Hello,

We are Eric and Christine, Canadians who have settled in Emeryville, California. Emeryville is a small city just a short drive across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. We are in our early 30's and excited to start a family through open adoption. Eric's career bought us to Emeryville in 2015. Eric has a flexible job where they value family and is only a 5 min drive from our home where Christine will be a stay-at-home mom.

We have always been interested in open adoption as a way to start our family. We have close friends who adopted a baby through the open adoption process and have seen how much love and joy it has brought to their family. They have shared many of their experiences with us along the way which has reinforced our feelings that open adoption is a perfect fit for our family.

Thank you so much for taking time to learn about our family and considering us as adoptive parents.

Our Story

We are originally from Ontario, Canada where we met in 2004. Eric was just out of college working as a graphic designer and Christine was in her first year of studying to become an x-ray technologist. We met at a bar called Billy Bobs!(Yes, real name!) Neither of us planned on going there that night, but ended up there with our friends. We met because the techno DJ decided to play a Rock song called "I believe in a thing called love" by the Darkness. At that moment, it seemed as though the whole bar stopped dancing except for the two of us. We exchanged phone numbers that night and had our first date a week later. 

6 years after we met, Eric proposed during a walk in the field behind Christine's parents house. We played that same rock song by the Darkness at our wedding in 2010. We started our life and careers in downtown Toronto, Canada. We bought our first Condo and added a little dog named Baxter to our family.

In 2015, Eric accepted his dream job at Pixar Animation Studios and we moved to California. We have made this our home and feel there could not be a better time for us to start our family.

Our Home

Moving to California was a big change for us. We had never been to California before. We found a great community just 5 minutes away from Eric's work, that in ways, is similar to the area we lived in downtown Toronto, minus the snow in the winter!

We live in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom cozy condo with a very large balcony that has views of the hills and the bay bridge. We grow vegetables and herbs in raised gardens and enjoy eating breakfast outside! We like the inside of our home to be comfortable and a place we can relax. We love that our kitchen opens into the living room which is great for cooking and entertaining. Our second bedroom currently acts as an office where Eric can work from home and doubles as a guest room with a couch that transforms into a bed for when family and friends visit. We have access to a pool and hot tub, exercise room and office space.

Our building is pet friendly and has grass areas for our dog to play. Baxter is our 5 year old yorkie-poodle. We loved him from the moment we brought him home in 2011. He is 7 pounds of pure energy and loves to play. We love our morning walks together, it’s a great way to start the day!

We are in an ideal location with easy access to the bay bridge and highways. We are very close to groceries, target and just about everything we could need. We are walking distance to parks and the Emeryville marina. We enjoy living in such a great community. We Love that we call California our home and will raise our child here.

About Christine, by Eric

Christine lights up my life and everyone else's around her. In the 14 years I have known her, she has been full of positivity and happiness. There is nothing I love more then spending time with her and making her laugh. I believe Christine has always been a mom at heart. She naturally makes sure friends' and family are always taken care of whether it is cooking for them or making sure they get home safe at the end of the night. She is a great cook and enjoys using fresh food and herbs from the farmers market and our own garden. She is also really great at being organized with important dates and events like doctors appointments, taxes and remembering everyones birthday's or special days. I enjoy Christine's creative side, she really is an artist at heart. She is skilled at sewing and is great at drawing. She learned to crochet from her Grandma and has since made many blankets, scarves and even a baby coat. She loves making personal gifts and giving them to family and friends. One of my favorite skills that Christine has is her ability to make our house a cozy, warm place that you can call home. Christine is hardworking and excelled at her career in the medical field as an x-ray technologist but family is her top priority. She has been an incredible support to me and others in our family. She is a great listener and is always there when she is needed. Christine will be a great mom, who is patient, loving and always there for her family. I know she will give a 100% to her family because she already does every day.

A couple days a week Christine takes care of our friends' 1 year old adopted baby. She has been a part of his life since he was 3 months old and is known as "Auntie C." I have seen first hand at what a caring and patient mother she will be.

About Eric, by Christine

As long as I have known Eric he has been extremely determined. He has worked really hard over the years, at one point working a full time job doing effects for movies while completing a full time animation program for 18 months. All this hard work has made him truly appreciate his job now. Eric is a creative and talented effects artist at Pixar Animation Studios. He creates special effects like water, dust or sparks for animated movies. The most recent movies he has worked on is Finding Dory and Cars 3. Although Eric completed all this hard work himself, he never fails to include me and remind me that we are a team and successful because of the support we have given each other.

Eric's determination, good humor and caring nature will make him a great Dad! I am excited to see him teaching our child how to play guitar and showing them his love of music. He will draw with them and share his creativity. He will play sports and share his love of hockey and is looking forward to exploring more of California with his Family. I can't wait for our child to feel as important as Eric makes me feel everyday.

Thanks

Thank you for taking time to learn about our family. We wish you support and strength while you consider adoption.



Feel free to contact us anytime, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.