Adam

&
Ruth
Be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
No less than the trees and the stars.
You have a right to be here,
And Whether or not it is clear to you
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
~ Max Ehrmann
Hi, we're Ruth & Adam.
We have dreamed of having children for a long time and are
excited about adopting. We live comfortable, stable lives and
enjoy a lot of freedom and flexibility since Adam took a very early
retirement from his job as a firefighter. He now is a professional
sculptor. Ruth works part-time as an acupuncturist … perfect for
devoting our lives to raising a child! We find so much joy in every-
day things - working with our hands whether creating art or working
in the garden,traveling to far-away places or enjoying time in our
vacation home with good friends. We especially cherish time
together laughing and just being together.

We are eager to adopt and are looking forward to surrounding our

child with love, laughter and support. We believe in the power of
education and the importance of encouragement. We were both
raised with the spirit of respect for others and a love of nature, and
we can’t wait to raise our child in the same way.

We look forward to introducing ourselves to you here, and to

sharing with you the things you might want to know as you look at
families for your precious child. Please know we would love to get
to know you too, and to answer any questions you may have for
us. You are in our daily thoughts, and we wish the best for you in this
important time.
 Welcome to our lives
We are big believers in keeping things simple and straightforward, so with that in mind we
offer our “top 10” list of things that make us happy and satisfied in life.

1. Each other – Our relationship is solid in a way that no other relationship has been
and it truly helps us both to be better people.

2. Family- They’re not flawless, but darn close. We enjoy time together and sometimes
just knowing they are “there” when we need them.

3. Being active outdoors- We very much enjoy doing things outdoors: hiking, kayaking,
gardening, bicycling, camping trips with friends.

4. Kayaking- We have 2 kayaks and we very much enjoy kayaking together. It’s a
great way to be outdoors enjoying the quiet mastery of nature.

5. We both enjoy travel, and not just going to resorts to hang out on a beach. We’re
most interested in international destinations and our mode of travel is usually more
adventurous than most folks. We enjoy getting to know the land and the people
when we travel. We’ve met so many people in other countries who for the most
part have been incredibly friendly & generous.

6. Adam - My true avocation is sculpture. I make artwork from found objects.

Although I don’t have formal training as an
artist, I have had a very successful
career as a sculptor.

7. Ruth - When not outdoors I have plenty of

indoor interests: working in our ceramics
studio, reading and sewing, but I don’t
seem to get to them as much as doing
things outdoors.

8. We are both avid readers, and are as likely

to be reading a novel as we are books
on how to build a website,current social or
political concerns, or alternative medicine.

9. Our pets – they are such bundles of

unconditional love, and they teach us
a lot.

10. Health – it may sound like a cliché, but

without our health we have nothing. We
work hard to stay active, healthy, and fully
engaged in life.
 On Parenting
Adam: Ruth is a resourceful and determined person
when she sets her mind on a goal. Since we decided
to pursue having a child, Ruth has persevered under
difficult circumstances with more patience and
unflagging devotion than seemed humanly possible.

We’ve always had a passion for travel and it will

be central to our child’s upbringing. I was fortunate
enough to live that dream as a teenager when I
travelled around the world and lived in Africa for a
year. That experience was central to my develop-
ment into the person I am today. I’m already looking
forward to sharing that experience with our child.

Ruth: My parenting philosophy is simple- Love them,

learn from them, have fun with them, teach them
boundaries and to respect themselves, and by
extension, to respect others. I look forward to being
an active and very
involved parent.

I would love to share many of my passions & interests

with our child and will generously do so. I also look
forward to learning from our child- they are natural
teachers and I will be a willing student.

s!
We love spending time with kid
Ruth in Afric
a My Wife Ruth
Ruth certainly has a great zest for life. Since we got
married she has traveled with me to almost every
corner of the world, from Africa to New Zealand to
Nepal and Mexico. These travels have been terrific
adventures one and all. In Tanzania we climbed
together to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and sailed
on the Indian Ocean. In Nepal we did an 18 day
hiking trip around the Annapurna massif. In New
Zealand we hired a camper van and spent three
weeks circumnavigating the country. We liked
Pre-wedding clean Mexico so much Ruth bought a 20 acre parcel of
-up!
high desert with plans to eventually build a small
house there.

