We are very fortunate to be part of a diverse community of family and friends who have been eager to support us in our adoption journey. We have friends who have started a family via open adoption. Additionally, Stephan is very familiar with adoption as it was normalized and reinforced through his childhood well into adulthood.

Stephan's older brother was a product of his mother's first marriage. Stephan's mother later divorced and married his father and his father formally adopted his older brother.

Growing up, Stephan had two first cousins that were adopted. His great aunt ended up fostering two infant boys. After a few months, she decided that she wanted to adopt them.

When Stephan was 18 years old, his parents adopted his baby sister at birth. Stephan's brother's girlfriend at the time had a sister who had an unplanned pregnancy. She ended up talking to Stephan's parents and they decided to move forward with the adoption process. This was an open adoption. My sister knows and was in contact with her birth mother from a very early age and Stephan witnessed his parents' commitment to maintaining that openness.

Needless to say, adoption is a very normalized way of life for Stephan and it has helped to prepare us to engage in an open adoption process. When it comes to openness, we are committed to working with you to create a plan for openness.

We get a great deal of pleasure from gathering in community with family and friends to share food and stories. We also enjoy spending the holidays with family.

When we are not working, we usually are involved in doing house projects. Living in a 110-year-old home, there's always something to do. We also like taking day trips to explore Oregon and Washington. We also enjoy hiking when the weather allows.

At the end of the day, we are homebodies and really enjoy our spending time at home together. Once we bring a child home it will be a welcomed addition to our lives.

Our traditions center around gathering community and family.

Over the years we have established a tradition of an annual summer backyard barbecue and potluck. Friends that we have known for years and their kids join us and look forward to our gatherings.

Every Christmas, we travel to David's childhood home to celebrate with the extended family. And about every two or three years, they travel to Belize to visit Stephan's father and extended family. We also rotate family holidays with Stephan's family in his hometown of Houston, Texas.

The whole family on both sides are excited to meet a new member of the family! We are excited to create new traditions once we are able to start a family.

We own and live in an arts and crafts style duplex in an old neighborhood with homes dating back a hundred years. We are also very lucky to have two pediatric physicians as neighbors/tenants. The elementary school is a half a mile walk through tree-lined residential streets. A park playground with basketball courts and a baseball field is just a quarter-mile stroll.

Our home sits on a corner lot, has three bedrooms all located upstairs and kitchen, dining and family rooms downstairs. The house has a large front porch and back porch which span the whole width of the house. They are perfect for sitting and watching a child play with a pet in the yard or dig in the garden box.

During the summer season on several Sundays, the city will close off some residential streets to cars, so only bicycles and walkers are allowed. This is one of our favorite times to bike together with family and friends.

Our neighborhood is very diverse and draw's people from all over Portland and surrounding areas.

We very much enjoy living in this wonderful community.

David is the youngest of four siblings and has 10 nieces and nephews. Stephan is the second oldest of four siblings and has three nieces and nephews. Additionally, Stephan also grew up with two first cousins and a sister who were adopted and is very familiar with adoption.

We are very fortunate to be part of a diverse community of family and friends who have been eager to support us in our adoption journey.

As an interracial same-sex couple, we both recognize the important role that cultural diversity and community building play in our lives. This is why we are committed to deepening our relationships with family and friends when we finally start our long-awaited family. We are very much looking forward to incorporating our values into parenthood, sharing our love of travel, and building community with you and your child.

When it comes to openness, we are committed to working with you to create a plan for openness. We believe openness has the best outcomes for everyone involved. We are more than happy to send letters and pictures and coordinate in-person visits. We are also very interested to discuss and explore anything else you might be interested in.

We live in Portland, Oregon, and have been together for almost 18 years and married for almost six years. We also own our home - which we share with a Chihuahua mix named Iggy and two birds, Janet and Peanut.

We are excited to be considered for your baby's placement. If you choose us, please feel assured that we are very open and committed to exploring ways to provide an environment for your child to explore their identity freely in a safe and nurturing environment. We have a large and diverse community of family and friends who are looking forward to supporting us and welcoming a new baby to our community. Your child will be our first priority and we'll do our very best to meet their needs.

We have wanted to start a family for quite some time now and are looking forward to spending early mornings and late nights. David is looking forward to being a fun and practical parent and Stephan looks forward to being an idealistic and nurturing parent.

Stephan is very familiar with and open to adoption. He grew up with two first cousins who were adopted. When he was 18 years old, his parents brought his newly born adopted baby sister home.

David was born in Santa Maria, California and has been living in Portland for 23 years. He has worked in the computer science field for the last 24 years and now works as a software systems engineer at a major sports apparel company.

Stephan was born in Los Angeles, California, raised in Houston, Texas and has been living Portland for 23 years as well. He's has done social justice, community organizing, and philanthropic work for the last 18 years. In 2019, Stephan left his career in philanthropy to start his non-profit consulting practice. He loves the flexibility this new career path allows.

When it comes to openness, we are committed to working with you to create a plan for openness. We believe openness has the best outcomes for everyone involved. We are more than happy to send letters and pictures and coordinate 2-3 face-to-face visits a year. We are also very interested to discuss and explore anything else you might be interested in.

We absolutely love our home and community. We own a 1908 arts and crafts duplex in the heart of Portland's Buckman neighborhood. We rent out our adjoining unit to a couple who both happen to be pediatric physicians.

As a same-sex couple, we both recognize the important role that women play in our community and society. This is why we are committed to involving our closest women friends as strong women role models. We are very much looking forward to incorporating our values into parenthood, sharing our love of travel, and building community with you and your child.

When it comes to openness, we are committed to working with you to create a plan for openness. We believe openness has the best outcomes for everyone involved. We are more than happy to send letters and pictures and coordinate in-person visits. We are also very interested to discuss and explore anything else you might be interested in.

We hope this gives you a good idea of who we are and our commitment to you and your child.

With our best wishes,

David & Stephan