We understand the choice to make an adoption plan for your child cannot be an easy decision – it may be difficult to know what to do at each turn in life, especially when your child is involved. Choosing adoption as a plan in your life will likely affect many people: it creates a circle between you, your child and the adoptive family you choose.

If our partnering with you in this decision offers you any comfort and solace, we look forward to being a part of your adoption plan and building a new family with your help.

In our extended family, we have uncles, aunts and cousins who were adopted. When Lucinda told her father she wanted to grow her family through adoption, he embraced her and said these simple words: “Follow your heart, sweetheart.” Our wish for you: people who will be there to support you as you make this difficult decision and along your life’s journey. Should you consider us to be adoptive parents to your child, perhaps we can be one of those supports.

Who We Are

We have been together for 13 years and officially “tied the knot” 2 years ago (sometimes it takes a while to do stuff even when you’re really sure about it!). Today we live in our sun-flooded, modest home in San Francisco with our 2 girl cats and 3 koi fish.

Lucinda was born to and raised in a Chinese family in Seattle, WA (she likes rain!) and has an older and a younger brother. Brian grew up in Stockton, CA (good for him that Tahoe is close, because he likes snow), and he is the only child of parents who were seniors in high school when he was born (he got to go to their high school graduation!).

Lucinda’s talents are inspired by the appreciation of music. Lucinda grew up studying the piano and in college earned a bachelor’s degree in music. She has made a career of working with artists and musicians. She works in San Francisco near Golden Gate Park as the business manager for an internationally famous string quartet that performs all over the world. Lucinda is also licensed to practice Chinese medicine as an acupuncturist and dispense Chinese herbal medicine.

Brian is a woodworker who specializes in building custom cabinets and furniture, but more recently he has been working with leather. He designs and makes shoes, belts, purses, bags and custom items in a very traditional, handcrafted way. Since his leather workshop is located in the home, Brian very much looks forward to being a stay-at-home papa!

Brian's Appreciation of Lucinda

Although Lucinda’s first career is working with musicians and artists, there is another side of her that truly reflects her nature. When I first met Lucinda, she had just started attending classes that would eventually earn her a master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Lucinda is a very compassionate, expert healer and as a Licensed Acupuncturist she treats a select group of patients in her private practice clinic. Even though she is very modest about her gift, her gentle and maternal qualities are very easy to recognize.

Lucinda will pass along to her child what she has learned from the masters who have mentored her throughout her life: from the phrasing and ease of a beautiful musical melody, through the graceful flow of movement in tai chi, to the caring practices and culture of Chinese medicine. I believe having Lucinda as a mother would prove to be a wonderful asset in a child’s life, and allow Lucinda to grow and develop her own innate role as a nurturer that only being called “Mama” could do.

Lucinda's Appreciation of Brian

Brian is a very creative and skilled craftsman. People call him a “Renaissance Man.” He enjoys working with his hands, and is an expert with fine details. He knows how things work and can visualize, design and build just about anything. Brian is happa, half Filipino and half Caucasian and was raised in a family with lots of aunties, uncles and cousins.

Growing up, Brian’s life was full of activities: swimming and fishing, playing sports, water and snow skiing, going to concerts, playing music, working summer jobs. He has the confidence that he can figure out how to do almost anything and just dive in (did I mention he was a research scuba diver after earning his college degree in marine biology!?).

Brian is a natural teacher and is good at it. I know he is eager to share his appreciation for life with his child and have fun doing it! Brian is very nurturing, generous and “protective of his clan.” A little after Brian and I met, he said to me, “I’d want you on my team.” I felt the same way about him! Since Brian will be the stay-at-home papa, I just know any child would be very lucky to have him there, close by, as Dad.

