Dustin and Wilson

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From Us to You

Dear Expectant Parent,

Your journey is unique to you, and we are grateful that your strength and compassion for yourself and your child have brought you here. We hope adoption can be a beautiful partnership that will fulfill our dream of growing our family and give you and your child a joyful and peaceful life.

We’re excited we may have the chance to get to know you! If we end up walking down this path together, we look forward to sharing updates with you as your child grows up, if that matches your preferences. We will take your lead in how you want us to talk to your child about you. You will always be an essential part of the story we tell them about their birth and how they came to their life with us. We want to know you so that we are ready to be the storytellers, describing your journey, your personality, your life, and your love.

While falling in love and building a life together, our shared dream of starting a family has always been our guiding light. As gay men we have not always known exactly what path we would take to build a family, but we both have always known that children would be in our future. We have found joy and fun in our work and hobbies, but we are ready to devote our lives to something much more meaningful: opening our hearts and lives to a baby that we know will be the center of our world. We have a loving and secure partnership that we know will create a safe home for a child. We also have an extended network of family and friends that will support us and your child and are incredibly excited to welcome a new addition to the family. Our families are very important to us, and we want to extend those connections and love to a child. We want to support a child in learning about the world, developing their personality, and finding happiness.

Thank you for considering us. We know that the choices you are making are difficult for many reasons. No matter what decisions you make for you and your child, we’re grateful that you took some time to get to know us.

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Our Favorite Hobbies

We enjoy supporting our favorite soccer team, Liverpool Football Club. We won a trip to Ireland in a trivia contest and hopped over to Liverpool from Dublin to see our first game in person!

We also love to explore new places. We got engaged in Sintra, Portugal! Dustin spent a year teaching English in Taiwan and we want to visit there as a family in the future.

Back at home, we like to watch movies and with so many options, we’ve started drawing a random movie from a bowl so that we’re always trying something new!

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Our Lifestyle

We value our family time at home. Dustin usually makes dinner, typically healthy foods unless we’re in the mood for pizza. We eat as a family and spend the evenings watching our favorite TV shows or playing board games. We love family movie nights and are excited to share our favorites with your child!

We try to exercise regularly, with Dustin especially enjoying working out at home or at the gym. Wilson can often be found reading a book on quiet nights. We work from home, which gives us flexibility to have more family time, and we expect that will mean we can take care of your child (with Dustin’s mom’s help) at home rather than needing daycare or a nanny.

On the weekends we often watch Liverpool games, our favorite soccer team. We love to go hiking or take our dog to the park. Going to the movie theater is always a fun treat. About once a month we go to Austin to see friends or go to a concert, play, or museum. We also plan longer weekend trips to drive somewhere new and explore.

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Meet Dustin, by Wilson

Dustin is confident, intelligent, respectful, and loyal. He makes a genuine connection with everyone he meets, whether starting conversations with strangers or making everyone laugh as the life of a party. He is competitive at heart, having spent so much of his life excelling as an athlete. He isn’t afraid to stand up for what he believes in, passionate about politics, movies, soccer, and above all else a lifelong learner. He fills our life with joy, planning trips and fun nights at home. He pushes us to be grateful and enjoy the little moments that really matter.

Dustin loves fiercely and with so much loyalty. As a father he will be a protector for your child that helps them avoid danger but still encourages curiosity and exploration. Children are always drawn to him, seeing his joyful inner child. He always speaks to them with honesty and respect, never disregarding their perspective or “babying” them. I can’t wait to see him as a father!

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Meet Wilson, by Dustin

If we get the opportunity to meet, you will sit across from Wilson, a kind, intelligent, engaging person I am proud to call my partner. I say “partner” because that is truly what he is; he is what helps me navigate this world, and I can’t wait to embark on fatherhood with him.

Wilson has the perfect balance of intellect and curiosity. He was valedictorian of his high school, graduated college in three years (I was lucky to finish in 4), and yet he has a warmth to him that most people of this type don’t have. He is someone who wants to see “justice,” someone who has a strong sense of right and wrong and uses that to guide his opinions on work, politics, and the world around him. He constantly wants to put his best out into the world, and will always be a consistent provider for our family. We both feel it is important to take stock of what you have and give thanks for the people around you who helped make that happen. I am forever grateful for my husband.

