Patrick and Megan

Dear Parents,

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our family!

Your strength and courage to make the best decision – whatever it may be – is admirable. And we appreciate this opportunity to tell you more about ourselves and our adoption journey.

Our story starts in college, where we met in 2003. While Megan is originally from Hawaii and Patrick grew up in Maryland, we bonded over a shared sense of humor, core values, the importance of family and good food. In the following years we managed a long-distance relationship, enjoyed many holidays and milestones, traveled to numerous cities and countries in the U.S. and abroad, and married on July 4, 2012 – becoming a family of two.

During this time, we have grown together both as individuals and as partners committed to building a loving, faithful and healthy home while supporting each other through our educational, personal and professional endeavors.

We were thrilled to welcome our son Joseph (aka “Jojo”) via adoption in July 2018, expanding to a family of three.  Sincerely hoping for another son or daughter and sibling to Jojo, we again pursued adoption. We joyfully expanded to a family of four in October 2021, with the adoption of George. Parenting them over the past few years has been such a humbling, rewarding and amazing experience. We encourage both Jojo and George to embrace their adoption stories and cherish their respective birth families and each other as brothers.

We would be honored if you placed your faith in us as parents for your child, and would welcome an opportunity to share updates and milestones along the way.

With sincerest gratitude and respect,
Megan & Patrick

We always wanted to have a large family and knew we would be great parents – because we had the best role models in our own parents (each, married for more than 40 years). After a few years of marriage we began trying to expand our family but conceiving was not as easy as we imagined. Based on our personal preferences and religious beliefs, adoption is the route we pursued and are continuing to pursue wholeheartedly.

Besides already being adoptive parents ourselves, we have many friends, co-workers, and family members who are adoptive parents or themselves were adopted. The response from our friends and family to our continued adoption plans has been overwhelmingly positive.

But perhaps the more important affirmation of our adoption journey is our children, Jojo and George. Every day we feel so blessed to have them in our lives. We can’t wait to welcome into our family a baby sister or brother with whom we can share more opportunities, laughs and create new memories.

Megan and I were friends before we began dating. What attracted me to Megan was her kindness to others, importance of family, and strong morals. She is hard working and always strives to better herself – whether as a mom, on the tennis court or in her business.

Family is very important to Megan and she is a very dedicated mom. She cooks dinner most nights, volunteers at the boys’ respective schools for cultural events and holidays, positively encourages Jojo and George, and always makes holidays, family get-togethers and celebrations special occasions for the boys.

Megan is also dedicated to service. Besides roles in church and alumni groups, she has coached her law school moot court team (basically like legal debate team) for more than 17 years and has mentored the students she has coached. Their successes are her successes, and she finds it very fulfilling to see her team find jobs, have families, and thrive in their respective careers. Megan is also active in the local chapter of her high school alumni network, serving as Vice President, and helps to coordinate various Hawaii-related social gatherings throughout the year.

A lawyer by training, Megan left her law practice a few years ago to start a solar energy company which is not only successful, but helps bring clean energy to many communities.

Megan’s interests are: 

• Tennis – she plays on a competitive women’s team and has made big strides.  Jojo and George enjoy going to our tennis club to run around on court and love the pool 
• Cooking – soups, stews, noodles
• Gardening – with the kids
• Surfing – long boarding when back in Hawaii
• Hawaii – staying connected while here in Maryland

I have known Patrick for almost half of my life. He is honest, faithful (both in terms of religion and commitment to his family and relationships) and direct. Patrick has been very supportive throughout our infertility, and now adoption, journey. He has also wholeheartedly embraced and excelled as a Dad, and is a dedicated, patient and hands-on parent to both Jojo and George.

Patrick started work at a large, multi-national bank in its wealth management division right after graduating from the undergraduate business school of our college. He built his business from scratch. Over the years he has advanced to a Senior Vice President role. I admire how Patrick cares about his clients and has diligently worked to achieve his professional goals. While Patrick works hard, his job is also one where he has flexibility to work at home and help out at home and spend a lot of quality time with Jojo and George.

Tennis is a large part of Patrick’s life. He is an accomplished (yet humble) player, competing nationally from elementary through high school and college where he was a scholarship player and member of the men’s varsity team. He keeps up with many of his former competitors/friends, continues to play socially and expand his network of friends, and hopes to pass along the sport to our children. Patrick was patient enough to teach me the basics and I have taken to playing socially.  Both boys also enjoy coming to the courts to hit balls and socialize with other tennis families. 

