We cannot begin to know what this is like for you. All we can say is that we think you are incredibly brave and that you love and want the best you can give to your child. If we are blessed to have you choose us to parent, we will honor your decision by giving your child a lifetime of unconditional love. Our names are Aaron and Linda, and we would like to share our story with you.

We have been in love since high school and have been married for eighteen years. Aaron is a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy and I am an Optometrist.

Aaron is warm, loving and playful, smart, and always has lots of attention to share. He is a great husband and best friend and I know he will make an absolutely great dad. I am an outgoing person who enjoys helping others, learning, and sharing. I am very much looking forward to being a mom and giving the best of myself to this baby and our family. Aaron has been in the Navy for eighteen years and I have been seeing patients as an Optometrist for six years. Before becoming an eye doctor, I worked as an environmental biologist and marine biologist. I now am looking forward to being a stay-at-home mom for awhile. In the Navy, Aaron is a Naval Flight Officer and flew EA-6B Prowlers. He is currently on staff at the Navy Flight School.

We have been a “Navy” family since we got married. This means that as Aaron proudly served our country, we changed duty stations (moved) around every three years. Since we got married, Aaron and I (and Skipper, the cat) have lived in California, Florida, Washington, Virginia, and Hawaii. We are both very excited to have finally moved back to Texas for Aaron’s last Navy duty station. This is our last Navy move and we are now close to lots of family and loving it!

Both Aaron and I are very active people and really enjoy being outdoors. We love swimming, kayaking, and scuba diving. We do all of these things together (including holding hands as we swim along when scuba diving.) We also both enjoy hiking and running. Aaron runs marathons (26.2 miles of running, crazy I say). He has run six marathons and one team run around the island of Oahu, Hawaii (when we used to live there). Me, I think half marathons are fine for me. I am no athlete but have completed a few triathlons (run, swim, & bike). It keeps us healthy and we have fun together. We already want to get a jogging stroller so baby can get outside too. We love hiking and learning what the different trees, plants, and bugs are that we see. We can’t wait to share outdoor learning and activities with our child.  The same goes for a love of the ocean and sea life. Besides swimming and diving, we go to every single aquarium we can find and can’t wait to share that enthusiasm with our child. Of course we are perfectly happy to spend time at home grilling outside and spending time with our families. Our holidays are filled with family traditions and a lot of togetherness. Everyone in our family supports our adoption plans. Just like us, they can’t wait to love and support this baby.

While we honestly feel our lives have been blessed, we have felt for a long time that something was missing. We can’t even begin to describe how much we would love to watch a child open presents at Christmas, read books to them at night, see them catch their first fish, and even teach them how to tie their shoestrings. We want to help with homework, go bug collecting, go shell collecting, and even make a mess (and a beautiful picture) with fingerpaint. All of these experiences we pray we will get to be a part of one day. Being good parents is very important to us, and we promise to do everything we can to help your baby have a happy and fulfilling life. We will help him or her to develop and grow and have every opportunity to get the most out of life. We also want you to know that when he or she learns about you, we will do our best to convey that it was your love that has given us the chance to grow as a family and that he or she can love you and be grateful to you also.

While we are sure this letter does not come close to telling you everything we feel you need to know about us, we hope it is a good start. Should you decide you would like to speak with us or meet us, we look forward to answering your questions and getting to know each other better.

We know this is the hardest thing you have faced in your life. We hope we can meet and bring you some peace of mind and heart. Thank you for considering and thinking about us.

Aaron & Linda