Hi there! We are Jeff and Louis from Portland, Oregon. We started our family two years ago when we adopted our daughter Jacqueline, whom we call Jax for short. We have tremendous respect for your decision to consider adoption. We appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and learn more about us and the dream we and big sister Jax share to expand our family.

Our Story

We’ve been a couple for 13 years and got married 8 years ago on the first day it was legal for same-sex couples to marry in California. We became parents in 2015 with our daughter, Jacqueline. We live in a great neighborhood with friendly neighbors. Our relationship is founded on love, trust and equality. We are each other’s number-one fans and Jax centers our love even more, as we know our second child will continue to do too. We are big kids ourselves and love to spend time horsing around with our daughter, our family and each other. We also share our home with a lazy kitty named Frankie.

About Jeff

Style in High School   Hippy

Guilty Pleasure   Cheese

Religion   Catholic

Turn Off   Broccoli

Pet Peeve   Knives in the dishwasher

Favorite Movie   Amelie

First Album   Michael Jackson's Thriller

Favorite Food   Tacos

Favorite Book   Giovanni's Room

Favorite Artist   Boccioni

Favorite Trip   India

 

About Louis

Style in High School   Gothic

Guilty Pleasure   Glee

Religion   Jewish

Turn Off   Mean people

Pet Peeve   Bullying

Favorite Movie   Meet Me In St. Louis

First Album   Duran Duran's Arena

Favorite Food   Steak Tartare

Favorite Book   Count Of Monte Cristo

Favorite Artist   Vaughn Oliver

Favorite Trip   Provence, France

 

Our Life Together

We live in Portland, Oregon, so there are many family-oriented, cultural and artistic things to do. We also spend time in the Bay Area (where we met) and Southern California, where some of our families are. We love walking in the Farmers Market and enjoy visiting the Zoo and the damp pine forests of Oregon for our romps. We are total foodies and love introducing new flavors to Jax. Louis gives her impromptu cooking classes in her high chair and can’t wait to enroll a younger sibling.  Most weeks you will find us participating in swim, music and two toddler play classes.

We have both become seasoned fathers through patience and respect. Jax has shown us the privilege of parenting, and we can’t wait to welcome another munchkin into our lives. We are now experts at child-proofing, a process that has basically converted our living area into a playzone complete with circus tent. Jax is naturally happy and kind, so will easily take to her new role as a loving big sister. How wonderful it will be for our children to have life-long playmate.

About Jeff by Louis

To put it simply, Jeff is amazing! Everyone who knows him, including myself, is extremely lucky to have him in our lives. He is very calm-tempered and really thinks things through in all manners from family to finances to our relationship. Children love him because he is so big-hearted and cuddly; they rarely let go of him. His new way of relaxing is glass fusing. He has made numerous stained glass windows and jewelry! He also thrives on knowledge. He reads all the time, about everything. He shoots photography and vacation movies, buys books for our library, loves music and loves a good long hike with friends and family.

Jeff is extremely passionate about his work. He is a physician. He truly cares for his patients. He creates relationships with them whether it be calling every couple of hours to check lab work or making sure that his patients’ family understands what he is doing to make tough situations better and more comfortable.

Jeff is crazy about Jax and she is smitten by the mere sight of him. They have dance parties in the front room and Sesame Street mornings on Saturday, they play with a bubble table outside on warm days, and they spend time with grandma Kathy and Pop Pop on walks. They love sitting with each other in evenings with a bottle before bedtime. He wrote haiku every week about Jax’s first year.

Jeff is the most adventurous person I know. He will travel to places so exotic and desolate and peaceful. He is passing on his adventurous spirit to Jax as I’m sure he will with our next child.

About Louis by Jeff

Lou and I met at the Farmers Market in San Francisco. As a broke student, I came for the free food samples, but ended up finding the love of my life! Louis’s talents are as boundless as his energy. He makes the best salads on the planet after years of training as a chef. He is the pioneer in our relationship, constantly exposing me to new flavors, music and art. His latest find is Calabrian Chiles!

