Dear Birth Mother, Who comes to mind when you think of “courage”? Maybe a superhero or strong family member or the cowardly lion from Wizard of Oz? In our minds, birth moms like you are courageous. We’re Josh and Erica. We are grateful that you’re considering adoption (and our family). When we got married, we had no clue what life had in store. After a couple of years as newlyweds we wanted to start a family. Our initial excitement turned to concern and ultimately became heartbreak when we weren’t able to get pregnant. But along the way, we met friends and coworkers who either chose to adopt or were adopted themselves. Their stories inspired us and opened our hearts. And 2 years ago we adopted Charlotte! Our first meeting with Charlotte’s birth mom, Lindsey, was at a Chili’s off the interstate. We were nervous and filled with questions: Would she like us? What would she be like? How open would she want to be with her adoption plan? It sort of felt like the butterflies you get before a first date. We fell in love with Lindsey instantly. After dinner, we stood in the parking lot chatting with Lindsey and her family as if we had known each other for years. It’s been almost 2 years since Lindsey had Charlotte, and we’re forever grateful that she entrusted us to be Charlotte’s parents. We desperately hope that we make her proud to have chosen us. For now we are showering all of our love and attention on Charlotte. She has a blast playing the piano with daddy, singing with mommy, sliding down the slide at the park, and imitating animal noises at the zoo. But we don’t feel like our family is complete. There is more room in our hearts. We hope that maybe you will become a part of our story, and in turn we become part of yours. We would love an open adoption with letter’s, pictures, and visits. We have a picture from one of Charlotte’s visits with Lindsey hanging on the wall in our upstairs hallway. Charlotte often points to Lindsey in the picture and says her name. We’re thankful that she’ll always know that Lindsey loves and cares for her. And we look forward to the day when there’s a picture beside it - maybe that one will be of you. God bless you, Josh & Erica Josh & Erica Ext. 4414 My parents provided an amazingly loving and supportive home for my siblings and myself. Erica’s Family My dad is a choir director.working first at the high school level, but now in the middle Zoo Boo school. My dad and I share a love of teaching music to teenagers. I am truly with blessed to have such an amazing mentor in him. My mom has also worked in schools since my siblings and I were school-age. She’s been a school secretary Grandma for almost 20 years. My mom is amazing with children. I have always been able & Grandpa! to talk to her about anything. I have three younger siblings: Stacie, Chelsea, and Daniel. Stacie and I have always been very close. We see each other quite often (especially since we live in the same neighborhood), and our dream has always been to raise our families together. She is definitely my best friend. Stacie married her high school sweetheart (Brandon), and they have 2 daughters (Mollie & Macie) and a son (Nolen). I love my nieces and nephew, and I love even more seeing how much Charlotte loves them! As the oldest of 4 children, I helped out a lot with Chelsea and Daniel. It has been really amazing to see Chelsea grow into an independent, intelligent woman and My siblings our friendship is growing every day. Chelsea and her husband Caleb just moved to California so I am sure visits to Disney are in our future! Growing & I bring out up, I was more interested in sports than my sisters, so I ended up spending a the silly in lot of time with Daniel. I loved throwing the ball around or shooting hoops with my little “Buddy.” He is now married to Kailyn and recently started each other! med school. I have always felt responsible for and protective of my siblings. I love them all so much and look forward to enjoying our adult years together with our families. When my siblings and I were young, my parents wanted to make sure each of us had a special time with just them. Our oldest family Charlotte & tradition is that my parents take the birthday boy or girl out to dinner to a restaurant of their choosing. It really made us feel Nolen love the special to have that time alone with them. They have continued this pool & water tradition to this day. (Although now we get to bring our spouse.) table at ☺ A tradition that has started just in the past few years is our annual Fall Party. We combine celebrating the October birthdays Grandma & with preparing for Halloween. We spend the morning at an apple Grandpa’s! orchard and then we get together to have chili, drink apple cider, make and eat chocolate/caramel apples, and we even have a pumpkin carving contest. My nieces Mollie and Macie are usually the judges of the contest, so somehow their Daddy always wins, Lots of summer although, that could be due to the fact that my brother-in-law usually carves the face of a favorite Disney character like Elsa! fun when your best Now that Charlotte and Nolen are getting old enough to get a vote, friend/sister lives I’m thinking Josh might have a chance at winning one of these in the same years. This year we even wore costumes to the party. Since Charlotte was Minnie for Halloween, Josh and I dressed up like neighborhood! Donald Duck and Daisy Duck. It was a lot of fun! I’ve always been interested in sports. I started baseball at age 7. (The girls softball league didn’t start until age 9, but I didn’t want to wait Movie night that long, so I played in a baseball league primarily made up of boys.) After 2 years of baseball, I made the switch to softball. I continued while playing softball until right before high school. I attended a large high babysitting school, and I knew that it would be difficult to play softball and Mollie & Macie! perform on stage. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have always loved to sing, dance, and act. In high school, I did show choir, vocal jazz choir, and concert choir. I also was highly involved in theater, performing in 11 high school productions by the time I graduated (including The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and Music Man). As a choir director myself, now I get to teach 7 choirs and co- direct a Musical each year. One of my choirs is a competitive show choir, and I love the creativity involved in planning and running a Annual show choir show. I also get to do some choreography throughout the family trip year. I recently started golfing. I have loved the challenge of learning a new sport, and I really love that it is something Josh and I can do to the together! I’m not great yet, but Josh has been great at helping me pumpkin modify my old baseball swing to a swing that will work for golf. patch! My dad is very analytical. He once built a spreadsheet to catalog my mom’s Josh’s Family cornucopia of Christmas tree ornaments. Train Computers are a natural fit for his ride at the logical nature. I was fortunate to grow up around computers and zoo with understand some of the basics of how they work. My dad also taught me to have a solid work ethic and strive for excellence in my profession - Grandma regardless of who might be watching. My mom is amazing. She grew up & in a very poor family. As the oldest of 9 kids, she helped raise her siblings. She moved out of a bad home environment when she turned 18, Grandpa! supporting herself as a waitress while living at the local YWCA. A local pastor encouraged her to visit a college. By the time she finished the visit, she was enrolled for the next semester. Mom had an interest in science and chose to study biology. She worked in a hospital lab when I Charlotte was growing up. Sometimes she had to work on holidays, so Dad and I loves would eat Thanksgiving or Christmas meals in the hospital cafeteria (The food is surprisingly good on these special occasions). Now mom spending works for a medical company that installs laboratory equipment for time with some of the top hospitals in the world. She’s looking forward to Grandma & retirement in a couple of years so she can spend even more time with her grandchildren. I grew up as an only child. But my grandparents, aunts, Grandpa! uncles, and cousins lived within 10 minutes and attended the same church. We had frequent family dinners on Sunday afternoons. We were close enough that my 4 older cousins were like pseudo-siblings. In my family, the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. We decorate the Christmas tree, make a pot of hot soup, and watch Christmas movies (family favorites include Elf, Being silly wearing Grinch, and White Christmas).