Dear Birth Parents

We are so thrilled you are considering us to be the parents of your child. We believe in miracles and recognize this opportunity as such. Thank you for your sacrifice and the love you are showing to this baby. Our prayers have always included blessings for whoever would be willing to let us adopt their baby. This adoption will be such a wonderful blessing in our lives.

We have found the adoption process is a very humbling, exciting, and challenging experience. To help you feel more comfortable with us as adoptive parents, we’ve included in this letter all the information we would want to know if we were in your shoes. Hopefully, this letter will give you a good picture of our personalities and abilities as parents. We want you to feel comfortable and confident that you are making the right decision.

We’ve known each other for over 12 years. Our relationship began on our very first day at university. We met in an orientation group and somehow ended up sitting next to each other at football games and new student orientation classes. As we got to know each other, our personalities seemed a natural fit. We soon found ourselves doing everything together from screaming our heads off as our football team charged the field, to swing dancing late into the evening, to studying until midnight at the library. It was a great year!

From that first day on, we’ve always been the best of friends. We feel that friendship has been the strong foundation of our marriage. Following a mission for our church and a few more years of schooling , we decided to get married. We were married in Mesa, Arizona on August 19, 2000.

We both had very happy childhoods. We were raised in warm and happy homes with loving parents. We were able to have many lessons in sports, figure skating, piano, dance, etc. We feel we are very well-rounded people and wish to provide the same upbringing for our children.

Education is very important to both of us. We both speak two languages. We each earned our undergraduate degrees from BYU. Karlea graduated top of her class in Advertising and worked until Don graduated. Don finished his degree in Finance, and was quickly recruited to a top-tier commercial bank. We plan to provide as much education for our children as they desire and are able to accomplish.

Because both of us were raised with a mother at home, we want the same blessing for our children. With this in mind, Don is working hard at the bank and Karlea has been at home raising our precious boys.

Don currently works as a corporate banker. He loves his work, but always makes his family his first priority. We are blessed to own a home in Orange County. We have spent several months remodeling it, and are very happily situated here. We have lots of space for kids to play.

Between us we have five sisters, two brothers, one brother-in-law, and one sister-in-law, four nieces, and one on the way! We love our family and have a great relationship with both our parents and siblings. Each of us is blessed to have all four grandparents living and we look forward to our children getting to know them. Our family is completely supportive of our adopting children.

We each have large extended families with whom we are very close. Many of our trips are to family reunions at the beach or lakes, or Don’s family’s ranch. We love to surf and water ski together. We are close to all our family. One of our favorite family activities is to gather as a family, pull out the guitars and enjoy an evening of singing and food.

When we were first married, we both knew that adopting a baby would be in our future.
The first of our greatest blessings was born on June 18, 2003, our son, Matthew. We were able to have him sealed to us six months later. He is the happiest child we have ever seen. He has a smile on his face all day long, and is excited and curious about everything. When his eyes open, his legs start moving. He is on the go all the time. He is happy and kind and loves his little brother. He is thoughtful of his needs and always shares with him. Of course there is some sibling rivalry, but that is to be expected! He has brought such a spirit of joy to our home.

Our second greatest blessing came on November 21, 2006…our sweet baby Connor. We found out about him at Disneyland. It is truly the “Happiest Place on Earth” for us because of him! Connor is our “mellow fellow.” He is much more serious than Matthew. He is thoughtful and more cautious of strangers. He is calm and so sweet. He loves being chased around by his brother. He also loves running anywhere…especially the park. Connor is gentle and will be sweet to a baby. He is such a love.

In our free time, when we get free time, we both enjoy spending time at the beach with our little boys. We explore parks and love going on long walks together. We go to Disneyland frequently and let the kids ride the rides. They love it. We also love to read, go camping, barbecuing, playing sports, horseback riding, whale watching, roller-blading, playing the piano, playing games, eating out, going to the movies, cooking, and dancing. We don’t like just sitting around…well sometimes!!! Vegging is always wonderful! We like to be active and really enjoy the outdoors. Our families have a lot of activities, so we also spend much of our free time them. We also like to travel and enjoy visiting new places.

Again, we are so grateful you are considering us to raise your child. We don’t know what it would be like to place a child for adoption, but we feel you are such heroes for wanting to give your child a home with two loving parents. We are excited to tell a child that his or her birth parents are wonderful people who deeply loved him or her. We believe adoptive children should know that their birth parents were exceptionally unselfish and loving people. We look forward to sending you both updates and pictures if that is something you would like!

Thank you once more for your kindness. We are so very excited to be a part of this miracle as it unfolds.

With love,


Don, Karlea, Matthew and Connor