We are excited to share our story with you, and we are so grateful to you for taking the time and space to learn a bit about us. 

Our story began on our first day of college in 2006, when we first met as freshman hallmates - same dorm, same floor. We started out as close friends…then best friends…then something just clicked. By the time we graduated, we both knew that we were on a lifelong journey together. We got married in 2015 and here we are, 15 years after our first date and just having recently celebrated our seven-year wedding anniversary!

We are two beautifully different people who complement each other—Erin’s bubbly, emotional side pairs really well with Wes’ patient, logical one—and who share a love of family, friends, animals, nature and travel. We have always seen ourselves as a team, and we are looking forward to parenthood together.

Our relationship has a strong foundation of trust and mutual respect, healthy communication, feelings of gratitude when things work out, support for one another when things don’t, and a sense of humor throughout. We both take our time and think things through before making major life decisions. Once we do, we are 100% committed.

Wes has a history of adoption in his extended family, and we came to the decision to grow our family through adoption together. It is our number one choice, and we are hopeful to begin this journey with an expectant mother who feels we are the right choice for her too. 

Our Values: 

• Kindness
• Inclusivity
• Creativity
• Commitment
• Hard Work
• Life-Long Learning

The most important thing I would say to describe Erin is she is a people person with a colorful personality who brightens the day of everyone she meets. She loves to sing. I will never forget when our nephew was obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen and Erin started singing “Let It Go” – he got a huge smile on his face, and she’s had the nickname “Aunt Elsa” ever since.

Erin is also deeply caring and focused on helping others. She has a wonderful way with kids in particular, I think because she is young at heart herself. This has served her well in her career as a clinical social worker and grief and trauma psychotherapist for children, adolescents and families.

Erin is creative, which comes out in a lot of different ways—like in the way she comes up with amazing and thoughtful gifts for others or in the joy she gets from experimenting with a new dessert recipe—but one of the biggest ways is through her love of crafting, particularly sewing and quilting. In the last year alone, she has made amazing quilts for her brother and sister-in-law, and for friends across the US.

Over the last few years I’ve seen Erin as a wonderful aunt to our young nephews and niece, and I know she is going to be an amazing mom.

Erin’s Favorites:

- Weekend: Crafting, listening to music, watching baseball, spending time with our pup Minnie, family and friends

- Movie Genre: Animated movies, Disney movies especially

- Ice Cream Flavor: Dark chocolate

- Children’s Book: The Paper Bag Princess

- DIY project: Quilt for our newest nephew 

In thinking about how I might best describe Wes, I keep coming back to what his spirit animals might be—and for him, he would be an owl (he’s wise) or maybe a bear (he’s solid, loyal, a bit reserved, and also playful). His intelligence and enduring patience have been on full display since the moment I met him—especially when he went to law school and during his seven years as a lawyer.

As a best friend and husband, he’s kind and loyal, and enjoys any time he spends in nature, our garden, woodworking or reading a good book (usually multiple books at once). For several years, he volunteered as a reading tutor for elementary school kids in DC, and he’s always picking out books to send to the little ones in our life. I know one of the things he is looking forward to most as a parent is reading bedtime stories together.  

I’ve been blessed to witness him become an uncle four times, and I’ve seen our niece and nephews look up to him as a mentor while also seeing him as their fun and silly uncle --someone to run races with, to play video games with, to watch TV next to, to talk to. ! I think his combination of patience, silliness and intelligence will make him a fantastic dad. 

Wes’s Favorites: 

- Weekend: Hiking in the woods, going for long bike rides, watching movies, reading

- Movie Genre: Action

- Ice Cream Flavor: Coffee

- Children’s Book: Goodnight Moon

-DIY project: Making a pegboard for Erin to hang her craft supplies

We live across the Potomac River from Washington, DC, in a sunny and welcoming townhome that we bought in 2017.

We were drawn to our home because of its open floor plan. This suits us really well as a family, because we love to be in the same space and spend time together. When we moved in, we immediately built a set of three large floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for our book collection. We are both avid readers!

Erin loves her office, which doubles as a craft space. The room is bright and full of artwork, craft supplies and rainbow baskets filled with yarn. For Wes, the backyard space is particularly special: we have an apple tree, a small vegetable garden, an herb garden, and a patio to grill and eat. During the fall, we watch outdoor movies by setting up a projector and screen and curling up on our outdoor sofa.

The best part of our house is our community. We live in a small cul-de-sac with a close-knit group of neighbors. Most of our neighbors have infants, young children and pets, so there are weekly playdates in the courtyard. Our neighbors rely on each other, providing support with baby clothes, supplies, childcare, meals, and even parties. In recent years, the cul-de-sac has celebrated together with block parties, Halloween movie nights, and birthdays.

