We met on the second day of freshman orientation in college. Our university has a tradition during freshman orientation of hosting a square dance, complete with a guy in a cowboy hat and cowboy boots calling out the steps. All of the songs he uses are on vinyl records, and when he has to change the record he always says, “Hold on folks, I need to go pay the band.” It sounds hokey but was a great way to meet new people. Holly ended up dancing with one of Andy’s best friends from high school. Although we didn’t end up actually dancing together, we did embark on a fruitless quest together to find a party to go to. It turned out that Holly lived on the floor above Andy in our dorm, and so with nothing else do, we decided to head back to the dorm. We ended up playing MarioKart until curfew at 2am, when the dorm staff came by and kicked Holly out of Andy’s room.

Later that week we celebrated our birthdays together by making a box-mix cake in a frying pan and eating it with spoons (the dorm had limited cooking utensils). A few days later we went on an epic romp around the city carrying a watermelon we bought at a farmer’s market. 18 years later, we’re still together and have now known each other for over half of our lives.

Together, we enjoy going for walks around our neighborhood with our dog, Rigby, and exploring new areas of the city. We often go for walks at the end of the day, giving us some time to debrief on the day’s events and unwind. We also enjoy hiking through the varied landscapes that can be found in the Bay Area, including the mountains, the redwoods, the beach, and everything in between. For entertainment, we try to go see a movie 1-2 times per month and we also really enjoy seeing Broadway musicals when they come through San Francisco. We hope to share our love of the outdoors and the arts with any child entrusted to us.

On an individual level, Andy enjoys distance running and has a run eight marathons (each time saying he’ll never run another one). He also really enjoys keeping up on world and local news, and he spends way too much time on Reddit. Finally, Andy really enjoys cooking, especially when he gets a chance to try new recipes with unique ingredients. Holly enjoys spending time with friends, either hosting or attending get-togethers at each other’s homes, which keeps her connected with a tight community. She has recently taken up crocheting tiny animals, which she finds incredibly therapeutic. Holly is an avid reader, and also listens to audiobooks while commuting to work or before bed. She can't wait to read all sorts of children's books with a future child.

Education is important to both of us – Andy has a doctorate in physical therapy and a PhD in Neuroscience, while Holly is a physician and is currently completing a PhD in education. We feel strongly that any child entrusted to us start off in public school so that they have the opportunity to meet other children from all walks of life. Both of us also played instruments when we were children, and we want to make sure that any child entrusted to us also has the opportunity to enjoy the gift of music. As they grow older, we plan to revisit whether public or private schools make more sense based on the educational and extracurricular opportunities available, as well as where the child feels most comfortable and supported.

We both want to have a strong hand in the child’s education early in life – we can picture us all sitting at the kitchen table working on homework together or snuggled up on the couch reading together. Both of us have warm memories of our own parents helping out with our homework and keeping us on task as we grew up. That being said, neither one of us remembers much about calculus! We are also open to finding a tutor for the child for any subject as they grow older if needed.

We are fortunate to reside in San Francisco, California. We love the diversity that living in the city brings – we meet so many different kinds of people, the beach and the mountains are only a car ride away, and there are always new events taking place. Our house is located in a family-friendly neighborhood and there are six different playgrounds within a 1-mile radius. Nearby is the Mission district, which is the Latino cultural hub. We love this neighborhood due to the phenomenal food, beautiful murals, and the many street festivals that take place here. Our favorite festival is Carnival, where residents don traditional clothes from countries throughout Latin America and dance through the streets.

Our house is built into the side of a hill and our front windows look out over the Mission district. In the summertime, we often get to watch the fog rolling into the city from the comfort of our couch. Additionally, we have front-row seats to the awesome 4th of July fireworks displays that take place over the Mission each year. Our backyard is our oasis – we have a small patio and some green space where we can lounge and where a child will be able to safely play on their own. Andy likes to garden here, and we have lovely palm, orange, pomegranate, and pineapple guava trees.

We both grew up outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and our families still reside there. However, we try to travel home 1-2 times per year, and our families also come out to visit each year. Luckily, by the miracle of modern technology, we’re able to FaceTime them each week. Both of our families were overjoyed when we told them about our plans to pursue adoption, and they have pledged to make even more frequent trips after a child is placed with us. Andy’s brother will be welcoming a son into the world in July, 2024 and both Andy and his brother are dedicated to making sure that their children grow up with strong connections with their cousins. Additionally, our parents get along well and and hold joint family Thanksgivings each year, with or without us.

That being said, we believe that family can be both the ones we’re born into and the ones we choose for ourselves. We have a strong network of friends that we’ve built in the Bay Area that are at similar stages in life to us – they are working professionals in a variety of healthcare fields with young children who enjoy many of the same activities that we enjoy. Over the past few years, we’ve enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Mardi Gras with our friends. Many of them are also Bay Area transplants and we hope that our families can continue to build these types of traditions far into the future.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about who we are and our path towards building our family through adoption. While we are incredibly excited at the possibility of becoming parents, we cannot imagine the series of emotions you must be feeling right now. And while we hope that you ultimately think we’re a good fit to raise your child, we absolutely understand and wish you the best if you entrust your child to someone else.

When we met on the second day of freshman orientation in college, neither one of us could have imagined where life would take us over the next 18 years: pursuing advanced degrees in healthcare and education, marriage, a kidney transplant for Holly, moving halfway across the country for our jobs, building a life for ourselves in San Francisco, and having the opportunity to travel the world. We’ve been blessed to experience a lot more highs than lows, but through it all we’ve always had a gnawing feeling that something is still missing: sharing our life with a child.

Because of the kidney disease that affects Holly’s family and the kidney transplant she received in 2016, we’ve known since starting our relationship that adoption was the way in which we wanted to build our family. And now, as our careers have stabilized and we’ve been able to set down roots in our community, we are in a position where we finally have the opportunity to begin this journey.

We can’t promise that we will be perfect parents. In fact, we’re quite confident that we will make and learn from plenty of mistakes along the way. But what we can promise is a lifetime of love for any child entrusted to us. We’re looking forward to exposing the child to so much of what we love: sports, theatre, travel, reading, cooking, trying new foods, Pixar movies, faith, and nature. But we’re also looking forward to seeing the world through their eyes and watching their own interests develop. We stand ready to support the child in whoever they decide to become, and the thought of watching them grow into that person leaves us with a feeling of pure joy. We have been lucky enough to receive so much love in our own lives, and there is nothing we would like more than to spread that love on to a child.

One thing we want to make clear is that your child will not grow up resenting you. We will make it very clear from the beginning that you chose for them to live with us because you loved them immensely and felt that this was the best option for them. That kind of selfless love is perhaps the greatest gift your child will receive throughout their entire life, and we will make sure that they understand the care that you put into making this decision. Provided you are comfortable with it, we want the child to know who you are, what their story is, and why you chose adoption for them. We promise to send letters and pictures of your child as they grow older, and we would welcome occasional visits, FaceTime calls, texts, and emails if that is something you are interested in.

So again, thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little bit better. Whatever you decide, we wish you the best and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers as you embark upon the road ahead.

Sincerely,

Andy & Holly