Louis’s creativity is not limited to the kitchen. He makes beautiful, energetic art, layered with text and photography, color and shadow; his images are as unique as he is. Currently, we are working on a joint project in painting and stained glass of the sky as seen through New York skyscrapers.  He graduated with a degree in Graphic Design before following his passion to become a stay-at-home dad.

Louis grew up in the Inland Empire of CA but always dreamed about moving to the Bay Area. When we met, he had lived in 39 apartments in San Francisco with over 150 roommates, all of whom seemed to love him–we couldn’t walk down the street without running into a friend, roommate or colleague from his past.

It has deepened my love for Louis to watch him grow as a parent.  He is patient, kind and entertaining. He’s amazing at keeping class and nap schedules. He also is in charge of preventive worrying, anticipating potential dangers and keeping Jax safe. He is the kind of dad who builds block towers for his daughter after she has gone to sleep so she has the treat of knocking them down when she wakes up. It is the highlight of my day to see the two of them curled up on the couch giggling when I come home from work–I can’t wait to see him outnumbered with two children!

Our Family

Jeff is extremely dedicated to his family. They love to travel and also lounge at home solving the Sunday New York Times Crossword together. Every year they compete in a treasure hunt through downtown San Francisco during the Chinese New Year’s Parade. Growing up with two close sisters, he values sibling relationships and wants Jax and her brother or sister to learn these values as well.

Jeff’s parents recently moved to Oregon as well. They have a place on the coast near where the 80’s movie The Goonies was filmed, surrounded by blackberries and sand dunes.  His sister Kristen and her husband also live in Portland and have three amazing children close to Jax’s age. The kids love playing with her and are very potective since she is the youngest. Jeff’s youngest sister lives with her husband in the Los Angeles area. All can’t wait to welcome another child into the fold.

Louis comes from a small but big-hearted family. Louis’s sister, Deja, her husband and daughter, Ella, live in Redlands, California. Ella loves dancing and showing Jax toys. Laughing together is their favorite past-time. Louis’s youngest sister, Clarissa, and her husband live outside of Nashville and have a daughter, Kaelee Ann.

We want our children to know and love their cousins as well. When we hang-out with our four nieces and one nephew we usually spend our time together camping on the California coast, vacationing at our family’s beach house for Fourth of July, going to the movies, painting and drawing pictures, going to the ballet for the holidays to see The Nutcracker, reading stories or running through Disneyland. We are super uncles to all our nieces and nephew. Everyone is great to Jax, and will be as awesome to our second child!

Our Parenting Values

We share the same principles in raising children. We want to teach our children to be polite but fun-loving, to make friends, to explore the world and ask questions about it, to scrape their knees and get dirty, to make mistakes and learn from them and to love themselves. We firmly value learning and will provide the best educational opportunities that we can. We will expose our children to French and Spanish. We want our children to enjoy being kids but also to learn the skills they need to become happy, kind and successful adults. We do not want our children to have a favorite dad; both of us will play good and bad cop. We believe that cherishing our children and nurturing their interests will make us the best parents we can be.

Thank you again for reading our letter. We can only imagine the difficulty of your decision to seek out adoption. We think of Jax’s birthmother often, and honor her decision by being the best parents possible to Jax. Please know that we will love and care for your child, and give him or her the best opportunities that we can provide. If you would like to meet us please contact us at [email protected] or by phone at 650-731-5206 or Adoption Connection at 415-355-4636.

Our Parenting Values

We share the same principles in raising children. We want to teach our children to be polite but fun-loving, to make friends, to explore the world and ask questions about it, to scrape their knees and get dirty, to make mistakes and learn from them and to love themselves. We firmly value learning and will provide the best educational opportunities that we can. We will expose our children to French and Spanish. We want our children to enjoy being kids but also to learn the skills they need to become happy, kind and successful adults. We do not want our children to have a favorite dad; both of us will play good and bad cop. We believe that cherishing our children and nurturing their interests will make us the best parents we can be.

Thank you again for reading our letter. We can only imagine the difficulty of your decision to seek out adoption. We think of Jax’s birthmother often, and honor her decision by being the best parents possible to Jax. Please know that we will love and care for your child, and give him or her the best opportunities that we can provide. If you would like to meet us please contact us at [email protected] or by phone at 650-731-5206 or Adoption Connection at 415-355-4636.