Ruth is also very dedicated to physical fitness. By

the time I get up in the morning she has already
been to the gym for her workout. She also loves
bike riding and kayaking, and just about any
outdoor activity.

Ruth is extremely intelligent and patient. When-

ever I have a problem with the computer she
is there to calmly explain the issues and resolve
the problem.

Ruth is an amazing gardener. One year we planted

over 1000 bulbs in our yard. Because of her cease-
less efforts we now have a fantastic array of every
kind of flower and plant imaginable gracing our
properties.

Ruth loves when kids visit or spend

time with our family at the beach
house. She is patient and kind to
them and they all love her! The skills
she has shown dealing with our
nieces, nephews and our friend’s
kids lead me to believe she would
make an excellent parent.

In Mexico, San Louis De La Paz

 My Husband Adam
Adam is a happy person - and he is most happy when he’s
traveling or bringing together friends & family. He likes to
bring people together to have a good time, whether at
one of our vacation homes or like the trip he organized last
year to the New Orleans Jazz fest.

Adam loves to travel. We both love different cultures &

foods & traditions. Traveling always puts our “regular” life in
perspective and makes us incredibly grateful for what we
have. It also provides a sense of belonging to a greater
human family and reminds us not to sweat the small stuff.

Adam in Africa

Adam has a number of rituals, one of which is

“cherry pie season”. We have three cherry trees
in our yard and when the cherries ripen around
Father’s Day he begins making pies. There can
be anywhere from 6 to 20 pies when he’s done
and his favorite part is to share them with as
many people as possible. delta in Africa
Flying over the
He stays physically active so those pies never
seem to stick to his waistline. Most days he
takes JoJo our dog for a long walk in the
woods and then to the food co-op to pick up
provisions.

Adam is incredibly generous with his time &

energy. He has more free time than most of our
friends and he is more than willing to help out
whenever someone has a need. His mom lives
nearby and he is always eager to help her out
with shopping or fixing things around the house.
He is incredibly patient and is wonderful with
kids. The kids in our life always love Adam.

Pie season!
 Our Home
We live in the Northwest area of Philadelphia in a richly diverse
neighborhood. Our home was built in 1888 and was lovingly
restored by Adam with the help of family and friends. Philadel-
phia as a major city offers many, many opportunities for the arts,
recreation, sports, etc. There is a great children’s museum -
the Please Touch Museum which we really enjoy taking our
nieces and nephews to!

Ruth loves gardening and creating unique outdoor spaces that

make you forget you’re in the city. Our home sits on a half acre
with woods along the back of our property. We also have a
large vegetable garden. The inside of our house is an eclectic
mix of things we’ve collected on our travels, family heirlooms
and great yard sale finds.

Before Ruth came along, Adam painted everything in the

interior off-white. With a little coaxing he agreed to do some
color in the kitchen and now it’s spread-
ing. Our kitchen’s marigold colored walls
are decorated with Mexican plates that
we have collected on numerous trips to
Mexico. Adam is not usually much of a
shopper but when it comes to Mexican
plates… watch out!

We also own a second home in

Vermont. We rent it out during peak
vacation season and spend time there
ourselves as often as possible. It is in a
beautiful setting and we love just spend-
ing time there.

We are also part of a beach house

co-op which Adam’s mother has been a
member of for over 30 years, and it’s right
next to the beach. Adam always invites
everyone he can think of to come down
with us. It sometimes gets a little crowded,
but it is always an enjoyable time.

Our community is richly diverse. There are

a lot of adopted kids, and a lot of
parents similar to ourselves (financially
secure, somewhat artsy). There are lots of
different schools: Waldorf, Friends,
Montessori, and a couple of other well
regarded private schools.

Our home in Vermont

 Adam’s Family
My mom was the initial spark for my love of travel. She
took me, at age 14, along with my brother, Guy, on
a trip around the world, living in Kenya for a year. This
has given me a deep appreciation of multiculturalism
and a unique worldview. We look forward to taking our
child on a similar trip as a teenager. My mom has
continued to be an inspirational source in our family,
arranging a family trip with all three of her sons and
their wives in 2004 to go to Peru & Machu Picchu. In
2007 she was right there with us camping on safari in
Botswana and just recently camping in Northern
California & Oregon.

