Hi!
We are Terri and Rich, a happily married African-American couple prayerful to adopt our first child. I am an attorney and Rich is a high-school educator, and we both are committed to providing a happy, healthy and loving home for a child. We hope that our story helps you decide if we are the right adoptive parents for your child.
[email protected] 800-869-1005
Our Story
We dated for six years before getting married in 2011. We consider ourselves very blessed to be in excellent health, and have loving families, supportive friends, and great careers. We both love to travel around the world, to places such as France, Italy, Greece, and of course, Disney World. We are extremely excited about sharing our passion of travel with our son or daughter and exploring the world through a child’s eyes. In addition to travel, we also enjoy riding our bikes, visiting the many city festivals, and entertaining friends in our home, sometimes having a spontaneous dance party with Rich being the deejay.
We also have a puppy named Blu who is great with children. Blu loves to play fetch, go for walks, and play with children.
Our Journey to Adoption
Being parents has always been a priority for both of us. After years of unsuccessful attempts to become pregnant, we realized that parenting a child, regardless of biology, was our ultimate goal. Through our research on the adoption process, we quickly learned that everything about adoption is beautiful – from the courage of the birth mother to place her baby for adoption to the commitment of the adoptive parents to raise a happy and healthy child. We would be truly blessed to have the opportunity to grow our family through adoption.
Terri talks about Rich
Rich has all the attributes to be a remarkable father. Rich has a kind and gentle spirit that shines through many of his actions. Rich is very easy-going with a huge heart. Rich has dedicated his life to helping children prepare for their future. He has two Master’s degrees in Education as well as 20+ years experience as a high-school teacher and administrator. His patience, compassion, and work ethic serve as a positive role model. Standing 6’6″ tall, Rich is athletic and excels at most sports, particularly basketball. He played basketball in college and continues to play a couple of days a week.
Rich talks about Terri
Terri is loving, generous, dependable, nurturing, and consistent, which I believe are key attributes to being a great mother. Terri’s personality and communication style will ensure her active involvement in our child’s life, and the child will always know what to expect from her. Terri has degrees in both engineering and law which makes her analytical, detailed-oriented and open-minded. These attributes will aid in creating interesting science projects and planning fun-filled birthday parties. More importantly, her compassion and respect for others helps her to get along with everyone. I know that Terri will be a wonderful parent, because her role as a mom will be the utmost priority in her life.
Our Family and Friends
We are very blessed to have been raised in loving, supportive and nurturing homes. Rich’s mother and grandmother live very close to us and we see them often. My immediate family lives in Michigan, but since they are only a car-ride away, we are able to see them several times a year. We also have large extended families full of aunts, uncles and cousins who gather together often to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Everyone is looking forward to teaching a new child about any and everything through books, travel, and discovery, as well as sharing family traditions, such as baking cookies and watching Disney movie marathons.
We are also fortunate to have a diverse group of friends whose children always look forward to playing together. Their imaginations are limitless, and everyone always has a great time. Our friends and family will welcome our baby with open arms.
Our Home & Community
Our home is on the North Side of Chicago, and conveniently located near Navy Pier, the lakefront, the museum campus, and many parks. Our home is always filled with love and laughter, and is perfect for hosting birthday parties, large family dinners and play dates. We appreciate differences in people and cultures, and our community is reflective of those values. Our neighbors are friendly and always willing to extend a helping hand. Our community is filled with children of all ages playing together right outside our front door in the amazing park across the street. The park offers a wide variety of activities, and has dedicated play areas for young children, which makes for instant playmates, classmates, teammates and best friends.
Our Thoughts on Parenting
We both were extremely fortunate to have been raised in loving and nurturing families that instilled many of the same core values in us, such as, the importance of education, good character, and respect for others, to name a few. Our values will be our guiding principles in raising children. We will develop a close and loving relationship with our child while providing structure through clear and consistent guidelines. We will also promote discovery learning that will encourage a child’s independence, individuality and creativity. Bottom line, our goals as parents are to ensure a happy and healthy family life, and provide a child with the tools necessary to become successful, independent, and socially responsible.
Our Commitment
Should you select us as the adoptive parents for your child, we will do our best to raise a happy and healthy child. We will teach, protect, nurture, and encourage this child through patience, understanding and our unconditional love. We will speak of you with the utmost respect and gratitude, and ensure that the child knows his/her adoption story. We will explain the tremendous amount of love and sacrifice that went into your decision and how you put his/her best interests above everything else.
Thank you for taking time to learn a little more about us. Please email us at [email protected]
