Shannon and Alice (ID# 1101607)

Dear Expectant Mother,

Before we tell you about ourselves, we want to acknowledge the myriad of decisions and choices you are facing. Perhaps your pregnancy was unexpected or unplanned. You being here, reading these books, tells us one thing—you are thoughtful and wise and want the best for your child. We are sure that you are experiencing many emotions and probably have many questions. Know this—we already think that you are an amazing human being, and we will honor whatever decision you make regarding your child. We would love to support you in this pregnancy and include both your child and you as part of our family, but we trust you to make the decisions that are best for you, and will respect your choices regarding openness.

Our names are Alice and Shannon and we live in Colorado. We have three biological children named Clara, Alan, and Levi. We have chosen to homeschool them because we want to give them the best opportunity to love God and love others. We love our yorkie-mix dog, Rory, and our little hamster, Sam. We have a huge extended family with seven siblings between us, and thirty cousins for the kids. Our local church family and friend groups are thrilled to welcome another child.

Alice loves to read, knit, play piano, hike, and kayak, but homeschooling and taking care of our home keep her busy as a stay-at-home mom. Shannon is a web developer, and many of his hobbies revolve around programming, design projects, LEGO, taking our kids on "dad-ventures," and tinkering with various musical instruments.

We got married fairly young (ages 20 and 25), and got pregnant with our first child right away. The life changes and emotions that pregnancy and parenting brought surprised us both. Alice experienced severe postpartum depression and anxiety after our first was born. This experience brought us to a deeper level of understanding and empathy for people who are facing difficult pregnancy decisions. We have always wanted to adopt a child, even since before we were married. Because of fertility health problems, Alice had a hysterectomy, so having more biological children is out of the question. We wanted a way to support and affirm women who choose life for their children. Because we always imagined our family having four children, adoption feels like the perfect choice to complete our family.

Thank you for listening to our story. We want you to know that you are loved, valued, and respected.

Alice and Shannon

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