Dear Birth Mother

Hello! We are Karen and Jang from Northern California! We are honored that you are considering adoption and taking the time to get to know a little about us. We can’t imagine what you may be feeling right now, but we admire your courage and more importantly, the love you have for your child. We’d love to learn about you and hear what your hopes and dreams are for you and your child.  We can’t wait to be parents and are fully prepared for it to be both joyful and challenging. We would give unconditional love to your child and also help them develop into the best person they can be.

Why We Chose Adoption

We always knew that we wanted to have children, but we struggled with infertility for several years. After learning more about adoption, we realized that this would be a perfect way to grow our family. We believe things happen for a reason – we were meant to adopt!

About Us

We’ve been married for over 8 wonderful years and been together for more than 13 years. We moved to San Francisco around the same time and met through friends of our families. After just being friends, we took the plunge and started dating and have been together ever since!  We truly love each other and always enjoy spending time together. Whether it’s marathon training, skiing or snowboarding, having a picnic with family and friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or curling up on our sofa and vegging out on TV shows, we love shared activities. We both do our own things as well, like Karen going to book club and Jang playing basketball. Karen is passionate about liberal arts and music, while Jang is crazy about sports and technology.  Our relationship is strengthened by the fact that we share many core values and ethics, like the importance of family and our Christian faith. We are ready and eager to share all the love, joy, diversity, and adventure in our lives with our child.

Our Favorite Shared Activities

1. Travel – We’ve visited 12 countries together, and counting!
2. Hiking – Taking long, beautiful hikes outdoors
3. Running – Going running to stay in shape or train for races
4. Playing tennis – Our favorite sport to play together!
5. Ski trips – Going on weekend ski trips with friends
6. TV shows – Watching our favorite TV series, like Game of Thrones
7. Date night – Our classic date night is dinner and a movie!

Meet Jang

I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. I have fond memories of my childhood, playing with my siblings and cousins outside and riding our bicycles around the neighborhood. Sports have been a big part of my life since early childhood.  I went to college at MIT, where I earned a Bachelors and Masters degree in computer science. I’m currently the Vice President of Product at a tech startup in Silicon Valley. I have unlimited vacation, so I’ll be able to spend plenty of time with our future child!  I’m looking forward to loving, teaching, and supporting our future child. I want to raise them to be honest, respectful, humble, diligent, and thankful. I want to give them the warmest family, the best education, and the brightest future possible.

More About Jang, by Karen

I was first attracted to Jang by his kindness, easygoing nature, athleticism, and great sense of humor. As I got to know him, he blew me away with his intelligence, work ethic, integrity, moral conviction, and incredible generosity. Jang pushes me to be a better version of myself and I can do it because he believes in me and supports me. I couldn’t have picked a better life partner.  I have witnessed his joy in spending time with our nieces and nephews, and know that Jang will be an amazing father. He’s very patient and naturally gifted at teaching. Jang helped teach our nieces and nephews how to throw a football and hit a baseball off the tee. He’s always dreamed of playing catch in the backyard with our future child and even being their Little League coach! Jang loves watching sports and can’t wait to take our child to sporting events and share his passion for the Cincinnati Bengals. Jang also has a lot of jokes that will make your child laugh a lot!

Fun Facts About Jang

1. Loves playing sports of all sorts
2. Die-hard Cincinnati Bengals fan
3. Loves watching movie trailers
4. Reads Entertainment Weekly
5. Tech geek and Apple fan boy
6. Loves karaoke but can’t sing
7. Cannot refuse boba tea
8. Never has food cravings
9. Loves Christmas music
10. Wishes he was left-handed

Meet Karen

I grew up in South Carolina and Ohio, and was fortunate to be surrounded by my extended family – cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I was a good student and avid reader. I played the violin, and loved to swim and play tennis.  I went to college at the University of Michigan and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines. I received my MBA from the University of Southern California. I’ve been working in renewable energy for nine years and currently work at a large bank managing investments in solar and wind projects. It’s really important to me to do work that contributes to the greater good.  My job gives me 16 weeks of parental leave and I look forward to using that time to bond with our future child. There’s so much I want to share with them – including my love of reading, music, nature, food, and travel.

More About Karen, by Jang

Karen is kind, compassionate, and thoughtful. She cares deeply about people and supporting personal rights and freedoms. She is also mentally and physically tough – she’s run six marathons and one triathlon! I am lucky to have such a smart, compassionate, tough, adventurous, and beautiful wife and I love her dearly.  Karen will unconditionally love your child and shower them with hugs and kisses every day. She grew up swimming for the neighborhood swim team, and can’t wait to teach our future child how to swim. Karen is already planning trips to art museums, musicals, and sharing all of her favorite books with our future child.  Karen is the most amazing cook! Each year she makes me a different birthday cake, and she’s excited to do the same for our future child. Karen is always trying new recipes and loves to host family and friends for dinner. Our future child is going to grow up loving Mom’s healthy, home-cooked meals!

Fun Facts About Karen

1. Favorite foods: pizza, ramen, ice cream
2. Loves University of Michigan football. Go Blue!
3. Ran 30+ races
4. Wants to live on the water one day
5. Can’t wait to get a dog(s)
6. Loves sporting events, concerts, festivals, etc.
7. Played violin growing up
8. Likes crossword puzzles
9. Is scuba open-water certified
10. Watching Bravo is my guilty pleasure

Our Family

We are both blessed to have close-knit, extended families that are excited to welcome a new baby. We’ll have a lot of help from nearby family in the Bay Area, including Jang’s sister and several cousins. We travel to Ohio or South Carolina for Christmas, where your child will be showered with hugs, kisses, tickles, presents, and delicious food by doting grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Karen goes on a baking spree and experiments with making a few varieties of Christmas cookies every year while Jang plays his Christmas music playlists.  Having big, extended families makes our yearly reunions fun and a little chaotic with 20+ people ranging from 5 to 94 years old. We either meet in someone’s home city such as San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Dallas or pick a destination vacation like Yosemite. When we get together, all the kids have the time of their lives playing tag, riding bikes, building Legos, drawing pictures and playing board games. The whole family goes out on excursions like boating, hiking, or sightseeing.

Our Neighborhood

We live in Millbrae, California, a safe, family-friendly town with great public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are many parks, playgrounds, and beautiful trails nearby. We love spending time outdoors – having picnics, playing, and hiking – and can’t wait to share this with your child.  There are so many great family activities to choose from – trips to the zoo or science museum, riding the carousel or feeding the ducks in Golden Gate Park, or weekend ski trips to Lake Tahoe. The Bay Area is an amazing place to raise a child, providing wonderful opportunities in education, the great outdoors, world-renowned cultural activities, and ethnic diversity.

Thank You So Much

We promise to love your child and provide him or her with the brightest future possible. We will teach your child everything we know and make education a top priority. We will raise them to be respectful and honest. Our home will be full of healthy food, lots of laughter, and unconditional love. And, we promise to include you in your child’s life in a way that you’re most comfortable. Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know us. We can’t wait to get to know you!

Jang & Karen