We knew almost instantly that Tina would be the perfect au pair for our family. A quick-witted, adventuresome nineteen-year old from Lubben, Germany, Tina's CV was impeccable. From her years babysitting a disabled child, to her summer internship in a pediatric hospital ward, we were confident she had the skills needed to care for our baby. It was also clear from her essay and our conversations that her personality was also a great match. Like everything else, chemistry with your au pair is a key, and we had it in spades.

But even though everything looked good on paper, Steve and I were still anxious prior to Tina's arrival. Would we really like her as much as we thought? Would she truly be capable of taking care of a baby? Would she make friends? Enjoy living in the U.S.? And most importantly, would we feel comfortable sharing our house and lives with her?

Thankfully, my worries were for naught. Spencer has found the best of playmates and most competent of caregivers, not to mention a great masseuse (Tina came equipped with several German books about babies—including one on baby massage!) I love watching the two of them together. She's so patient and sweet, and as evidenced by his enormous grins and loving glances, Spencer absolutely adores her.

Not a surprise, really, because as we've learned, everyone seems to adore Tina. She won my heart the moment I knew she had Spencer's. And if that weren't enough, she volunteered to take on even more of responsibility - buying groceries for our family. She told me that she knew I'd rather spend more time with Spencer than have to go to the grocery store, and that she didn't mind shopping for us. After all, it would give her yet another opportunity to practice English (little did she know that she'd find herself searching high and low for things my husband can't even find or pronounce, like jicama!)

When she's not working, or going to English classes, Tina is usually with her friends. Through school and the local AuPairCare chapter, she's made a great group of friends in the U.S. Together, they've visited many of the landmark destinations in Northern California, including Alcatraz and Santa Cruz. Her tales of adventures definitely keep us well entertained - oh, to be nineteen again!

As Steve and I reflect on the end of our first year as parents, we feel incredibly blessed. Not only do we have the most precious of baby boys, we've also found the most extraordinary of au pairs. Even though her time with us will end this summer, Tina Schuster will always be a member of our family. And for that, we are extremely grateful.

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Dear Au Pair,

Hi! We are the Kubacki Family. My name MelaJo and my husband is Chris. Chris and I have two wonderful, fun, and active children, Jordan and Peyton. In addition, we have two dogs that are 14 years old (they are not as active as the children).

Our home is located in an established neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia near Mount Vernon (the home of the first U.S. President). We enjoy being outside and barbequing. My husband and I are both Certified Public Accountants.

Our children attend Montessori Schools. Peyton is a bright and fun child that loves outside activities and board games. He is kind and polite. Peyton is a cub scout and just earned his Wolf rank. Currently, he's favorite sport is soccer. Chris is the assistant coach for Peyton's soccer team. Jordan is a happy child and adores her brother (or says "her Peyton"). Jordan loves to play with her baby dolls and learn new things. Both kids love swimming. We belong to the neighborhood swimming pool and it is only two blocks for our house. The kids love spending time at the pool during the summer.

Our ideal au pair must have a sincere interest in our children and be able to engage the children. Our au pair should be reliable, active, fun, and willing to become a member of our family and community.

There are many activities for an au pair in our area. There are lots of museums, shopping areas, parks, restaurants, sports facilities and tons of other entertainment. There are also many colleges and universities where you could enroll in educational and/or cultural courses.

We look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

The Kubacki Family

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Dear Future Au Pair,

Hi, we are very excited to meet you! Please allow me to introduce our family to you. I am Todd Ablowitz, my wife is Heidi, and our daughter is Hannah. Hannah is 14 months old. We live in Sunnyvale, California, in famous Silicon Valley. This area is a wonderful place to live. Only a short drive from the world-class city of San Francisco, Silicon Valley is a multicultural, cosmopolitan area with tremendous opportunities and fantastic weather.

We are very warm, outgoing, fun and likeable people (at least we think so!). Hannah's arrival has been a wonderful addition to our life, and is by far our #1 priority. She is beautiful, sweet, and very warm. She is a joy to be around and loves giving hugs!

Our free time has been spent traveling the world, with trips to France, Brazil, Singapore, Bali, Hong Kong, Vietnam and many trips to Thailand. We continue to travel whenever possible. We own a property in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and go there a few times per year, as well as traveling to many places in the US, and possibly other places around the world, including a probable trip to Paris in November this year.

