Hello! We imagine this process must feel a bit overwhelming. We are so proud of you for making the courageous decision to consider an adoption plan for your child! We have many extended family members and close friends who have been blessed to adopt children and we have enjoyed hearing their stories of the great love that has been added to their families through this process.

We are excited to love your child unconditionally and provide nurturing stability and support as they grow. We want to help raise them to be kind, honest, generous, thoughtful, faithful, and hard- working. We both value education and being well-rounded and want to help introduce them to many different kinds of activities so they can find their unique passions, interests and strengths.

We hope that these pages will help you catch a glimpse of who we are and we hope to get to meet you!

We have been married for over 8 years and have wanted to grow our family for several years. We love kids and enjoy being an aunt and uncle to our nieces and nephews. We have struggled to conceive even after treatment and experienced loss along the way. We feel adoption is the path we were meant to be on to help us grow our family.

You will always be an important person to our family and we will raise your child to respect and honor you. Your child will know that they are a gift and a blessing. We also hope to have open communication at a level with which you feel most comfortable in order to provide updates throughout the years.

When We First Met: Lissa had just started working at a church and Paul was volunteering as a drummer. Our first time hanging out was helping a friend build Christmas lights that could be controlled by a phone app.

The Love Story: We've been married since 2015! We dated for about 2 years. After kayaking for our birthdays, Paul surprised Lissa with a proposal. We were so eager to be together that we got married only 3.5 months after our engagement.

Our Wedding Day: It was a beautiful fall day and we were surrounded by family and friends. Instead of dancing, we hired a few of our professional musician friends to play a concert!

Lissa loves deeply and goes out of her way to serve others. She loves a good book, soft blankets, and the occasional Hallmark movie. She enjoys exploring new places and is quick to remind us to celebrate the fun moments in the life of our family. Lissa is really smart and thoughtful and can be counted on for any of life’s needs. She is regularly sought out for her advice. I am so thankful her.

She enjoys keeping fit and regularly hikes the neighborhood to get her daily dose of sun.

Hobbies: reading, hiking, travel (and planning trips)

Lissa is an amazing aunt and is usually the first person the nieces and nephews are excited to see. She has a natural way with them that brings comfort and allows them to be courageous. She proudly displays the fun crafts that are sent her way and never misses an opportunity to encourage or cheer them on.

A few years ago she left her full-time work in church ministry for a career break and now consults with churches and other non-profits. The flexibility in her schedule allows her to be available to help our friends and family. She’s planning to stay home with our future child at least until they start school.

Lissa is a talented musician
Career: Church Ministry Consultant
Education: BS in Business, MA in Theology

You couldn’t have picked a better partner for me. Lissa is so much fun, encourages me well and really makes sure our house feels like a home.

Paul is one of the most thoughtful people that I know. As a result, he looks for ways to be generous and serve others. He is steady, faithful, loyal, and calm in times of chaos.

Hobbies: music, learning new technology, house projects

He is very handy with house projects, is a really talented drummer, and a is little bit of a tech nerd. He works in the technology sector on hardware products. He enjoys helping build all the cool tech and he loves managing his teams in the Bay Area and Asia.

Paul is intelligent and loves learning new things. His curiosity makes him able to talk to anyone about anything.

He is my best friend and I love getting to spend time with him doing simple things around the house or getting to try a new coffee shop or going on a trip together.

He is a great uncle and loves finding out from our nieces and nephews what their latest interests and hobbies are. This past fall, he bought all of them shirts to match him and they wear them every time we see each other.

Paul cannot wait to become a father so that he can enjoy activities, play time, and just spending time together as a family.

Career: Manufacturing Design
Education: BS in Mechanical Engineering, MBA

We also love to travel! Whether it's an international trip or a day trip somewhere in our area, we enjoy seeing something new, trying local foods, and learning about different cultures.

Every fun adventure includes good food and good coffee.

Living in the Bay Area is a mixture of beautiful ethnic backgrounds, diverse languages, and beautiful scenery. There are many things to see, do and eat here! There are a lot of fun parks and we are only about 40 minutes from the beach where we love to go walk, picnic, and kayak.

