Hello! We are Carter and Jeff from Washington, D.C. We are so excited about becoming parents and are grateful that you’re considering us for that role. Family and friends are so important to us. We both come from big, loving families and have siblings who are very ready to be aunts/uncles again. Combined, we have 8 nephews and a niece who would be amazing cousins to a new family member! In addition—we love to travel, be outside, and stay physically active. A typical weekend for us includes a long bike ride, run, swim, kayaking the Potomac river, and/or yoga class followed by making a big meal for family/friends at our home. We are active in our community and church—service and faith are important values for us.

Family is so important to us and, for that reason, we are eager to become parents. We love our nephews, niece, godchildren, and younger cousins so much and have gotten lots of parental training from being very involved in their lives. After getting married recently and creating a home together, we are ready to expand our little family and shower a new child with so much love, attention, and care. We both have big families and many close friends who are eager to support us on this journey and embrace our future child. We have no doubt that our future child will be surrounded by lots of people who love them for a lifetime.

We met a few years ago at a friend’s party in Washington, D.C. and we had an instant connection. After meeting, we talked for hours before we noticed the party was ending and we didn’t realize it because we were so engrossed in conversation. After that, our relationship grew over long bike rides, yoga classes, church, cooking together, beach trips, and travel. We discovered that we were bound by our common values of family, friends, community service and faith and fell in love with each other’s sense of humor, ambition, sense of adventure, curiosity, intellect and kindness. During Covid, we got engaged and were married surrounded by loved ones. Since then—we have loved being newlyweds and, although we’ve been married for 3 years, we still try to use our “newlywed” status to get special treatment at restaurants! Being married has made both of us better people.

We love being active and outdoors. Hiking, camping, kayaking, cycling, and swimming together are our favorite ways to spend a weekend or day off from work. We both love to cook—Jeff likes to make complicated, rich recipes for big groups of friends while Carter makes massive salads and veggie dishes! We are both adventurers and travelers—we’ve each lived and worked abroad for significant periods of time, and together we love exploring new countries, especially in the Caribbean. We can’t wait to cook, play, and travel with a child—we know all of our adventures will be even more fun with a little one! We also love to spend time with our families. All of our siblings have kids, and we love being with them—at the beach, skiing, playing baseball, going to the zoo, or staying home to watch movies and play board games. We’re both very social and engaged in our community. We regularly host dinners with friends and family at our home and often attend events focused on supporting the D.C. community. We also love being at home—spending time in our backyard, gardening, reading, and playing with our adorable, sweet puppy who loves children and can’t wait to have a brother or sister!

The best words to describe me are: family, friends, faith and nature. I am so grateful that I am very close to my family and have a wonderful group of friends from different stages of life. I grew up in North Carolina with a sister, two wonderful parents and a big extended family of cousins, aunts and uncles. In college, I decided I wanted to be just like Jane Goodall—and have a career focused on studying and conserving nature. That has taken me all over the world—I have lived in Costa Rica, the Seychelles and Madagascar for work and spent extensive time working in Asia, Africa and Latin America. I also lived in England for 5 years to complete my master’s degree and PhD in Environmental Studies. After graduation, I moved to New York to work on wildlife conservation at an NGO before moving to D.C. for a job focused on corporate sustainability. I spend most of my free time with Jeff and friends outside hiking, cycling or kayaking with friends, traveling, visiting family, learning new recipes, and hosting friends/family at our home.

Carter’s beauty, smarts and generous conversation skills are what first attracted me to her. It was her faith, family and longevity of her friendships that made me realize how special of a person she is. People are drawn to Carter and the number of close friends that she has had since she was a child is a testament to her loyalty and selfless love that she puts towards every relationship in her life. Carter, like me, loves meeting new people and is a “Yes Girl” when it comes to new experiences and travel adventures. In Carter, I have found my best friend and having her as my wife I have become the best version of my adult self. Watching Carter with our eight nephews (and even our dog!) makes it clear she was meant to be be a mom. She pours herself into her relationships and she is a natural when it comes to taking care of others. I am so excited by the prospect of partnering with Carter to raise, mentor and mold a child into a loving, responsible and thriving adult.