Our neighborhood is very diverse with families of all cultures and backgrounds, and there are several parks nearby with playgrounds where kids meet and play together. We live close to a local “main street” with shops, cafes, restaurants, a local library, hardware store, and more. 

We are big family people! We both have close relationships with our family members, and we are also so grateful to have a group of friends who have grown into family. 

A few years ago Erin’s parents moved to be only a few hours away in North Carolina, and we see them several times a year, celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmases with them. They are wonderfully kind and funny people, and our family time with them includes baseball games, board games, walks and, of course, so many ice cream trips. Erin’s older brother and his wife are also not far away – and are in the process of growing their family as well. We’re excited about our families growing up together, and introducing cousins when the time comes. 

Wes’s family lives across a lot of the Western United States, from his dad and brother in Colorado, his mom in Wyoming, and his sister and family in southern California. This means plenty of opportunities for travel and fun family trips! We try to do an annual family trip each year with Wes’s mom and sister, which gives us a chance to see our niece and nephews, with whom we’re very close. Uncle Wes is an avid gamer with our nephew, and Aunt Erin loves to do arts and crafts with our niece. Time with family usually involves big family meals - and brownies, conversation, and fun activities. On Wes’s dad’s side, recently there have been reunions every couple of years, often in Colorado at a family cabin, including hikes and campfires.

We can’t really talk about family without also including our friends, who we include in our family circles and who have been over-the-moon supportive during our adoption journey. We have known most of our friends for as long (or nearly as long) as we have been together and, like our family, some are nearby (in the same neighborhood) and others are spread out across the country. We’ve supported many of them in their journey towards becoming parents, and we are excited to share our own journey with them.

From our families, as well as over the years we’ve known one another, we’ve developed lots of wonderful, special family traditions that we’re so excited to share! Here are just a few…

We both love sports—both watching and playing them—and we especially love watching baseball. This is a love we share in particular with Erin’s parents, and you can find us catching games together not only in person, but texting score updates to each other during the week! We have a family goal to visit as many baseball stadiums across the country that we can (seven and counting) and always make it a point to see our favorite team.

We enjoy getting out into nature whenever we can—whether through walking, hiking or camping. There’s a huge map of National Parks on one of the walls of our living room, and we always talk about one day visiting all 60+ parks. We make it a point to go camping at least a few times a year, with our favorite places by the beach or in the mountains, and we go with other families as much as we can.

Speaking of the beach, it’s one of our favorite places, and our dog Minnie really loves it too since there is so much sand to play in! Every summer, we spend at least a few days on the beaches of Delaware or Maryland napping, playing in the water and reading under our beach umbrella.

We love the holidays—especially Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every year, as part of the Christmas season, we decorate a tree and the whole house, including little ceramic villages Erin grew up with when she was a kid. We also have at least one big at-home holiday baking day, where we watch holiday movies all day and bake breads, cookies and nuts to package and send out to our family, friends and neighbors. (Banana breads, shortbread cookies and a homemade granola recipe from Wes's mom are a few of our favorites.) For the past several years, we’ve hosted a Halloween movie party and a holiday book swap - and try to find ways to virtually include friends who have moved away!

Special events with family and friends, like weddings and graduations, have also been opportunities to travel, and over the past few years we have been fortunate to be able to make trips to see loved ones across the country, like in California and Montana, and also closer to home, like in Charlottesville and Richmond.

We are so grateful for you taking the time to peek into the window of our lives, and considering us in making an adoption plan for your child. If we are chosen as adoptive parents, we make these promises to you.

- We will never let a day go by without your child knowing how deeply loved they are. 

- We will always provide a loving, safe and supportive home for them, both physically and emotionally. 

- We promise to create a home with lots of joy, creativity, laughter and fun. 

- We promise to always support, love and respect your child exactly how they are, encourage them to love all parts of themselves, and ensure they know they belong. 

- We promise to support your child in discovering and embracing their unique gifts, talents and interests, especially if and when they’re different than our own. 

- We know that life will bring challenges and hard moments, and in these moments, we promise to meet your child where they are- whether that be to listen, to educate, to comfort, or be present.  

- We will always support your child in becoming the best version of themselves that they can, through guidance grounded in safety and understanding. 

- We promise to honor you and your choices and preferences with openness and communication. No matter what, we promise to always thread your love for your child into our parenting, and to communicate with your child the loving choice that you have made. 

With love & gratitude,

Erin and Wes