Hi, we’re Allison and Ethan, a happily married couple from Alameda, an island community in San Francisco Bay. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us!

We are incredibly excited to become parents and create a family filled with unconditional love and understanding. We are lucky to have a wonderful and loving relationship, great jobs that bring us financial stability with flexible schedules, and a beautiful home in a neighborhood filled with families.

We know the love at the heart of adoption. Eleven years ago Allison started mentoring a young girl named Jessica, who was just 12 at the time and had been informally adopted by an aunt. Watching Jessica grow up, we have seen the love and caring of adoption played out every day.

We don’t know what you’re feeling right now, but we respect your decision to consider adoption, and know that you are acting out of the deepest love for your child. Whether or not you end up choosing us to raise your baby, we admire the courage you are showing in seeking out adoptive parents who will love and care for your child.

The Two of Us

We met 13 years ago in sea kayaks in the middle of San Francisco Bay. We both love outdoor activities and had gone on a group kayaking trip, and about halfway through Ethan paddled over to Allison’s kayak. She laughed at his jokes and a romance was born!

We married five years ago in a Redwood grove high in the Oakland/Berkeley hills. Our extended families were included in the ceremony, and afterward we had a sunny, fun reception filled with great food, the laughter of our friends, and even some tossing around a toy football (Ethan in his suit, Allison in her wedding gown).

After we got married, we tried to conceive, but that didn’t happen, and instead we turned to adoption, knowing that we will provide unconditional love and nurturing for our child. We are so excited for our future as parents!

Allison works from our home. She is a computer programmer and math whiz who works on studies testing how well new medicines work. Ethan works at the University of California, where he tries to get students involved in public service. In his spare time, he also writes, and has published two books. Recently he finished a children’s novel. It’s not published yet, but stay tuned. Maybe someday he can read it to our child!

We are each other’s best friends. We share everything about our lives, from our big plans to the news of how each day went, whether good or bad. We love cooking dinner together (which really means Allison cooks and Ethan does what he can to help). We go for hikes through the woods or walks through the city. We laugh a lot – funny movies and TV shows are a favorite way to spend the evening. We pet our dog Bella so much that sometimes she wants to be left alone! And we talk about how we want to love and nurture our child together, watching him or her grow and learn and thrive.

Allison, by Ethan

How would I describe Allison? She loves chocolate and rainy days and dogs and cooking. She bakes the most delicious pies I’ve ever tasted. She loves baseball as much as I do. She likes to go for long walks in cities, or to just lie on a beach. She loves going out to dinner, and she always gets popcorn at the movies

(and she knows that I will always eat a lot of it). She loves her hometown of Chicago, but she also appreciates how beautiful California is.

If I had to sum up Allison in a few words, I would say kind, good-hearted, down-to-earth. She is also one of the smartest people I have ever known, but she is never snooty. Sometimes she is girlish and silly, which I love. She has a laugh and smile that bring joy to my heart. Sometimes she will just start talking about something that we had been talking about hours before, and then I am completely lost and when I ask her what she is talking about, she will laugh and tell me. I think she knows there is no way I could have known what she was referring to. I love those moments.

I have a teenage daughter, Ellie, who lives with her mother on the East Coast, and whom we love very much.  Allison is so wonderful with Ellie – I can’t even describe how grateful I am for their relationship. Allison has always showed love and affection and kindness for Ellie. She has laughed with Ellie and played with her and showed her how to make a pizza. I have seen Allison show so much love and patience for Jessica, her mentee, going to her softball games or taking her to Harry Potter and Twilight movies or just talking through tough times.

Allison will make a fantastic mother. I can already see her showing our baby the beauty of a flower or a tree, teaching our toddler how to pet a dog, and helping two little hands roll out our child’s first pie crust!

Ethan, by Allison

Ethan has kind eyes and old-fashioned values.  The most important things to him are family and being a good, kind person. He brings me flowers for nothing and makes me feel safe and loved like no one ever has. He loves being outdoors, and has introduced me to camping and hiking in Yosemite, swimming in alpine lakes and climbing peaks I never thought I could climb. He adores Oregon, where he grew up, and always cheers for the Oregon Ducks and the Cincinnati Reds. I believe that animals can be the best judges of character, and my dog adored Ethan the first moment they met.

