WE BELIEVE ADOPTION IS ONE OF THE  TRUEST ACTS OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

We deeply honor your journey and arrival at the decision to share part of your life with part of our lives. The truth is we think and talk about “You” a great deal in our household.

Thank you for your strength and for taking the time to get to know us a little bit. We look forward to meeting you, to hearing your story and to sharing more about our lives with you.

About Us

We met 9 years ago at the boarding school where we both work. We both have a deep commitment to teaching about issues of social justice. After becoming fast friends, we took an 800-mile road trip through the Midwest of the United States and fell in love.

Ever since then, we spent our time seeking adventures together. A low key-Sunday drive is an adventure. A trip to Italy is an adventure. Sometimes even going to Target is an adventure. We love to play, we love to laugh, and we love to learn.

We both are very curious people and we are excited to pass our love of exploration and knowledge onto our child.  

Some of our greatest adventures:

- Climbing the Great Wall of China

- Watching the 50 ft. tide changes in the Bay of Funday

- Swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines

- Driving 200 miles thorugh Yellowstone and 8 other national parks

- Spotting alligators in the Everglades and Florida Keys

- Whale watching in Cape Cod

- Disneyworld! 

Metta

I currently get to travel around the world to recruit international students to come to the boarding school where I work. Family and friends are important to me. Our house is the one that has a lasagna ready for when people stop by for an impromptu visit.

I am excited to have orange slices and a fresh batch of cookies for our Little One's basketball game, chaperone a school trip to the zoo, and introduce our child to my favorite childhood books. I have a large extended family and there are over 20 cousins who are looking forward to welcoming our Little One home.

Fun Facts About Me:

- Born in the Philippines, but lived in 12 different cities around the world.

- The middle child, but is older than her brother by 15 years.

- Formerly worked at Nickleodeon, MTV, and in Off-Broadway theater.

- Mentors two groups for teenagers: girls of color and Asian American teens 

- Cooks for Community Meals twice a month for a local shelter

- Collects children's literature books

 

What Makes Me Happy

- Playing board games and lawn games

- Flying kites and crocheting

- Movie marathons with lots of popcorn

- Watching theater - especially musicals

- Exploring new cities and their undiscovered restaurants

- Working on perfecting my chocolate schip cookie and pancakes recipes

Martha

I grew up in upstate NY, in a small college town, where at one point there were more cows than people. True story. I am the youngest of three biracial girls. My adoptive parents (white), whom I adore, are the only Mom & Dad I've ever known. 

I learned to read early, and could ride anything with wheels even earlier. Church and my community was a central touchpoint of growing up. Faith and fellowship remain important to me; Metta and I attend St. John's Episcopal Church in a nearby town.

I was a three-season Varsity athlete and an All-American lacrosse player in college. I still love both watching and playing sports, especially basketball and soccer. I've been teaching History for almost 20 years and I'm always looking for stories about the lives of ordinary people who did extraordinary things. 

Also, I am a Mama. I was married once before and my ex-wife had our daughter Isabelle (Iz, for short), who I legally adopted. We split, amicably, when Isabelle was 3 and we remain good friends. My ex is now remarried to Isabelle's step-dad and Metta - who has known Isabelle since she was an infant - is Isabelle's step mom.

We do whole-family vacations several times each year and we are very much a part of each other's lives. This year, we celebrated Isabelle's 10th birthday with an all-family roller-skating party followed by everyone heading to the Mall to support Isabelle as she got her ears pierced. Isabelle will be a loving big sister and is so excited about the prospect of a little one joining our family. 

Fun Facts About Martha

- Born "Baby Girl" and adopted five days later and joined her older sisters, who are also adopted

- Was an All-American lacrosse player in college

- Birthmother was Italian and biological father was African American

- Has been teachering history to 5th grade - 12 grade students for over 20 years

- Has traveled to 43 countries and 48 states

- Loves music and plays the piano and trumpet

 

What makes me happy:

- Reading books and solving crosswords

- Snuggling with my daughter, Isabelle

- Playing SimCity and other computer games

- Fishing early in the morning 

- Watching and playing sports

- Grilling and backyard bbqs

 

It Takes A Village

We live in a quiet town where we walk to our local library and bike to our local ice cream shop. As faculty at a boarding school, we live and work with 150 other adults and their families; 25% of the 650 students are from foreign countries and about 20% are domestic students of color. Our students work 4 hours a week doing a variety of campus jobs. This could be at the school farm, peeling carrots in the dining hall, cleaning dorms, or leading a school tour.

Our school has an early childhood center for faculty children, ages infant through kindergarten; last year we welcomed nine babies to campus and there is an all-school baby shower for each new addition to our school community. 

Our community eats in one dining hall and there are plenty of high chairs to go around. Halloween trick-or-treating happens at each dorm and there are campus events for employee families almost every month. We can't wait to be like other Faculty: to bring our son or daughter to meetings sometimes; to coach lacrosse with them in a front pack; take them to the dance concerts and theater performances on and off campus; and even to bring them to classes from time to time. 

Our door is always open and we often have students here doing homework or just hanging our watching the television. We have other faculty members who have gone through the adoption process and Martha even mentors a student-led group of adoptees called 'Found Threads'. Our wold is one that embraces an open-arms approach each day and we will be honored to introduce our child into such a wide network of love, care, and compassion. 

Should You Choose Us To Raise Your Child, We Promise You:

- To keep discovering what we don't know - all together. 

- To be intentional about our interactions and to use our own experiences, especially our personal ones with adoption, to guides us along the way.

- The spend time with both of our families and our large community of friends, many of whom are parents.

- To travel. To celebrate. To play. To have pajama days!

- To show up too early for parent conference, to take away the iPad when necessary and to be the loudest to any performance, game, or event. 

- To always be the parents with the Tupperwares full of brownies and coolers full of Gatorade.

- To teach Little One to set the table early on, in the dining room that always will feature his/her artwork on the walls.

- To encourage Little One to take risks and make mistakes, which we will applaud as enthusiastically as successes. 

- To invite the whole class to birthday parties and to encourage our child to be welcoming to the most unwelcomed. 

 

Thank you

If these promises are aligned with your path, please know that your journey will be known, honored, and respected in our home. 

Our Little One will know they are loved because you decided it would be so and that your love made our family possible. 

Our Little One will known that you are the beginning of their story, and the reason we will be called Home.