We can be contacted by email: hearts707@yahoo.ca or by phone (please call collect): 705-719-6641. Or you can reach our licensee, JoAnne Conlin: pconlin@conlinlaw.com or by phone 613-737-4140.

We became a family through open adoption and we know the blessings that come along with this amazing experience. Joshua was entrusted to us by his devoted birthmother a few short years ago. We love being parents even more than we could ever have imagined.

Hello...

We are Dan, Vesna and Joshua.   

We are so looking forward to adding another child to our family through an open adoption relationship, and we would like to thank you for taking the time to read our letter.

Much like you, certain unexpected events in our life have caused us to make some important decisions. We never thought that life would involve our inability to get pregnant, and we suspect you didn’t expect to be pregnant and contemplating an adoption plan. Yet, here we both are…

We know that your baby is the most important thing to you right now, and we are praying that we can work together with you during this challenging time. Our hearts’ best wishes are with you and we hope the glimpse you get of us through these pages will give you an idea of the tremendous amount of love in our lives and of the commitment and love we hope to soon share with you.

A little about us!
We met as students in university 14 years ago and we’ve been married for 11. Our relationship is based on friendship, respect and communication, all which have helped us to create a warm, loving, and secure home. 

Having a family is extremely important to us both. We started talking about the possibility of adoption even before we got married as an option; so the decision to adopt was an easy one once we discovered that for medical reasons we could not have children. We also have a number of close friends who were adopted, so we have seen first-hand the joys that adoption has brought to their families.

We became a family through open adoption and we know the blessings that come along with this amazing experience. Joshua was entrusted to us by his devoted birthmother a few short years ago. We love being parents even more than we could ever have imagined.

God has blessed us and we are now praying for a second child to love. We hope you can see that since we already have had a successful open adoption that we would treat you with same consideration, respect and kindness.  We have some insight as to what it means to be the adoptive parents of a child and we take this responsibility to our adoptive children’s birth families seriously.

A bit about Vesna (by Dan)!
I knew the day I met Vesna that she was the one I wanted to settle down with and build a family. She is a smart, funny and caring person.

Vesna graduated from university with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and works for a DNA testing company. Her company has been very supportive of her over the years and as opposed to losing her as an employee when Joshua arrived, they instead equipped Vesna with a home office. Should we be blessed with a second addition to our family, Vesna plans on taking a few years off work to ensure that your child has our fullest attention and devotion for a great start to their precious life.
  
Vesna enjoys the outdoors and we spend much of our time during the summer hiking, swimming and biking together. We love the winters too! Vesna and I enjoy skiing, tobogganing and snowmobiling, and then sitting down by the wood stove to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa. Sometimes I can even convince her to go out ice fishing with Josh and me.   

A bit about Dan (by Vesna)!
I feel very lucky to have found Dan.  He is an intelligent, funny and honest person who easily makes true, long-lasting friendships.  I attribute this quality to the way his parents have brought him up. His parents have been married for over 39 years and they have raised their children in an open, honest, and caring household that is never at a loss for love. 

I knew Dan was the man for me right from the time of our very first date. We went skiing, and he displayed such patience and encouragement each and every time I wiped out. He must have picked me up from the ground 100 times that day, sporting a smile every time. It is this same patience and encouragement that Dan now displays towards Joshua as our son learns new skills on a daily basis. 

Dan’s been a great parent from the very beginning! He is the first to change Joshua’s diapers, care for his boo boos, read him books at night, take him to swimming lessons and looks forward to starting skiing lessons with him this winter.

For Dan, his family is of utmost importance, and spending time with family is what makes him the happiest. It was for this reason that Dan accepted a job north of Toronto as a Materials Manager for a hospital. We moved up from the Toronto area so that he would spend less time commuting in traffic and more time enjoying what family life has to offer. Dan also graduated from university with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and he continues to upgrade his education by taking courses throughout and the fall and winter seasons.  

Joshua!
“Blessed” only begins to describe how we feel about having Joshua as part of our family. He is a happy and loving four year old who would love to be a big brother. He constantly amazes us with his zest for life along with his contagious laughter, which reminds us on a daily basis just how fortunate we are. 

Joshua enthusiastically gives hugs to family and friends, and he is extremely gentle with babies. We have several family and friends who have babies and Joshua will always go up to them to give them a kiss and some toys to play with. We know that one day he will make an excellent Big Brother!     

