Hello! We are Sharon & Sander from Rotterdam, The Netherlands! Thank you for having the courage, strength and love in your heart to choose adoption. We appreciate that you are taking the time to read our story and considering us as adoptive parents for your child. We hope you will get a good impression of who we are and how much love and support we have to share.

When Sharon was 21 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. She has been healthy ever since, but unfortunately can’t have children biologically because of the illness. During our first date we felt such a strong connection that Sharon felt comfortable enough to tell me about this. Since our love grew very strong very quickly, and we would love to have a family together, we started exploring the path of adopting a child within the first year of our relationship. Since it is very difficult to adopt in our country, we are grateful to be able to adopt a child in the United States to be able to start our family.

Our relationship started as an office romance in 2014, when we both worked at a government organization for health care. We had seen each other at the office but hadn’t yet worked together. That changed after Sander reached out to me. Quickly we didn’t talk about work anymore but started having conversations about our weekends and personal interests. When Sander challenged me to see who could best walk on a slackline, our first date was set. Our first date was at a beach pavilion and that afternoon it was clear to us, we were meant to be together.

We have a lot of fun together. We take beautiful trips, go out for dinner, have a great group of friends with whom we often meet and we love spending time together at home. In addition to all the things we enjoy doing together, there is enough room in our relationship for each other to do things independently too. For example, we both play different sports and go on vacations with our friends separately once a year. We truly enjoy our conversations with each other and like chatting about fun things or how we deal with challenges and difficult topics at work.

Sharon means everything to me, she has a great personality and I am blessed to have her as my partner. She is strong, sweet, helpful and she always knows how to make me laugh by making jokes and being funny. She loves to cook and bake and treats me with all kinds of tasty meals. Whenever I’m doing daring things or try to find the edge in my adventures, she’s the little angel on my shoulder who keeps me in line.

Sharon is very goal-oriented whenever she has something in her mind, she will do everything to achieve her goal. She is great with kids, she is always willing to help out friends and babysit their children. I know that she will be a wonderful mother to our child. She will unconditionally love them and make sure your child will feel loved and cared for. Sharon is truly my better half, she is always there for me and I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

Currently, I work as a product owner for the website and client portal of a governmental organization. In this role I ensure these products meet the needs of our clients by doing research and making sure the development team knows what features to build.

One of my favorite things to do is teach gymnastics. I practiced it myself until I was 18 years old. After that I started teaching it to children. I’m certainly not a strict teacher and like to have fun with the kids. For me the most important thing is that all the children get challenged to try new things and have a good time, regardless of their abilities.

I would love to bring our future child along to my classes. But if he/she doesn’t like it, that would be fine too. I look forward to getting to know what our future child is interested in and support them in everything they want to explore.

Sander is a very caring person. He supports me in anything I want to do and I know I can always count on him. He means the world to me. He likes to meet people and is always there for his friends when they need help. I love those evenings when we have serious conversations about life, but he is great in acting silly as well. For our friends’ children Sander is the uncle that will always give them attention and never gets tired of playing with them. He even does chores in the household! What more could I want!? I am convinced that Sander will be an amazing father!

After high school I began my studies in Supply Chain Logistics in Amsterdam. Currently, I work for a big parcel delivery company as an IT platform owner. My job is to create an IT solution for the real time tracking of parcels and shipments.

We both have a very flexible schedule. We can work from home and can decide how we divide our hours during the week. We have 5 weeks of vacation time every year. Also, in the Netherlands you can take extra days off until your child is 7 years old!

In the summer weekends I love to fire up the grill and cook for Sharon or family and friends. Sports are a big part of my life. I play in a soccer competition with my friends, and when I have time I’m challenging myself with CrossFit or a run. When the weather changes and the wind starts to blow I’m off to the beach for kitesurfing.

We live in Rotterdam, the second largest city of The Netherlands. It is a multicultural city with 600,000 people of 175 nationalities. We own our apartment, which is on the ground floor and has a garden. The neighborhood we live in is very quiet and peaceful. There are lots of trees, good daycare centers, schools, playgrounds and a big park where we often hang out in the summer. It takes us only 5 minutes by bike to go to the city center.

Right now we enjoy the best of both worlds: a nice home in a residential area, but the restaurants, theaters and other facilities are just around the corner. We are considering moving to a bigger house within the next 2 years, probably in one of the suburbs of Rotterdam.

We have two adorable cats, named Suzy and Aaltje. Aaltje is the bravest of the two and likes to hang out in the garden. She also loves to cuddle, especially with Sander. Suzy is really attached to Sharon. Every day she wakes Sharon up by jumping on her pillow and meowing. They will be great companions with our future child.

Sander’s Family: I am the oldest of 3 children, raised in a very warm and loving family in a small town near the coast. My youngest brother, Thom, has all the technical skills of the family. Marjolein, my sister, is blessed with a very creative mind. My parents, Sjaak and Renie, made sure that we had nothing to complain about while growing up, but did teach us important values of being respectful and that you have to work hard to achieve your goals.

Sharon’s Family: I grew up in a close-knit family with my twin brother, Koert, and my older sister, Miranda. When I was 16 years old, things changed when my father passed away, but my mother made sure we stuck together as a family. Since almost 20 years she has a lovely partner, who complements our family together with his two children and grandchildren. My mother and I have a very special bond and I love spending time with her by taking long walks along the coast.

We both have a large group of friends. We enjoy spending time with them and their children. Especially Sander’s friends are a tightknit group. They do a lot of activities together, like going camping with their children in Italy every year. Our friends are really excited to be a part of our journey to become a family.

Thank you so much for reading our profile and considering us as adoptive parents for your child. We hope you got an impression of who we are. We cannot imagine what you are going through, but we admire your strength for choosing the path of adoption. Please know that we will love your child unconditionally and we will provide your child with all the love, joy and opportunities that we can offer. We wish you all the courage and strength in making your decision.