I have been blessed to have been raised by and taught by parents that family is always the first priority. I have also been lucky to have been born into a multicultural family. My father was born in Latin America and my mother’s family immigrated from Poland. This formed a great foundation that allowed me to identify with different cultures, travel and live abroad, and become fluent in 3 different languages. I have played sports all my life—and even tried out with the Kansas City Royals baseball team—and continue to enjoy watching and playing sports. I moved from Cleveland to Washington, D.C. to pursue two Masters degrees and to find my vocation—serving in leadership roles for nonprofit organizations committed to underserved communities.

Jeff won me over with his good looks, witty sense of humor, kindness, deep faith, and great culinary skills. On our first date he invited his parents, which seemed a little unusual to me at first, but once I met them and experienced how wonderful they are, I fell even harder for Jeff because I realized his parents and family are as important to him as mine are to me. Every day with Jeff continues to be fun and meaningful. He makes me laugh every day with his quick wit and funny jokes, and is my number one supporter, confidante and coach. Jeff has a sharp intellect combined with a deep concern and love for people, which always results in great advice and wisdom. Jeff also has the ability to connect with anyone and make them feel comfortable, seen and loved. I know he will be a wonderful father, too—especially after seeing him with our godchildren, nephews, niece and friends’ children.

We live in a beautiful 4 bedroom home with a big backyard that Jeff has transformed into a magical, little sanctuary of plants and flowers. There are also many families and young children in our neighborhood; our future child will have lots of kids to play with. We know most of our neighbors because of our dog, Sandy, who is the mayor of our community—he loves the attention and treats he gets on our daily walks! Our neighborhood is diverse, community focused, and filled with families and their dogs that often come to our backyard for playdates with our dog Sandy. We love our home and our community. Every Saturday, we walk to our local farmer’s market and “art walk”, where there is music, food, local artists, and lots of kids/families. Our neighborhood also happens to be home to many Catholic nuns and brothers who bring a unique sense of peace to the neighborhood and beautiful gardens, including a monastery where we often go for walks. We also have a university in our neighborhood, which brings energy and vibrancy to our community as well.

Sandy is a gentle, affectionate pup who loves children and is known by name throughout our neighborhood—kids often stop to pet him on their way to school! Sandy joins us on our weekend adventures, whether it’s hiking, kayaking, or simply relaxing in the backyard. He’s great with our nieces, nephews, and godchildren, and we know he’ll be a loving and protective big “brother” to our future child.

We’re very grateful that our extended families feel like one big family. We both feel welcomed and loved by each other’s relatives, which means so much to us. We spend a lot of time with our families—hosting them at our home in Washington, DC or traveling to see them in Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, other parts of the East Coast and the Dominican Republic.

Jeff has two siblings—a younger brother who lives in Ohio with his wife and three kids, and a younger sister who lives in Colorado with her husband and two kids. Jeff’s parents live in Denver. Carter has an older sister in North Carolina with her husband and three children. Carter’s father passed away, and her mother later remarried and now lives in North Carolina with her husband. We’re also close with many of our cousins, aunts, and uncles, and we make it a priority to see them as often as we can.

Jeff is the godfather to two of his nephews and Jeff and Carter are godparents to two children who were adopted by Jeff’s friend and his wife, who is a minister and married us. All of these children are part of our family, just like our biologically linked nieces and nephews.

We are excited about raising a child and building a family that is grounded in love, kindness, grace, faith, and fun. We want our child to grow up knowing that they are safe, incredibly unique and special, and so very loved and cherished by us, God, and our loved ones. We also want our child to be a reliable, caring and compassionate friend, sibling, cousin, grandchild, neighbor and more as they grow up. Having good friends and strong family relationships, and being a good friend and family member, are extremely important values to us. We are both committed to giving back to our community and world and want our child to experience and appreciate the gift of serving others. We also love to travel and feel it is so important to understand and see other places and cultures—we are excited about traveling with our child. Staying physically fit and engaged in sports is also something we want to encourage for our child, because it has been so important to both of us for being social and staying in shape. Education is also very important to both us. We have seen firsthand how powerful education can be for providing opportunities in the future.

We can only imagine how monumental this decision is for you and promise that if you choose us to care for your child as parents, we promise we will give them a loving, safe, healthy, and fun life that will allow them to thrive throughout childhood and as an adult with a family of their own someday. We promise to give everything we have—physically, emotionally and spiritually—to ensuring this child grows up to be a healthy, happy, confident, and successful adult, personally and professionally. We hope and pray that you have clarity and peace as you make your decision, and wish you all the best in this journey, and beyond.