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| Sunny Ridge Family Center is licensed as a child welfare agency by the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (#019976), and by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Family and Children, as a child placing agency. |
Dear Birthparents,
I have always maintained close relationships with many of my cousins and their families. When we get together with my Iowa cousins we will usually spend a lot of our visit laughing and joking over a card game of some kind. This tradition was introduced to Sandy when she joined our family. She always says that playing cards is something you do to keep you busy while you visit. Some of us more serious card players might not agree with all of the “visiting” that goes on during play, but it is always a good time. My family always enjoyed following Chicago sports teams during all seasons. My father and I enjoyed many White Sox, Bears, Bulls and BlackHawks games together. I have since introduced this tradition to my daughter and she is now a Bears fan and of course has a White Sox world series champion t-shirt. One of my more recent hobbies has been appearing in local community theatre. I have appeared in five plays in the last four years and really enjoy performing on stage, particularly in comedies. After I graduated from college in 1991, I got a job in the quality control department at Eaton corporation. After working for Eaton for thirteen years in both quality and manufacturing I moved on to a manufacturing manager position with a local manufacturing company. I have been employed there for three years now and love my job. I am in a position that does not require any travel and am close enough to home that I can meet Sandy and Charlotte for lunch anytime. I am so thankful for this, because I want to be as close to home as possible to enjoy spending time with my family.
I am the younger of two children in my family. My sister, Linda is married to Lee and they have one daughter named Elizabeth. My sister and I are 6 years apart in age and were not very close when we were younger but now that we are adults have grown closer in our relationship. As a young girl I enjoyed spending time with my best friend Lori and was active in gymnastics and other outdoor activities. My summers were spent bike riding, skating, and swimming. As a family we spent time in the summer visiting relatives, by my favorite times were in Canada at my Uncle Bill’s cabin. The cabin was on a huge lake and we spent our time boating, water skiing, and exploring.
Steve is a wonderful husband and an outstanding father. He takes great care of his family and friends. He is always there to listen and help out in all kinds of different situations. He is a very stable, loving, and considerate man. I am very thankful for all of those things but I truly enjoy his sense of humor. I think he is very quick witted and funny, the person who can always lighten the mood when it is needed. This may sound silly to some, but I think laughter is needed daily.
We enjoy taking vacations to many different places. Sandy and I have been to the Grand Canyon, Disney World, Disney Land, England, France and Amsterdam. Since Charlotte joined our family we have taken a vacation together to the beach along Lake Michigan and look forward to more trips, as Charlotte gets older. Many if not most of our vacations, however, focus around visiting friends and family. Speaking of our families, both of us have family members who were either adopted or have adopted children. Steve’s cousins Becky and Doug adopted a Korean baby girl named Amanda 20 years ago. Steve is her favorite and they always dance together at family weddings. Sandy has two cousins, Laura and Karen who were both adopted. All of these people are very special to us and have never been considered anything but part of the family. As you have probably guessed by now we are very active in our church. We are regular Sunday worshippers and also host a bi-weekly group bible study for families that live nearby. In addition to this we also serve as communion assistants and are always looking for other ways to serve such as helping families when they move into new homes or cooking meals for other families when they need help. We look forward to meeting the mother or parents of our child. We understand that it is important for you to meet and get to know the people who will be adopting your child. We would also be more than willing to send pictures and updates as this child grows and have meetings as a relationship develops. We also realize that it will be in the best interest of this child to know as much as possible about his or her heritage and where they came from. For all of these reasons we believe that an open adoption benefits everyone involved. Thank you again for taking the time to read our letter and learn more about us. We know that this will be an incredibly difficult decision for you to make. One thing that we can promise is that our home will be full of fun, laughter, and love. We are so excited to raise another child and bring them into our family. Sandy and I are committed to providing a wonderful environment for another child and will ensure that they are raised in a loving Christian home. If you would like more information please contact Sunny Ridge Family Center. Steve and Sandy
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Thank you so much for taking the time to read our profile. We cannot begin to imagine what a difficult and confusing time this must be in your life, but we truly respect and admire you for considering adoption. We understand that this is a difficult decision and we are thankful that you are taking the time to find out more about our family. We hope that as you learn more about us in the following paragraphs that your decision will be a little easier knowing that it would be an incredible blessing to us if we could be the parents who provide a loving Christian home for this child.
We are Steve and Sandy along with our daughter Charlotte and our dog Bailey. We met 16 years ago at a student bible study in a church on our college campus. I guess you could say we hit it off right away. Sandy and I had just started the fall semester in late August when we went on our first date. We went to go see Robin Hood starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. After the date I thought things had gone well so I asked Sandy out again. She said okay but that she wasn’t looking for a serious relationship. Sandy then went back to her dorm room and told her roommate that she had just gone out with the man she was going to marry and told him she didn’t want a serious relationship! Anyway, we both realized early on in the relationship that this was going to turn into something special. In early October of that same year we went on a day trip to Starved Rock state park and when I asked Sandy what she was going to say when I proposed she said, “I’ll say yes”. Two months later in December we had purchased our wedding rings. Two months later on Valentine’s Day at her parents’ house after asking her father’s permission, I proposed and just like she had told me earlier she said yes. Sixteen months later in June we were married and have been happily married for nearly 14 years.
Sandy and I have a lot of common interests, but are different enough to be a good balance for each other. We both enjoy playing cards, watching movies, spending time with friends, and playing / watching sports. We both knew that we wanted to have a family someday. After seeing several doctors and going through numerous tests we were informed that we would not be able to have a biological child of our own. Although this was upsetting news at first, and will remain to be at times, we have a strong Christian faith and knew that God must have other plans for us. We decided to begin our adopted family with Sunny Ridge. Two years ago our daughter Charlotte joined our family after her birthmother Erin selected us. Charlotte has been a joy to us and we are now hoping to increase our family through another adoption. We continue to maintain a very open relationship with Erin exchanging pictures and e-mails regularly and getting together during the year to visit in person.
I (Steve) am an only child. I grew up in a neighborhood with a large number of kids and spent a lot of time playing outside with friends. In the summertime I remember staying out until it was dark riding bikes and playing kick the can. I was an avid collector of baseball and football cards and developed a love of sports from my Dad. I played little league baseball for several years and was also active in cub scouts. In high school I played on the golf team as well as playing on intramural volleyball and basketball teams. I still enjoy getting out on the golf course whenever I can or playing tennis with Sandy. I became active in our church youth group in high school and attended several youth gatherings in Chicago and a national gathering in Washington D.C.. My parents and I would go on vacations every year and would frequently go camping in our trailer. I loved to sit around the camp fire and enjoyed going on hikes in the woods.
I also would like to share some of the things I most enjoy about my wife. One of the first things that drew me to her was her strong growing Christian faith. Sandy is also one of the most giving and caring people I have ever met. She is always focused on the needs of others and is always willing to lend a helping hand or just listen when you need someone to talk to. Sandy is a wonderful mother and has many good things to offer and teach a child, along with an enormous amount of love and the gift of giving.
I (Sandy) am a stay-at-home mom. I previously worked for several years as an interior designer for a local office furniture distributor. After we adopted Charlotte I took over the job of bookkeeping and cut my schedule back to ten hours a week. I work from home during nap times and have enjoyed the transition from the corporate world to the stay-at-home world. I was glad to continue the contacts I have at work and Charlotte has enjoyed getting to know my co-workers and boss, who all love children. 
I (Charlotte) am two years old. I am full of energy and love to play both inside and outside. I go to a tumbling class with my mom on Tuesday mornings and a swimming class on Friday mornings. I have recently transitioned from a crib to a big girl bed and am currently potty training. I love to play with other children and am especially looking forward to having a baby brother or baby sister of my own. I am a fast learner and like to read books with my parents and listen to music. My favorite songs are by The Carpenters and the soundtrack from the show Mamma Mia. I also enjoy looking at pictures of my friends and family.
Last but not least is our dog Bailey. Bailey is a 14 year old, black lab mix who is very lovable and excellent around little children. She loves to ride in the car, go for walks and especially play catch with the frisbee in the backyard. Bailey loves to spend time with the family wherever we go and is very easy going. She is content to lie around on the couch if we are watching a movie or will sit in the baby pool with Charlotte when we are outside in the summer.