Beyond tennis, Patrick’s other interests are: 

• Gardening – with a focus on roses, moss, and herbs.  The kids are his assistant gardeners and love to help with watering and pruning
• Cooking – with a focus on Italian food, breakfasts, and grilling

We met as undergraduates in college through mutual friends. We started dating the year after graduating from college while both living and working in Washington, DC. After about seven years of dating, we were married on July 4, 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

We are very fortunate that we each have similar values, beliefs, lifestyles, hobbies, senses of humor and interests, so we can do activities that we mutually genuinely enjoy such as tennis, church, cooking, dining out, gardening, spending time with friends and family and, of course, being parents.

We have channeled our strong personalities into a solid foundation for our marriage and home, based on honest communication, mutual support and firm commitment to our faith and family. These are values that we work to instill in Jojo and George and hope to extend to any other children we are blessed to welcome into our family.

In 2018, Jojo joined our family via adoption in Honolulu shortly after he was born. He is a happy, curious, playful and loving boy. He is very gentle with George, animals (stuffed and real) and loves helping others, be it ushering at church, serving others at school tasks, and assisting with cooking and gardening.

He currently attends a private school in Washington, DC.  He enjoys swimming at the pool, animals in nature, NFL football, sports such as swimming, tennis & soccer, reading books, and riding his bike. His favorite breakfast is bananas, cornbread, breakfast sausage, and homemade pancakes (weekends only!). For lunch and dinner his favorites foods are pesto pasta, meatballs, and shellfish such as clams and shrimp. 

We welcomed George into our family in 2021 also via adoption in Honolulu as a newborn. George is always smiling (he has a very wide and welcoming smile), has lots of energy, and is also very curious. He attends an all day Spanish immersion daycare, the same one Jojo attended. When we pick him up from daycare he waves through the window grinning ear to ear and bursts out of the door to greet us. George enjoys wrestling with big brother Jojo, going to the pool, animals in nature, chasing Jojo around the house, and he loves music (listening, singing, and dancing). His favorite foods are cantaloupe, watermelon, pesto pasta, chicken fingers, and peanut butter and jelly.

Our families are an important parts of our lives.

While Patrick is an only child, he grew up spending time with his numerous cousins on his dad’s side of the family, who live in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Patrick’s dad was originally from Italy, so in addition to domestic travel, we have taken several trips to Italy and Europe, and look forward to future visits. Patrick’s parents had been married for almost 40 years when his dad sadly passed away in 2015. He was a unique individual and Megan was fortunate to know and spend time with him for about 10 years prior to his passing.  Patrick’s mother lived nearby and previously helped watch both Jojo and George before they each started daycare. We would speak with her daily and have dinner at least once a week.  She sadly recently passed away as well.  We have many memories and pictures which we will always cherish.

Megan is the oldest of three children, and grew up with her two younger brothers and many cousins who live in Honolulu. Megan, Patrick, Jojo and George also get together with her father’s side of the family who live on the mainland. Megan’s middle brother lives and practices law in Honolulu, while her younger brother lives near us and works on Capitol Hill. We visit with him about monthly. We remain close to her family and talk to Megan’s parents daily.

Our church family is also a key part of our lives and a great community. We are active parishioners at our Catholic church where there are plenty of young families with whom we spend time after Sunday morning mass over coffee and donuts. There are also vibrant Filipino and Hispanic communities there so that Jojo and George get more exposure to their respective cultures. We (including young Jojo and George) serve as ushers at our weekly mass while the kids help with the weekly collection. Patrick also serves as the chair of the parish finance council and has done so for over a decade. 

We live in a residential, tree-lined, safe neighborhood in Maryland. Our home has plenty of space – including six bedrooms, a large yard with a back wooded area containing walking trails, a screened gazebo, and a waterfall/pond housing fish that kids love. We recently remodeled the basement to include a gym and large play area for the boys.

Our school district is excellent, highly rated, and the schools (including sports fields, basketball and tennis courts, and playgrounds) are within walking distance from our home. There are many diverse families and young children in our neighborhood as well.

We are located a short drive to downtown Bethesda (where Patrick works), which features many different stores and restaurants. We are also an easy to commute to Virginia and the attractions of Washington, DC – monuments, museums, the National Zoo, and professional sports teams (Nationals baseball, Wizards basketball and Capitals hockey).

