We’re Derek and Melinda from Northern California. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to learn more about us.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to give you a glimpse into our lives. We know you love your baby and want the best for them, and we truly admire and respect your incredible selflessness.

Adopting our son Ethan was one of the most incredible and life changing events to ever happen to our family. We love him so much, and are so thankful to begin our next adoption journey with you and your child.

We met in 2010 through mutual friends and quickly became inseparable. Melinda knew from the moment she started dating Derek that he was going to be the one she would marry. We dated for two years, and got married in 2012 at a beautiful country club near our home. Our relationship is based on a foundation of love, communication, and respect for one another. We just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and we are more in love today than ever.

When I met Melinda, the first thing I noticed about her (besides how pretty she is) is her sweet and bubbly personality. She can walk into a room and literally just smile, say a few words, and she will immediately brighten my day. There’s something about her that exudes warmth and kindness. Her positive attitude and optimistic outlook on life is extraordinary and I’m grateful that I have her in my life to keep me balanced.

The more I got to know Melinda, the more I realized what a great person she is. She is caring, patient and compassionate, which makes her such a great mother. Melinda is the best mother to our son Ethan and will be the best mother to our future son or daughter. She has so much love to give and we are grateful to you, for giving us the gift of life and the opportunity to grow our family.

Melinda works as a Paralegal at a local family law firm, and has developed close relationships with her coworkers. She has a great career, and likes her job, but her true passion is her family. She enjoys cooking healthy food for us, spoiling our dogs, and most importantly spending quality time with our son. She also occasionally volunteers with animals when she has the time.

I am truly blessed to be able to call Derek my husband. He has so many amazing qualities that make him a great husband and make him a great father. He is extremely generous and unselfish and always puts others first. Any time anyone needs him he is always there to help no matter what. His unconditional love and respect for his family and others is undeniable. He is an incredible role model to our son Ethan and will be to our future son or daughter.

Derek is always up for an adventure and makes everything we do in life so fun. I love that he continues to challenge me and pushes me to try new things. It doesn’t matter what we are doing, whether we’re camping at our favorite spot, at the beach, or just home on the couch, I always have fun with him and just being near him makes me so happy.

Derek has a kind and loving heart. Derek is a huge lover of animals and nature. He is my best friend and my rock, and he is a wonderful father.

Derek is the smartest person I know and he is always teaching me new things. He is a Clinical Lab Scientist with a degree in biology from UC Davis. He is very driven and self-motivated. When he isn’t at work, he loves doing projects around the house and learning new things. He is an amazing handyman and can fix just about anything! Besides being so smart, he is also extremely funny. He has a great sense of humor and never takes himself too seriously. He is always the life of the party and loves making everyone laugh.

We live in Roseville, California, near Sacramento. We live in a one-story home in a friendly, established neighborhood filled with the perfect combination of young families and elderly folks. Our community is beautiful and safe and the perfect place to raise a child. The school systems are great and there are always fun activities to do. We live within walking distance to parks and bike trails where we love to go on long walks and bike rides with our dogs. We love where we live and love having people over and spending time in our home. We are lucky to be within driving distance to both the beach and the mountains. If we want
to get away for a day or two we often drive to Lake Tahoe, San Francisco or Monterey.

Ethan was born on March 1, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We adopted him from an amazing woman and were lucky enough to be there during his birth. We got to spend time with his birth mom and her family and it was wonderful to be able to create a bond. Ethan is such a happy baby. He loves going to the park, playing outdoors, dancing to music, and hanging out with Bailey and Benji. He is smart, goofy, curious, strong and always smiling. He is very social and we look forward to watching him grow up with a sibling!

They both love being around children and are very kind and gentle to people. They are a huge part of our life and truly members of our family!

Family is the most important thing to us, and we feel lucky to share a very tight-knit bond with our families. Both of our parents live close by and we see them often. Derek’s dad owns his own instrument repair business and Derek’s mom has been doing in-home childcare for over 35 years, which gave Derek plenty of practice helping take care of little ones! Melinda’s dad is a retired tile contractor and her mom was a nurse, but became a stay-at-home mom when Melinda was born.

We are so lucky to say that our parents are close friends so we get to all be together a lot, even on the holidays. We have long-lasting marriages in our family and both Derek and Melinda's parents and grandparents are still together. We look up to them all and are fortunate we have such wonderful role models in our life. Derek’s grandparents live close by and we see them often. Although Melinda’s grandparents live in Southern California, we talk to them every week and visit them as much as possible.

Melinda is an only child but is lucky to have gained two amazing sisters after marrying Derek. Derek’s older sister and husband have a daughter Charlotte (8 years old), and a son Weston (9 years old). We enjoy spending time with our niece and nephew, and can’t wait to grow our family so they can grow up together and be close cousins. Derek’s younger sister, Chelsea, is an occupational therapist and enjoys working with special needs children.

We have learned that life doesn’t always go as planned, but what matters most is how you handle it. The unexpected challenges we have faced have made us stronger and we believe that adopting is the way we are meant to build our family. If we are so lucky to be chosen, we promise your child will have a life filled with love, laughter and adventure. We are truly grateful for considering us and are so thankful you took the time to learn more about us.

~Derek, Melinda, and Ethan