Hello and thank you for giving us the opportunity to share a bit about ourselves. We are Laurel & Michael from San Pedro, California. We share our home with our sweet corgi mix, Rosemary (Rosie, for short).

We can’t imagine the weight of the decision you have ahead of you, but we know that whatever you choose it will come from a place of love. We hope this profile gives you a glimpse into the love we have for each other, the things that are most important to us, and the kind of parents we would be if you choose us to raise your child.

We began trying to build our family shortly after getting married five years ago, and although we have been unable to have biological children, we still have a deep desire to have a family together. We both come from loving families that have given us so much support and encouragement through our journey, and our struggles only allow us to appreciate how lucky we are to have you considering us to raise your child. We are incredibly honored.

We first met about 8 years ago on Match.com. On our first date, as we were going over all the normal topics of conversation, we discovered that we actually worked in the same building AND that we had probably crossed paths any number of times! We laughed about the fact that it took the Internet to finally connect us, and we have been inseparable ever since. We know how overwhelming it can be to wade through hundreds of profiles in search of the perfect match, but our relationship is proof that it is possible! We hope our profile catches your attention and that we will have the opportunity to get to know each other better.

I grew up on Catalina Island, just off the coast of Southern California, where I learned to love and respect nature. I didn’t have siblings growing up, but my best friend and I met on our first day of kindergarten and are still closer than most sisters I know. My parents taught me to be a strong, confident, and independent woman, and I traveled around much of Western Europe by myself when I was in college. I chose my first career (lawyer) because it paid well, but I left to pursue my second career (chef) because I learned that money doesn’t buy happiness, and I wanted to contribute to the joy in people’s lives, not be a part of their conflicts.

I hope to be the sort of parent that teaches their kids not just to be kind but to choose kindness. I don’t want to mold my kids into tiny versions of me or Michael. I want to help them discover who they are as individuals and encourage them to be the best possible versions of themselves.

Laurel is truly amazing. She is the most caring, loyal, passionate, driven and brave person I have ever met. If you are fortunate enough to be in her life, you will never want for anything.

Her ability to see what her ideal life looks like, and her bravery and strength to steer through the litany of challenges to achieve it is incredible.

Two of our closest friends and their now 6 month old daughter live down the street. I will never forget the first time we met her. I watched as Laurel took her into her arms and laid her on her chest, and the look of utter love, contentment, and happiness on Laurel’s face completely melted my heart. It is one of my favorite memories, and I cannot wait until we are able to welcome a child of our own into our home.

I grew up in Lakewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. I am incredibly fortunate to have an amazing family comprised of an older brother, a younger sister, and two wonderful parents who will be celebrating 45 years together this year. Our family vacations were camping trips, and my parents used these trips to instill in us not just a love of nature but also a sense of responsibility and community by teaching us to leave a place better than we found it so that others could enjoy it as well. To this day, I never go anywhere without being prepared for anything, and my friends joke that I’m the resident boy scout.

I am very passionate about my career as a financial advisor as it allows me to help people achieve their ideal lives. As a parent, I hope to teach our kids the same love for the outdoors and desire to help others that I have.

Michael is, quite simply, the best human being I have ever met. He is genuine, kind, and caring, with a smile that lights up the room and a laugh that is nothing short of contagious.

I will never forget the first time I saw him with his nieces. They literally ran to him the minute we walked in the door, and he spent the next hour crawling around on the floor with them playing games and reading their favorite books. I couldn’t tell you who was giggling more - Michael or his nieces - but I knew in that moment that this was the man I wanted to be the father of my children.

Michael: It’s Saturday. We wake up early at our favorite lakeside camping spot at Lake Cachuma, north of Santa Barbara. The birds are singing, and the sun is rising over the lake. I make coffee for us and we take a walk around the lake. We make breakfast over the campfire and spend the day fishing, playing frisbee, and getting dirty. The day ends with us roasting marshmallows and making wishes on shooting stars.

Laurel: It’s Sunday. We get up early and walk to the beach to watch the sunrise. The kids and the pup play in the sand. Then we go to the farmers market where the kids pick out produce in the colors of the rainbow. We all dance together in the kitchen while we’re cooking dinner, and then we curl up on the couch together under one big blanket.

