Choose A Family : Parent Profile
Shannon and David
Dear Birthmother,
Hello! We are Shannon and David from Washington. Thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit more about us. We are very excited at the prospect of adopting a child and appreciate the courage that it must take for you to make the decision to entrust the care of your child to someone else. As we cannot have biological children of our own, it is through courageous people like you that we can make our dreams of becoming parents come true. We sincerely hope that you will feel comfortable and secure in the knowledge that we will be the best parents that we can be and provide your child with all the love and support that we can throughout his or her lifetime.
About Us
We first met in the fall of 1995 while we were both beginning our Freshman year of college at Central Washington University. We were assigned to the same dormitory, so had a lot of opportunities to spend time together and get to know each other as friends before trying our hand at dating in November of that year. From that point on, the two of us have been inseparable. We both finished college and had some time to experience life in the “real world” before getting married in December of 2001. Although we’ve been together for thirteen years, it seems like just yesterday that we met and fell in love. We truly enjoy spending time together and keep ourselves busy with activities such as watching movies, playing video games (Rock Band 2 is our favorite!), doing home improvement projects, playing with our critters, and hanging out with friends and family. In recent years our travels have been limited to trips to Mexico, Canada, and various US states like Hawaii, Alaska, Michigan, New York, Connecticut, California, Arkansas, Nevada and Oregon, but at some point we would like to travel a little more. We would really like to see the pyramids of Egypt, the canals of Rome, and the ice hotel in Sweden, as well as the Great Wall of China and the Blarney Stone in Ireland.
Throughout the years we have been there for each other during the sad and the happy times. We have helped each other to laugh, love and to grow as people and are now anxious to open our home and our hearts to a precious child. We are both of the opinion that every child is a blank canvas with limitless possibilities ahead of them. It is our goal to provide a warm and loving home full of opportunities to not only learn and experience new things, but also to make mistakes. Education is extremely important to us, and we feel that knowledge is the key to both success and happiness in life. We are anxious to open a child’s eyes to different cultures, religious beliefs, and lifestyles in hopes that these experiences will better prepare him / her to not only make good choices, but also to accept others who may not be exactly like us.
About Shannon
After graduating from college with a Bachelors of Science in Anthropology, Shannon spent a couple of years selling Home and Auto Insurance before obtaining a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Washington. She now works as a Senior Project Manager at an Electronic Discovery company and manages one of the company’s largest clients and leads a team of five people. As she feels that she has reached a level of success professionally, Shannon can’t wait to tackle the next of life’s challenges as a mother. We are very fortunate to be financially stable enough so that Shannon can take at least a year off once we are provided with the opportunity to have a child.
Shannon is a very caring and nurturing person, and is patient and compassionate around children. When friends’ children visit, they ask her to play games or tell them stories. She tries to incorporate learning into every activity and loves to see their faces light up upon discovering new things.
For fun, Shannon enjoys reading, doing puzzles, baking, working out and relaxing at home. When the weather is nice, one of Shannon’s favorite things to do is to go to the zoo. She will often ask friends if we can borrow their kids for a Saturday trip to the zoo, the aquarium, or during the right time of year, the State Fair or Circus. She can’t wait to have her own children to take on these outings. Another favorite place of Shannon’s is Cannon Beach in Oregon. For the past few years, we have gone to the beach for her birthday and she looks forward all year to flying kites, playing in the surf and renting three wheeled beach bikes.
About David
David graduated from college with a Computer Science degree, specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering. He currently works as a Lead Program Manager at Microsoft and has a small team that reports to him. He is very hard working and goal oriented, and loves to solve problems. Co-workers often seek him out for advice as they know he will treat their issue with the attention and respect that they deserve despite how busy he may be at the time. Although he works very hard, one of David’s best traits is that he is laid back and easy to be around. David is so friendly, fun, and accepting of people that he attracts a wide variety of friends, and is always on the top of people’s invitation list for barbeques and social gatherings.
One of the qualities that will make David a good father is that he is very considerate and always puts the needs of the people that he loves ahead of his own. When taking care of friends’ children, he is always careful to make sure that they are safe and happy. David is a big kid at heart, and loves to be goofy and silly, however, he also knows how to set clear boundaries so that the child knows where to draw the line.