Ethan is one of the most loving, smart, positive-thinking, glass half-full individuals I have ever met. He makes me feel loved in little ways that mean so much: He left a secret note for me on our wedding day, and he emails from his office just to say I love you. If I have a bad day, he’s always there to hold me and then I know that everything will be OK.

I know he will be a wonderful father to our child because he is an amazing father to Ellie. When she was younger they would make forts in our living room and play at the playground for hours (I think Ethan enjoyed it as much as Ellie!).  I still remember Ellie giggling forever at his goofy jokes or silly sayings. And when they got off the phone with each other, both would yell “Love you more than you love me” so loud I think maybe the neighbors heard it too.

Ethan is looking so forward to sharing his love and joy with our child.  I can already see him pushing a stroller through our neighborhood and singing a lullaby while he is rocking our baby to sleep. As our child grows up, he will help our little one across the monkey bars, play Chutes and Ladders on the living room floor, and be the best teacher ever for how to throw a baseball or shoot a basketball.

The Place We Call Home

We live in Alameda, an island community in San Francisco Bay that has a small-town feel, but is also close to the excitement of San Francisco and Oakland. We bought our home here a little more than a year ago because we knew it would be a wonderful place to raise our child. We have a spare bedroom that we can’t wait to turn into a nursery and a grassy backyard perfect for running and playing. We will play games in our living room and curl up on our big cushy couch to read children’s books. Ethan is Christian and Allison is Jewish, and every year at the holidays we put up a Christmas Tree and light the Menorah. We’ll do both with our child, and explore other cultural and religious traditions as well.

Our neighborhood is filled with beautiful homes and big trees. There are lots of small playgrounds where our child can play on swings, slides and in sand boxes. We’ll go to the public library near our house for picture books from the great kids’ section. We’ll go for walks along the canals that run through our neighborhood and point out the ducks, seagulls and geese. When it’s time for school, we’ll walk or ride bikes to the great elementary school right near our house. Alameda offers so much for kids. There’s a beach that’s often filled with families, a downtown with kid-friendly restaurants and shops, and the longest Fourth of July parade anywhere in the country.

Family and Friends

Our child will be part of a circle of family and friends that already enriches our lives, and will welcome our child with open and loving arms. Allison’s mom and her brother and his wife live about an hour away, and we’ll take our child there for big family meals that Allison’s mom loves to prepare. We will also go on family vacations to Ohio, where Allison has another brother, and to South Dakota, where Ethan’s brother and his wife live in a house with four acres of land and a big patch of woods that will be a perfect play spot for our child. And our two nephews from South Dakota can’t wait to have a new cousin.

Our child will also have lots of fun with Ethan’s daughter Ellie, who lives with her mom on the East Coast and who will make a great big sister! She is a wonderful, caring girl who loves playing with little kids. Ellie has known Allison since she was just a toddler, and the three of us have had so much fun together. We have taken Ellie boogie boarding at the beach, skiing at Lake Tahoe and to the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, and we can’t wait for more family vacations with our baby and Ellie!

And then there is our four-footed family member, our sweet dog Bella, whom we rescued from a shelter almost five years ago. Allison has always been a dog lover, and Bella now has Ethan wrapped around her paw (though he won’t admit it if you ask him). Bella is fantastic with kids, and our child will learn what a great friend a dog can be.

We also have a big diverse circle of friends that includes families with little kids. Our child will have plenty of play dates!

Thank You for Reading

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us, our marriage, and our dreams of parenting. More than anything else, we promise to provide your child with a warm, safe, caring home, and with unconditional love and acceptance. We promise to nurture your baby’s young life and ensure that he or she grows into a compassionate, capable adult who will have every opportunity to fulfill the unlimited and amazing potential that is unique to him or her.

We also want to develop whatever ongoing relationship feels comfortable for you. We believe in the honesty and importance of open adoption, but we will also respect whatever boundaries you wish to set as the birth mother.

We hope to hear from you so that we can learn more about each other. Feel free to contact our adoption agency, Adoption Connection, at families@adoptionconnection.org or by calling 1-800-972-9225 or texting 415-355-4636.  No matter what decision you make, we know it will be based on love, caring and concern for your precious child.