Hi! We are Ed and Holly, an energetic and compassionate couple from the San Francisco Bay Area. We can only imagine the difficult decision you are faced with, and respect the courage it takes to consider an adoption plan for your baby. We believe in open adoption and welcome a relationship with you should you be comfortable-we feel that there are never enough people that can love a child.

We both have dedicated our professional lives to teaching and counseling students and now have the resources so that Holly can be a full-time, stay-at-home Mommy when we start our family. We are grateful that all of our family members live nearby.

Again, we want to share our deepest gratitude for even considering us as adoptive parents to your baby, and we wish you the very best on your current journey.

About Us

Sharing a passion for helping children and contributing to our community led both of us into the field of public education. We then met through a mutual teacher friend at an overnight camping trip in 2000. Our first conversations were engaging, funny and thoughtful, and we haven’t stopped talking since! We discovered during our dating period that not only did we share the same values, but we also share a similar sense of humor. We got engaged in 2002 and then married in 2003 in Los Gatos, California amongst the redwood trees with our many family members and friends in attendance. It was a beautiful day, and we will never forget it.

We find that some of our strongest qualities? as a couple are our shared values,? our complementary, almost “yin yang” personalities and the way we encourage?and support each other through the great times and the challenging times, including pregnancies and miscarriages. Today, we can’t wait to become first-time parents through adoption. We have been readying our home so we will be prepared when a?child arrives. We are also modifying our work schedules so that Holly can be a stay-at- home mommy. We are so excited to welcome a child into our humble home and cannot wait to begin this next chapter!

Home Sweet Home

Just 15 minutes south of San Francisco, we?live in the suburban city of Burlingame in a?three bedroom two bathroom home, which we purchased about ten years ago. Our home was built in 1933 and is a Spanish bungalow. We?fell in love with this house the second we saw it because of its charm and character. Our future child will have his/her own bedroom, a separate playroom, a large backyard (with a great tree), and access to some of the best K-12 public schools and parks in the country. Because we are products of, and educators in, the public school system, we would want our child to attend public schools to benefit from the rich multicultural diversity of our area. We also live two blocks away from a wonderful street that has many delightful neighborhood restaurants and shops (including Preston’s, an old fashion ice creamery).

About Holly

I was born and raised in Northern California and my parents and younger sister have always provided a very loving support?system for me. I remained in the Bay Area?for college (Art History) and graduate school (Multicultural Education) and then began teaching. I have been an elementary school teacher for over eighteen years, and I have loved being able to be part of so many children’s lives. In 2001, I implemented a new Art program at the elementary school where I teach. What I find most fulfilling in my job is helping students connect to the works of so many great artists and encouraging them to find their voices through art. I can’t wait to share this love of art with our child!

In my personal life, I love reading, working on our bungalow, going to a new restaurant with Ed and our friends, watching a great mystery and spending time with my two nieces. I also love trying new physical activities, and recently Ed and I figured out we like kayaking together! We also enjoy traveling, and in fact we just spent a few weeks in Europe this summer.

I have always wanted to be a mother and after so many years of nurturing my students I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity for Ed and I to have our own child to take to?the park, discover the animals at the zoo, read one of my many picture books and watch in delight as our child makes first discoveries. I cannot wait to be a mother, from the simple pleasures of snuggling our baby to sharing our love of travel with a little one to providing all of the love and encouragement he/she needs to thrive throughout life.

About Ed

I was born to immigrant parents from the Philippines, but I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area my whole life. I learned from?my parents how to work hard and love unconditionally. I started my career teaching 5th and 6th graders for ten years. After receiving a master’s degree?in Education, I returned to my old high school, Hillsdale High, in 2008 and am now a counselor for second language learners, special education and other underserved students. I am a people person and a true extrovert. Always seeking ways to fight social justice, I am passionate about helping people through education. I am proud of my Filipino heritage and encourage my students, through several student clubs at our school.

On my own time, I enjoy reading historical fiction, playing basketball, fishing, snowboarding, running, rooting for my beloved Giants, Warriors, and 49ers, and spending time with family and friends. Oh, by the way, I love to eat. The only time I turned down food was because I didn’t understand the question. I am honored to?be the godfather to three awesome kids (Skye-14, Joseph-10 and Skye-4) from three close families. As dedicated as I am to my students and my community, I promise to be an even more active and attentive father to my own child sharing my passion and supporting him/her to find their true spirit. ?I pray every night to one day become a father and can’t wait to celebrate life with my future child and loving wife.

Our Large and Loving Families

Since we value family so much, we are grateful that all of them live nearby and will be actively involved in our child’s life. Ed’s parents and brother’s family live a few minutes away from our home. Ed’s brother’s wife, Krista, an adoptee herself, has been very helpful and supportive throughout our adoption process and will be a wonderful resource for our son/daughter. Ed also has several aunts, uncles and cousins in the area. Holly’s parents and sister’s family (including two cousins to our future child) live in the Bay Area too. We are all very close and are in constant communication with one another, discussing our successes in our careers, our recent travels or our current struggles. As we work together through the challenges of life, including our miscarriages, we have become even closer as a family. All of our family and friends are extremely supportive of us becoming first- time parents through adoption-we all even attended an educational conference on adoption together-and can’t wait to welcome a new addition to our large and loving family.

Our Stay at Home Parenting Plan

Making adoption a priority in our lives, Holly has chosen to reduce her teaching responsibilities and currently has a part time job teaching art to all grades at her elementary school. Once we are blessed with the presence of a child in our family, we will both take time off from our jobs to bond as a family, and Holly will be a stay-at- home mother to our child. Should this stay-at-home mommying plan change (or we need a much deserved date night), we are grateful that our family members live nearby and happily want to provide care to our son or daughter.

Thank You

We appreciate you taking the time to get to know us and considering us as potential parents to your baby. We are so excited with the possibility of becoming parents! If you’d like to learn more about us and our dreams of starting a family, we encourage you to contact us through Adoption Connection by texting/phoning 415-355-4635 or emailing families@adoptionconnection.org. Though we have not been in your position, we are empathetic to your experience, and we hope you are able to find peace and comfort in your decision.