When I was a child, I was fortunate to have had an Au Pair from Japan. That experience was nearly 30 years ago, yet she remains a member of our family, and we still keep in touch with her. She attended our wedding, and we saw her most recently during a layover in Tokyo. We hope for you to become a member of our family in the same way.

We are looking for an au pair who is nurturing, caring, kind, and intelligent who will love Hannah like her own child, and who has the responsibility and values to help raise her properly. This includes combining many learning activities with fun and lots of love. Hannah is at a very inquisitive age, and is learning a huge amount all the time. It's very important for her to learn as much as possible right now, while having fun, of course!

We look forward to meeting you as soon as possible.

Warmest regards,

Todd, Heidi and Hannah Ablowitz

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Dear Au Pair,

I am writing about our family. We live in Nashville, the state capital of Tennessee. Nashville has several historic districts, an art museum, a symphony orchestra, universities, city parks, and lakes. Music is everywhere here, from rising artists to famous musicians, singers, and songwriters. The weather here is beautiful – mostly warm and sunny springs, hot summers, warm fall months, and a few cold winter months.

We have a wonderful and extremely energetic 3-year-old daughter named Mia. She is the light of our lives. She loves to swim, dance, read, do art projects, swing on the front porch swing, and play. Mia attends preschool 3 days/week (the preschool is walking distance from our house) and will begin dance lessons in June. Mia can read a few words already and loves to have someone read books to her.

Ray is an officer in the military and Annemarie is a physician. Annemarie works approximately 40 hours per week. We live in a historic district near downtown Nashville with tree-lined streets and sidewalks. We enjoy exercising, travel, swimming, reading, and socializing with friends. We belong to a recreation center/gym.

Our Au Pair's room is private with the best bathroom in the house and a sitting area, television, telephone, and closet. There is also a nearby university where many au pairs in the area take classes. We have had au pairs in the past, and our current au pair would be happy to speak with you if you wish.

We are looking for a happy, outgoing, energetic, organized, and fun person to spend time with our daughter. She must also have an international driver's license and know how to swim. Our aupair's work duties will include caring for our daughter Mia and creating a fun, stimulating, and safe learning environment for her.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Annemarie Thompson and Ray Porter

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Dear Au Pair,

Hi! We are the Eilers from Cary, North Carolina. My name is Dani and my husband is Chris. We have two super cool children. Our daughter's name is Briana, she is 7 years old, and she will be entering the 2nd grade at the end of July. Our son's name is Jordan, he's 4 years old and attends preschool two days a week. We also have two dogs, practically perfect Nikki and our gentle giant Murphy. To round out our family, we have two cats, Winston and Josie. So, although we are a human family of four, our complete family of eight makes a full house.

We own a house that backs up to a grove of trees. In the spring, we can see deer roaming around, birds flying around, and a turtle slowly moving about.

Chris works at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in the Institutional Research department. I am a high school teacher by profession. I taught in California, but decided not to teach here in North Carolina. Chris and I bought a dog daycare and boarding business called Dogtopia, and I will be running it come August.

We are a fun family that likes to travel, play Wii, enjoy nature, play outside, use the computer, read, explore the area, and enjoy movie nights. Our kids get along for the most part. Briana is very easy going, loves to play with her friends, read, draw, sing, and have an all around good time. Jordan is bright, likes routine, loves the computer, playing outside with his friends, running through the sprinkler, reading, and math.

We are looking for an au pair that will spend quality time with our children exploring their interests and introducing them to new ones as well. Our au pair needs to be responsible, active, interested in our children's well being, kind, and willing to participate with our family and our community.

There are many activities for an au pair in our area. There are lots of shopping areas, parks, restaurants, sporting events and a ton of other entertainment opportunities. There are also many colleges and universities where you could enroll in educational and/or cultural courses.

Overall, we are an easy going family that is starting a busy time in our lives. We want to find an au pair that will easily fit in and feel comfortable being involved with our family.

We look forward to meeting you and learning all about you and your culture.

Sincerely,

Dani Eilers

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Dear Au Pair,

Hi, we are the Mansfield-Greenwald family, David and Maggie and our two daughters, Maisie (ten years old) and Lulu (seven years old).

