Chad and Melissa

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From Us to You

You are so amazing and so brave for even being here, and considering this incredibly tough decision. We can only imagine how it must feel to choose a family to raise your baby. We would love to meet you and promise that above all, your baby will be cherished and loved, will be safe, and will know that you loved them more than anything.

Our names are Melissa and Chad and we met at a wakeboarding competition when we were 18 years old, and now have been together since 2009 and married in 2014! We have traveled the world together, experienced the most beautiful places, and met some amazing people. We had always talked about adopting at some point, and on one of our trips, Melissa visited an orphanage in Tanzania which helped ignite a drive to one day be able to provide a safe and loving home for a little one.

Several years ago, we started trying to have a baby and ultimately went through a tough journey with IVF and eventually were blessed with our son, Kai. He is now a very active, happy, and much loved 2-year-old. We both grew up with siblings and know what an amazing and unique relationship that is, and we want that for Kai, and for your little one. We are also at a point in our lives and careers where adoption is a possibility. Chad is a Director of Revenue and Melissa is a Physician Assistant. We work hard, but always make our family the priority. Every moment we spend with Kai we make sure he is heard, valued, and cared for, and it will be no different for your baby. We will make him or her one of our own.

To help you imagine what life would be like for your little one, our typical day starts with Melissa making breakfast for Kai, maybe some scrambled eggs or pancakes. We often read several books, and point out the animals, saying their names and the sounds they make. On a work day, Kai will either go to Grandma’s house, where he will play with the chickens, run around in the large grassy yard, play inside with the many toys and books sprawled around Grandma’s warm living room; or he may go to daycare, which is very loving and educational, both Spanish and English are spoken regularly to expose the children to multiple languages, each activity is built to promote both academic and emotional growth. They post pictures throughout the day to an app so we know what he is doing every moment of the day, what he eats, and how he slept. On a non-work day, we take Kai to the local pool, parks, aquarium, zoo, farm, or museum. We always find some fun activity to pique his imagination and allow him to experience his world to the fullest.

Every evening we eat dinner together and play as a family before reading books, telling stories, and singing songs for bedtime. We always tell him we love him because we believe those words are so important to hear on a regular basis. Your baby will know they are loved, will have every opportunity we can offer them, and will be encouraged to love others and have confidence in themselves. Most importantly, be assured that we will tell your baby from the beginning who you are. They will know their birth story and how you sacrificed so much for their future.

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

Melissa’s first exposure to adoption was when she was on a medical mission trip to Tanzania in 2012 and visited a local orphanage. There was a small but clean room with multiple babies crawling around on the ground. Melissa picked up the sweetest little girl who gave her a big smile and wrapped her tiny little fingers around Melissa’s. Even then, Melissa knew that someday she wanted to be able to provide a home for a little one. Chad had also always wanted someday to adopt and when we got married we decided we wanted this together and planned to look into it when it was financially feasible.

After being married for several years we started trying to have a baby and were unsuccessful on our own, so after a tough journey with infertility treatments, we ultimately were blessed with our son Kai through IVF. He is now 2 years old and absolutely loves other children. We have so much love in our hearts when we see him playing with other kids. We can see what true joy he has interacting with them. We both have siblings and so many of our cherished childhood memories include those with our siblings, making up games and secret languages together, getting into childhood mischief, and covering for each other. We really want our children to experience that close-knit, unbreakable relationship of a sibling.

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About Melissa, from Chad

Melissa is the most kindhearted and empathetic person I have ever met. I could not imagine, nor would I want to imagine, my life with anyone else. She has a spirit for adventure. We have traveled to many different places and have never had a bad time. Melissa is also incredibly smart. She has worked hard to acquire a great job that allows her to provide a comfortable lifestyle for our family.

Melissa is a great mother; Kai is lucky to have her. She puts the needs of Kai above her own without a second thought or complaint. It is easy to tell that Kai absolutely loves his mom. Melissa is great at teaching him new things and makes sure he is always learning new words and having new experiences.

It is worth noting that I am not a great writer, so my words likely do not adequately express how much I truly love Melissa, and how much I think of her. She is an amazing woman and is proving to be an incredible mother. Kai and I are lucky she is in our lives, and I know her heart is open and has room for another child.

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About Chad, from Melissa

Chad is the love of my life and the kind of person that you can feel safe with. He is steady in a storm and no matter what happens, you know he will be there with you and will get you home safe. He is very calm, level-headed, smart, and thinks through situations thoroughly. He also never misses an opportunity for a good joke. Chad is very active and loves hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and woodworking. He works hard to provide for our family and be a good influence on our son.

The most amazing thing was watching Chad become a father and seeing how he loves our son unconditionally. He gives Kai focused attention and loves reading to him and teaching him new things. My heart melts when I watch them chasing each other around the house, ending in tickles and giggles, or him tossing Kai into the air so he can “fly”, which is his favorite thing! Chad has big dreams and encourages us to have big dreams too, and I know one of those big dreams is to have another child join our family.

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How We Met

Melissa had just turned 18 and was with her dad on the lake wakeboarding one early morning when she looked over at the next boat driving by. There was a super cute boy with long dark curly hair, which he flipped out of his eyes when he looked over and smiled right before throwing a big flip… and then they were gone. Three months later while at a wakeboarding competition, a man came up to Melissa’s dad and started a conversation. It just happened to be that cute boy’s dad! Our dads introduced us and for the next 4 years, we would hang out occasionally, and go on a few dates but mostly we went wakeboarding together whenever we could. Eventually, we started officially dating, moved in together, bought a house and adopted a little Shar Pei puppy named Lily, and eventually got married! We have now been married for over 8 years!

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Lifestyle

We believe in working hard but also playing hard and making our family the priority. We both work with the goal of reaching financial security that will allow us the freedom to travel and experience everything this world has to offer. We are very active and love taking part in watersports. We spend many summer weekend days on Melissa’s parents’ boat lounging in the sun, riding on the tube, or wake surfing. When we aren’t on the water, we go hiking through the many trails near us, or go rock climbing, and biking. We go camping frequently and have a new camping trailer. This makes it more comfortable for the little ones to have a safe and warm place to sleep, while still being able to explore the wild, dig in the dirt, climb the rocks, and see all the wildlife. We have a close-knit group of friends and family with young kids who love adventuring with us so we often have a tribe to explore with! We have also done quite a bit of international traveling and once the kids are old enough to enjoy this, we hope to expose them to this lifestyle as well, to allow them to learn through the great diversity of nature, animals, and cultures.

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Vacations & Leisure Time

We love to travel and have gone on many adventures together, from hiking through Chile and Argentina, to rock climbing in Thailand, surfing in Nicaragua, exploring the back roads of New Zealand, and road-tripping through the beautiful highlands of Scotland. These trips have only piqued our curiosity about the vast diversity and variety of cultures our beautiful planet has to offer! We love the outdoors and spending time in the mountains and on the lakes, camping, hiking, and biking. With having a baby during a pandemic, our international travels have slowed and we have been adventuring closer to home for now with hopes of bigger trips to come once the children are old enough. We have taken Kai to Kauai, Hawaii to swim with the turtles and play in the sand, road-tripped through Idaho checking out the natural hot springs along the way, and hiked through the many national parks our state has to offer!

When not traveling we spend our time together, going on walks, visiting the family, meeting the animals at the local farms, and watching movies.

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Home & Neighborhood

We live in a single-level home with 3 bedrooms on a quiet street. Our living room has an entertainment center full of toys and kids’ books, a TV, and a large wrap-around comfy couch. We like to spend time in our sunroom, where our old-fashioned piano is. Chad often plays while Kai and Melissa dance. Outside, we have a covered porch with a big fenced-in grassy backyard with a shed for Chad’s tools and woodworking. There is also a kids’ play set made by Chad’s dad with a rock climbing wall, rope ladder, and slide.

