It was halfway through our honeymoon. We were on a remote island off the coast of Fiji surrounded by pristine reefs. A storm had rolled through the night before, bringing waves and making the water a little murky. However, this was our honeymoon and we were going to make every second count!
We decided to go snorkeling. Our guide told us to stay in the shallow waters; large sharks live beyond the reef. We jumped in and started swimming. It quickly became difficult to see in the murky water. We stayed close to each other but could hardly find the bottom. Suddenly our eyes met. We couldn’t talk to each other underwater, but the message was clear: FEAR!
Terrified, we swam to shore. On the beach and breathing heavily, both of us asked “what did you see?”; both of us replied, “nothing, but you looked so scared”! Turns out, there was no shark, no danger. We had simply scared each other. At that point, we started laughing so hard we couldn’t stop.
It’s a story we tell often. Laughter is an essential part of our relationship. Trust is another; each of us believed the other had a reason to fear. It was also a lesson in the importance of clear communication.
A spontaneous road trip together kicked off a romance that has never ended. It was 2003 at the University of Michigan. Georgina recently graduated and was working in a research lab, preparing to begin graduate school. Bruce was finishing his final year of undergraduate studies, looking to start his engineering career. It was love at first sight.
After six months together, we made difficult decisions to pursue career and educational goals that forced us into a long-distance relationship, Bruce in California and Georgina in Michigan. This lasted for three years and we endured, vowing never to leave each other again. We got married in 2008!
Our lives since have been a rollercoaster of joys and difficulties; relocating to the east coast, job changes, travel, family additions and losses, and health challenges. It is the strength of our relationship and the trust we have in each other that has allowed us to grow and thrive in all these circumstances. We’re ready to become parents and add a new and meaningful dimension to our relationship.
We love the outdoors! In the summer, we spend as much time as possible at our home near Lake Michigan, enjoying the beach, swimming, and hosting family and friends. It’s a real treat to watch sunsets from the beach, or even from a paddleboard when the lake is calm. Georgina’s parents have their own home on Long Lake right in Kalamazoo. We frequently visit them to enjoy a BBQ, fire, and boat ride. The annual July 4th fireworks in South Haven are never missed.
Travel has been an important part of our lives. To celebrate our wedding anniversary, every five years we plan an adventure as our gift to each other. These celebrations have taken us to Fiji, Turkey, Spain and Iceland. We also frequently travel with a small group of close friends, some of whom bring their children! Trips are often planned around beautiful hiking to destinations around the world and throughout the US.
Individually, we have a broad range of hobbies. Bruce enjoys active sports such as running and skiing. He competes in running races, including a marathon! Bruce is an experienced woodworker, building furniture and decorative art. Georgina is an avid reader who is often immersed in more than one book at a time. When she takes a break from reading, she enjoys exploring her creative side through photography, gardening, and knitting. She especially loves knitting hats and scarves for family.
Sex: Any Gender, including an Ambiguous or Transitioning Gender Child
Ethnicities: Any Race and Ethnicity
Age: Newborn to 2 Years Old
Total of: 1 to 2 Children or 2 Siblings
Child Care: Licensed Child Care Center Stay-at-Home Parent
We Live In: Kalamazoo
Our Belief: Open to All Religions
Our Pets: No Pets
Our Children: No Children Now
Family is an incredibly important aspect of our lives. Bruce’s parents live in Kalamazoo, still in the same house he grew up in, only a couple miles from our home. Georgina’s parents live in Chicago, where we travel often to visit. In the summer, much of their time is spent in the Kalamazoo area at their lake home.
We each have two other siblings with a combined total of nine nieces and nephews (ages 2-13)! Nearly all of them live in Kalamazoo or Chicago. Four of the children share birthdays with other family members including Bruce, so celebrations are big! Georgina’s older brother is married to a wonderful woman from Mongolia and they have two children. Mixed race families are part of the fabric of our lives.
