It's impossible to think we can find the perfect thing to say to you because we haven't met you yet. We don't know who you are and we don't know your story. What we can speak to is that considering an adoption plan for your child is courageous. It comes with great selflessness and sacrifice, two things that don't come easy. We know this process is as joyous as it is painful. We can have great compassion towards you as you navigate these emotions and make a life altering decision, whether to parent your baby or make an adoption plan.

We know the feelings of grief and loss and how much strength it takes to work through them, as you may be doing right now. We honor that in you. If you choose us to parent your child, we passionately believe that honoring your child's adoption story is vital to fostering their positive self-identity and self-worth. We would be dedicated to this every day, through every triumph and every challenge they may face. We would empower them to have a strong voice in their adoption story so they have all of their vital questions answered throughout their life. We hope they would carry with them the knowledge that you were thoughtful in the plans you made for them and chose adoption because of your love for them.

Adoption is hard and full of emotions. We understand this is an extremely difficult decision for you to make and we hope by the end of our book, you will feel a little more at ease in choosing a path that best fits what you envision the life you desire for yourself and your child.

With humble and grateful hearts,

Dan & Jaclyn

We met at a piano bar in Philadelphia in 2010. We hit it off instantly. We both loved urban life, diverse culture, music, art, cooking, the outdoors and cherished close relationships with our friends and families. We spent 3 years together and learned so much about ourselves during that time. After those 3 years we realized that we had started to grow in different directions. We needed time apart to find clarity in what we wanted our future lives to look like. Two years later an unexpected email correspondence started. The letters evolved into lengthy catching-up and eventually we met in person. Just like the first time we met, we hit it off again. We were completely in sync with our goals and dreams and we never looked back.

We were married in May of 2017, with Jaclyn's Grandpop as the officiant, in Dan's parents backyard. We were surrounded by our closest friends and family. It was intimate and sentimental. Our marriage is grounded, thoughtful and committed. We are intentional with our time together and passionate about the life we are building together. We continue to share all of the same interests we initially bonded over and love to explore new ones together. We communicate openly, without bias. We take care of each other. We truly cherish each other.

Shortly after getting married, we were ready and excited to grow our family. This part of our life has been full of twists and turns. We struggled with infertility for two years. It was immensely challenging. At the end of that time we were told our chances of conceiving, even with continued help, were extremely limited. After taking time to process this, we were both still passionate about becoming parents and committed to continuing our journey. We spoke to each other about adoption and felt just as passionate about this path toward becoming parents as any other. We started working with Gladney during the spring of 2019 and we were active on their waiting list for 18 months. In May of 2021, Jaclyn found out she was pregnant. It was an indescribable surprise and truly miraculous. Jaclyn gave birth to our son, Everett Ash, in January 2022. Being parents has been rewarding and challenging and has pushed us to grow and evolve more than we ever knew we could. Even though our unexpected pregnancy caused us to put our adoption plan on pause, we are still very passionate about this journey we started. After a year of raising Everett, we are ready to continue growing our family and resume our adoption plan to become a family of 4.

We want to adopt because we believe we are in a place to provide a foundation that will allow a child to flourish to their highest potential. We truly do not have a preference about our future child's gender, race, or ethnic background. A child is a child and we will love them unconditionally, regardless of their personhood. We are ready and eager to support our future child through any social, emotional, or intellectual needs they may face. We will raise a child with unquestionable love, commitment, presence and patience.

We will be actively engaged in the child's life, seeing life from their eyes and showing them life from others eyes. We will expose them to right and wrong through teachable moments. We will teach them that life can and will be tough at times, but with intention and integrity they will be able to move forward stronger than before. We will raise them to feel safe and unashamed to express their emotions and fears. We will encourage them to explore their endless interests so they discover their passions and dreams. We will raise them to understand their power in the world, both good and bad, to feel confident and worthy and to have empathy and passion for humankind and the environment

"From the day Jaclyn and I started talking about growing a family, I always knew that she would be great as a mom. She gives every ounce of herself to making sure that our family is cared and provided for. She is laser focused on making sure that Everett gets what he needs but is never pushy or stubborn in accomplishing that. Her years of being a teacher have shown her that there isn't a one size fits all approach and she knows to adapt to a child who is changing by the second. Everett is often called 'the happiest baby I've ever seen' and I think that is a testament to the environment and mood in our home. That all starts with Jaclyn.

