Hello! We are Janae and Matt from Santa Cruz County, California. Thank you for considering us to become the adoptive parents of your child. We admire your courage and strength. We look forward to sharing this experience with you, and it would be a great privilege to build a relationship with your child rooted in our shared love.

Adoption has always been very special to us Matt was adopted at birth. From the moment we met and fell in love, it’s been in our hearts to adopt. Additionally, we have since discovered that conceiving naturally is extremely unlikely. Because Matt has firsthand experience growing up adopted, we feel uniquely qualified to provide the love and support that your child will need to thrive.

We first met on eHarmony, and when we met in person, it was love at first sight. We knew it was meant to be when we handed each other the same “meeting in person for the first time” gift, a quirky metal flower bouquet. We knew we were meant to be and moved in fairly quickly after meeting so we could begin to plan our future together. In our six years together we’ve overcome many hardships, including breast cancer, many surgeries, and infertility post chemo treatment. Janae is now over 3 years cancer free, with a clean bill of health from her physicians! We are excited to be taking this next step in our journey to build a family. We live in the mountains and enjoy long hikes with our dogs, hanging out at home with our cats and chickens, and working on home improvement projects. We relish any excuse to dress up in costume and to host parties for our friends and family. Regardless of the activity, we both love to laugh and to spend time together.

Janae has a variety of hobbies and spends time regularly volunteering with the local Search and Rescue, participating in an annual melodrama to raise money for the local senior center, running a website focused on storytelling focused on trauma resilience and recovery, and painting or doing projects at home.

Matt enjoys going to the park and playing with his new puppy, Sydney, practicing kendo (a Japanese style of fencing), and game nights with friends.

Together, we enjoy traveling to new places, visiting the beach with our dogs, and spending time with family. We have five adorable nieces and nephews who we enjoy doting on and playing with whenever we can. We have a full house of critters that we adore, including 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 10 chickens!

We are so excited at the prospect of expanding our hobbies to include a future child, with whom we can share our life and our passions, and pass down what we have learned to the next generations.

I am an experienced security management professional and have an amazing job that supports flexible work schedules and provides paid parental leave for all employees. I am the eldest of 5 children, and was always considered “Mom #2” growing up. When I was 22, I worked with the courts to get custody of my two younger sisters, who were 14 and 16 years old at the time, and became their legal guardian for the next 8 years. They each lived with me until their early 20’s, and by age 31, I was an “empty nester.” After a long wait, I’ve finally married my special someone and I’m eager to start a family of my own. Family is extremely important to me, and I am looking forward to giving our future child a loving and happy home. I most look forward to sitting in an easy chair and reading my favorite children’s books to our future child, making sound effects, and using different voices for all the characters.

Janae has brought balance in my life that I have needed and didn’t know was missing. Every time I see her I feel as if she is always overjoyed with happiness at seeing me, and I have never felt as loved as I do with her. I knew she was the one ever since we first met. I would later learn that after our first meeting together, she told all of her friends that she had “met the one,” and was so embarrassed when I found out. When in reality, it made me love her that much more.

One of my favorite things about Janae is her ability to overcome extraordinary odds. Janae was dealt a rough hand in life but turned it all around better than anyone I know could have. If she is able to impart just a little bit of that part of herself, I know that she will be a wonderful mother to our children.

I have been very fortunate in my life, having been adopted at birth, and have always wanted to have a family of my own. I believe my adoption has developed a strong desire to live my life to the fullest, wanting to travel, experience new things, and make the world just a little bit better. One way that I have always felt I can accomplish that is by raising a family of my own, knowing that my children will one day do the same in their own special and unique way.

My life and career have led me on a path that was difficult to see at first, but cannot be more clear now. I am lucky to have found fulfillment in practicing law, having worked in the same firm for over a decade where I started as a clerk and am now a partner. But more importantly, I have taken a hobby that I love and enjoy and have been able to turn it into a career where I help others in all walks of life. I cannot wait to encourage our future child to find their happiness in everything they do.

Matt is the kindest, most loving man I’ve ever met. He is very mellow, which is a dramatic contrast to my “100 miles an hour” pace. When I look into his eyes, I see the deepest love, unmatched by any ocean. My favorite thing about Matt is his sense of humor and how he can make me laugh in any situation, though around others he is often so quiet that you would never guess the belly-laughs hidden beneath his serious exterior. Matt has a huge heart, and is always willing to help family and friends in need.

Matt is going to be an amazing father. When he’s with our nieces and nephews, he is always eager to work on new science projects and experiments. I know that he’s going to love teaching our future child everything he can about science, survival skills, and the world in general. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner with whom to raise a family.

We live in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which is a tranquil paradise, surrounded by redwood trees, while still being close enough to the city for work purposes. We are minutes from the beach and many hiking trails, which allows for a lot of outdoor enjoyment with the pups. At home, our chickens provide us with fresh eggs every day and we enjoy snuggling up by the fire in the evening while watching movies or doing puzzles together.

We both regularly work from home, which allows for mid-afternoon walks with the dogs. We have been remodeling and putting together a nursery for our future child, and we are very excited about our woodland theme decorations to match our outside landscape.

Matt has a strong and supportive family. His mother, godmother, brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces and nephews live in Southern California. We try to travel to visit at least once every other month to spend the weekend with the family. When we are in town, we are often graced with at least one musical concert held by the very talented 8-year-old niece.

Janae has a large and spread out family including two amazingly supportive grandparents who live close-by, three younger siblings and their spouses, 10 aunts and uncles, 12 cousins, and 16 second cousins all under the age of 12. Janae’s sister and brother each just had their first child, and we were so excited to welcome two more beautiful babies into the family! Although there are family members all across the United States, the majority live nearby and we all regularly come together for big family events.

We admire your courage & are grateful and honored that you are considering us to become your child’s adoptive parents. We promise to create a safe, secure, and loving home that provides structure and consistency that inspires creativity, empathy, learning, and growth. We promise that your child will grow up knowing their special adoption story and how much you love them.