Introduction
Dear Expectant Parent(s),
Hello. We’re Liz and Dylan. We appreciate that you are taking the time to get to know us through this profile book. We understand that this may be a challenging time for you. We hope that you are getting all the support you need as you are making decisions and planning for your expected baby.
Our Story
We met in college, doing theatre together; Liz was the costume shop manager and Dylan was an actor. We became good friends, and by Liz’s senior year, we were the student president and vice president of the theater company. That fall, after some gentle prodding from many of our friends, we realized that we might actually already be dating and falling in love. Now, after being together for eleven years and married for five, we laugh when we look back on how oblivious we were.
We’ve known from the beginning of our relationship that biological children were not in the cards for us so adoption has always been part of our conversations about family. Liz has several close cousins who were adopted. Adoption has always felt like a natural part of building a family for us.
We’ve taken the last 5 years as a married couple to buy our house, build a life, and lay the foundation of a loving home for a family. We’re ready to take that step and are so excited to go on this journey together.
About Dylan, by Liz
Dylan is from the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where he grew up with his two moms and younger brother. One of his parents is a family social worker and the other is a baker. Growing up, his family prioritized getting together at big reunions during the 4th of July and Christmas. They also had an annual trip to Maine, where they’d spend their days at the beach. Dylan was drawn to theatre even as a child; he began acting in high school and then switched to directing in college.
Today, Dylan works at a consulting firm where he oversees HR and business operations. He enjoys being part of a small team, at a company where he is challenged in a meaningful way, and has opportunities to grow.
In his free time, Dylan enjoys cooking (especially grilling!), and tending to the yard and garden. He loves doing projects around the house, and learning new skills along the way. Like his grandparents and parents before him, Dylan loves throwing parties, and I love to help him execute a theme to perfection.
Dylan is one of the most loving and passionate people I know. He’s a Survivor nerd and a secret Disney nerd as well. He loves animated movies and knows more about Star Wars than you’d expect. There have been jokes about Dylan’s dad energy from all corners of our lives for as long as I’ve known him. This comes not just from his frequent “dad jokes,” but from the incredible amount of care he shows the people around him. Dylan is someone you can rely on rain-or-shine, and he’s always ready to help the ones he loves. I feel so lucky to get to build a life with him and I can’t wait to see him become the amazing dad I know he will be.
About Liz, by Dylan
Liz grew up mostly in Vermont after moving around the northeast as a child. She is the oldest of three siblings and has often been called a “quintessential older sister.” Her mom is a nurse and her dad is a warehouse manager for a local ski mountain. She grew up in a tight-knit family and they continue to be close today. Her family group chat is active every day, and she rarely goes a day or two without a FaceTime with her mom and sister.
Liz works as an operations director at one of the hospitals in Boston, where she oversees a team ensuring that patients receive world-class care. She loves mentoring her team members, and working closely with her colleagues to improve processes and bring efficiency to the organization.
Liz is an avid reader, crafter, and vinyl collector. She is particularly a fan of reading history and fantasy books, and loves learning about the lore of our world, as well as fictional ones. Liz is always interested in learning new crafts and skills; she picked up film photography last year and one of her biggest joys has been photographing our travel and family get-togethers. She has an expansive and eclectic record collection, with music spanning across many decades and genres. Record collecting and seeing live music are two of her favorite things to do with her dad, who has a collection that puts hers to shame.
Liz loves fiercely and unconditionally; she puts others first, protects them, and looks out for them. Everybody, from friends to family to colleagues, knows that Liz is somebody they can count on in any situation, and she will give her all to help. Liz is a master of putting people at ease; when things get difficult, Liz is right there with a joke to lighten the mood, and advice delivered so warmly, that you can’t help but believe that everything will work out. When you walk into a space that Liz has designed, you will want to lie on the couch until you fall asleep, with just the right amount of lighting, and probably with a record playing, or a Lord of the Rings marathon on the TV.
Our Home
We live in a town just outside of Boston and we both take the train to work in the city most days. Although we both have flexibility to work from home. We enjoy the mix of living in a town, while still being able to easily spend time in the city. We love going into Boston for concerts and have memberships at several of the museums. We especially enjoy the Museum of Fine Arts!