Jaclyn is such a positive influence on so many people in her life. She makes me strive to be a better person because I know she is always working on self-improvement. That drive is contagious and it also allows me to remember not to rest on where I am currently, but how I should grow. She also always brings her signature laugh and smile wherever she goes. The calming effect she can have on any situation just by being around is amazing. While this doesn't pertain to our relationship specifically, Jaclyn is an amazing friend and family member. I can't tell you how many times she's found a path and then all these people in her life follow her guidance. She is a natural leader in that regard. Honestly, most of the weaknesses I see in her are those ones you make up at a job interview. She can be stubborn and frustrated when things don't go her way, but that's because she is so committed and passionate in making things 100% right. She's incredible!" - Dan

"Dan is the dad I wish every child in the world had. Seeing him with Everett throughout the past year has taken my breath away. His commitment to providing the best life possible for Everett and our family is unwavering.He is so present and intentional with his time with Everett. I most especially love watching him read Everett books. Dan is a true coparent, involved in every aspect of Everett's care. He takes his role as a dad seriously and understands the impact he will have on his child.

Dan is the most grounded, self-assured, selfless and genuine human I know. Everything he does is done with grace. From the way he cares for me, our relationship and our son, to the way he cares for our extended family and friends. He is a natural extrovert, but not in an attention seeking kind of way. He loves connecting with people, is extremely personable, modest, and makes everyone feel uniquely special. He has a large social network and takes the time to stay connected with everyone. He's hardworking and continues to be promoted within his career. I believe a lot of his success is due to his interpersonal skills. He knows how to be professional, well-spoken and personable simultaneously. He's the last person you'd find gossiping in the staff lounge and the first person who'd remember to wish you a happy birthday or follow up on a passing comment you made the week prior. And it's all genuine, I promise. He also knows what he likes and doesn't like. He doesn't care if what he likes is the trendiest thing. He's never worried about impressing others or being anyone but himself. I think this is what draws people to him the most. He's the definition of down-to-earth and I love him for it!" -Jaclyn

Everett is pure joy. He's extremely loving, happy and perceptive. His laugh is boisterous and his positive energy is contagious. Everett is often referred to as "the happiest baby I've ever seen." He has a very unique way of making everyone around him feel adored and special. He is also very calm and in tune with what is going on around him. A sweet older woman sitting next to us at a park one morning said, "I've never seen such a tranquil, content and perceptive baby." That is Everett. He will be the most attentive and caring older brother.

We live in a row home in South Philadelphia. It has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. It is cozy and has an "at home" feel. Over the past decade we have gutted and flipped the whole house into our dream home. We are very intentional about making our home environment feel inviting and grounded. We are friendly with our neighbors and love living in the city. Community and diversity are very important to us.

Our favorite aspect of our home is the open first floor layout. It provides an energy of connection when we are home. It's also perfect for cooking and entertaining, whether for the holidays or a friendly gathering.

We have multiple parks within walking distance of our house and all of the amenities that a big city offers. Within minutes, we can be at the sports stadiums, restaurants, museums or our favorite coffee shops and small owned businesses. We also love how diverse our city is. We can try things outside of our comfort zone every day, and we take full advantage of it.

Jaclyn

I love a combination of urban life and mountain getaways. I love being surrounded by diversity and the sense of community living in a city fosters. I equally love being surrounded by nature, camping and hiking. I love music, both seeing favorite bands live and listening to our record collection at home . I love cooking and using my nutrition knowledge in all the cooking I do for our family. I love having coffee dates with girlfriends and hosting friends and family at our home. I also love spending time with my extended family at our beach house at the Jersey shore. Most especially, I love adventures with Dan and Everett. I am currently home raising Everett full-time and my favorite daily ritual is our city walks. We love to explore outside together and meet Dan on his lunch breaks at local parks!