House and Home

As much as we enjoy eating out, sharing nurturing and nutritious meals cooked at home is what we love the most. Family mealtimes are very important in our household. Lucky for us, Brian is a master at turning the simplest of ingredients into the best tasting meal! Fresh cooked veggies are a table staple balanced with pork, fish or beef, not to mention the yummy comfort foods such as carne molida tacos, spaghetti with meatballs (gotta make garlic bread too!) and mac n’ cheese with sliced, crispy fried hot dogs. Two favorite dishes that reflect our culture are slow cooked chicken adobo, and won-ton soup made from scratch. We look forward to adding new favorites to the house menu! When autumn rolls around, Lucinda loves to tap into her passion for baking – it’s a great time for sharing holiday cookies, and it’s hard to forget about her “okay, I’ll have one more slice” apple and pumpkin pies!

For at home activities, we enjoy creative arts such as sewing, knitting, drawing and keeping a small garden. Lucinda is very excited about knitting up baby jumpers and Brian can’t wait to stitch up annual Halloween costumes for our growing child; he can already hear our child saying, “... but I don’t wanna be a Pirate for Halloween, I wanna be a Zombie!” Since we both played music in our childhood, we have an assortment of instruments in our home – keyboards, flute, trumpet, ukuleles and a bass guitar! Quiet time is important to us as well – we spend it reading, writing, sharing our thoughts and listening to each other.

Our Interests and Passions

Throughout the year we do a variety of activities outside the home, often with family and friends. We enjoy riding our bikes to SF Giants games and in Golden Gate Park, going to the movies, skiing and playing in the snow, camping throughout the Northwest and Sierra Nevada regions, and spending a day at the beach – picnicking, swimming and flying kites (Brian has quite a kite collection!). We also like to check out things we don’t regularly go to – we have gone to the “North American Air Guitar Championship Competition” (that was a blast!), checked out the “Scottish Highland Gathering and Games” (lots of kilts and bagpipes!), and have attended the annual “Dickens Faire” (get your English Cockney accent on!). There is not much we wouldn’t do to share a variety of new and time-honored experiences, having fun together as a family.

With planning and strategically saving money, we really enjoy traveling. Our favorite place to visit abroad is Asia - we have made repeat trips to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Lucinda has been to Taiwan and China for work, and Brian has visited family in the Philippines. Each of us traveled extensively throughout Europe before we met. As a family, we look forward to traveling both abroad and taking road trips in North America: the Grand Canyon, the Rockies, the Grand Tetons and Alaska are a few places on our “go-to” list.

Family and Friends

Our parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, life-long and newly met friends live as near as our next door neighbor in San Francisco to as far as Vigan City in the Philippines, from Hanover, Germany to Oahu, Hawaii, and Brooklyn, NY to Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Although we can’t visit everyone as frequently as we would like, it makes us happy to keep in touch and know that we are welcome in their homes at any time. We have relatives in Seattle and Stockton and look forward to making family trips for annual holiday visits in summer and winter.

Values to Share with Our Child

Our home has a lot of love, honesty and mutual support. We want to teach our child the need to hold supportive spaces for laughter, joy, appreciation, as well as life’s sorrows, frustrations and its inevitable disappointments. Our family values include sharing, kindness, thoughtful consideration and respect for self and others.

Some Last Words

We understand you have a lot of feelings and considerations to sort through. Know that giving us the opportunity to adopt your child into our family will provide an environment of great nurturing and love. Our goal is that your child reach life’s fullest potential and develop a character rooted in sensitivity and conscientiousness.

 

A few things we have come to know:

- Living resourcefully and creatively helps build an enriched and fulfilling life.

- We have learned people live differently in the diversity of cultures throughout the world and understand that everyone has the same basic needs.

- We believe education is very important. We know there are many lessons in life to learn and there are as many instructors in the world to teach us.

 

If our partnering with you in this decision offers you any comfort and solace, we look forward to being a part of your adoption plan and building a new family with your help.

There is much more for us to share with you, but more importantly we would love the opportunity for you to tell us who YOU are!