We are grateful for the ways adoption has expanded both of our families. Becca’s dad was raised by his aunt and uncle who became devoted grandparents to Becca and her siblings. As a family, we stayed in relationship with his biological mom and aunt and uncle, giving Becca an early example of the ways adoption expands families.

Lily’s aunt was also adopted. Growing up, Lily saw her aunt as the “hippest” and funniest of the family. When Lily’s grandma got sick before passing away, Lily’s aunt was her fiercest advocate and most loving caretaker. She modelled for Lily how to protect and be loyal to family.

As members of the LGBTQ community, we enjoy close friendships with many parents who have grown their families through adoption. Our friends are all delighted that we are choosing to adopt and we can’t wait to welcome your child into a community where adoption is celebrated and common.

We have been together for nearly eight years. We met as students while completing our PhDs, with Becca obtaining hers in environmental policy and Lily obtaining hers in clinical psychology. While attending Bible study, we realized we had a lot in common! We were committed to our faith, loved spending time in nature, found joy in trying new restaurants, and enjoyed baking. Soon after meeting, we started spending hours together in the library or at coffee shops finishing our schoolwork. It is during those long study sessions that Lily learned just how loyal of a person Becca is, how inclusive and accepting she is toward everyone, and how loving and committed she is to her family – qualities Lily deeply admired. Becca, in turn, found out that Lily is really easy to talk to, hilarious, caring, and intelligent. We adopted a dog together soon after that and got married in 2021 when we finished graduate school.

From Becca about Lily: 

Lily is the friend people call when they need a listening ear and the person who will stop to help a passerby on the street. She has an immense ability to make those around her feel cared for, accepted, and loved. I am always in awe of her capacity to connect with her patients at the hospital, the ways she cares for her friends, and her ability to share her joy with others. She finds joy in the simplest parts of life and her happiness is truly infectious.    

 
From Lily about Becca:  

Everyone who gets to know Becca admires her. She is the kind of spouse, sister, daughter, friend, and colleague who instantly recognizes people’s needs, works diligently to meet them, and seeks no recognition in return. I have never met anyone as loyal as her. When Becca commits to a cause or person, she will stand by them and sacrifice for them no matter what. She’s the literal opposite of a fair-weather fan: she’s a torrential-rainfall-and-hurricane-resistant kind of fan who cares so deeply for those around her. 

Our family is a blend of Lily’s Egyptian culture and Becca’s US Midwestern roots – this means that our home is full of celebration, hospitality, perseverance, music, and cooking way too much food anytime we have friends and family over. Lily grew up in Egypt speaking French and Arabic with her parents and extended family nearby. Her childhood was filled with travel; spending time with her grandparents, aunts, and uncles; swimming lessons; and snorkeling.

Becca grew up in Michigan with three siblings and her parents. She spent her childhood playing soccer and spending summer weekends at the lake. Her family sat down together for dinner nearly every night and family favorites were “breakfast for dinner” or homemade pizza and a movie on Friday nights.

We see our out-of-town family multiple times a year for holidays and vacations. When Becca’s parents visit, we continue their Friday movie and pizza night tradition. Lily’s parents and Becca’s sister and brother-in-law live in Florida and we can’t wait for a child to join in on our family vacations to the sunshine state! While we miss our far-away family, we are beyond grateful that our everyday life is filled with friends that support us like family, reminding us of the many ways families are built and chosen. Friends from our work, church, and neighborhood regularly join us for hikes, holidays, birthday dinners, and game nights. We can’t wait for your child to join this community and to welcome their friends into our home as well.

We are fortunate to live in Seattle, Washington with parks, grocery stores, and schools all a short walk away. We can't wait to show your child the small lake nearby and play with them on the playground, splash pad, and as they get older, go kayaking on the lake and biking on the many trails in our city with them. We are thankful to live in a big city that provides an endless number of opportunities for hobbies and activities for your child to experience as they grow.

While we love exploring our city and traveling, we are both incredibly grateful for a peaceful home. You'll often hear one of us say "I love our home!" when returning from travel (or even just from work!). We love hosting friends and family for dinners, game nights, and holidays. Our kitchen and adjoining dining room is usually the hub of activity. Lily loves to try out new dinner recipes while Becca will regularly bake a favorite dessert or loaf of bread. We love relaxing on the couch to watch our favorite show or in the summer you will usually find us on the deck enjoying the sunshine. We look forward to welcoming your child into our home and exploring the neighborhood together!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our lives and family. We hope we have the opportunity to learn about yours as well. For now, please know that we hold a deep respect for you, your story, your wisdom, and the love you have for your child. If we have the joy of parenting your child, we will do everything we can to make sure your child knows you and your love as well, beginning from the very moment we meet them. We imagine sharing visits, letters, emails, photos, and texts with you, knowing that your child’s life, and ours, will be enriched by our continued relationship, one that is as close as you’d like for it to be.

To give you a peek into our history, we have been together for nearly eight years. We first met in graduate school in 2017, became fast friends, started dating in 2019, and got married in 2021. After moving around the Midwest and the East Coast for school and work, we settled in the Pacific Northwest. These years have been full of adventures, completing our PhDs, and building our relationship, but always with a dream of growing our family. Becca has wanted to adopt since she was a young child and Lily quickly joined this journey. Now, after years of dreaming, preparing, and planning, we are ready to grow our family.

We are so grateful for the life we have built together, one that reflects Lily’s Mediterranean culture (she was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt) and Becca’s Midwestern roots (she was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan). We are incredibly fortunate to have committed family and friends, a beautiful city to live in, and a home we love coming back to at the end of each day. That is what we hope to give to your child. While we can’t protect them from all of life’s challenges, we can promise to give them a safe and loving home where they know, without a doubt, that we adore them, that we are fiercely committed to them, and that we will daily sacrifice for them. We promise to give them opportunities to explore, learn, and invest in their passions and to surround them with attentive, compassionate, and loyal friends and family who will share in their sadnesses and celebrate their successes.

Lily's experience as a professor and clinical psychologist who has worked with both children and adults to treat mental illness combined with Becca’s prior experience teaching in both the university and K-12 settings have equipped us to support your child academically, emotionally and socially. When we need help, our experiences also mean that we know how to find the resources your child needs to succeed.

Your child will join a large extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins spread across the US and Egypt. They’ll also join our local chosen family, including grandparent figures, close friends, and their children, all of whom can’t wait to meet them. As a multi-cultural family, we find so much meaning in learning about each other’s unique cultural traditions (both American and Egyptian), celebrating both of them, and intentionally preserving our traditions. Know that we will take great pride and joy in teaching your child about their history. We will model what it looks like to learn from and appreciate many different cultures in our home, as we currently do, and what it looks like to be proud of their culture of origin.

We are beyond excited to become parents. We can’t wait to go on adventures with a child (whether it is a walk to the park down the street or on a plane to new country), to watch them grow, and to learn from them as they bring their own values, interests, hopes, and ideas into our family.

We are so honored and thankful that you took the time to learn about us and very much look forward to meeting you.

With gratitude and respect,

Becca & Lily