Dan

I am an avid music lover, sports fan, and reader. My favorite sports teams are the 76ers and the Phillies. I have seasons tickets to the Phillies with my closest childhood friends, dad and brother. I love listening to music and try to see my favorite bands live at least once a month. I have always loved to read and have a book club with other like-minded friends. Other things I really enjoy are cooking, brewing beer, city walks, hiking, and camping. We've camped in state parks all over PA and New York.

Everett

At home, Everett loves playing with his toys by our big bay window on the first floor. He's notorious on our block for standing at the front door and greeting the neighbors as they go to work in the morning. He loves watching mama cook in the kitchen and is very adventurous with trying different foods. He loves bath time and books before bed every night. Everett especially loves adventures outside. He loves walking all over the city and hiking in the woods. He loves playing with his big family at the Jersey shore and having his grandparents visit at home. He also has a blast at the Philadelphia Zoo and Please Touch Museum, which we have family memberships to. Everett is very playful and affectionate and loves to give everyone big hugs and kisses.

My dad, Paul, grew up cooking in the kitchen of his family owned Italian restaurant. As an adult, he opened up his own Italian specialty store. He is married to Cindy and they love to travel to Italy and go to their cabin. My mom, Tish, is the oldest of 6 daughters. She grew up as a caretaker, helping my grandmom raise her five younger sisters. This naturally led my mom into her adult career as a nurse. She currently lives in New Jersey with her partner Bruce. My mom is selfless and thoughtful. She is the most positive and energetic person I know. My oldest sibling, Michael, is a landscape architect in San Francisco and lives with Ari and their two boys, Koa and Falconer. The second oldest is my sister, Julie. She is married to Ricky and is a dedicated mom to their three children, Axelle, Beau and Willa. They currently live in Kosovo. The three of us grew up with strong relationships. I've always looked up to my siblings and truly credit a lot of my positive qualities to the examples they set for me.

My parents are are Bob and Kathy. They are still married and live in New Jersey. My dad is positive and happy. He is also very dependable, whenever I have an issue he is the first person I think to call. One of our closest bonds is our love of music. Growing up, he would always take me to see live music. My mom's personality is warm and caring. No matter what the request is, my mom will drop what she is doing to get it done. My brother, Josh, is 2 years older than I am and as children, we were always going back and forth. There was arguing and competition but my parents always did a great job of making us hug and work through it. We both always loved sports and continue to bond this way today. He is a restaurant manager and married to Kelsey. They have three sons, Cooper, Will, and Joey. We cherish our time together with their boys. it's special to live so close to our extended family and have Everett grow up close to his cousins.

When it comes to making promises, we recognize that there are a lot of things in life that cannot be promised. We joined Gladney with the very understanding that there is so much out of our control with the adoption process. However, we aren't focused on the things we don't know or can't know right now. What we are focused on are things that we do know and we can promise you.

We know that we will strive everyday to be extraordinary parents. We know we come from colorful life experiences that have shaped us into resilient and open-minded adults and will pass along these things to our future child. We promise to provide every resource available to our child that we can. We want to set them up for success. We promise to love them unconditionally and support them through any social, emotional, or intellectual needs they may face. We promise a home and community that is accepting and welcoming of people from every walk of life. We promise a lot of laughter and to hold them when they are sad. We promise to encourage them when they are challenged and encourage them when they are proud. We promise they will be loved by our large extended families and friends. Many of whom have young children that we will raise our child with.We promise your child will have many first and second cousins that will be an important part of your child's life. While we can't promise that your child will be a leader, or activist or philanthropist, we can promise that they will be encouraged to be kind, honest, open- minded, passionate and grateful.

Lastly, we promise they will know you. To whatever extent we are all comfortable with. They will know their story and of the greatness you possess.

with admiration and love,

Dan Jaclyn