Donald and Colleen

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From Us to You

Hi,

We are Colleen and Don and along with our two-year-old daughter, Quinn (who is currently busy giving “checkups” to our pets,) and we are so happy to meet you! We want you to know that if we are chosen to be your child’s parents, above all else, they will be loved and cherished. We are excited about the prospect of Quinn becoming a big sister and for the chance to raise a second child in our home which is full of pets, laughter, adventure, and love.

We’re sure that you have read many letters and have sifted through tons of information in order to make the best decision for you and your baby. We haven’t met one another, and we realize that you are reading this while trying to imagine entrusting your most precious gift with people you don’t know yet. We cannot begin to comprehend just how difficult of a decision this is for you but we hope that reading our profile eases some of your concerns and answers some of your questions.

We promise your child will be loved. We will raise your child to the best of our abilities and give them every opportunity to live out their dreams, whatever those dreams may be. We promise to accept you with open arms and make you as much a part of our family as you would like to be.  We promise your child will know how much you love them.

We will always be there for you. We will always respect you and never judge you for the difficult decision that you have made. Entrusting us with your precious baby is a gift and an honor that will never be taken for granted. Our home and our hearts will always be open to you! Thank you for opening your heart to us.

Colleen and Don

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

When we got married we always envisioned having multiple children. We both grew up with siblings whom we love and have great relationships with. Like many couples, we unfortunately struggle with infertility. We went through numerous rounds of IVF to start our family and were lucky enough to become pregnant with our daughter, Quinn. We knew after having her that we wanted another child, but after another failed round of IVF, we decided that it was time to stop and look at other options that were a better fit to grow our family.

Colleen has numerous friends who have adopted and seeing their amazing families only reassured us that we needed to pursue this path. We know that we have more love to give and that we can love another child the same amount that we love our daughter. Our family and friends are very accepting and excited about the prospect of us adopting. Our moms would love nothing more than another grandchild to love and spoil. Our siblings also love being aunts and uncles, so having another child in the family would bring them great joy.

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About Colleen, by Donald

Colleen is a special woman and being able to describe her in one paragraph is difficult! First, she is a devoted mother to our two-year-old daughter, Quinn. As I write, Quinn is cuddled by Colleen’s side on the sofa and they are making animal sounds – “what does an elephant say?” Our daughter is her first priority, and with good-humored but fierce love, Colleen is raising our daughter to be as independent and caring as she is.

If I had to pick five qualities that define who she is, they would be: compassionate, thoughtful, patient, adventurous, and loyal. Colleen is one of the most compassionate individuals that I have ever met, and she proves it daily in her career by taking care of animals in need. She is also thoughtful and demonstrates this all the time by putting the needs of others before her own. Our lives are very hectic; in addition to raising our daughter Quinn, we both have professional obligations and pets at home that need to be tended to. No matter how busy the day is, Colleen always remains patient; she takes care of her work obligations while still remaining focused on her family. Colleen skis, scuba dives, skydives, and has traveled the world, she is more adventurous than me! Quinn is already a fan of kayaking on the Potomac! Finally, I am very fortunate to be married to a woman who is loyal and is always there to support me throughout the ups and downs of life.

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About Don, by Colleen

This man makes me laugh. Seriously…laugh out loud, snort liquid out my nose, giant belly laughs. Don’s ability to make me laugh is the reason he got a second and then a third date. When most people meet him he is quiet at first and seems to be studying everyone and everything. I’m not sure why, but when we had our first date he was more open with me, probably because we were talking about something we both loved, our dogs. He was goofy and just made me laugh. Through a year and half of dating, 7 years of marriage, losing both of our dads, the ups and downs of life, navigating our journey of infertility, the birth of our daughter, and parenthood he has continued to make me laugh.

Don is also the best dad. I knew he was good with animals when we got married, but he had no real experience with kids before we met. While I have multiple nephews, Don didn’t have much exposure or experience with babies or kids prior to having our daughter. From the day our daughter was born she has had him wrapped around her tiny finger. He adores our little girl. From changing diapers and giving bottles when she was tiny to now having tea parties with her and teaching her to ride her tricycle he is such an involved dad. I know that he will be the same with a new baby because he is so excited to be a dad.

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Lifestyle

We are both low maintenance and prefer spending time at home or with a few close friends to going out. Because neither of us has a traditional 9-5 job we make every effort when we are off together to spend time together as a family. We enjoy spending time outdoors and will often go hiking or kayaking during the day. At night we have pizza and movie nights on the couch. Quinn’s favorite pizza is currently cheese or sausage, and she will pull the sausage off the entire pizza first if we let her! Since Quinn is two, movie nights currently include a lot of Disney movies, and “Finding Nemo” is the current favorite. If we are watching a movie after Quinn goes to bed, it is often the latest blockbuster and we have been waiting rather impatiently for the new “Top Gun” to come out.

We both love spending time with our daughter and Don built her a swing set so we can spend time in our yard. We are hoping to add a bigger playset this summer so Quinn and your child can enjoy it for years to come. We frequently barbeque during the summer so we are out in the yard letting Quinn play, our pets run around and just spending time together.

Colleen loves to travel and with family and friends on both sides of the United States, we also make traveling to spend time with everyone a priority. Most often when traveling we are going to see Colleen’s family and the friends she grew up with in Southern California, Don’s family in New York, Colleen’s sister in upstate New York, or various friends in New York and Colorado.

Because of our work schedules, Aldana, our au pair who lives with us helps take care of Quinn and she has become part of our family in every sense of the word. She is like an older sister to Quinn and an adult daughter to us. We love having the ability to host an international au pair in our home as it has the added benefit of allowing our family exposure to another culture and language. At just 3 years old Quinn understands a lot of Portuguese. Since Colleen is from Southern California and grew up learning Spanish and still speaks some. We are excited that Aldana also speaks Spanish so that Quinn is exposed to Spanish very early on (and Colleen can also brush up on her Spanish).

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Our Pets

Let’s just say our life is a little bit like a zoo. Since Colleen is a veterinarian and Don also loves animals it seems our menagerie is always growing. Currently, we have 4 dogs, 3 cats, 5 reptiles, and we technically own two goats who live on a friend’s farm. Our dogs are Zeke (the sweetest Yellow Lab), Mattie (our bossy Shih Tzu girl), Kipper (the naughty Chihuahua), and Fin (our very needy and very sweet mutt). Then we have our cats Angus, Astro, and Apple who are constantly getting into trouble and racing around the house. Finally, the reptiles- not to worry they are Sulcata tortoises and box turtles. The tortoises are our giants, Maverick and Goose, and then Charlie who is quickly catching up in size. The turtles are Ted and MRI. And lastly, the goats are Cloud and Sprout. Although we don’t see them as often as we like because they live an hour away, they always remember us when we do visit. All of the animals get along well and have been so loving and patient with our daughter.

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Home & Neighborhood

We live in a great neighborhood with lots of diversity and lots of kids. Our neighbors are wonderful, and we all really look out for each other. The neighborhood itself is very diverse and multicultural and we have gradually become friends with a few of our neighbors including a family from Greece next door and an Iranian family across the street.

Our house is a semi-open concept with the ability to hear and see what’s going on throughout each floor. The main floor has 3 bedrooms. Quinn has her own room and when a new baby joins the family, the 3rd room will be the baby’s nursery. We have a large, finished basement that also has two bedrooms. One is our au pair’s room and the other is storage The rest of the basement serves as a workout space and our TV room.

There is an elementary school 3 houses away on our street that will likely be where our kids go to school. Additionally, there is a small park with a pond and a playground a few blocks away. The pond is great for trying to find frogs and turtles. Near our home is also a large lake with a 4-mile walking trail around it where we take Quinn to go on “adventures” and see if we can spot wildlife like deer and bald eagles. We also have a neighborhood pool that we belonged to for the first time last summer so Quinn could make friends and have fun.

