Becoming parents brought on a whole range of emotions, both expected and surprising. You are taking care of someone who needs so much, and you find joy in watching them learn and grow in the smallest of ways. The small milestones that brought us satisfaction include the first time our son smiled, laughed, started eating solids, and began to stand on his own.

Watching our kids grow, gain personalities of their own, and make their own decisions is the part of parenting we are most looking forward to. We will get the joy of walking alongside our kids as they learn more about themselves, and look forward to keeping them safe and healthy as they explore who they are and who they will become.

We find plenty of leisure time in the smaller, day-to-day activities. We walk the dog as a family every day (weather permitting). We also both love listening to music, and will often have evenings where we listen to our favorite songs together in our living room. We play Dungeons and Dragons virtually with friends on a weekly basis. We are excited to introduce our children to tabletop RPGs to encourage improvisation and math through a fun game setting. We also enjoy playing board games, and have several that we’re waiting to share with our kids when they are old enough. Influenced by his Dad’s ship-in-bottle hobby, Drew enjoys building and painting miniatures in his spare time. Having a lifelong love of learning paired with a career change, Becky is currently in graduate school. To supplement her classes, Becky volunteers at a local museum’s library once a week archiving donated collections. Having been a graphic designer for over a decade, she enjoys artistic pastimes like drawing, painting, and crafting. We are looking forward to sharing our love of travel with our children. One of our favorite parts of travelling is learning about the culture and history of the places we visit. When travelling isn’t an option, we are located in a diverse community, where we can experience cultural festivals, different kinds of cuisine, and meet all types of people. Because of this our son is not a picky eater, some of his favorite foods are tamales, dosa, and steamed buns.

Taking care of a puppy, particularly a puppy that grew almost 10 lbs every month for the first year, was both a lot of work but also extremely rewarding. As Kiwi grew to adulthood, we got to watch him mature from a stubborn puppy with razor-sharp teeth to a people-loving adult who is extremely gentle around our toddler while still acting like he’s the baby. Nothing beats ending a long week, and having your biggest, fluffiest boy rush over because he wants personal cuddle time with you. Kiwi has been a loving, conscientious companion through many major changes in our lives, including the birth of our son.

Having a dog adds important structure to our lives that balances the many changes we have experienced, and we would not be the parents that we are today without Kiwi. While not the same as raising a human child, we get to experience the joys and struggles of balancing two very different sets of needs. Victor has gotten plenty of time outside, whether he wants to or not, due to Kiwi’s walks. Kiwi is learning to love a toddler who likes throwing food on the floor. 

We are fortunate to have immediate family that live close by. We are both the oldest of two, and our siblings live less than a half-hour away, allowing us to see them frequently. Drew’s parents visit each week to help watch our son Victor. Becky’s parents live at a popular beach a state over and we enjoy visiting them and experiencing all the beach has to offer, particularly outside of peak season so our dog can enjoy it with us.

We love seeing our family for birthdays and major holidays. For Christmas we sometimes celebrate many different times that week depending on our family’s schedules. In addition to seeing our immediate family, we also get together with Becky’s extended family and experience the Polish tradition of wishing blessings through the sharing of bread.

We have important friends that we consider as close as family. Many of us grew up together, as our families were in a similar group when we were young, and that close friendship is something we hope follows us to our children. We get together for quarterly dinners so that we are guaranteed to see each other despite any distance or busyness in our lives. Because we consider our close friends family, we have plenty of nieces and nephews to dote on.

We live in a Maryland suburb an hour away from two major cities, and only a few hours from both the sea and the mountains. Our neighborhood is full of families with children ranging from toddlers to teens. Our daily walks take us to the neighborhood park that backs up to the elementary school. It has a playground, tennis/pickleball courts, a basketball court, and a field for baseball and soccer.  Community was the main focus when our area was built up, so our neighborhood was planned to be extremely walkable. We are only a few minutes drive from community centers, local libraries, beautiful lake walks, a mall, and a concert venue.

Our house has three levels, four bedrooms, and two and a half baths, plenty of room for a growing family. While we utilize as many spaces as possible to entertain our curious toddler, our favorite spaces include the library with the majority of our books and heirloom pieces of art and furniture, our living room with our dog’s favorite sleeping and playing areas, and our open dining and kitchen space. To add personal touches, Becky painted murals throughout the house and installed a large gallery wall, including her own art, in her office.

We know this is an unimaginably difficult decision and we wish you the best as you work through this. If you choose us, know that your child is joining a loving family with a strong support system. Our family and friends are almost as excited as we are to welcome another child into their lives!

We’ve known each other from an early age and reconnected after college at a game night hosted by mutual friends. We began dating soon after, and after three years got married. We have now been married for six years. In this time we have experienced a global pandemic, career changes, dog emergencies, last minute trips and much more. Our marriage has been full of lessons about staying flexible and adapting to change, and we are thrilled at the thought of what changes are in store for us with the addition of another child to our family.

Our introduction to parenthood was not easy. Raising a child with a special needs diagnosis has been anything but normal. We didn’t have the same joyful anticipation as our friends did preparing for parenthood. Instead we had an early diagnosis resulting in a high risk pregnancy, an unexpected early delivery, and a month-long stay in the NICU. Victor has more doctor visits and is on a slower developmental growth track compared to the average kid. Despite all of this, Victor is thriving! He is in one of the best Early Intervention programs in our area and he continues to impress them with his intentionality and development. Victor’s smile and giggle are irresistible, he loves interacting with every person he meets. With the love he shows for his friends, we know Victor will be an amazing older brother!

We love that our children will grow up in a community where differences are celebrated and learning is encouraged. We have a fantastic system of public programming, with excellent public schools that complement a wide range of local events, camps, sports, and plenty of other experiences. We love to take advantage of our local libraries, where we’ve attended toddler playtime, taken foreign languages classes, and even learned about local horticulture. We love that Maryland has a little bit of everything, from mountains to ocean, from cities to rural farmland. We can spend one day hiking in one of our state parks and the next taking the train into the city to explore a museum. Every day we have the opportunity to experience something new and we can’t wait to share that with our children!

We are committed to telling your child as much about their adoption while staying age appropriate. As they grow they will have questions about adoption and our desire is to answer as many of them as we can. You will always be an important part of your child’s story and we want to facilitate that in the best way possible. Depending on your comfort level we would like to stay in contact via letters, texts, phone calls, emails or visits. We want to share with you the new skills your child is learning, the things that bring them joy, and all of the exciting milestones.

We love being parents and we are excited to welcome another child into our family! Hopefully this gives you an idea of who we are and what our lives are like. We would love to get to know you as well, if that’s something you are interested in. We know this is a difficult time and we wish you the best as you make this decision.

Drew & Becky