Hello! We are Alyce & Rich from Hawaii! Thank you for taking the time to learn about our Ohana (family in Hawaiian) and consider us as adoptive parents. Words cannot express our gratitude to you for giving your baby the gift of life and helping someone with their dream of becoming parents. You are amazing. How do you thank a hero or an angel? We wish you all the love and happiness the world has to offer.

One of the reasons we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together was because we both love children and knew we wanted to be parents. We had hoped to have a blended family with both biological and adopted children. Destiny has led us to adoption and we cannot wait to meet, cherish and love your child unconditionally.

We promise to kiss bruised knees and always read bedtime stories. We promise to encourage imagination and dreams. We promise to teach with love and patience. We will be kind and nurture kindness and empathy for others. We will give your child every opportunity to have the best life they can.

We both grew up in small towns in Oregon, but did not meet each other until mutual friends introduced us after we graduated college. We hit it off instantly and the more we talked the more we realized that we had many of the same friends for years! We had found our forever person in each other. We married on a rainy day on the beach in LaPush, Washington and as the ceremony started, the sun decided to shine just for us.

Our goal is to live a life that we don’t need to take a vacation from. We decided to move to the beautiful island of Maui after spending our honeymoon here. It took some time to make this dream a reality, but we are now living the dream!

We live minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and swim with Sea Turtles regularly. Our future vacations will be home to the Northwest to ski, snowboard, and spend time with family. We are so fortunate that our everyday lives are in paradise.

I grew up with my parents and younger sister in a small town in Oregon. Some of my earliest memories involve both my immediate and extended family spending holidays together, meeting up on Sundays at a local river or lake for BBQs, picnics, and fishing, as well as snow tubing or playing in the snow. I was blessed to have a supportive family that strongly encouraged academics and high aspirations. They were also supportive with my extracurricular activities which included roller skating, soccer, and playing musical instruments. I was surrounded by a good set of friends, many of whom I still keep in touch with to this day.

I attended college in Portland, Oregon eventually earning my doctorate in clinical psychology. Over the course of my studies, I lived in Los Angeles, California, Long Island, New York, and Seattle, Washington. I worked in private practice for many years before deciding to commit my services to a medical clinic in Maui to serve a diverse population with limited resources, specializing in helping children and adolescents. Although I work full-time, I have a fair amount of flexibility with time off and having the weekends free. I relish the opportunity to spend time with our future child playing games, doing homework, or whatever adventures come our way.

Rich has the incredible ability to make me smile or laugh, especially when I am mad or sad! I don’t even have to look at him, he says, “Are you smiling?” and immediately my mood is uplifted. I love that when we hang out with our friends’ kids or my niece and nephews, he’ll charm them with playful banter and sing them a song while playing the guitar. Rich dresses in professional attire for work, but his signature is silly socks. To me this sums him up: An intelligent, hardworking, responsible grown up with a playful child’s heart inside. He is going to be the best dad ever!

I grew up with my parents and older brother, also in a small town in eastern Oregon. My childhood was filled with adventures including horseback riding to our camping site, rafting, kayaking and lots of summer swimming and time with friends and family. Mom and Dad taught us to love animals and would let us bring home strays. We would care for them and find them new homes.

I have degrees in fashion design and anthropology. I worked as a nanny for 6 years and helped raise two beautiful boys. I often had four kids under the age of three in my care. We loved doing crafts, playing outside, singing songs and having dance contests together. I’ve worked as a fashion designer, in real estate, as a home stager, and a professional organizer. I completed a certificate class in children’s books and dream of writing picture books; however, at this time I look forward to the best job of all - being a full-time mom.

Alyce embodies so many splendid qualities. Her consistently positive and upbeat personality lights up any setting. From the beginning of our relationship, she accepted me as a whole person.

Seeing Alyce interact and care for her niece and nephews, as well as our friends’ children, provides me with a shining example of what it means to be a caring and supportive role model. I’m lucky and proud to know such an empathic, loving, and caring person. All of these qualities ensure me that she will be a loving and nurturing mother to our future child.

We love our home with its beautiful views of the island and sunsets. Our street is a quiet one lane road that kids love to ride their bikes on. We are so fortunate to be part of our community; many of our neighbors have lived on our street for generations. We are minutes from beaches, hiking trails, parks and good schools. There is a Saturday farmer’s market a few blocks from us that we enjoy going to as well.

We are growing orchids, air plants and many tropical flowers, as well as a purple banana, palm trees, coconut trees and pineapple.

One of our favorite things about our garden is the huge crown flower that is growing in the backyard. The Crown flower is used to make traditional Hawaiian leis, but more fascinating to us is that ours is home to generations of Monarch butterflies. We have watched them grow from eggs to caterpillars to butterflies emerging from their cocoons. By the end of the season, the leaves have holes all over them - just like the children’s book “The Hungry Caterpillar”.

Diego: We rescued as an adult dog from a puppy mill. He loves to snuggle.
Ginger: Enjoys sleeping on the sunny lanai and kitty treats.
Tulip: Loves to run with kids, play soccer and catch.
Rocky: Also known as Mr. Turtle, enjoys walks in the sun, snacks and naps!
Bobo: Last year we found a baby Mynah bird. We hand fed Bobo and kept her for a year before releasing her back into the wild. She continues to visit our home for bird seed but is free with a family of her own.

Rich’s family lives in Oregon. His sister, Elena and her husband Scott were married on Maui and enjoy returning on their anniversary. Alyce’s parents and brother’s family now live in Washington State just north of Portland, Oregon. We have two nephews, a beautiful niece and lots of cousins. The kiddos in our life bring us such joy! And so will our future child!

Lucky for us, everyone loves to visit us here on Maui; but we also love to head home to the Pacific Northwest to see family and friends for hiking, skiing and snowboarding.

We believe in life, as in the creation of art, there are no mistakes, just happy accidents that help us grow and learn, leading to unexpected joys. We promise to laugh more than we cry, but to honor that there is a time and place for both. We will dance and sing every day, honor nature and all living things. We will hold hands at the beach, when we cross the street, while we skip and when we are nervous. We will practice kindness and teach empathy. We will learn from this great beautiful planet and take care of our footprints. And we will always honor your child, their adoption story, and you.