We both work hard in our professional lives, but we also enjoy fun and rewarding leisure time. We love hiking through the woods that surround our house in Maine, watching the seasons change and observing the wildlife while enjoying fresh air and exercise. The winter months bring weekends of downhill skiing (and snuggling in front of the fireplace afterwards), while the warmer months are marked by running in 5k and 10k races that support worthy charitable organizations and community causes.

Indoor leisure time is another major part of our lifestyle, whether it is reading quietly on a rainy day, gathering around a board game with friends or family, watching sports or movies with a huge bowl of popcorn, or firing up some epic video games.

When possible, we also like to travel and explore, seeing new sights, eating new foods, and experiencing other cultures. True foodies, we enjoy a fancy dinner out almost as much as we love to get creative in the kitchen and try out a new recipe.

Evan About Stephanie: Stephanie is a loving, attentive partner who is quick to make sacrifices for the people she loves. She gives so much of herself to her patients at work, but also brightens up the home with her care and kindness. She can generate pure joy in moments that might otherwise be overshadowed by depressing current events or a stressful work week and change the trajectory of a day with a mere smile or gesture.

Stephanie possesses incredible resilience. Her path to professional success was full of obstacles. She confronted inherently sexist systems designed to favor powerful men over outsider women. She has overcome unfair treatment and pushed past undeserved disrespect to make her voice heard and make improvements for women and other marginalized people. Her intellect demands respect also; she has an incredibly strong ability to learn new things, analyze unfamiliar situations, and change her mind after careful consideration.

Stephanie About Evan: Evan is the most thoughtful partner anyone could have. He is selfless toward the people he loves. He is supportive and a fierce advocate for me. His favorite thing is to make me smile, even by poking fun at himself.

Evan is a just person. He truly believes in honesty and fairness for all people and practices that in his career and personal life. He is also one of the smartest people anywhere. He is patient and calm, excellent qualities for parenting. I have never met anyone as loving, kind and attentive as Evan. He would make an amazing father.

We have always expected that our family would be a multi-racial family. In preparation, we have taken parenting classes that specifically address these issues and how to handle uncomfortable situations that may arise. Our view is that all people deserve rights, respect, and dignity regardless of skin color or ethnic background, as informed by Evan's human rights work and Stephanie's medical background.

We view racism, xenophobia, and discrimination as some of the greatest evils of our time, but we also believe in living the change we want to see in the world. Embracing those who come from different backgrounds and breaking down historical barriers is an important concrete step toward a better future for both our family and our community.

We proudly advocate that Black Lives Matter, that no human is illegal, and that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. We believe it is necessary to understand the struggles of marginalized groups and the history of their oppression to better prevent these ills from reviving in our lifetimes, and we believe that our children should be able to connect to their ancestral culture and understand the struggles of those who preceded them.

We live in a seaside city in Connecticut, where sandy beaches are a short drive away, and a harbor full of boats is visible from the windows in our 8th floor condominium. However, we also have a beautiful house in rural Maine, surrounded by trees, wildlife, and a breathtaking view, where we like to spend weekends and some holidays.

In Connecticut, we live in a community that is richly multicultural with immigrant populations and colorful racial diversity. Our home is in a walkable neighborhood, close to parks, public spaces, beaches, and outdoor play areas for children. Our spacious condo has two bathrooms, a dedicated child's bedroom, a home office, master bedroom, vibrant interior paint, comfy furniture, a balcony overlooking the building's rooftop pool area, a kitchen full of good smells, and some furry friends always seeking out a cuddle.

In Maine, we trade the hustle and bustle for peaceful nights of starry skies, days filled with hiking and outdoor activities. The Maine house is spacious, with a massive living room and huge windows offering a breathtaking view. A porch and three balconies help to maximize the outdoor appeal, and we have (again) a dedicated child's bedroom among our total of four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The lower level features a fitness area, a media nook, and a door out into the multi-tiered yard just beyond the fresh grapes dangling from the pergola. We have strong ties in both communities, and we foresee that summer trips and (eventually) ski trips to Maine will be a real highlight of our kids' childhood memories.

We live close to two fun family groups - one in Vermont and one in New Jersey.

The Vermont family loves to play games, go skiing, play disc golf, and play in the snow. Our niece loves to dress up, play with games and toys, tell stories, and generally have a good time!

The New Jersey family has a really fun backyard with a pool! The nephews there love to play soccer, practice martial arts, and play all sorts of sports and games.

Whenever we visit either side of the family, there is lots of laughter, great food, and fun times.

We expect that our children will develop their own interests and traditions, and soon we will be sharing them with the cousins from each side of the family. We have a huge vacation house that can handle lots of visitors, with woods to explore and all sorts of wildlife to encounter. We hope to host all the cousins for Thanksgiving and have a massive gathering!

The most important thing you should know about us as adoptive parents is that we are committed to adoption as our plan for building our family. We have spent over a decade together (both before and after our wedding) in a committed and devoted relationship. While the early part of our relationship was focused on achieving our career goals, we knew that for medical reasons, we would choose adoption when the time came to start the next generation of our family.

We started our first adoption process four years ago. To prepare our loving home for our first child, we invested time and money into preparing ourselves for parenthood. We completed parenting courses, passed background checks, hosted social workers for home visits, and read books about adoption and becoming a multiracial family. We painted and furnished a child's room in each of our homes, and we filled a closet with child's clothing and toys. Unfortunately, our first adoption process was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, so we are still childless nearly five years later. We are more ready than ever to welcome a child into our home and grow together as a family.

Evan has been involved in working with kids, both as a teacher and as a volunteer, for about fifteen years. Stephanie is a beloved aunt who enjoys spending time with her young nephews and formed quick attachments to our older nieces, who see her as a role model. Each of us sees the other as an ideal parent, and now that our careers are firmly established, we are ready to raise children of our own. Each of us can take an extended amount of time away from work on parental leave to ensure that a newly adopted child has around-the-clock care during the initial bonding stages while we establish a stable and healthy household routine. We both experienced the unhappiness of a childhood disrupted by divorce and strife in the home, so we are dedicated to offering an easier path for our children by working together as a committed parenting team.

We can promise that any child we adopt will not only be loved and nurtured but will also have access to all the resources necessary to have a happy childhood and a great life. With our income and connections, we will be able to address all the medical and educational needs of our kids. We both place a high value on education, and we both have advanced degrees that enabled us to achieve our success as professionals – though we both took unconventional paths. (Evan earned a law degree in France while Stephanie finished medical school in Ireland.) Our commitment to proper education includes teaching our child the truth about their racial and cultural heritage, with an unflinching examination of the history of the racial oppression and inequities of the past and their lasting effects in creating challenges and stirring new problems today and in the future. We know that there is more to education than test scores and class rankings, so we will prepare our kids to succeed not just at school, but also to be ready to overcome the challenges of life in an unfair world.

Also, we place a high value on our leisure time, including some fun activities not all families can afford, such as skiing, golf, and sailing. We both know firsthand what it is like to be left behind from activities because of our parents' limited budgets, so we want to empower our kids to be able to pursue their passions. Our children will be also able to see the world, travelling with us to fun vacation spots, centers of culture, and amazing views of nature. We want to open doors for our children and support them on whatever dreams they choose to follow.

Finally, we can assure you, the birth parent, that you will be included in our child's journey. We will send detailed letters to chronicle our child's growth and accomplishments, sharing the happy moments and the new developments. Similarly, we will share photos of both everyday moments and special occasions and provide that connection for you so you can be assured that our child is thriving.

Evan & Stephanie