Since having Quinn, we have been able to meet more families in our neighborhood with children. Our neighborhood has lots of kids and we are quickly coming to realize everyone knows everyone. We have friends 3 houses away who have children older than Quinn who treat her as their little sister. We recently found out Don has a coworker only a few streets away who has a son slightly younger than Quinn and we have started having play dates with him. We also both have numerous coworkers with kids the same age as Quinn that we are hoping to start having more playdates with now that all the adults are vaccinated for Covid.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

As Caucasian middle-class Americans, it is difficult to know how race and culture can affect an individual with different backgrounds than our own. Given the current climate, it has been something we have given a lot of thought to. We are both committed to learning all we can about your child’s culture and race. We are lucky to have friends of many races and cultures and because of this, we understand that racial and cultural identity is something we will need to help your child develop as they age.  We know we may make mistakes and that having a racially diverse family will not always be easy but we are committed to learning and growing.  We are lucky to live in an area outside of a diverse city and we are both from areas where there is lots of cultural diversity and many opportunities to learn. We are committed to talking about race and culture in our family. We feel lucky to have the ability and support of our family and friends, some of whom have also adopted children of different races or ethnicities who can help us in our journey.

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Our Families

Colleen: I am the middle child of 3 and am happy to say I am very close to my family. Sadly my dad passed away several years ago and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him. I am super close to my mom and we talk and Facetime at least a few times a week since she is in California. My older sister and her husband are both English Professors and have 3 boys, ages 18, 15, and 9 who live in Upstate New York. My younger brother does “something with computers” and my sister-in-law is a librarian at a university. They have 2 boys, ages 13 and 10, and also live in California close to my mom which makes visiting and seeing everyone so much fun. I love being an aunt to my nephews. Aside from my immediate family, I have a huge network of very close friends who I think of as family and who consider themselves aunts and uncles to our daughter. I have known two of my closest friends, Melinda and Maria, since 1st grade and I couldn’t imagine life without them. Aside from the friends I grew up with, I am also close with the “Rossies” my veterinary school friends who I try to see as often as possible and go on adventures with all over the country and world.

Don: I am the oldest of 2 children. I am also close to my family. My dad also passed away a few years ago and he would have loved having grandchildren. My mom and sister live in Long Island, New York. Aside from these past 2 years with Covid, we usually see them regularly. My mom is retired and loves to come and help us with Quinn when Aldana, our au pair, is on vacation or anytime she wants to visit. My sister is an accountant. I have several very close friends from graduate school who I speak to regularly as well as the friends I work with in law enforcement.

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Family Traditions

We both love holidays and the traditions we have developed since getting married in 2015 are centered around family both our own small family and our extended family. Every summer we take a week-long vacation to the beach where we can unwind and spend time with each other and this coming summer we will be joined by Colleen’s mom, sister, brother, and their families. We have also been joining a group of Colleen’s friends at a lake house in upstate New York every summer for a long weekend.

Spending the holidays with family is also very important to us. We try to rotate between both of our families or at least have both of our moms come to us. Don loves Thanksgiving, especially the food! Even when it was just the 2 of us, before we had Quinn, he would always buy a big turkey and makes all the sides to go with it. One year when Colleen was visiting her family for Thanksgiving and Don was unable to go, he still made a turkey and took a picture of all the dogs sitting at the dinner table around the turkey. We joke that one of Don’s Thanksgiving traditions is forgetting to remove the bag of turkey giblets before cooking the turkey – it happened two years in a row! Colleen has since taken over making the turkey!

Since having our daughter, we started a Christmas tradition of taking a Christmas photo with her and the dogs dressed up to send to our friends and family. Don is a hopeless romantic and always makes Valentine’s Day a big celebration for everyone; buying flowers, chocolates and gifts for Colleen, our daughter, and even our au pair. For birthdays we try and take the day off of work so we can all spend the day together going to lunch, making dinner for each other and of course having cake and opening presents.

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Our Promise to You

We promise your child will be loved. We will raise your child to the best of our abilities and give them every opportunity to live out their dreams, whatever those dreams may be. We promise to accept you with open arms and make you as much a part of our family as you would like to be.  We promise your child will know how much you love them.