For fun, David likes to try new barbeque recipes, run 5k races, and listen to music. One of David’s favorite things to do is to visit his parent’s cabin on nearby Bainbridge Island. As there are no telephones or cable TV, it is the perfect place to getaway. When the tide is in, he likes to go down to their personal dock and sometimes even takes a canoe into the water.
The Rest of the Family
We often joke that we have a small zoo as our love of animals has resulted in our little family consisting of ten critters. Charlie, a lab mix, and Gracie, a foxhound, live outside in the back yard most of the time where they have a half an acre to run and play, while the inside of the house is ruled by three cats, Ozzy, Morphius and Cosmo. A bearded dragon and four corn snakes complete the menagerie. Our animals bring us great joy and keep us constantly entertained. One of David’s favorite past times is to chase the cats around the house and tackle them. As he is 6’5” it is quite amusing to see him flying through the air while attempting to pounce on one of our kitties. Seeing the way that he plays with our animals makes anyone that visits comment on what a fun dad he will be once he has human little ones to play with. There is no doubt that he will be the type of father to build blanket forts, camp out in the back yard and have tea parties when asked.
David grew up with two older brothers, Dan and Jeff, who now live in Oregon and California respectively. Jeff is an artist, and has recently been offered his own exhibits in California, New York and Chicago. While Dan lives a short train trip away, he and David get the opportunity to spend quite a bit more time together. They enjoy attending University of Washington football games and boating on Lake Washington with their dad, and usually spend a week with him on his boat in the San Juan Islands every July. David’s parents have been together for 40 years, and we are fortunate enough to live about 15 minutes away from them. David’s Mother, Joanne is a Public Health Nurse while his Dad, Allen, is an Electrical Engineer that has worked on such large jobs as SafeCo Field in Seattle where the Mariner’s play. His parents are very down to earth and taught David that hard work, a good education and the willingness to accept others as they are were the keys to success in life. David’s parents are looking forward to having their first grandchild. Joanne is anxious to start sewing baby clothes, while Allen is excited to welcome a new Husky football fan into the family.
Shannon also has two siblings. Her older sister, A.J. lives in Eastern Washington and her little brother Michael lives in Alaska with his wife Shelley and adopted daughter MacKenzie. A.J. loves to ski and often travels out of the country in search of good snow, and Michael is a Salesman and loves to take clients, friends and visiting family on snow mobile trips. Shannon’s parents are still happily married after 35 years and are in the process of purchasing a house about thirty minutes north of us. They are both retired teachers. Shannon’s Mom Vickie taught Special Education, First, thru Fourth and 7th thru 9th Grade classes during her years as a teacher, while Shannon’s Dad Roy taught Economics at a community college where he developed and taught the school’s first online courses. As teachers, Shannon’s parents also stressed the importance of hard work and a good education. In fact, currently Shannon, her Dad and her Sister all hold MBA’s, while her little brother is currently taking courses to complete his own MBA. Although Shannon’s siblings aren’t close enough to visit, we both enjoy spending time with her parents, who are absolutely elated at the idea of having an adopted grandchild or two around the house to read stories to, bake cookies with, take out fishing, and to ride on the tractor.
Home and Community
We bought our home with the idea that it would be the perfect place to raise a family. We have 2400 square feet of room inside the house and our backyard is approximately a half an acre, which is a pretty big plot of land considering the fact that we are within a short drive to downtown Seattle. The house is currently a work in progress, but we have worked really hard to make it as homey and comfortable as possible. During the five years that we have lived here, we have installed hardwood floors, replaced the kitchen, built a deck in the front and back of the house, and replaced all of the doors, trim-work, windows and siding. Our next projects will be the two bathrooms and then the rec-room downstairs.. We love being surrounded by family and friends, and generally host both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at our house. Our main living area consists of a living room, dining room and kitchen, and the layout is such that young kids that visit love to run around and around in circles from the kitchen, to the dining room, to the living room and back to the kitchen. Although we have a large development along our backyard fence line, there are only two other houses on our road, and there is a private cul-de-sac at the bottom of our hill where the neighbor children love to ride their bikes. Although our little piece of heaven is fairly secluded, we are within a five minute drive to a lake, schools, and playgrounds.
Our commitment
We are committed to being the most loving, caring and nurturing parents that we can be. It is our goal to provide our child with every opportunity in life to succeed, be happy, and obtain their full potential. If you would like to speak with us about adopting your child or have any questions for us, please contact one of our Adoption Advisors at AdoptHelp by calling 1-800-637-7999 toll free.
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