We are both small business owners. Laurel has a business making small batch spice blends and gourmet foods, and Michael is a financial advisor. This means that because we are our own “bosses” we both have very flexible schedules and are lucky enough to be able to work from home most of the time.

Cooking: Although Laurel is the professional chef in the family, we both love to cook. On Sundays we visit a local urban farm where we pick up produce, including something special for us to cook together. The farm has an educational program for kids called “Peas in a Pod” where they teach the kids about things like the importance of bees, compost, and how to grow their own carrots. We can’t wait to enroll our own kids in the program someday and to teach our kids to love food and cooking as much as we do.

Nature: We also love being out in nature, whether it’s a morning walk around our beautiful neighborhood, a hike in the mountains, a camping trip in the desert, or a weekend on Laurel’s dad’s boat, which he keeps on Catalina Island all summer so that we can enjoy it whenever we want. Laurel grew up boating with her dad, and Michael grew up camping with his family, so we can’t wait for our kids to learn about and appreciate nature in all its forms.

Travel: While we enjoy exploring our own community, we also really love to travel. Whether it’s a road trip up the coast of California or our honeymoon in Spain, travel for us is an opportunity to meet new people, eat new food, and learn about cultures different from our own.

We live in a cozy two bedroom house in the Point Fermin neighborhood of San Pedro, California, an oceanside suburb of Los Angeles.

While our yard is small, there are all kinds of green spaces in our neighborhood. If you walk down our street in one direction you get to the beach and marina. In the other direction are beautiful cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean with Catalina Island in the distance. And just about a mile away is a nature preserve where we love to hike with our pup on weekend mornings.

During the Summer, the park closest to us hosts performances of Shakespeare by the Sea as well as weekly concerts and a classic car show. We love packing a picnic and walking to the park to spend the afternoon enjoying these activities with our friends and neighbors.

We have an amazing dog named Rosemary (aka Rosie) who Laurel rescued almost 12 years ago when Rosie was a puppy. She looks just like a Corgi with long legs, so we call her our “Supermodel Corgi.” She is incredibly smart and sweet and loves to go wherever her humans go whenever possible, whether that’s out to lunch with us or on a hike with her “Grandpaw” (Laurel’s dad). She is incredibly gentle and patient with kids and will make a wonderful “fur sister.”

Family is incredibly important to us, and we are so lucky to have so many of them nearby.

Indeed, Laurel’s dad lives just next door, Michael’s parents are just twenty minutes away, and his siblings are nearby as well. We all spend Christmas Eve together as a big family unit, and we have regular family cookouts throughout the year where everyone makes their favorite dishes.
Although Laurel grew up as an only child, her dad is one of five brothers, and Laurel is close with all of her cousins. We love making trips to San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Washington (among other places) to visit with them and their families, and most of Laurel’s extended family still gathers for Thanksgiving every year.

Biological family aside, we also have a very strong “chosen family,” including two of our best friends who live just down the street with their baby, to whom we are already Auntie Lolo and Tio Kiko. And Michael’s best friend and his fiance are also preparing to start the adoption process soon. We can’t wait for all of our kids to grow up together.

We grew up in very different types of households. Michael’s parents are still happily married after nearly 45 years. Laurel’s parents divorced when she was 4 years old. But we both always knew love. And that is one thing we promise to teach your child - families look different in all kinds of ways. Your child’s adoption will be one part of their life story. What matters is that it is part of a bigger story - a love story.

You also may have noticed from our photos that we come from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds. We hope that you see this as a positive in the way that we do. It means that not only will we be able to share our families’ different traditions with your child, but our life together is an example of how bringing different cultures and traditions together can make us more kind, more accepting, and more curious about the world around us. We look forward to celebrating our future children’s culture and background because their culture will be part our family’s culture. We want our children to feel whole and loved no matter what.

We want to thank you for taking the time to read our profile. While it is impossible to truly capture our life and dreams for the future in a few photos and paragraphs, we hope that you saw something here that makes you want to get to know us better. The decision you face is a momentous one, and we are truly honored that you are considering us to raise your child. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly.