A Letter from Mark & Genesis
Thank you for taking time to meet us. We are excited to become first-time parents and to share with our child our home and love. Genesis is excited to become a hands-on stay-at-home mom, and Mark is looking forward to teaching our child many handy things. We look forward to getting to know you as well as sharing letters, photos, and visits as our child grows.
Our Story
We met 7 years ago while out with friends. Gen was impressed by Mark’s tango dancing, and we fell in love over many dates and dances. Three years later we were married. We’ve enjoyed vacations, holidays, and special events with each other and our families. We love to cook and try new recipes, play with our dogs, dance, play board games, watch old movies, and play with our niece Marlow and our cousins’ and friends’ kids. Our marriage is guided by our values of faith, education, compassion, and family; we hope to instill these in our children.
About Mark, by Gen
My husband loves learning new things and is a wise, patient teacher, which will make him a great dad. He also is extremely loving and considerate. I’m often amazed by how he thoughtfully shows his love, appreciation and respect for me and our family.
Mark enjoys fitness. He works out with kettlebells, and he has experience with circus acrobatics. He is so very excited to teach our children how to perform handstands and aerial acrobatic skills.
Mark can play piano and daily practices singing hymns and sings with the men’s group at church that he’s involved in. I know he is looking forward to future family sing-alongs with our children.
About Gen, by Mark
Gen is loving and caring in all she does. She is beloved by her family and always makes sure that birthdays and celebrations are special- always giving the perfect gift. She’s a great crafter: making candles, decorations for the house, and also doing renovations on the house. Having worked as a nanny for many years, her friends come to her for childcare advice. She will be an amazing stay-at-home mom and provide the loving environment for the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of our children.
Our Home in Illinois
Our home is cozy and relaxed, with an open backyard with plenty of space to run around and play. We share it with our two small dogs, Teddy and Mojo, who love being around kids with the energy to keep up with them. We’ve decorated our home to be welcoming and comfortable, from the living room library, to our inviting kitchen to the nursery, just waiting for its first occupant!
We live in a safe neighborhood and are within walking distance from a great park and playground. During winter, we can build snowmen in the backyard and go sledding on the nearby hills. There’s a Catholic school just around the corner from our church. We look forward to making many families memories together here with our child.
Our Family
We both come from loving, supportive families with adoption experience. Mark and his sister were adopted and his mom previously worked as an adoption social worker, and Gen has an adopted sister. Mark’s parents are both so excited to teach their grandchildren how to sail and swim in the lagoon near their house. They are passionate about nature and look forward to leading hiking trips and skiing expeditions. Mark’s grandmother lives close to his parents and is excited to be very involved in her great-grandchildren’s life. Our niece, Marlow, is excited to have a new cousin to play with.
Gen’s family is huge. There are LOTS of cousins on her side! There are many fun traditions, like our annual pre-Christmas family brunch with a themed costume contest, and the Thanksgiving Eve pizza party. Celebrating Three Kings’ Day is an important family holiday. With such a large family, birthday parties and special events such as baptisms and graduations are frequent, so we see our extended relatives who live in the area often. Our whole family is excited to welcome our first child home!
Our Promise
We promise to provide a loving home and family for your child, with the stability and care that will enable them to reach for their dreams. We believe in allowing children the freedom to learn and explore within a solid framework, so they know they have a supportive network behind them always. We’re open to developing a relationship with you and your family if you’d like, and will share their adoption story with them from the beginning.
If you would like to learn more about us, please call or text Lifetime at 1.800.923.6784.
Learn More About Mark & Genesis
| Mark | Genesis | |
|---|---|---|
| Our Education | Master's degree in Computer Science | Bachelor's degree in Sociology, with a concentration in Early Childhood Development |
| Our Professions | Chief Technology Officer | Homemaker |
| Stay-At-Home | No | Yes |
| Our Racial Background | Caucasian/Latino | Latina |
| Some of Mark & Genesis's Favorites | ||
| Book | The Bible | Emma, by Jane Austen |
| Animated Film | Toy Story | Brave |
| Vacation Destination | Torres del Paine, Chile | New York City |
| Gift Received | Outdoor pizza oven from my wife | Jim Croce's Greatest Hits CD from my dad |
| Gift given | An original poem I wrote for my wife (sonnet) | Outdoor pizza oven to my husband |
| Board game | Chess | Battleship |
| Way to pass a rainy afternoon | Reading | Snuggling with the dogs watching Downton Abbey |
| More About Our Family | ||
| Our Special Interests | Gen has recently taken up the sport of archery. Her technique has been improving but her aim could use more practice before she will consistently be hitting bullseyes. At home, she enjoys baking, making candles, and DIY house projects. Gen also volunteers as an ESL (English as a Second Language) tutor at a nearby literacy center. Mark is active with the men's group at our church, and when the weather permits he makes delicious (and very creative) pizza in the wood fired oven in our backyard. When he's home he enjoys reading and writing poetry, and studying Christian prayer throughout history. We enjoy cooking together and taking the dogs for long walks around our neighborhood, trying new restaurants, and game nights. | |
| Our Faith | We are practicing Roman Catholics. We attend weekly services at our local Catholic church, and Mark is involved in the men's bible group there. We plan to share our Catholic faith with our children and raise them in our church, alongside the other families we've befriended here. We know that God lead us to one another and to our adoption journey. It's important to us that our children know the role our faith has played in building our family, and that it will play a role in their lives in leading them to achieve the things they are meant to do. | |
| Our Traditions | Over the years we've developed our own special traditions that we hope to expand and continue with our children. Among these traditions is an annual pre-Christmas family brunch with Gen's family, with a different theme every year and a costume contest based on the theme. We also travel once a year with Mark's family to different vacation spots, we're really looking forward to this year's Florida beach trip! Every year on Thanksgiving we go home to relax and unwind after all the food while watching one of the Star Wars movies (we prefer the original trilogy). Each year at Christmas we vote on one charity to donate money to instead of buying gifts for each other. Birthdays are fun too; the birthday boy or girl has to share their favorite memory from the previous year over a family dinner at the restaurant of their choice. | |
| About Our Home | Our house is over 100 years old. Since purchasing the property we've both become pretty handy and have developed great DIY skills (Gen is a master at changing light fixtures, and Mark is practically a plumbing expert). We've both enjoyed learning new skills and customizing our home to fit our personalities and taste. We're especially proud of our kitchen, which was partially renovated by Gen and her dad from a modern to a farmhouse style. We feel very blessed to be able to create a home for our family that has our own personal touch in it, and we can't wait to include our children in future decorating projects so the whole family can take pride in our space. We're currently having the backyard renovated, and we look forward to spending more time outside this summer working in our garden and eventually sharing that with our children. | |
| Our Pets | We share our home with two small dogs. Teddy, a Shih Tzu, is a sweet and laid-back little girl. She loves to lay on the floor for belly rubs or sit out in the backyard sunbathing. Our Maltipoo Mojo is very active and energetic. He loves playing fetch with his tennis balls and running around the yard, as well as snuggling up as close as he can get to you for a cuddle. Both our dogs love being around kids and will be so happy to have a new addition to the family. | |
| We live in the state of... | Illinois. Home of the World Series winning Chicago Cubs(!), Abe Lincoln's birthplace, and Starved Rock State Park. | |
| Our Neighborhood | We live in a quiet residential neighborhood, around the corner from our church. There is a great park on our block with a playground where neighborhood kids play when the weather is warm. We're also within walking distance of our local Catholic grade school. | |
| We Prefer a Child Who Is... | ||
| Age of Child | Newborn to 5 years of age. | |
| Twins | Absolutely! | |
| Gender | We would be happy to welcome a child of either gender into our family | |
| Sibling Group | Yes, with the oldest child up to 10 years old | |
| Ethnicity of Child | We are open to any race | |
| Future Contact with Birth Family | We are open to letters, photos, and occasional visits | |
| In Closing | ||
Thank you for considering us to be parents for your child. We are very excited to meet the child God has in mind for our family, and we are excited to shower him or her with all of our love and affection. God bless, and we look forward to hearing from you. |
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