Waiting Families
Ryan and Jan
Hi,
We are Jan and Ryan and we want to thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit about us and considering us as adoptive parents. We’d like to begin by saying we cannot imagine the range of emotions you must feel as you consider adoption. We want to thank you for your selfless act and hope as you learn a little bit about us you will find some reassurance that we are just a regular loving couple who want to share our lives with a child and fill his/her life with lots of love, support, family, opportunity and happiness.
We met almost 14 years ago and it was literally love at first “smile”. From our first meeting we immediately felt a connection which led to our first date that weekend, we dated for one and a half years and have been happily married ever since; it will be 13 years in August. We knew from the beginning we wanted children but agreed we wanted to enjoy being a married couple for a little while, travel some and make sure we were comfortable financially before starting a family. When we started “trying” to get pregnant and after going though fertility testing and treatments without success, we, without question, knew adoption was our next step. Our families and friends are very excited and supportive of our decision. Adoption holds a special place in our hearts as Ryan’s mom was adopted.
Ryan is the owner and President of a Landscape Design company. Jan works in the marketing field for an Insurance company. Both of our jobs allow some flexibility where both of us will take some time off when the baby arrives. Jan plans on staying home and possibly working part-time from home eventually.
Ryan
Ryan is the most generous and loving husband I could ever ask for; he’s my best friend. He has an outgoing, laid back personality that draws people to him. He is one of those people who never meets a stranger. Ryan is fun loving and just a big kid at heart. He has a great sense of humor and is always trying to make me laugh whether it is acting silly and dancing around the house or goofing off, wresting and “howling” with our big spoiled rotten dog Ralph, a black Labrador Retriever mix. In his spare time Ryan enjoys golfing with his buddies, working on home projects, and just hanging out enjoying time with family and friends.
Jan
Jan is the most caring, thoughtful and softhearted person I have ever known. I have always known Jan would be a great mom. She beams around her nephews and our friends’ kids when they come for a visit. Jan has a passion for cooking and baking, always trying out new recipes for dinner, baking desserts for her co-workers’ birthdays and even bakes homemade dog biscuits for our dog Ralph (and of course for our neighbors’ dogs). Jan enjoys decorating and loves to shop. Music is very important to Jan. She loves to relax by playing the piano or just popping in her favorite CD. Any of Jan’s friend’s would tell you not a day goes by you don’t hear her singing or humming to one of her favorite songs. She loves to make you smile.
Our family
We both come from small, close-knit families. Our immediate family lives locally. We get together very often for dinner and always make a big deal out of all holidays. We each have one sibling, an older brother. We are also close to our extended family who all live within four and a half hours of us. We make it a point to have family gatherings with everyone a few times a year to catch up. To say the least, everyone from our parents, “the grandparents”, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new baby to spoil and love.
Our Community and Home
Our home is situated in a small neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac where you can always find someone walking their dog, kids riding bikes, skateboards, playing basketball, or neighbors just taking a walk. We have a number of families in the neighborhood with children ranging from three years old to teenagers. In fact, our neighbor’s daughter is already planning on baby sitting. We have a great elementary school a few minutes away with a large park surrounded by ball fields and tennis courts for youth sports as well as trails for walking, skating and bike riding and areas for dog walking where we like to take our dog Ralph to play in the evenings and on weekends.
Our Hobbies
We enjoy most anything from going to the movies, to dinner, to spending time at The Lake with a group of friends and their children. We frequently go to ball games to watch our friends’ kids play. We enjoy relaxing at home on the deck and barbecuing with family and friends. We love to travel and take a vacation every summer to some new place; we especially love the beaches in the Caribbean. We have friends who just recently asked to join them on a family vacation this summer and they have reserved a spot for us and our new addition to the family.
We are so excited as we dream of becoming parents. We spend time with many friends who have small children and they share with us stories daily of something their kids did or something sweet they said and we imagine the joy we would feel raising a child and sharing those same things. Our friends are thrilled for us and have been very supportive in our decision to become parents. Several friends have adopted children and we have seen the enormous joy it has brought them.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know us. Although we have been very fortunate in our lives, the most important thing we desire is to be parents. We hope this small glimpse into our lives helps convey the love we have to share with a child. We have a lot to offer but most of all we have our great big hearts to share. Please know that your child will be cherished and we will do our best to provide a happy, safe, and loving home.
Warmest Regards,
Ryan and Jan