We live in Maplewood, New Jersey. We have a house on a lovely tree-lined street just two blocks from town. We have a large backyard and in warm weather we like to cook on our outside grill and socialize with friends. Maplewood is a small residential community not far from New York City. There is direct train service from Maplewood to New York's Penn Station. You can walk out of our house and be in New York CIty in less than an hour, yet our town is small, quiet and very safe. It is a perfect vantage point from which to explore New York City for the first time! There are several universities in the area for you to choose from to attend classes, as well as many opportunities to meet and socialize with other young people.

Maggie and I are both in the film business. Maggie writes and directs television and feature films. She also teaches graduate-level directing at Columbia University. Maggie normally goes to her office nearby to write three days a week and teaches at Columbia for two days. I compose music for film and television, and mostly work from home in my studio. We work normal daytime hours, although occasionally we may have to work late. Flexibility in scheduling is very important to us.

Maisie and Lulu have many varied interests and activities. They both study music; Lulu has been playing piano for three years and Maisie plays the violin. They both study Chinese. Lulu is extremely athletic and holds a Green Belt in karate. Maisie loves to cook; she wants to be either a doctor or a chef when she grows up! Both girls love to be active, riding bicycles, scooters, swimming and playing tennis, as well as playing with their friends. The girls are very close with each other and even if they argue at times, they are truly the best of friends.

We would like our au pair to have experience with school-age children. Being able to help with homework, especially mathematics, is important to us. Responsibilities would include light housework (for the children only!) during the time they are in school-- making their beds, tidying and organizing their rooms, doing their laundry. After school they would need supervision and help with homework, taking them to lessons, and organizing play dates.

Our family style is mostly casual, warm and informal. We are excited to have someone from another country and culture, who speaks another language besides English, as part of our household. We look forward to welcoming you into our family.

Sincerely yours,

David Mansfield and Maggie Greenwald

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Dear Au Pair,

Hi from the Walker-Concannons:

We are a busy family of five who loves to travel, ski and snowboard, listen to music, go to rock concerts, hike, camp, read and generally have fun with family and friends.

Martin is a physician who specializes in high-risk pregnancy and Kate is a journalist who works with a national radio network. We both work part-time so we can spend more time with the family. Both of us are originally from the UK but have been living in the US now for over twenty years.

We have three boys. Max who is almost 14 enjoys playing his electric guitar and making and editing his own movies. He plans to be in his own band and after school go to college to study film. His ultimate dream is to be a film director.

Nate is 11 and enjoys all things reptilian. He also has career plans set! He's known since he was just two years old that he wants to work with snakes and all reptiles. Nate also enjoys the computer – especially "Youtube" – and he plays the piano.

Finn is just 9 years old and loves playing with Legos, Star Wars characters and Transformers. He also plays the guitar.

We also have two dogs – Biscuit and Shadow – a cat called Snowball, a snake called Blitz and various fish and frogs.

This will be our 5th year with an au pair. We enjoy having au pairs from other countries so we can show them America and they can share their own culture with us. We also enjoy showing them Canada where we have a ski condo in the nearby ski resort of Whistler.

We look forward to talking with you.

The Walker-Concannons

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Dear Au Pair,

Hello, we are the Nelson family. My name is Kelly and my husband is Matthew. Matthew and I have two bright, sweet, wonderful children named Liam, who is 8, and Lily, who is 2. Liam is our biological son and Lily is adopted from China and joined our family when she was 9 months old. Liam loves having a sibling and has embraced her addition to the family.

Our home is in the lovely city of Smyrna, Georgia located near the trendy, diverse and culturally rich City of Atlanta, Georgia (Host of the 1996 Olympic Games). We have a very close-knit community where everyone knows each other. We socialize often together as a neighborhood, taking turns hosting parties for a variety of occasions. There are 12 kids on our street and they play together and enjoy the fun childhood freedoms of playing outside and going from friend's home to friend's home within our neighborhood. We have a wide mix people of all ages from all over the world on our street. We have neighbors from India, Afghanistan, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Australia, Romania and Germany, all on our one small street.

