Hello! We are Blair and Jen from the gorgeous East Bay, 20 minutes from San Francisco.

Thank you for considering us as potential adoptive parents for your child. We recognize that this is likely one of the most difficult decisions you will make in your lifetime, and we truly admire your courage.

We were both fortunate to come from loving homes in supportive, caring communities. Our families were great models for us, and we look forward to providing the same warmth and love that we received. As a couple we are proud of our stability, our communication skills, and our ability to retain a sense of humor about life, developed during our 13-year marriage.

After trying for several years to have a biological child, we have determined that open adoption is the best way for us to build our family. We commit to providing a safe, stable, encouraging, fun, and nurturing home for your child, with a large extended family providing tremendous love and support.

We have abundant love to share, and can’t wait to become parents. We are proud of our important roles as “aunt,” “uncle,” and godparents to many kids, including our six beloved nieces and nephews.

Getting to Know Us

We met at work several years ago, and became close friends before becoming a couple (our friends and families all seemed to know it was a love match before we did!).

From our families, we’ve learned honesty, integrity, community, loyalty, and kindness. We've been fortunate to have good jobs, so we are financially secure and prepared for the future.

We believe in lifelong learning and cultivate curiosity. We are big readers and history buffs and have enjoyed traveling extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. During our amazing adventures together, we always look forward to coming home, and sharing our experiences with our loved ones.

Those family members and friends are exceedingly important to us, and we make sure we carve out time for all of them and show how much we appreciate them. We truly believe it takes a village to raise a child, and we are dedicated participants in others’ villages, knowing they will be an important part of ours when we become parents.

We are lucky to have flexible jobs, and both plan to work part-time when we have a child, allowing us each to be partial stay-at-home parents.

Jen through Blair's Eyes

Jen grew up in Berkeley, and we live 30 minutes away from her parents, who are very cool in-laws. She is especially close with her sister, and we are as entwined with her family as we are with mine.

Jen is a senior administrator at a local university, and she thrives in her job. I know she especially enjoys mentoring young women and nurturing their ambitions.

Jen is an amazing cook who actually finds preparing food relaxing. She also has bountiful energy, and always has a craft project (or five) that she's working on. She loves every holiday, and I tease her that she would celebrate Arbor Day if she could.

Jen is super social, often hosting her book club or dinner parties at our house. Many of her girlfriends have small children, so there is often a gaggle of toddlers running around our living room. They all look up to her and love coming to our house where there's always a fun project to do together!

She’s quite involved with her friends and their families: sewing gifts, helping out with birthday parties, and even taking their Christmas card photos for them. I can’t wait to see Jen as a mommy. She’s already a godmother and mother-figure to so many children, I know she’s a natural.

Jen is adventurous and loves to try new things, and at the same time is responsible and steady, and very patient. She gives me a lot of credit for being funny, but she has a quick wit and a great sense of humor and she loves to laugh. She reads almost anything she can get her hands on, and I admire that she is constantly learning and growing.

Blair through Jen's Eyes

Blair was born in Connecticut, the youngest of three. His brother and sister have two children apiece, and he and I are very close to their families, so we’ve had fun babysitting since the kids were very young.

Blair is a classically-trained musician and recording engineer, who now works full-time as an A/V project manager for a local biotech firm. He has a short commute and flexible hours, and really enjoys his job.

Blair is first and foremost a kind and generous man. He is the friendliest introvert I’ve ever met, and has a warm, close circle of friends. Many of them are also musicians or artists, and I find it interesting how these guys have collected each other over the years. Blair is the glue that keeps them all together.

One of our favorite activities is "DJ night" when we explore a new album or artist together. Sometimes this turns into a dance party, depending on the audience.

Blair is the guy that all the kids flock to. I suspect it’s because he’s so in touch with his inner child. Children instantly understand that he loves to act silly and will be up for any fun activity: lightsaber battles, dressing up in costumes, or pretending to be various extinct yet ferocious animals. I can’t wait to see him as a dad—I know he’ll be amazing.

I find Blair’s dimples to be his most charming feature, and I glimpse them dozens of times a day; he is the funniest person I’ve ever met, and makes me laugh like no one else can.

Our Neck of the Woods

We live in a lovely, light-filled three-bedroom home, walking distance from award-winning schools and beautiful parks. We love to walk through our neighborhood in the evenings, connecting with our friends and their families. Our community really kicks it into high gear on Halloween, with both adults and kids dressing up, and a haunted house on every corner.

One of our bedrooms already serves as a kid’s room because our 5-year-old nephew Ronan loves to stay over. He’s helped us grow our selection of children’s books from the classics to include books on knights, space travel, and pirates. We look forward to converting this room to a baby nursery, although Ronan has requested we also install a trundle bed for cousins’ visits.

Blair has a full music room/recording studio in the garage, which is also the go-to hangout for our friends’ kids who love to record themselves singing and playing various instruments.

We love entertaining for holidays (or really, any excuse), and host valentine-making parties in January, egg-dying workshops every spring, and picnics throughout the summer. Santa’s workshop (a collective effort) opens mid-September!

Love Makes a Family

In addition to our numerous friends, our families are an important part of our collective village.

Blair comes from a large, welcoming family: 20 cousins and counting! We have as many full family events as we can, often on a lake in New England.

Jen’s family is smaller but very close. We get together often, and her sister is her best friend…they talk (or text) almost daily.

One of the most important people in our lives right now is our nephew Ronan, age 5. When he was a baby, we were his caregivers every Friday, so we got a lot of experience dealing with spit-up and diaper changes, as well as tickles and chuckles.

Now we delight in spending hours together chasing frisbees in parks, making up silly word games, and building (and knocking down) impossible structures. Ronan thinks Blair is the “goofiest guy” he knows (the highest praise he can bestow), and he is confident Jen can design, make, or mend anything!

In Closing

While we obviously enjoy all the fun parts of hanging out with kids, we also realize that being a parent will likely be the most challenging role we will ever grow into.

We struggled a long time with infertility, but each disappointment along the way also strengthened our commitment and drive to become parents. We know our child will be incredibly well-cared for and loved by our whole community, and having a family of our own is our greatest desire as a couple.

We wholeheartedly believe that open adoption is the right path for us as a family, as well as in the best interest of the child, and we would like to explore with you how you envision your own positive adoption experience.

We are very excited to bring a baby into our lives, and will both be fully engaged and involved in the upbringing of our child. Family is the driving force for both of us, and the source of our greatest joy. We will offer a stable, loving home, full of affection, caring, and a ton of laughter.