Hello! We’re Beth and Jeff, and we would like to thank you for spending some time getting to know our story by visiting our profile. We hope we’re able to give you a better sense of who we are and what we would be like as parents to your child. It was a big job to sit down and write out how we’d like our family to grow from two to three (or maybe more), and we know you have an even bigger job in thinking about what would be best for your child. It would be an incredible honor if we were a match for you.

When we met in San Francisco 10 years ago we knew we were made for each other. Two years later we were engaged in front of Ghirardelli Square after sharing a hot fudge sundae. We’ve now been married seven years. Jeff’s career as a Coast Guard officer has us moving about the country, and we look at each move as a new adventure--a new place to explore with its own local colors and flavors. The Coast Guard has generous time off, and Beth works an academic year, which also allows for lots of travel time to go off to see the wider world. We so look forward to sharing those travel experiences with our children. Our cats bring us a lot of joy, and they tend to chase each other around the house and jump onto our bellies while we sleep. We also appreciate good food and good friends, and we particularly love the holidays when everyone gathers together and enjoys the four Christmas trees Beth’s mom puts up each year. While Beth also enjoys decorating for the holidays, she feels four trees may be a bit excessive.

Education is important to us, and both of us take great satisfaction in serving others. Jeff enjoys figuring things out, and he often says his dream job would be to “stay home and invent things”. Beth finds purpose in being part of a community of educators working with young children and often thinks about writing novels for young adults.

Traveling has always been a huge passion of Beth’s, and Jeff has been a ready and willing travel partner. Together we’ve gone white water rafting and ziplining in Costa Rica, tobogganing in the German Alps, and sailing in the Florida Keys. We notice parents with kids on their backs hiking through forests, at their side wandering through the rambling streets of Europe, or in their laps gazing at the wonders of the natural world, and we wonder what kind of adventures we could take our own kids on. We also love all things Disney and can’t wait to take our kids on the teacups!

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, I entered the Coast Guard Academy straight out of high school and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I’ve made a career out of the Coast Guard, but not as an engineer. Instead, I’ve primarily worked in Search and Rescue and Law Enforcement. I’m passionate about making a difference in people’s lives, and the Coast Guard has always had a culture that is extremely supportive of families. As much as I love the work I do, it isn’t all about that. I love spending time with Beth and our friends and family, playing games around the table, catching up, and sharing good times while traveling or getting together for holidays. While I definitely grew up a dog person, I absolutely fell in love with our cats when Beth brought them home from a rescue organization. We named them Ariel and Jasmine, but they really only respond to “Kitty”. Hiking, the outdoors, and home improvement projects around the house also are also things I like to do. I can see myself retiring from my military career and becoming an at- home dad, and loving answering question after question after question. I definitely have tons of patience. Beth always brings a lot of joy to my life, and we have a lot of love and care that would be perfect to raise children together.

I left my hometown of Fresno, CA after high school and graduated from UC Davis with a career in social services in mind, but I first chose to travel the world to see what the universe had to offer. I spent a year in New Zealand, 3 months in Australia, and 3 months traveling Europe by train before meeting Jeff in San Francisco (where I attended graduate school), and I haven’t looked back. I now work as a behavior specialist in schools wherever we may go. I have a passion for working with children whose special needs or traumatic experiences may cause them to ask for help by lashing out at the helpers in their lives. While my work is important to me, I also have strong connections to my family back in California and the friends I’ve made all over the country as we move about to support Jeff’s Coast Guard career. Jeff and I enjoy traveling the world together, staying home to love on our cats, and going out to explore the natural beauty of our home— whether that’s the forests of the Pacific Northwest, the monuments of Washington DC, or the beaches of North Carolina. Jeff is one of the most dependable people I’ve ever known, and he would make a wonderful father.

Jeff’s parents live a life of quiet retirement in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! Their love story is unique-remind Jeff to tell you about it sometime. His older brother Andy is also in the Coast Guard, and Beth and Jeff are always happy when Andy’s work brings him up to Seattle for a visit. Beth’s mother lives in her hometown of Fresno where she is a professor at the local university. Beth’s parents were married for 45 years before her father passed away quite suddenly. Beth continues to feel his absence heavily in her heart today. Her brother Ben lives in Northern California with his wife, as do her favorite cousins. Beth’s best friend of 25 years recently had her first child, which makes Beth an unofficial Auntie! Beth and Jeff have a group of friends in D.C. and the Bay Area of California who are like a big, extended family.

Where we live is subject to change. That’s the thing about a military life: You do have to move. We do it well. Weekend trips to the beaches of the Carolinas were the norm for a while, and then it was exploring (almost) every museum D.C. had to offer. Now, the weekends consist of getting out into the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest when we can. It was easier to go to Key West and Europe on vacation from the East Coast, so that’s where our vacations were for awhile. Mexico and Hawaii are closer to Seattle, so that’s where vacations are now. When we are home, Jeff loves to work around the house, and he makes the best weekend breakfasts. Beth likes to cook dinners from her Pinterest page and decorate the house for the holidays. We also spend time with our fluffy, funny kitty cats we rescued from a rural Virginia shelter. Ariel is a dainty, lovely little thing, yet she’ll often fearlessly jump to the highest of places. Jasmine much prefers to sit in a lap for pets while she purrs and purrs, and if you stop, she will lick you to prompt you to keep going.

When we picture our lives as parents, we are excited to think about the unending possibilities of who our little one could grow up to be and what the world has in store for them. School and family time will be our top priorities, and we will do the best we can for them in every way. We believe the best way to learn is by taking risks and making mistakes, so we promise to always be there for your child to catch them when they fall. We believe the universe is wider than our views of it, so we promise to give your child room to breathe and grow into themselves. We are not entering into adoption lightly, and we will be forever grateful for the gift of raising your child. We don’t truly know what this process is like for you, but we do know that if you were to place your child in our home, you could rest assured they would be well cared for and endlessly loved. When we realized adoption was going to be our path to building a family, we wished upon a star that we could find someone as selfless as you. We’re here looking for you, and it would be really amazing if you decided that you’re here looking for us.