Blake and David

We’re a happy family of three, and together we love meeting and discovering the people, places, and stories that make up our world. Near or far, expected or unexpected, we are always delighted to learn new things, see new sights, make new memories, receive people’s stories in the spirit in which they are told, and open our hearts and homes to the people God brings into our lives.

We can’t tell you how excited we are to be writing this letter to you. Growing up, we didn’t dare envision a world where we could be in love, let alone where we could be married and build a family. We feel so fortunate to have found one another, and we couldn’t be happier or more humbled by the amazing privilege of building a family together through adoption.

We can’t begin to guess what you might be experiencing as you read this, but to us, you represent everything that is possible in a world full of unexpected blessings. We are beyond thrilled at the prospect of partnering with you through this process, and full of respect for the profound act of love you are making.

Over the years we have enjoyed a wide variety of experiences, a lot of travel, and many, many people. We have been guests at least as often as we have been hosts, students as often as we have been teachers, and received help as often as we have helped someone else. We are humbled by the many undeserved kindnesses we have received, and we want to be part of a world where those kindnesses grow — till they are no longer the exception but just the way things are. That’s why, more than anything, we want you to know that your child will be raised with unconditional love and affection — the same unconditional love and affection we have for one another and for Oliver.

We are so looking forward to the long adventure of helping your child discover who they are, of building a home where their imagination can grow in creative and life-giving ways, where they can find their place in the world to do good and live well, according to their own gifts, interests, and loves. Together with our large extended family of friends, relatives, neighbors, and church parishioners, your child will be surrounded by a wide variety of people who love them.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We don’t know you yet, or what it’s like to have to make the decisions you have to make, but we are full of respect for you and the love you have for your child. Whatever you might be feeling as you read this, we hope that getting to know us a little, and seeing a glimpse of what your child’s life might be like with us, can give you assurance, confidence, and hope. We will be praying for you as you seek the best path for you and your child. Please pray for us too!

We believe strongly in the gift of adoption, and that it is love that makes a family. We’ve both known for a long time that one day we’d want to have kids, and with Oliver’s adoption that dream has become a reality. We’ve always envisioned having more than one child — wanting to provide for our kids the additional love of a sibling and the joy of growing up together, just as we experienced (Blake with one sister, David one of eight). As the two of us have grown in love, gotten married, and now started a family together through adoption, we could not be happier at the chance to open our home to the joy of a second child.

We adopted Ollie in 2021, first meeting him in the hospital two hours after he was born as part of a really encouraging and affirming adoption process. He is growing into a happy, curious, loving kiddo with an infectious laugh who spreads joy wherever he goes. He loves trains, planes, boats, trucks — anything that moves! — and he is at his happiest when playing outside with his best friend, 2-year old Owen. He would be a great older brother!

A typical day starts with David taking Oliver’s wake-up routine, while Blake gets breakfast ready and packs Oliver’s lunch for nursery school. David takes the bus to work and uses his commute for a little quiet time and to catch up on personal or family work. Oliver’s nursery school is near Blake’s work, so Blake takes him in the morning and picks him up after school. They love singing songs in the car, or counting blue houses or yellow school buses on the way. When they get home, Blake makes dinner, and then they enjoy some play time making blanket forts or reading together till it’s time to get started on bed. David usually gets home in time to join them for dinner or at least for the last bedtime story, and Ollie goes to bed with some quiet hymns and nightly prayers for the people in his life — including for a future sibling!

After Ollie goes to sleep, the two of us enjoy some time together catching up on the day, reading a bit of our current books, or working on other creative projects and hobbies. Friday nights are pizza night: we make fresh pizza from scratch, and watch a movie or tv show together.

On weekends David and Ollie often make pancakes, and then we all go for long walks exploring the playgrounds, neighborhoods, and parks around us. We love game nights with friends and neighbors, making dinner, hosting family gatherings, and car trips to nearby festivals, farms, and historic towns.

Getting to know Blake is very much like the feeling of “coming home.” He has a calm steadiness and presence about him that helps other people feel safe and valued. He approaches the world with genuine curiosity, always taking time to listen deeply in order to understand people and various topics. He can be quite the force in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes and loves any excuse to make the people around him feel special and loved. As a father to Oliver, Blake expresses his love with endless patience and focused attention to Oliver’s needs. He provides Oliver with steady warm affection and delights in drawing out Oliver’s personality and celebrating everything about him.

David is full of life — one of the most fully alive people I know. His readiness to laugh, his bursting creativity, his tangible joy in the people and things around him are like a continuous stream of fresh air, breathing life into every day. At the same time, his sensitivity to human vulnerability, and his willingness to have hard conversations with honesty, patience, and gentleness, reveals a depth of emotional maturity and wisdom that always help me feel seen, encouraged, and supported. To everyone he knows he is a faithful friend and a fearless advocate. To Oliver he is a nurturing and empathetic father, who loves to laugh as much as Oliver does, and is always ready to play peek-a-boo, give horsey rides, sing songs, and dance.