Joshua has been exposed to a variety of activities from an early age. When he was only four months old, he went to the pool to do mommy-and-baby aqua fit. Now he thinks he can swim like a fish, and we are looking forward to having him starting swimming lessons at the local recreation centre up the road. Also, before Joshua was one, he was already fishing with Opa (grandfather). Now Joshua looks forward to going fishing each time he visits his Opa at the lake. 

However, as much as Joshua is open to trying new sports such as swimming, skating and skiing, he is also a typical three year old, which means that he is more fascinated with dinosaurs, worms, frogs, snakes, dinosaurs and lizards.  He always seems to be carrying around a toy spider or frog in his pocket.

We will give your child everything Joshua’s has enjoyed, and in fact, your child will enjoy our already tested and true parenting skills we have acquired by raising Joshua. There are definite benefits to being the youngest child, and in our family, your child will be a very special miracle!  Both Josh and your child will grow up together, each with birth families that are respected and appreciated.  Both children safe and comforted in that they each have and adoption story to share through their entire lives.
 

Our extended family!
To us, family is EVERYTHING. We feel so lucky to have extended family close to home, and we see them on a regular basis.

Vesna’s mom (Baba) lives one hour away and she always looks forward to seeing ”her Joshi” (as she calls him).  She makes him his favourite cheese strudel each time she comes. Vesna’s brother likes to drop by often, and he is constantly buying new sports outfits for Josh.

Dan’s parents (Opa and Oma) live 1½ hours away in cottage country. They are semi-retired, and we are truly fortunate to have such a beautiful place to visit on weekends. At the cottage, we love to swim in the summer and toboggan and snowmobile in the winter. We spend Christmas Day there every year.  Dan also has two brothers.  His youngest brother has two kids (ages 3, and 6 months); getting all the kids together is a lot of fun as they chase each other quite a bit, along with the occasional battle over the same toy!

We also have over 15 young cousins who we see on a regular basis, which in turn makes family celebrations a busy, enjoyable and memorable time.  In addition, we are Godparents to four children; Dan’s cousin’s children Tyler and Brianne, and Vesna’s cousin’s children Aleksa and Natalia.

Spending time together!
Fortunately we have many loving family members and friends to spend time with and we particularly enjoy our favourite outdoor activities with them. Dan has fond memories of camping with his entire family. When we say “entire” we mean 3 tent trailers and 25 people!

During the summer we try to spend as many weekends as we can at the cottage. There, we can all enjoy fishing, hiking, sailing and swimming. This is an especially wonderful time for the children.

We also enjoy taking many holidays with our parents. Every year we take a ski holiday with Dan’s parents. As well, this past summer we enjoyed a fantastic holiday traveling through Alberta and British Columbia, again with our parents. These are very special times that we hold dear to our hearts and look forward to continuing the traditions we have started.

Our happy home! 
We live in a semi-rural city just one hour north of Toronto. We have a beautiful brand-new home and we enjoy every minute here, especially since becoming parents.  Our house is located on a cul-de-sac and has four bedrooms (one bedroom is Vesna’s office).  There is also a full size walkout basement that we are currently in the planning stages to develop this space into a huge recreation/family space. 

We chose this neighbourhood because it has many children who are the same age as Joshua.  We were also sold on the house because of its big treed yard, which we look forward to building a tree fort in!  We are within walking distance of a great elementary school, a new recreation centre and, as a bonus, a playground at the end of our street, which opens up to some great hiking trails.  Many times when we have gone for hikes, we have seen some deer, which is rare in many larger cities. 

Parenting!
Each child is unique and brings his or her own dynamic to a family. Over the years, we have learned a great deal about parenting. We believe that children undoubtedly learn best when we provide them with unconditional love, patience and understanding. Children need to be loved and safe, while at the same time provided with guidance and perimeters that enable them to grow independent and make good choices.

We want your child to try everything he/she wants to try. And we also commit to making sure that your child has lots of time to just be a kid. We believe children should splash in mud puddles when we go out for walks in the rain or get their hands and clothes sandy when playing in the sandbox.

We are very sensitive to the importance of open adoption and to the positive impact open adoptions have for everyone involved; yourself, the child, and us. We will be respectful of your needs in this situation, and we believe that together we can make the unification of two families work!

Along with teaching our children about their heritage, about their adoption stories and about the unquestionable love that guided your decision; we plan to share our love through modeling the importance of patience, kindness, communication and trust.

It must be hard to truly know us through this simple letter, but we look forward to hearing from you. We would love to share more about ourselves with you and also to learn about you and find out what your hopes and dreams are for yourself and for your baby.  Thank you for taking the time to read our letter.

With respect, love and anticipation,
Vesna, Dan and Joshua