We share a love of the outdoors, especially hiking. Many of our vacations have taken us to National Parks, and our record is 13 parks in one year! One standout park we visited that year was Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, which has sand dunes hundreds of feet high that you can sled down like snow hills. Michael is particularly looking forward to bringing the child to the Badlands in South Dakota, which was the first National Park he visited at just 6 years old. Similarly, Becky looks forward to re-visiting all of their favorite spots at Acadia National Park in Maine, which their family frequented every year when they were a child.

Outside of hiking, we like spending time with friends. In our prior home in Madison, WI, and again here in Washington, D.C., we have found groups to meet with weekly to play games, especially cooperative games like The Crew (a trick-taking game) and Letter Jam (a spelling game).

In school, we were both really involved in music, playing low brass instruments in band, and participating in bagpipe band (Michael on pipes, Becky on snare drum). Becky has kept up these hobbies in the years since, even adding on chorus, while Michael keeps up his musical involvement by joining Becky on outings to see the opera or symphony. At home, we both devour books. Michael reads primarily fantasy and history books daily after work. Becky also loves fantasy and sci-fi, and has started to enjoy mystery novels.

We love spending time with our families! On Michael’s side, we get together with his parents and brother every winter to celebrate Christmas (usually not on Christmas, since his parents are accountants dealing with year-end responsibilities). The family decorates a tree together, and Christmas morning has a special breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, bacon, orange juice, cookies, and chocolate before opening presents. Since we all live in different cities and traveling with presents is tough, a new tradition has formed of hand-drawing the presents on small pieces of paper for the recipient to guess – present pictionary.

As a couple we have started a smaller tradition of painting wooden ornaments. We’re hoping to share this with our child and watch as their artwork develops.

Becky’s extended family has developed traditions intent on cousins spending time together. Each side of the extended family gets together for Thanksgiving every other year. Becky’s dad’s sister hosts a Seder for the first night of Passover, while their dad’s brother hosts a candle lighting during Hanukkah. Becky’s mom’s siblings and their (now grown-up) kids have biannual reunions in the summer to swim, hike, boat, play games, and generally spend time with each other. As children these reunions were led by our grandfather and parents, but now our generation is continuing on our own, aiming to give our children the same experience.

In Becky’s first semester of college, they speculatively signed up for student-led supplemental instruction in a challenging math class. Michael, a year older, was the leader. Becky often stayed late to discuss tougher math problems, and we quickly became close friends. Michael likes to cook, and the first time he invited Becky over for dinner he made tuna, one of the few foods Becky won't eat. We have had many more successful dinners since.

We were both in the low brass section of the school marching band (Becky on euphonium and Michael on trombone). Through time spent together at rehearsals and football games for band, discussing math, recreational carpentry during our school's Spring Carnival, and watching movies over spring break, our friendship developed over the next few years. We began dating in Michael’s last semester. After Michael went away to grad school in Wisconsin, he flew back frequently to visit. When Becky graduated, we moved in together in Madison and got married the next year.

We live in a quiet townhouse community in Washington, DC. Our home is a 3-story townhouse in a row of 5, with a large shared front yard. It has 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms and is filled with musical instruments and nearly a thousand books, as we are both amateur musicians and avid readers.

Many of our neighbors have children, and in the warmer months folks set up soccer nets out in the shared yard. For last year's community party, someone even rented a bounce house. We are also a short walk to a city recreation center and playground, which is often packed on weekends.

We are under half a mile away from the Metro line and a central bike path, giving us easy access to Downtown DC, Rock Creek Park, and nearby Maryland. By the metro there is also a grocery store, daycare, and farmer's market. We enjoy the proximity to the many museums and performance art in the city.

Our immediate and extended families are so thrilled to invite a child into their lives. We both grew up in environments with strong family values, and are similarly excited to share our families with this child. Both of us are close with our parents and siblings (Michael has an older brother; Becky a younger sister). Though none of us live in the same state right now, we make sure to see each other every year, usually around the holidays, and talk over video chat much more frequently. We've even had both families together for Thanksgiving several times.

When we get together with Michael's family, we like to play Trivial Pursuit and bananagrams, see plays, go to museums, and just sit and talk.

We are also close with Becky's extended family -- dozens of cousins spread throughout the country, mostly in Northern California and Massachusetts. Their cousins are excited to take on familial roles similar to those of aunts and uncles. Despite the geographic distance, we see Becky's cousins (and sometimes even second cousins) at least once a year for federal or Jewish holidays, or ad-hoc reunions. At family gatherings, we like to do outdoor activities and play board and card games.

We have both known long before our relationship that we wanted to raise children, but for Becky being non-binary precludes pregnancy. Adoption is our path to growing our family, and we are so grateful that you are considering the adoption process, despite how difficult that decision must be.

We met at school in 2015, have been together since 2018 after developing a close friendship, and got married in a small ceremony in 2020. We've spent the past years setting ourselves up to provide a safe, loving, and stable home (including our lap-cat, Rajah), and now feel we are ready to start our journey into parenthood. Our close-knit families are similarly excited to support and welcome a new member, with cousins (not just our siblings) expressing their anticipation of being aunts and uncles.

We hope to instill in your child the core values our families gave to us. We emphasize deep curiosity and a love for learning, which we believe will prepare them for a lifetime of exploration and growth. Kindness and integrity are also important; we want your child to approach their life with empathy and a strong moral compass. These values will not only serve them well individually, but will equip them to contribute positively to society, as an active and responsible member of their community. We will model open, honest communication, giving your child a strong foundation for lasting and meaningful relationships.

Our love for reading, music, and hiking are other values we look forward to sharing. We can’t wait to bring your child to our favorite National Parks, share with them all our favorite books we read as children, explore different musical instruments, and teach them the joys of cooking. Imagine how cute they’ll be baking Christmas cookies or making fudge. We also adore our domestic shorthair cat, and hope your child will grow to love cats (and dogs) as much as we do, experiencing the quiet pleasure of a purring cat on their lap.

We live in a quiet corner of DC with an abundance of local parks and playgrounds. There are tons of family-friendly activities nearby, including the free Smithsonian museums, mini-golf, bike paths, and the National Zoo. On quiet afternoons, we like to wander the neighborhood, and occasionally go out to one of the many local restaurants featuring cuisine from all over the world. Our neighborhood is multicultural, so your child will be able to make friends from a wide array of backgrounds. While we may not live in DC forever, we always plan to live in diverse, accepting communities.

Should it be something you desire, we would love to maintain open communication with you throughout your child's life. Whether it be through photos, letters, emails, texts, or visits, we are happy to provide you and your child the means to maintain your own relationship.

We look forward to meeting and getting to know you, and we appreciate you taking the time to learn a little about us and considering us for your adoption plan.

Michael & Becky