Things Nearby:

San Francisco: We are near some great museums, concert venues, restaurants, and landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge!

Great Education: Stanford, Cal, UCSF, Santa Clara University

Tech: Apple, Meta, Google, Pixar, Tesla, Netflix - all kinds of tech and start-ups

Beaches: We love walking the oceanfront path in Santa Cruz and sometimes end at the mini golf on the Boardwalk.

We live 1.5 blocks from a small park and 2 miles from downtown Redwood City. Our city offers many family-friendly activities throughout the year and we can’t wait to bring our future child along with us. The beautiful weather and tree-lined streets here also make it nice to walk in our neighborhood.

We have lived in our house since we first got married. It has been a place where we have hosted small groups, birthdays, and wedding and baby showers. It has also been a comfortable and safe place for us to live and be ourselves and we want it to feel warm and inviting for others, too.

One of the things that we loved about each other when we started dating was that we each had long-term friendships that we are still investing in. Our values for loyalty and faithfulness were shared from the beginning. We are thankful to have people who love and support us and we enjoy making time to be with them.

Lissa has had the same best friends for over 30 years and now the husbands have been brought in!

Paul’s grad school roommate and his wife and family are frequent travel companions and they asked us to be godparents to their children.

Paul’s close friends travel across the US for mini-reunions every few years.

In our city, we are part of a church small group that includes families with children. We eat together, have fun with each other, and help encourage each other as we walk through life and try to live the values of our faith. We also spend time with other groups of friends and co-workers.

We are firm believers that life is richer when we invite others into it. We are committed to loving and serving each other. We enjoy attending sports games, school plays, and trivia nights with our friends. Our friends are so supportive of our adoption journey, and we cannot wait to have them be a part of our future child’s life.

Lissa’s Family: Dad, Mom, 1 younger sister, Brother-in-Law, 2 Nephews, 1 Niece, 2 Grandmas still living

Lissa was raised in a college town in Northern California

We love to spend time together and see each other about once a month to celebrate birthdays, watch recitals and sports games, and just play together. Growing up, my parents were very supportive and encouraging. We are a musical family and I took violin and voice lessons for many years and participated in many musical activities. My sister and I also tried a variety of sports, but I landed on ballet. I enjoyed school and learning and was very involved in our church youth group. My dad worked in commercial real estate development and my mom stayed at home with us until we started school and then worked part time teaching people how to do bookkeeping.

Paul’s Family: Dad, Mom, 3 sisters (1 older, 1 TWIN, 1 younger), 2 brothers-in-law, 4 nephews, 1 niece
Paul was born in Wisconsin and raised all across the US

Paul: Dad’s management job moved us to new locations every few years. Having a twin sister (and 2 other sisters) alongside made these transitions feel easy. I developed a love for building things from my dad who patiently taught me new skills and encouraged me to join in weekend house projects. My mom lovingly stayed at home until we were in high school when she started working at my dad’s company. Mom and Dad provided a stable household and cheered us on to try new things and to explore the outdoors. We ate dinner together nearly every night and were very involved in activities at church. Though we live further away now, we call frequently and make time to be together in-person when we can.

Every 2-3 years we also plan a big trip with all of Paul’s sisters and their families. Last year we did a beach trip with Paul’s whole family on the East Coast including our niece and 4 nephews on his side.

We celebrate Christmas with Lissa’s family each year. A few years ago, Paul bought a fake snow machine so we can play in the “snow” with our niece and nephews. It has become a holiday staple.

Every spring we do a 4-5 day beach trip with Lissa’s family somewhere on the California coast. We chase the waves, build sand structures and bury each others’ legs, cook meals together, and play games. It is a joy to be together.

We also alternate visits to Paul’s parents and twin sister’s family for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. When we head to Illinois, we often will spend a day with Paul’s extended Italian family and have a great feast!

Thank you for taking the time to view a small picture of who we are. We would love to meet you and get to know you too. We can’t imagine the many questions and emotions you are sorting through as part of this process, and we want you to know that whatever you decide, you are loved, valued, and cherished.

Love, Paul and Lissa