Hi!  We're Ken and Melissa.  We live in the town of Danville, California, and are very excited to begin the adoption process to fulfill our dream of providing your child with unconditional love and support.  We would love to get  know you better and learn more about your dreams for your child. Whether or not you end up selecting us, we hope that you find peace in this process and finding the right parents for your child. 

Our Love Story

We met on a blind date in 2011.  Ken was originally drawn to Melissa because of her silly picture with a bird on her head.  Within a few minutes of meeting, Melissa had Ken laughing.  Pretty quickly, we figured out that we'd found in each other the person to spend the rest of our lives with.  We share a love of laughter, family, friends, and a laid back outlook on life.

After years of unsuccessfully trying to have a baby on our own, we look forward to starting our family through adoption.  We believe that we have a lot of love to offer a child, and are excited to be part of the journey.

Hobbies & Interests

We love to travel, including internationally.   Some of our favorite places are Scotland (to visit Ken’s parents), Maryland (to visit Melissa’s family), Paris, Portugal, Hawaii, Barcelona, Prague, and Las Vegas.   We are both active and enjoy being outdoors cycling, golfing, skiing and hiking together on the weekends. We often also go away for weekends in Northern California with a group of friends who have young children, renting a house up in the Russian River or Lake Tahoe areas.   Ken taught Melissa how to ski, and Melissa taught Ken how to karaoke. 

About Melissa (by Ken)

People love to be around Melissa because of her great sense of humor. She loves swapping silly jokes with friends, particularly their children! We all end up laughing a lot. She loves planning things, including parties, trips, making ice cream and making up new games to play.

Although Melissa has built a successful career as a VP of Operations at a local technology firm, she’s recently decided to take some time off to figure out her next career step.

Melissa has started a garden in our backyard.  I think she grows the best tasting tomatoes in town.  She hopes our child will be just as fascinated in how plants can grow and provide us with food.  Melissa has a positive, outgoing personality and as we have gone through several stages in planning for a family, she has always looked forward to the days when we can care for and raise our child together.

About Ken by Melissa

Some of my favorite things about Ken are that he’s caring, funny, and adventurous.  Ken’s caring shines brightly as I’ve watched him parent his two older children (from a previous relationship) and I know that he will be a great dad to our child.  Duncan and Eleanor are in their early twenties.  Duncan lives in Sacramento and Eleanor just graduated in Geography from Oregon University and is now saving up to move into her own place.  Both are excited about our adoption process.     Ken says he misses the fun of spending time with them playing tag and cheering them on in their soccer matches.   Our friends’ kids love it when Ken plays “tickle monster” with them, and I can’t wait to see him play and teach our child. 

Ken clearly has a wonderful sense of humor, because he gets my jokes, or at least most of them!   Ken also has a wonderful sense of adventure, and is usually open to trying new fun things like sailing, yoga, new foods, and traveling to new places.  Ken undertook his biggest adventure by moving to California from his native Scotland in 2000 to pursue a career in Product Management at a Silicon Valley company.   And yes, he wore a kilt at our wedding, but please don’t call it a skirt.  I can hardly wait to undertake our biggest adventure together by having a child.

A Place Called Home

We live in spacious and comfortable 4-bedroom house in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Danville, CA.   The single-story house includes a backyard pool, and hot summers to enjoy it.    After growing up in cold, windy Scotland, Ken can’t imagine life without dipping in the pool during hot summers to cool off. 

While we don’t have immediate family in the area, we have a big network of close friends that are very excited for our adoption.  Several of our friends have young kids, from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.   We get together with our friends most weekends. 

We’re close to hiking trails, the cute downtown area of Danville, and a network of great schools.   We have two miniature schnauzers, Nessie and Couthie, who provide a lot of entertainment.  

In Closing

We hope that this site gives you a glimpse into our family and our approach to life. We promise we will give your child a life filled with love, laughter, and support.

 

We are working towards one parent being at home full-time to care for your child.   We have adopted children on both sides of our families, and have seen the positive firsthand experience that we can offer your child.  We’re excited to start our family through open adoption. Should you desire the same thing for your child,  we want your child to understand where they came from and help them be comfortable with their adoption as they grow up. 

We would love to get to know you better and learn more about your dreams for your child.