When the weather is warm, you can find us outside playing tennis, biking or walking in our neighborhood, or tending to our herbs, roses and other plants. During the winter months, we enjoy playing in the snow and warming up afterward with some homemade hot cocoa in front of the fireplaces. In all seasons, we enjoy cooking and baking as a family and entertaining friends and family for meals, laughter and good stories.

For both of our adoptions we have respected Jojo’s and George’s birth parents’ decisions regarding level of openness. While Jojo has a closed adoption, George’s adoption is semi-open in the sense that while we have not met his birth mom (based on her preference), we have been sharing life updates, pictures, and stories with his placement agency in the event she decides to reach out at some point in the future.  As with Jojo’s birth parents, we honor, remember, and are thankful for George’s birth mom.

We would welcome a chance to meet and get to know you and answer any questions, along with keeping you updated along the way.

We believe in honoring a child’s adoption narrative, sharing that story with him or her early as possible, and honoring you as the birth mom and dad. Not just in telling your child how much you loved them as they learn about their adoption story, but giving thanks on days like Mother’s and/or Father’s Day and Thanksgiving as we appreciate your great impact on our lives.

We are, by definition, a diverse family. Megan is of Chinese, German, French, Scottish and Norwegian heritage. Patrick is Italian American. Jojo is Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, and Caucasian. George is Native Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Japanese.  Celebrating these different cultures is important to us and, more practically, something that we incorporate into our day-to-day lives.

For example, in line with Megan’s family traditions, we have an annual Chinese New Year celebration with family in the area, including Megan’s cousins who live in Baltimore. Every year we present on Chinese New Year’s and Japanese Children’s Day with books, snacks and stories, to each of Jojo and George’s class at their school.  We hope to instill cultural pride in our boys and educate others on our family traditions and heritage.  We are able to enjoy some of both Jojo’s and George’s other cultures on our many trips to Hawaii, including through cuisine and quality time with dear family friends who share similar backgrounds. Jojo and George  are also much loved by several Filipina aunties (or “Titas”) with whom we attend church. They were even kind enough to cook homemade Filipino food (pancit, lumpia) for his and George baptism celebrations.

We also embrace other cultures. Our church has an active Hispanic community with whom we celebrate important holidays like Las Posadas, and both Jojo and George have very much enjoyed attending their bilingual (Spanish) preschool run by our friends from church.

This openness to diversity is not just an important part of our lives, but our adoption journey as well. We look forward to integrating and celebrating the cultural history and traditions of any new child joining our family.

We have a family-oriented, and active but balanced lifestyle.

Continuing a tradition from our childhoods, we start each day sharing breakfast together and end each day with a family dinner. This is followed by calls and Facetime sessions with grandparents. It is important for us to spend this quality time together over good food and conversation. We also home cook the majority of our meals, finding it not only a healthier alternative, but an opportunity to collaborate in the kitchen as well.

Weather permitting, you can find us outside

• At the pool
• Playing tennis
• Tending our yard and garden
• Riding bikes
• Flying kites (IF windy)
• Walking the neighborhood
• Sledding in the snow (winter)

While we are busy with full time jobs and volunteer activities, we work to share in the tasks of running our household and caring for Jojo and George – each taking on different responsibilities. And we encourage Jojo and George the boys to pitch in as well as part of our team.

Spending time with our family in Hawaii is an important part of each year. We spend each Christmas in Honolulu, and have done so for the past 18 years. Megan has many aunts, uncles and cousins still living in Honolulu so these are nice opportunities to reconnect and enjoy quality time together – whether over delicious meals or while picnicking and fishing at the beach. Megan is usually able to separately visit Hawaii a few times during the year.

Being that Megan, Jojo and George were all born in Honolulu, maintaining these ties is important to us. In between visits, we keep in touch with our Hawaii-based family and friends via phone and email, and Megan’s parents visit us on the “mainland” at least once or twice a year.

We also enjoy celebrating the Thanksgiving and Easter holidays at home in Maryland. In particular, each Thanksgiving and Easter we cook large (and delicious) meals to celebrate with Patrick’s family. Separately, we enjoy dressing up and decorating for Halloween.  Also, even though we are in Hawaii for Christmas, we still decorate or home with outdoor Christmas lights, setup a fresh Christmas tree with ornaments, and get in the Christmas mood with other decorations, foods and clothes.

We promise that through love, education and example, we will raise your child in a way that celebrates his or her unique personality and adoption story while providing the utmost care, resources, attention, and unconditional support for him or her to take advantage of all life’s opportunities – whether via education, sports, music, art, volunteer activities, travel, etc. – to fulfill their greatest potential.