Our home is a 1920s Craftsman bungalow, with an easy-to-spot, sky blue, checkerboard front door and a vibrant flower garden in front. Stepping inside, you are met by the scent of whatever Blake is cooking for dinner, or maybe the cookies David made for dessert last night. The living room is cozy and warm, with shelves full of books, puzzles, and board games, while the coffee table is covered with blank butcher paper for kid-friendly drawing. The dining table is big and generous, and always has room for one more place. The kitchen opens onto the fenced-in back garden, which is truly an oasis: full of flowers, trees, birds, a mossy brick patio, and fruit trees. Ten doors down are dear friends who moved here shortly after we did, and within a mile are other close friends from work, church, and school. Within a short walk are parks, playgrounds, ice cream shops, the library, schools, bike paths, and public transit. We love the sense of place and community we find where we live, a real village in the midst of a wonderfully diverse city — the best of both worlds.

Nana and Papi live up the road in the Sierra foothills. They are champions of the great outdoors and of hiking as high as they can reach. They love a house full of family, and can’t wait to set another place at the table. Aunt Laura (“Tia”) is an ICU nurse and lives a little further up the road from Nana and Papi She loves being a doting Aunt, makes frequent visits, and hosts “Camp Tia” at her house for a week each summer when Ollie’s school is closed. Katie & Andy are our closest friends and neighbors, and we see them and their son Owen at least once a week for play dates and family game nights. St. Mark’s Church is a loving, welcoming community with several new parents as well as a ready group of retired folks volunteering to help with the new arrivals. Our extended family includes 10 nieces and nephews, with more on the way. Your child would be warmly welcomed by 14 aunts and uncles, 4 grandparents, 2 great-grandparents, and other “chosen family,” in places as far afield as Thailand, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Los Angeles, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Missouri, Alabama, North Carolina, Maine, Massachusetts, and the UK.

If we are blessed with a child of a different ethnicity than our own, we will make it our mission to learn and to understand all we can of their heritage, just as we have with Oliver’s; to make sure they have a wide variety of adults and role models in their lives, including ones who look like them; and to help them understand there are a lot of different ways to be in this world, a lot of different ways to imagine being and dreaming and growing. We are fortunate to have a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual family on both David’s and Blake’s sides, a multi-ethnic, multigenerational church community, a diverse neighborhood and city, and a genuine interest coupled with real experience in cultures not our own. But we still have a lot to learn, and we would look forward to learning and growing together as a family

We are very grateful to have a good relationship with Oliver’s birth mother and birth father. We’re in touch occasionally by phone and zoom, we regularly share pictures, and about once a year we get together with them for a picnic in a park near where they live. It’s important to us that Oliver knows who they are and that they love him, and, even though he’s still very young, he seems to understand that pretty well. He’s always thrilled to hang out with them, especially when he can get them to push him on the swing, or to help him down the slide, or to serve as targets for his big hugs! But we understand that not all birth parents are interested in this much contact, and that’s okay with us too — the important thing is that you can count on us to make sure your child knows that you love them.

CHRISTMAS – We always get the Christmas tree soon after Thanksgiving, from the same tree farm run by formerly incarcerated folks. The first decoration is always the new ornament we give one another every year, a tradition we’ve continued from Blake’s parents, who have been doing the same thing since 1980.

THANKSGIVING – For Thanksgiving, we cook a new dish we’ve never made before, and host as many people as we can.

CELEBRATIONS – For major life celebrations, like when a friend recently finished a big Accounting exam, we make a big batch of homemade lasagna or macaroni & cheese to celebrate.

COMFORT FOODS – Comfort foods for us include ice cream or cookies (especially David’s homemade chocolate chip cookies!) as well as fresh salads, hearty stews, and curries of all kinds.

READING – We love to read out loud to one another, everything from poetry to novels, plays, and the news.

OLIVER’S BIRTHDAY – With Oliver now in our lives, we’ve added a few new traditions: a baker friend makes his birthday cake in the shape of some favorite thing — the hungry hungry caterpillar, a train, or, this year, a plane.

SUMMER – Every summer so far, we’ve taken Ollie to Maine to visit Grandpa Norman and Grandma Zulie. HALLOWEEN – Ollie dresses up for Halloween (this year as a dragon!) and we go trick-or-treating through the neighborhood.

We can’t wait to see what favorite things inspire your child’s birthday cake, what they will dress up as for Halloween, or what new traditions we will adopt with them. And we especially can’t wait to introduce them to so many loving family and friends!

We will treasure your child as we treasure each other — beyond all measure of thought or reason. We will do everything in our power to create a safe place for them to discover who they are and to realize their dreams. They will be surrounded by loving family, supportive friends, and a doting church community, and we will introduce them to the rich constellation of stories, places, characters, heroes, heroines, saints, and other occasions of wonder and delight which make life such an adventure for us.

We will celebrate the courageous choice their birth mom made and make sure your child knows their adoption was born of your love, nothing more and nothing less. We will teach them to aspire to the same kind of selfless love, for God and their neighbor, and to stand up for themselves and for those who don’t have a voice. In short, we will raise your child with all the love in our hearts, and we will count it the greatest blessing we could hope to receive.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We can’t begin to guess what you must be feeling right now, or how much courage it must take even to be reading a profile like this one. What we do know is that, to us, you represent everything that is possible in a world full of unexpected blessing. We are full of respect and admiration for you, and you can be sure we will share that respect and admiration with your child. Above all, you can be sure our love will only grow over time: for each other, for Oliver, for your child, and for this little, growing family which it is our humble privilege to love and care for.