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We Love Where We Live

We live in a safe, quiet neighborhood in the Austin, TX suburbs. We’re fortunate to live in a large home with Dustin’s mother and our dog, Freyja. We spend most nights as a family in the open concept first floor, cooking together in the kitchen and watching movies or playing games in the living room. We love hanging out in our big back yard, playing with Freyja or hosting barbecues with family and friends.

We often go on walks around the neighborhood as a family, and have friendly relationships with our surrounding neighbors. We’re so excited to share our community with your child! We love the small-town charm and the access to vibrant culture. There is a lot of natural space close by, parks where we walk or play tennis and disc golf, as well as hiking trails and lakes for more outdoor fun and exercise. We also go into Austin regularly to enjoy live music, museums, and great food. Your child will have a perfect mix of the best of the outdoors and city life.

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Our Families

We are very close to our mothers and plan to lean on their wisdom to guide us as parents. We live with Dustin’s mother, Elaine, because we want to have a multigenerational support system. Elaine is a crucial part of our loving home, ready to be a doting grandmother! Dustin is an only child, but has close-knit family who all live near our home in Texas. We see them frequently for holidays, birthdays, and other fun family get-togethers. Wilson has five brothers and one sister, with several nieces and nephews under the age of 6. We travel to Virginia multiple times a year to see them, and we’re excited to have our children grow up with cousins around their same age just like we did. We also have close friends that we consider family, some we’ve known since childhood and others that we’ve met together. Several of our friends have young children as well, and we’re eagerly looking forward to having that social network for our kids as they grow up. Our family is almost as excited as us to welcome a new baby. They are waiting to embrace your child and shower them with love!

Our favorite family Christmas Eve tradition is all about staying up late watching movies. First, we need snacks: pigs in a blanket, queso and fresh fried tortilla chips, sausage balls. Next, we pick at least two movies to watch. The cherry on top is falling asleep watching “Meet Me in St. Louis” and Judy Garland belting out “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” Our other special traditions involve annual family events with multiple generations that have been going on for decades. Wilson’s mom’s family spends a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina, going to the beach every day. Dustin’s dad’s family goes camping every Easter weekend, with 60 or more together for good food, good conversation, card games, and an egg hunt to end the festivities. Plenty of young cousins around your child’s age will make these trips fun just like they were when we were kids!

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Our Thoughts on Parenting

We want your child to feel comfortable in our family, while ensuring they can explore and celebrate their own background if it is different from ours. We both come from white families, but have learned through experience the importance of a community with diverse opinions and cultures. We have faced stigma living as gay men in America, but we’re clear that we can’t know the lived experience of racial minorities. We have many family members in Texas with Hispanic partners. Our friend group is diverse and will offer guidance and experience. We will ensure your child has a community surrounding them that includes members of their racial and cultural background.

We believe that learning about the world will help our children practice the morals that guide us: empathy, honesty, and loyalty. We will teach them compassion for other living things and for our planet. Though no longer connected to an organized religion, we share a belief that there is something special that connects all people to each other and that it is important to honor the natural world. We will also teach them to be independent, not afraid to share their unique perspective.

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Meet our pup Freyja!

Freyja is our 7-year-old Italian Spinone, a sweet girl that is well behaved and loves people. She follows Dustin’s mom around the house, cuddles with Dustin on the couch while he’s playing video games, and sleeps in the office as Wilson’s honorary co-worker. She also enjoys playing outside in our backyard, going to local parks, and joining us on hikes. Freyja is gentle, patient, and loving with children. We feel fortunate that Freyja will make our home that much more special for a child.

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Our Promise to You

Your child will have two dads, a grandma with enough love for 10 grandbabies, and the sweetest dog. Our home will offer love, security, and understanding. We will help them explore the world and be a compassionate member of society. We will support them in learning about what interests and excites them – we’ll be their cheerleader at sporting events, their audience at recitals and plays, their partner in games, their tour guide on trips, or anything else they can imagine. We will encourage their kindness, honesty, independence, and curiosity. Most of all, our community of loved ones will do everything in our power to make sure they always know they are loved, no matter what.

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In Closing

We will welcome your child into our family with unending, unconditional love. Our lives will be dedicated to their happiness and security. We will support them with everything we have through every challenge and success. We don’t know your child yet, but we have dreamed of the joy that they will bring into our home. We will embrace them as they are, teaching them compassion, self-worth, and curiosity. We honor your love for your child and promise that you will always be a part of your child’s history and future strength. We are grateful to be considered as parents to your child, and look forward to giving you contentment and peace, knowing they will be forever safe and loved in our arms.