and/or determine if Marsha will stay at home with the child as a full time mommy.