My brother Guy & his wife, Mindy, have two children:

Rebecca & Tristan. Even though they lived their pre-
school years in Alaska and then moved to California
when they were school-age, I have spent a lot of time
with them on both coasts and admired and encour-
aged their abilities. My brother, Bill, has 3 kids: Ben, Ian & Amy. They live closer and we see
them often – holidays, birthdays, trips to the beach, hiking, and baseball games, to name a
few. Being an uncle to the five of them has been a joy & a privilege.
 Ruth’s Family
My father just passed away last year & I spent more time than usual with my sister & two brothers. I
often think of us in terms of our differences, but I was struck by how similar we are in terms of our val-
ues – a strong sense of fairness & tolerance and the way we see the world – a sense of our common
responsibility to live our lives in the best way we can to promote those things. These are things that
were instilled in us by our parents; their basic values were of tolerance, fairness and helping those less
fortunate. Our ritual of getting together to exchange cards
honoring the donations we have each made in each oth-
er’s name to charitable causes we value, was started by my
father and will live on for a long time.

My sister, Janet, has two sons, Jason & Chris. They are typi-
cal boys and very involved
in sports and school. Adam
can talk sports with them for
hours. My older brother, Tim,
and his wife, Susan, have a
daughter, Katie, and a son,
John. I have always had
a special relationship with
Katie, discussing what is
going on in her life and
sharing common interests.
John is very interested in
exploring things and we
talk about acupuncture,
barn renovations, kayaking and enjoy going to museums. My
younger brother, Andy, and his wife, Lori, also have a daugh-
ter and a son. Their daughter, Bryn, is all girl and we have a
great time doing girl stuff – dolls, jewelry, art projects and the
latest movie. Roan is just beyond toddler stage and is full of
energy. He really enjoys when we go to children’s concerts and other musical events. I think he’s
going to be a rock star! I feel lucky to have such a great variety of nieces and nephews and I’m
grateful they all live nearby.

Our Pets
Any mention of our family wouldn’t be complete without mention of our pets. We have a dog, Jojo,
who we think is the best dog ever in the history of the world. She is the smartest and friendliest dog
we have ever known and everybody loves her. We go for walks together on almost a daily basis.
We also have a petite,
young cat, Blacka, who
adopted us last summer.
She is very sweet and laid
back as cats go. We love
animals and picture our-
selves always having a dog
and a cat (maybe more)
as part of our household.
 Our Work
Adam- I am a retired Firefighter, and my current
avocation and passion is sculpture. I have been a
professional sculptor since 1991 exhibiting in galleries
and museums from Philadelphia to Mexico. I keep my
sculpture in various places indoors and out around the
house. One of the properties we own is an old factory/
warehouse space and one of our next projects is to
turn it into my personal museum.

Ruth- I am an acupuncturist and practitioner of

Oriental Medicine. I have been in private practice
for 12 years. I absolutely love my work. I often get to
help people in a way that they did not imagine pos-
sible, helping them to feel better and to experience
true healing. Being in private practice also gives me
the freedom to make my
own schedule. The best In Guanajuato Mexico
part of my work is that it
is on my own terms, and I have plenty of time to pursue
At a recent family wedding my many other interests!

I plan on taking a leave of absence when the baby

arrives. I’ve waited so long to be a mom that I want to
experience all of it. I will continue my practice at some
point, as I think
balance in all things
is healthy.

We have worked
hard to create a
life that is full of
abundance and
security. While we
are modest and
We love being on the water simple in most things
we do, we always
insure that we have sufficient funds to do
or care for the things we really value in
life.

Our trip to Kathmandu, Nepal

 In Closing
We have always known that we were meant to be parents, no matter how it came to be.
We have come to adoption with much joy and much hope. Of course the road to this place
in our lives has been fraught with disappointment, but like most things in life this sorrow has
opened doors in our hearts and has led us to a greater connection with the world.

We promise that we will always be the best parents we can be. We will offer incredible
opportunities for your child to experience the world, to get an education, to have loads of
fun and to find their ultimate happiness.

We know that while an adoption will bring us such happiness, it is bittersweet. We hope that
by taking the time to meet potential adoptive parents, you find the right family for your child
and that this helps bring you some peace in the important decisions you have had to make.

Through becoming parents ours lives will be forever changed, and we will forever be
grateful. We invite you to take the next step of the journey with us.
We invite you to join us on the
journey of a lifetime....