We’d first like to thank you for taking the time to read and browse through our profile.  We admire you for your strength in creating an adoption plan for your child.  We tried very hard to select pictures that we felt represented who we are as a couple in an effort to give you a genuine picture of us.  If we are what you’re looking for in an adoptive family, we would be honored to meet with you in person so you can get to know us better. 

We both work in the education field; in fact that is how we met.  8 years ago, Dan was the PE teacher and Tina was his partner PE Teacher/Computer Teacher.  We worked together for 2 years then both decided it was time to look for new positions. We began dating the summer after we resigned from our old jobs, and well the rest is history.  While we were engaged, Tina worked hard to get her Master’s Degree and is currently a Reading Specialist in an elementary school working specifically with struggling readers and writers.  Dan is currently working towards his Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership and is an Assistant Principal at an intermediate school.  He hopes to be a school superintendent one day.  We love children and we’re lucky enough to spend the majority of our day working with kids.  There’s never a dull moment and always a giggle waiting around the corner.  We are extremely happy and content with our lives except for one thing.  We really want to be a mom and a dad, but unfortunately we are unable to have children.

Some things we like to do as a couple is go to the movies, the zoo, and on long bike rides.  We both enjoy reading and also enjoy playing games.  We love the beach and sports, anything to keep us moving and laughing.  Basically we’re just a couple who likes to have fun no matter who we’re with or what we’re doing.  We truly look forward to the day when we can share these activities and our lives with a child.

Tina is the artistic one in the family.  She loves everything from painting to playing the piano.  Cooking meals and baking treats even becomes an outlet for her artistic talents.  One of her future goals is to write a children’s book and get it published.  Tina loves to laugh, and Dan keeps her laughing.  Some words that would describe Tina are caring, nurturing, sincere, patient, artist, and strong.  Dan is multi-talented.  He is athletic, handy, and smart.  He goes to the gym regularly and has run many 5k and 10k races.  One goal he has is to run a marathon one day.  Dan also has a great laugh and laughs often.  Words that would describe Dan are fun, playful, thoughtful, strong, and charismatic.

We live on a tree-lined street in a quiet suburb of Chicago not far from the Illinois State Prairie Path.  We’ve lived here since we were married in the winter of 2006.  We have really come to love our house over the years.  We spent a lot of time and energy fixing it up, little by little turning it from a house into a home.  We can easily say that working on home projects is a huge hobby of ours.  We do the work ourselves and have fun doing it.  We really enjoy planning projects, working together, and seeing the projects through to completion.

We have a 5 year old chocolate lab names Wrigley. (Yes, we’re Cubs fans!) She has baskets full of toys, loves to play Frisbee, and really like to go for long walks and jogs on the Prairie Path.  Everyone says she is the happiest dog they have ever met.

Some values that are important to us are respect, integrity, hard work, education and honesty.  These are some of the values we try to live our lives by every day.  We also strongly believe in the Golden Rule – “Treat others as you want to be treated.”  We are extremely excited to be in the position to adopt a child, not only into our home but more importantly into our hearts.  At the same time, we can’t even begin to imagine how difficult and painful this process must be for you.  We want you to know we welcome an open adoption, and look forward to building a life-long relationship with you.  We will always consider you and your family part of our family, and we will always be respectful of the special bond between you and your child.  We sincerely wish you the best in your journey and hope that you find peace within your heart.

Peace, love & happiness,

Dan & Tina