We have a number of very close friendships that have lasted decades. Some of our friends live locally, while many others live throughout the country. We are intentional about finding time for friendship and use travel as a convenient way for us all to get together. Some of them have their own small children that join these trips; we can’t wait to bring our own.
We live in a warm, welcoming home with plenty of space to grow, play, and make lasting memories as a family. Our home is unique and historic, designed by a well known contemporary architect in a neighborhood planned by Frank Lloyd Wright. The community is tight-knit and family friendly. The location is convenient to downtown Kalamazoo.
We’re especially grateful for the outdoor spaces around us. Our backyard borders a private park featuring a large woodland, as well as a baseball field, swings, and teeter-totters. The elementary school is less than a mile away. Right across from our home is Asylum Lake Nature Preserve, with miles of wooded and lakefront walking trails.
We have a small summer cottage on Lake Michigan, about an hour from Kalamazoo. It’s a rural relaxing place where we enjoy the slower pace of life. The cottage is just a short five-minute walk from a quiet beach, and it’s close to the vibrant towns of South Haven and Saugatuck, as well as local farms, orchards, and vineyards. We especially love spending summer days there, enjoying the beauty and calm of the water.
Education is very important to us. It enables children to develop confidence, curiosity, and independence while helping young adults to navigate the world in a way that brings them, and others, happiness. As parents, we will take an active role in our child’s education at every stage of their lives, fostering a love of learning while encouraging them to explore, ask questions, and discover what excites them. Children learn so much from watching their parents; we will strive to model positive behaviors. We understand that every child learns differently and that education can take many forms. We promise our child that we will provide every opportunity to learn, grow, and discover who they are meant to be, while supporting them to choose the path that feels right for them.
Our approach to discipline will be to find a balance between empathy with clear guidance and correction. Children respond better when adults stay calm, set clear boundaries, and take the time to understand what the child may be feeling or trying to express. Instead of only focusing on punishing bad behavior, it’s important to recognize the emotions behind it. Children should know that their feelings are valid, even when their actions need to be corrected.
Giving children choices, encouraging positive behavior, and keeping consistent routines can help them feel more confident and in control. Over time, this helps children build emotional regulation, resilience, trust, and healthy communication skills. Even when they are being disciplined, children still need reassurance that they are loved and supported.
We both grew up in practicing Catholic families, providing us with profoundly positive and formative lessons around love, kindness, forgiveness and the power of community. As our perspective has changed through experience, we’ve developed appreciation for many religions and belief systems, without judgement of which is right or wrong.
We are not currently believers in a specific religion, although we regularly attend Catholic mass with our parents and value the opportunity to spend time with a community of good people. We have faith that the world will become a better place as we become better people. Love thy neighbor as thyself: we try to live by this message each and every day.
I work for a large medical device company that makes many of the items you see in a hospital. It is likely that I helped make the bed that you will use to deliver your child! I am responsible for developing a high-quality supply chain for manufacturing our products. My area of expertise is metals, and I often have to travel throughout the world to our suppliers, helping them to set up and control their processes. Global travel is one of the most exciting parts of my job. Products I’ve helped build include joint replacements, hospital beds, surgical tools and CPR machines and lifesaving defibrillators. The knowledge that these products save lives everyday makes my work exceptionally motivating.
When we are fortunate enough to adopt, I plan to take the 6 weeks of paternity leave and then return to work full time. I am lucky to have unlimited vacation and a flexible schedule, which will allow me to prioritize my family!
I’m a science and math nerd! Throughout my career, I’ve worked for academic institutions, companies of all sizes, and governments around the world in the area of pharmaceuticals. My work began in basic laboratory science and drug discovery, and then transitioned to research and development of personalized and life saving therapies.
