Featured Adoptive Family

Hi, we are Susie and Paul from Northern California. Thank you for your interest in learning more about us and about our desire to grow our family through open adoption. We cannot begin to imagine the difficult decision you are facing and we admire and respect you for your courage, love and selflessness in finding a loving family for your baby. We are very interested in learning more about you and your dreams for your little one.

Our Story
Our life together began ten years ago in Sausalito. We sat next to each other one Sunday at church and have been side-by-side ever since. We knew very early on in our relationship that we had similar values and dreams. We dated and supported each other for our first three years while Paul started his software business and Susie completed a masters program in counseling psychology.

After three wonderful years, we married and moved to Petaluma, a small town north of San Francisco. We looked forward to starting our family soon after we married, but sadly discovered that we were unable to have our own children. Since both Susie and her brother are adoptees and had wonderful childhoods, we naturally considered adoption as our next step.

My Wife, Susie
Susie is a very loving, creative, intelligent, compassionate, and dependable person. Susie has a big heart, a great sense of humor and is a very loyal and supportive friend. She is dedicated to her work as a Marriage and Family therapist in which she helps children and families develop healthy relationships. Susie is also an artist and sells her watercolor sketches at local art shows. She has a creative spark and youthful energy that adults and children instantly sense. Susie has a warm glow about her that one instantly feels when she walks into a room.

Susie and her brother are both adoptees and shared a great childhood together in Northern California. Her family lived in Japan for a few years where she first discovered her love of art. Kids are magnetically attracted to Susie, especially when she rolls around on the floor, makes funny faces or blows bubbles with them. I can picture my wife knitting baby bootees and sewing Halloween costumes for our child. She will love teaching our child how to bake cookies and other tasty treats for the holidays.

Susie is always prepared. If we are out in public and she sees a child (or parent) in need of assistance, she always has the right tools handy: a tissue for tears, stickers to bring smiles, or small toys for entertainment. Her experience working with children, has taught her a lot about child development and positive parenting techniques. I am proud to call Susie my my wife and believe she will be a wonderful mother!

My Husband, Paul
When I first met Paul, I noticed that he was confident, quick-witted and well-spoken. He was very friendly and sociable; people seemed magnetically attracted to him and soon I was, too. Paul is a lovable, huggable and romantic man. He values our relationship and is a dedicated provider. Paul enjoys doing special things for me like bringing home flowers, taking me out for dinner, or finding some special gift in my favorite color.

Paul grew up on the East Coast with his two sisters, living in Maryland, Pennsylvania and upstate New York. He move to California in his 20's and started a software business. Paul has determination and is definitely a leader. These attributes and his strong work ethic have made him a successful business man. He is creative, intelligent and definitely thinks outside the box.

Paul is naturally athletic and enjoys playing many sports. He is also a good coach and patient teacher. Paul will love playing with our child and teaching our children how to throw a spiral pass and get nothing but net. Paul is also a photographer and enjoys sharing his photos with friends and family. He will be a great father and devoted family man. Paul is energetic, has a great sense of humor and, gosh darn it, kids like him.

Having Fun Together
We are a fun, enthusiastic and optimistic couple. We love to travel, meet interesting people and experience new cultures. We both grew up in families that enjoy playing games together including Scrabble, Charades, Monopoly, card games, chess, checkers and backgammon.

We like to take our beach chairs and blankets to a local park for Petaluma's Movies-In-The Park series. We also enjoy relaxing and playing at the beach, which is a 20-minute drive from our home.

We also like hanging out at home, planting our garden, enjoying the view of Sonoma Mountain from our large front porch and listening to our wind chimes and water fountain. When it gets cool, we make S'mores on our outdoor fire pit and enjoy curling up next to the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and our two kitties, Kimo and Sabi, on our laps.

Where We Hang Our Hats
Our beautiful home has a large family room with a fireplace and plenty of room. We always have baskets full of games, toys and books for kids who are visiting. We have a big yard and enjoy colorful sunsets from our garden. We live in a quiet neighborhood where children can safely ride their bikes. We're certain our child will always have a lot of friends to play with in the neighborhood!

We live a mile from Petaluma's historic downtown with great shopping, family-friendly restaurants and interesting, locally owned toy stores. We are also close to the country and beaches. It's not unusual to see wildlife right outside our windows. One hop in the car and we are off to enjoy the San Francisco zoo, the skiing and sledding in Lake Tahoe or the many amusement parks in the Bay Area.

Petaluma is a wonderful family town. There are good schools, sports and arts programs, unique local parades and outdoor events. At Christmas, Santa and Mrs. Claus come to town on a ferry boat down the Petaluma river. Then they lead a procession of horse-drawn Victorian carriages down the main street.

Halloween is also special for the kids in Petaluma. Some of the historic streets have huge Victorian homes which turn into fabulous haunted houses; people will drive their kids from other cities to trick-or-treat here. We can't think of a better community in which to raise our child!

About Our Families
We were both blessed with strong and loving families and we visit them often. Our families encouraged us to explore our own individuality and develop our talents. Our family has teachers, children's book authors, architects, artists, programmers, musicians and adventurers waiting to share their life experiences with our child. Our family is very supportive of our adoption plans and everyone is very excited to meet our new child.

Our Family reunions are frequent and fun. We stay very connected to our families and have family reunions once or twice a year. Most of Susie's relatives live in California and we visit them often. We also visit Paul's family in Michigan, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Our Parenting Values
We dream of passing on to our child our values of love, trust, honest communication, education, friendship, spirituality and dedication to family. We hope to teach valuable life skills and encourage independence and self-reliance. We believe that consistency, fairness, patience, good role-modeling and open communication will guide our parenting.

We will teach our child the importance of higher education and the pursuit of a rewarding career. We have also both found volunteering and helping others to be rewarding and a way to make changes in our local community. We look forward to helping our child develop into a creative, confident person who will be a good friend, will enjoy learning, will laugh often and will be prepared to live a full, rewarding and interesting life.

We are very active members in the church where we met. Our church treats its members as a family and celebrates the gifts of all of its children. Our church community fully supports our adoption plans and our friends are arm-wrestling over who will babysit first.

Our Commitment to You
We will be very dedicated to this adoption. We have developed a strong relationship and are surrounded with good friends and family. We are continually educating ourselves about adoption and look forward to inviting you and your extended family to join our family.

We are healthy, energetic, financially secure and have arranged our lives to be flexible; we are ready to raise a family. We will dedicate our lives to parenting our child and to making this the most important work of our lives. We can see a future filled with teddy bears, Thomas the Train, Sesame Street, brightly wrapped Christmas packages, visits from the tooth fairy and lots of unconditional love and cuddling.

We appreciate you taking the time to learn about us and we look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to call us toll free at 1-877-844-2510, visit us online at www.susieandpaul.com or send us an email at mcgavin@adoptingwithlove.com. We would love to hear from you!