There is minimal traffic on our street, and our neighbors are very friendly and watch out for each other. Within a 5-minute walk, there is a senior center/community center with a great park that holds a pickleball court, swings, slides, areas to climb on, and an outdoor fitness center. Another 5-minute walk past there is another park with slides and a dog park. We frequent these parks several times each week and there are at least 5 other parks within a 10-15 minute drive, as well as a zoo, several pools, duck ponds, splash pads, and an aviary. There is a lot of diversity within our neighborhood, and several refugee programs close by with kids of many different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We understand that it is so very important to acknowledge and understand the challenges that a child may encounter and have to overcome when being adopted by a family of a different race or culture. We will foster an open environment where your child will feel comfortable bringing their questions and feelings to us. Even if we are not immediately able to provide the right answers, we will be willing and able to find them. We are absolutely ready to do that. If we are blessed with a child of a different race or culture we will do everything we can to expose them to their own culture and see people who look like them on a regular basis by putting them in play groups or sporting groups with children of similar ethnicities. We will make sure they see themselves in the books on our shelves and art on our walls, teach them about the leaders in their cultural communities, and incorporate aspects of their culture into our own traditions. Melissa comes from a mixed race family, her father is Japanese and her mother is White, and we have learned to blend our traditions to incorporate both cultures into our family.

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Our Families & Friends

Both of our families, including our parents, Chad’s sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even some great grandmothers, live nearby. They are very involved in Kai’s life and are all very supportive of our dream to adopt and have expressed without reservations that they would love and welcome whole heartedly a baby into the family. Melissa is the youngest of 3, and has a brother and a half-sister. Chad is the middle child and has an older brother and a younger sister. We hang out regularly with Chad’s sister and both Melissa and Chad’s cousins as our core group of friends and many of them have young children as well. It is always fun to get the little cousins together to play.

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Our Relationship with You

We are overwhelmed with love and gratitude. We imagine seeing your eyes in the eyes of your sweet baby and know that you are very much a part of who your little one will become, even if you choose for them to grow up in our arms. We can imagine feeling their tiny little heart beat against ours when we hold them close, and we will know that this heart beat came from you. We feel unmeasurable appreciation that you have trusted us raise your sweet child.

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Family Traditions

Typically around Christmas we have 3 extended party families, one with Chad’s dad’s family, one with Chad’s mom’s family and one with Melissa’s dad’s family who all live close by, including multiple aunts, uncles, and cousins. At these parties we often play games, watch the little kids running around together, do a gift exchange, and eat a large dinner together. We typically spend Christmas Eve with Chad’s parents, sister and brother, eating a large dinner, playing games, and opening our matching pajamas. We sleep over and in the morning we eat breakfast together and open presents. Later that day, we go to Melissa’s parents’ house, along with her brother and grandmother, to have dinner and open more presents, then spend the next day playing in the snow.

Thanksgiving is often spent having brunch with Chad’s parents and sister, and then dinner with Melissa’s extended family. Easter is hosted at our house and we hide eggs around our backyard and have a nice brunch. On the 4th of July we often spend time with Chad’s family at the local rodeo then watch the fireworks. We would also love to learn more about your traditions and culture so we can incorporate those into our own traditions!

On a more day to day basis we spend every Saturday morning together eating breakfast and reading books together before planning a fun family activity. Typically on Wednesday evenings we go to the pool to go swimming. Every night we do baby bath time together, talk about our days, and then run around the house playing tag or “airplane” and then read books together before putting Kai to bed.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to keep your baby safe and also encourage them to experience life to the fullest, to take risks and work hard. We promise to love them fiercely as our own and to teach them to love, trust and forgive. We promise to accept them as they are and encourage them to be the best versions of themselves. We promise to never take your sacrifice for granted. We will raise them to know how you love them and want the world for them.

Whether our paths join through adoption or not, we wish all good things for you going forward.