An important achievement involved my work on an oncology medication that received one of the first FDA accelerated approvals, allowing patients to access targeted therapy four years earlier than through the standard approval process. Allowing this life changing treatment to get to patients as quickly as possible was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career. I also had the opportunity to discuss pandemic planning and global preparedness at the United Nations in New York City. It was an incredible experience to contribute to conversations focused on protecting public health on an international scale.
Unfortunately, a health challenge forced me to step away from the work I loved. Now that I’m healthy, I feel excited and deeply grateful to be focusing on building our family through adoption and dedicating myself to becoming a mother.
When we are fortunate enough to adopt, I plan to be a stay at home mom so I can focus fully on bonding with, caring for, and supporting our child as our family grows.
My relatives immigrated to the US from Europe over the last 100 years, eventually settling in Nebraska where much of my extended family still lives. Until recently, we still had a family farm just outside Omaha. My mother’s family is primarily German, while my father’s is Danish and Czech. My father has taken several trips to the small towns in these countries to trace his family tree.
My parents prioritized exposing me and my siblings to cultures outside of our own. As children, we were fortunate enough to travel extensively, visiting many states and countries, seeing the world from different perspectives. Some of these opportunities came from our church, including mission trips to El Salvador and hosting visiting foreign students. The sharing of our resources and our time with those in need has always been an important part of my family tradition.
Other family traditions we value most are also some of the simplest: sharing holidays and birthdays, traveling together, and having meaningful interactions. Every week, I look forward to spending an evening with my parents in their hot tub and having wonderful conversations.
My father was born in a small agricultural town nestled in the foothills of the Sicilian mountains. He immigrated to Chicago at the age of 10, where he was reunited with his father. I still have family living in Italy, and one of my favorite childhood memories was traveling throughout Italy to meet my extended family and experience firsthand the places and culture that shaped my father’s early life. My mom’s side of the family is primarily European, with German, Irish, and English roots.
Bruce and I have both been fortunate to grow up in families that cherished traditions, both big and small, and together we’ve created a few of our own. Growing up, many of my family’s traditions centered around large family meals, holiday gatherings, game nights, strong family values, and recipes lovingly passed down through generations.
One tradition we cherish is cutting down our Christmas tree together each year, the weekend after Thanksgiving, and spending the evening decorating it. Over time, we’ve also started collecting a Christmas ornament from every place we travel. Decorating the tree has become even more special because each ornament brings back memories of the adventures we’ve shared and the places we’ve explored together.
You are so strong! Considering adoption is a powerful choice that requires much strength, love and kindness. Whatever you decide, know that you have our respect and gratitude. You are now, and will remain, an important part of your child’s story. We promise to be open and honest with you, and welcome any opportunity to engage and share more about ourselves.
We’ve been together a long time and having children was always part of our plan. Our hearts are wide open and the love we have to give is unconditional. Our household will be filled with honesty, stability, encouragement, and lots of joy. We want our child to grow up feeling confident in who they are and deeply proud of where they come from. They will be cherished every single day.
We imagine an adoption experience defined by openness and respect; one where we have mutual trust in each other to do what’s best for the child. Our adopted child will know and be proud of their adoption story. You are the child’s mother and will forever be an important part of their life. This makes you an important part of our lives and we will welcome you with open arms into our family experience, in whatever way feels best. We simply want a healthy relationship with you that will make the child smile.
We imagine an adoption experience defined by openness and respect; one where we have mutual trust in each other to do what’s best for the child. Our adopted child will know and be proud of their adoption story. You are the child’s mother and will forever be an important part of their life. This makes you an important part of our lives and we will welcome you with open arms into our family experience, in whatever way feels best. We simply want a healthy relationship with you that will make the child smile.
Just one more thing...We imagine an adoption experience defined by openness and respect; one where we have mutual trust in each other to do what’s best for the child. Our adopted child will know and be proud of their adoption story. You are the child’s mother and will forever be an important part of their life. This makes you an important part of our lives and we will welcome you with open arms into our family experience, in whatever way feels best. We simply want a healthy relationship with you that will make the child smile.
