Matt and Debbie
Hi. We are Debbie and Matthew Mehalik. It is our sincere wish to create a loving, supportive, and nurturing family through adoption. We appreciate your taking the time to read this letter as the first step in getting to know us.
We both come from close, caring families and always dreamed of being parents. Although we had hoped to someday add to our family through adoption, our inability to conceive re-affirmed to us that adoption is a wonderful way to share our love with a child we can only describe as life’s most precious gift. Although we do not know the emotions that you are experiencing in trying to find the right place for your baby we feel confident that your heart will lead you to the right family. With that in mind we would like to tell you more about us.
Our life together thankfully began in the most surprising way: Debbie moved next door to where Matt grew up. As his parents still lived there, and Matt often visited with them we had the opportunity to get to know one another by spending long afternoons chatting on the front porch. From the very first time we met, we felt a comfortable and genuine friendship that grew over time into love. Our nieces and nephews smile when they say, “Uncle Matt married the girl next door!”
The quality that initially drew us to one another is the same as what keeps us together; it is simply that we love being with each other and find it wonderful that the feeling has only grown stronger with each passing year of our lives together. We really enjoy each other’s company. Weekends we run errands together such as grocery shopping and going to the dry cleaners. Most evenings we make dinner and spend that time talking about our day’s activities. We like to cook healthy meals, such as making pizzas from scratch, vegetable burritos, and salmon on the grill. We also like to make brunch for our family and friends on late Sunday mornings, the more the merrier. Sometimes that translates into a fun sort of chaos but it is a joy for us to have a house full of happy people sharing a meal.
Our commitment to raise our family in Pittsburgh is strong because it is here that we have the loving support of our immediate and extended families. They are very important to us. Besides Sunday brunches, we do many things with them: beach vacations, summer cookouts, birthday celebrations, and monthly beanbag toss competitions at Uncle Brian’s house. Debbie’s father’s plays clarinet in two symphonic bands and we chuckle at how circular life is; he sat through many of Debbie’s band concerts when she was little and now we attend his.
We are fortunate that both sides of our families love spending time together and often visit with one another on a holiday in large blended gatherings. We are also blessed to have many nieces and nephews to whom we can be a doting aunt and uncle; some are now teenagers while others are still small. We cherish our time with each of them and are awe struck at the incredible human beings they are maturing into.
We live in a Victorian house on a tree-lined street in a suburban neighborhood where children walk to school and stroll to the local movie theater, bakery, and ice-cream store. We share our home with our two dogs, Finnegan and Madison, who are Great Pyrenees, a breed known as “gentle giants” as well as two indoor cats, Cooper and Otis. All live in harmony with one another and provide us with many special moments throughout the day all the way through to 10pm when Otis seeks us out to ‘meow’ the news that it is time for bed.
We are an active couple and try to incorporate exercise into our schedules a few days each week. Running, walking, swimming, yoga, weight lifting and bicycling are some of our hobbies. Most evenings we enjoy long walks with the dogs, stopping here and there to talk with our neighbors. For our last anniversary we climbed Old Rag, a six-hour hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains . This hike featured a “boulder scramble” at the top. Debbie laughs about the moment on that hike when she suddenly realized that a boulder scramble wasn’t something for breakfast.
We enjoy the wealth of cultural activities that Pittsburgh has to offer. From art galleries and museums to movies, plays, baseball games, and the symphony, we have fun experiencing these events together. We are active in our neighborhood’s activities, such as the local Women’s Association, and the neighborhood environmental committee. We look forward to the day when we may also participate in the PTA, girl/boy scouts and homeroom activities.
Debbie is the registered nurse she dreamed of being ever since she was young. She worked for several years in an intensive care unit and then in an emergency department. She highly valued continuing her education and went back to school to complete her BSN while working full time, graduating with highest honors. She now supervises a department of nurse case managers. Her work gives her the cherished benefits of being able to use her nursing skills and maintain a family-friendly schedule.
Matt is a systems engineer and works in the area of environmental public policy. He earned a Ph.D. and now works with businesses and communities to promote ways of helping them be more conscious of their environmental impact. He also enjoys teaching courses at several of the local universities and has had many wonderful experiences mentoring students abroad in places such as Beijing, China and São Paulo, Brazil . We both value experiencing different cultures, places and histories, and hope to someday share that love of travel with our child.
There is so much more we would like for you to know about us but it is not possible to put into words all that there is to know about two people who now share one life. The thought we would like to leave you with it is that we promise to love, nurture and support your child through all of what life has in store. We would appreciate the opportunity to meet you and listen to your story. Thank you for reading ours. We are honored that you would consider us to parent your baby.
If you are interested in contacting us, please call: The Children's Home of Pittsburgh, a licensed adoption agency, at 1-800-961-7704, www.childrenshomepgh.org.
With Warmest Regards,
Debbie and Matt