Our neighborhood is full of families, close to several walking trails and playgrounds, and, perhaps most importantly, just around the corner from our favorite ice cream shop! We love to take our dog, Poptart, on walks around the neighborhood in the evening, and stop for ice cream before heading home. Poptart is the real star of the show, she’s a 14-pound chihuahua with a sweet personality. All she wants to do is cuddle with the people she loves!
We bought our house in 2023 and have done a lot of work renovating and updating it in the time since. One of our favorite projects was redoing and expanding our back deck. It has become our favorite place to spend time all through the summer and fall. We have a big backyard that would be great for a child to play in. Dylan often spends his weekends in the garden while Liz hangs out on the porch with Poptart and a book.
When buying the house, our top priorities were space and comfort. We love hosting and making a space for all our friends and family to enjoy. Liz’s sister lived with us for a year after she graduated from college. She has since moved in to her own place, but we always have space for our friends and family to come stay with us. This past year we even hosted our first Thanksgiving with family members from both Dylan and Liz’s family joining us.
Our Family
Family is a big part of our lives. We are close with both Dylan’s and Liz’s parents, who each live just a few hours away, as well as our siblings, who are a bit more spread out, with the exception of Liz’s sister who lives very close by.
We love traveling with both of our families. In the past few years, we attended a family wedding in Ireland, went to music festivals and took spring break trips together. And an important favorite – our annual trip to Cape Cod for a turnip festival! We love going to new places with our favorite people in the world and traveling with them makes things even more meaningful.
Our family and friends are all so excited for us, and are very supportive of our adoption journey. Our parents, in particular, are very excited about having a grandchild. We’re part of a tight-knit community of family and friends, and their support means the world to us. Community is so important to us, and being connected to our families is a huge part of that. We’re both looking forward to raising our child in a loving home. We will surround them with caring adults that love them that they can trust.
Traditions, Hobbies and Interests
Our favorite things to do together are traveling and seeing shows, both live music and theater. Our staircase is lined with posters from our favorite concerts and Broadway shows and we’re always exited to add new posters to the collection. We love hiking in new places and going to museums everywhere we go, and buying silly souvenirs (nothing better than a good coaster). Our honeymoon was a road trip across the west coast of Ireland and to this day it’s one of our all-time favorite trips we took together.
One of our favorite traditions is hosting a New Year’s Eve party every year with our friends. Liz puts together a trivia game that we call “Year in Review” and asks questions about pop culture events from the year, curated to our friends’ interests. We split up into teams and people get points for being correct or for being funny. We’ve been doing it for almost ten years now and every year we have twists, categories, and teams. It’s the perfect way to end and start the year!
We also regularly host a Halloween party, and if we’re not hosting, then we’re guaranteed to be dressing up for someone else’s party. Liz’s background in costume design comes out and Dylan loves to decorate our yard for all the neighborhood trick or treaters.
Every year we cut down our own Christmas tree, keeping the tradition alive from our respective childhoods, and it’s become one the things we look forward to the most. We always watch Christmas movies (top two, several years running, are Arthur Christmas and Klaus) and drink hot chocolate the night we decorate the tree. We’ve been collecting ornaments from all our traveling over the years and it’s always the best part of the Christmas season.
Thank you
Adoption is how we’d like to build our family. We have other family members who were adopted or have adopted, and speaking with them helped to solidify our commitment. We have done our best to lay the foundations of a loving home, with a strong network of family and friends, and we know that a child will have a place to be loved and nurtured here.
If you chose us, we promise to love your child with all of our hearts, and to fully support them to the best of our abilities. We have each always known that we wanted to become parents, and cannot wait to welcome a child into our family. Your child would join our “village” of extended family members and friends, who are excited to meet them and love them.
We believe deeply in the importance of honesty and openness, and will honor and support your relationship with your child, however you want. We look forward to discussing the level of openness that you are interested in having in this relationship. Your child will understand how much you also love them, and the care that you put into making this decision.
We so deeply appreciate you taking the time to learn about our family, and considering if we might be the right family for your child. We wish you peace, clarity, and strength as you navigate this decision.
Sincerely,