Alan & Kristina

Dear Birth Mother & Beautiful Dreamer,
Hello! We are Alan and Kristina from Bellingham, Washington. We are honored and grateful to you for considering us as adoptive parents. Like you, we’re dreaming of the most beautiful and loving future for this child. It takes an uncommon ability to imagine this future, and we believe this makes you a dreamer.

We’d like to acknowledge your extraordinary courage and imagination in this process, and we’re so thankful to you for opening your heart and reading about us.

Our Story
We believe that the story of the human family is one in which we’re all connected much like the branches of a magnificent tree and that every story is meaningful. We would like to welcome your story as we share ours. One cool Seattle November in 2000, we met for the first time after exchanging messages on an early online dating site.

We didn’t know then how our connection would deepen and unfold: into long walks around the cities we lived in (Seattle, New York, Vancouver, San Francisco), into dreamy days listening to music and making art, and into many nights under warm covers watching movies with our cat, but from the moment that we met it seemed that everything became softer and more beautiful.

It has now been over 18 years since then, and we remain each other’s best friends and sweethearts.

Why Adoption?
Although we waited a long time to settle down, from the very beginning we knew that we wanted adoption to be a part of growing our family. We’re beyond excited that the time is now.

Travels
We love to travel! After living in many cities, we’ve made friends from all over the world who invites us to visit them. So far, we’ve been to Albania, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and have driven across the US 4 times. We love to explore new places and look forward to more adventures with a child.

About Kristina (by Kristina)
My Work
I wake up every morning excited to work! As an artist and writer with an arts non-profit organization, I’m so lucky to be able to think creatively every day. I collaborate with and host visiting artists and poets, which is so incredible. I’m also the boss, so I set my own hours and can be very flexible with my work as a mom.

My Passions
Besides being creative, I love to take hikes with Alan, read books, travel, study and speak foreign languages, cook family meals, create community projects, and spend time with our precious kitties. I also love to dance with Alan at home or out with my friends.

Why I Love Kristina (by Alan)
Kristina has a deep passion for life and the greatest capacity for love. She can find beauty in every moment, and it is really exciting to be around her. She believes that anything is possible and has remarkable sparkle, intelligence, energy, and creativity. Being around her makes you feel like you are dancing.

More Things I Love About Kristina (by Alan)
>She can converse in Spanish & French (and some Korean, Arabic, and Italian)
>She can make anything taste yummy.
>She has given talks all over the world.
>She has shown her art internationally.

About Alan (by Alan)
My Work
I’m lucky to have my dream job as a professional map maker. Since I was a kid I was always excited about maps and would spend hours drawing fictional landscapes of my backyard. Now I get to make maps all day with a computer. Map-making is a mixture of art and science, and I enjoy figuring out how to make each project tell a unique story.

My Passions
I love to ride my bike, go running, or take walks with Kristina in nature or in the city. Travel is also a passion, and I never get tired of seeing new places. At home, I’m teaching myself how to play guitar and piano. I love learning new things (like I could read Wikipedia for hours!) and I enjoy solving puzzles. I look forward to sharing that curiosity with our future child.

Why I Love Alan (by Kristina)
Before I met Alan, I made a wish that my partner would be the kindest person I’d ever know and then *poof* Alan fulfilled that wish! Besides being very kind, he’s also gentle, extremely intelligent, patient, and sensitive. I wake up each morning so thankful to have him by my side, cheering me on.

More Things I Love About Alan (by Kristina)
>He can draw anything from memory.
>He is loved by all kids and animals.
>He is quiet but sometimes very silly.
>He has been on CNN & other news.

Our Home
At the edge of the greenest forest sits our cozy 3-bedroom cottage. Inside, you can find 2 cats. We also have a lot of paintings from artist friends on our walls.

At home, we host our friends and family, draw and make music together, and watch movies. Outside, we have many organic fruit trees and a garden, where we grow cherries, plums, apples, pears, and 6+ kinds of berries! Behind our cottage, there are many trails and trees to explore.

Our Kitties
Our cats, Pua and Noodles, are a joy to have in our home. Noodles is an athletic, outgoing rescue kitty and Pua is a quiet, sensitive kitty we found at the Kauai Humane Society in Hawaii. We are so lucky to get a lot of purrs from these kitties each morning and evening.

Our Office
Monday through Friday, we drive into town where we run a co-working space in the arts district. We love all of our cool co-workers, who have such interesting life stories; one co-worker has lived in Antarctica, another has lived in New Zealand, one co-worker used cross-country skis to get to the office, another drives a 1960s’ Volvo, and one brings her dog, Luna, to the space every time she works there. We also love our space, which is beautiful. It houses a large library of art books and Kristina’s small bookshop, which has a lot of cool kids’ books. It’s a hub of activity!

Our Family & Friends
We’re so lucky to have Alan’s parents and aunt next door to us and his extended family is only 90 minutes’ drive away. Kristina’s parents also have a beach home only 30 minutes from us, so this means lots of big meals and gatherings with our families. And, since Kristina’s mother is from Korea, it also means we get to eat amazing Korean food together often! Kristina is also close with her brother who lives in San Francisco with his partner Quan. We see them at least twice per year at Christmas and in the summer.

We consider our friends extended family and spend a lot of time hanging with them, too. Many of our friends are involved with community work with us and we bond over our shared interest in building a stronger and healthier community for all.

Our Community
Because we own our office, we often lend it to community groups for meetings and events. We also use it for events related to Kristina’s non-profit organization including for poetry readings, film screenings, a children’s story time, art shows, indigenous language class, and a women of color social gathering. Because Kristina is mixed race and knows this experience, she has been committed to help build bridges between different groups in our city.

Our Values as Parents
To act with love and kindness above all.

To provide a safe and healthy home and family.

To honor the background and heritage of your child.

To receive and support their unique voice.

To share all our resources, hope, and wisdom.

To dance, sing, and create together.

To find the magic in every day.

To travel the world visiting family and friends.

To practice gratitude for all that we have.

To be open about the story of their adoption.

To know that mistakes are beautiful teachers.

Thank you so much for your courage and imagination!