Matthew commutes to work most days to an office south of the city Center of Atlanta. I typically work from my home office located on the main level of our home 2 days a week and commute to my office three days a week. I am founder, partner, and Creative Director for an Event Design and Production company and Matthew is Technology Director for The Hands On Network (a non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteers for community service).

Our family is very close and our kids get along great with each other. Lily just loves her big brother and wants to do everything he and his friends do. Liam is an excellent big brother and often helps us by playing with Lily if we have chores to complete. Liam is an active and social 8.5 year old and has many close friends and a best friend who lives on our street. Liam takes music lessons in our home on Monday afternoons and participates in Cub Scouts and Basketball after school on other days. Liam and Lily are both learning to speak Spanish and we, as a family, have a great interest in languages and cultures from all over the world.

In addition to our trip to China to pick up our daughter, both Matthew and I have traveled the world extensively, including spending time living in London, England. We have many friends who live in other countries and we enjoy exchanging culture and having international diversity within our circle of friends. Our children also enjoy traveling and we enjoy taking trips together as a family.

We have many household pets: a cat, a dog, a hamster and fish. We love animals and enjoy having our pets around. We expect Liam to help with the pet care and keep our animals clean, healthy, active and happy. We hope our au pair loves pets as well.

Our ideal au pair must have experience with and sincere interest in children. Our au pair should be responsible, intelligent, knowledgeable about childcare, active, kind, friendly and willing to assimilate into our family and community. We will need our au pair to work up to 45 hours a week, some of that time being evenings. We are somewhat flexible and can work out a schedule that suits our au pair while covering our needs as well. The typical school/work day would involve getting Liam ready for school and walking him up to the top of our street to meet the bus. Lily wakes a bit later and our au pair would care for Lily all day while Liam is at school. In the afternoon, Liam will need help with his homework and would need transportation to his after school activities on certain days.

There are many activities for an au pair in our area. Smyrna and the community next to ours, Vinings, is known as a "young" area with many young single people and activities centered around them. There are many shopping areas, restaurants, parks, a big mall, sports facilities, taverns and tons of other entertainment. There are also many colleges and universities where you could enroll in educational or other courses.

We look forward to meeting you and to introducing you to our home and family.

Warm Regards,

Kelly Nelson

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Dear Au Pair,

Hello! We are the Bowen Family. My name is Stacey and my husband is Douglas Bowen. Most people call him Doug. Doug and I have an adorable two year old daughter named Charlotte, who is the joy of our lives! She was born in August 2005 and we have had an au pair with us for close to two years, who Charlotte feels is a second mother to her!

Our home is in the modern city of Littleton, Colorado. We are just south of Denver and 90 minutes from Vail, Colorado.

Doug and I both work out of the house each day for work. I am a Realtor, so I am with clients and out of the house more often. Doug is in software development. We are lucky that Charlotte's school and activities are all within 15 minutes of our home. Charlotte goes to school two mornings a week, but will likely go three mornings a week come January. She also does gymnastics, swims and loves to do arts and crafts at home, as well as visit the zoo, Children's museum, play centers, and the recreation center (that has an indoor pool year round, when our outdoor pool is closed.

Our family is very close and we love to do activities. My sister, Aimee, also lives in Denver and is very close to Charlotte and Charlotte adores "Aunt Mimi". We would like an au pair that can also share her interest in swimming and languages. Charlotte's maternal grandparents live about 800 miles away and come and visit often.

Our ideal au pair must have experience with and a sincere interest in children. Our au pair should be responsible, active, kind and willing to assimilate into our family and community. We will need our au pair to work 40 hours a week. The typical schedule would involve getting Charlotte ready for school, making breakfast, and driving her to school, activities and playdates. In the afternoon, Charlotte takes a 1-2 hour nap.

There are many activities for an au pair in our area. There are shopping areas, parks, restaurants, sports facilities and other entertainment. There are also many colleges and universities where you could enroll in educational and/or cultural courses. There are also many au pairs within two miles of us. Swedish, German, Swiss, Turkish, Brazilian, Thai au pairs&hellip you name it, we have it. We have had six new au pairs come into our area in the month of October alone!!!

We would love for you to talk to our current au pair, as she can tell you more about our routine and family activities and all the other au pairs in the area!

We look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,

Stacey and Doug Bowen

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