Introduction
Dear Expectant Parent(s),
We are Johannah and Matt, and while we don’t know you yet, we have been praying for you. We pray for your health and the health of your child, guidance to help you make this difficult but wonderful decision, and comfort for the anxiety we can imagine you are feeling. We sincerely appreciate your consideration of our profile and look forward to meeting you if you select us.
Our Story
Our story began in 2006, in graduate school in Colorado. We each worked in different chemistry labs down the hall from one another. Our mutual friends thought we would make a good couple, so they helped organize group outings with the ulterior motive of getting us to talk to one another. With both of us being rather shy, this was more challenging than they anticipated. Eventually, their persistence paid off and we started dating.
Being graduate students, most of our “dates” involved late-night conversations in the lab while waiting for our experiments to finish. However, we did find time to go hiking, skiing and play some soccer together. Six years later Matt proposed while on a hike in the redwood forest and we were married a year later.
We moved around a bit in the northeast before settling in Massachusetts close to some of our extended families. We soon found we were unable to conceive on our own, which was frustrating and disappointing. We decided to pursue adoption and were blessed with the adoption of our son, Isaiah in 2021. Having him in our lives has been an amazing experience and we can’t wait to share our love and joy with another child!
About Matt by Johannah
Matt is a science nerd who loves reading and bike riding. He reads every night, enjoying a range of topics from fictional series, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, to biographies and stories relating to science. Matt’s love of reading is something he shares with our son Isaiah as they read together every day.
The quickest way to get Matt to smile is to put him on a bike (literally any type of bike). Of all the activities he participates in, this is his favorite. Matt is talented at solving challenges, whether at work or around our home. Matt typically likes to have a project to work on — repairing a bike, helping with an improvement to the yard, or planning an activity. He enjoys woodworking and has built our son Isaiah a toybox and a play table for Legos.
Matt is willing to divide up household duties, is an excellent cook, and is particularly good at making desserts! One of the ways Matt won my heart is through cooking for me. The first dinner he cooked for me was ceviche, something he had never made before, which I thought was a very bold move on his part, demonstrating the willingness to put in extra effort into our relationship.
Dedication and kindness are Matt’s strongest traits. His most common question to me is, “how can I help?” He also demonstrates great patience with our son Isaiah, who is currently a very active and curious three year old.
About Johannah by Matt
Johannah and I have been married for 12 years and I continue to be amazed and impressed with how wonderful she is. Since graduate school, I have watched her grow in her profession as a scientist. She now holds substantial responsibilities in a pharmaceutical company. At home, she is the family’s activity planner and spiritual leader. She keeps us active in the community and at church. I am most impressed with how great a Mom she is to Isaiah. She is nurturing and loving, and while Isaiah may not yet realize how fortunate he is it does not escape my notice.
Johannah is not afraid to voice her own opinions. While we don’t always agree, we still have open and friendly conversations about many topics. She tends to be more grounded than I am and doesn’t hesitate to tell me when one of my ideas for a house project is beyond my capability and we should hire an expert.
Johannah is also adventurous loves being outdoors. Together we’ve accomplished 100-mile bike rides, multi-day backpacking trips, and steep mountain hikes. She is also a volunteer ski patroller at a local mountain providing first aid to skiers in need. She taught me to ski and is currently teaching our son and is looking forward to sharing her passion with another child.
Isaiah
Our son Isaiah has truly been a blessing in our lives. He was born prematurely and we spent four months in the NICU before finalizing his adoption. Through his strength and the grace of God, he has overcome all the challenges of his early birth to become an energetic, smart, curious, and loving toddler.
Isaiah enjoys being outside playing in the sand, going on hikes, and climbing on jungle gyms. He also loves to dress up and we spend a lot of time pretending to be construction workers, policemen and fire fighters. His curiosity usually manifests as him wanting to help us in the kitchen or to build something with Play-Doh. Sometimes this can get a bit messy, but it is always fun to see his excitement when he figures something out or learns something new.
While he may not fully understand the concept of a new brother or sister, we know from observing how much he loves his friends and cousins that he is going to be an awesome big brother!
Our Home
Our three bedroom house is located in a very desirable neighborhood in a diverse suburb of Boston. There is a secluded bike trail close to our house that we regularly use when we need to get some exercise or to take our son for a ride. There are two playgrounds within a 10 minute walk from our house that are often hopping with neighborhood kids playing games and riding bicycles. The town library, rec center and YMCA also host a huge variety of fun and educational activities for kids in which we regularly participate.
We have a large fenced-in yard with a swing set and plenty of room for our son Isaiah and a future child to play safely. We enjoy gardening and have a large garden where we grow vegetables, herbs, grapes, and berries. It also provides a great opportunity to teach our children about nature, food and responsibility.
We both enjoy cooking and prepare most of our meals at home. Sunday mornings are very popular as they are almost always pancake day! We also enjoying cooking for others and host several BBQs at our house during the summer.
More About Us
Faith: Matt is a member of and regularly attends his Roman Catholic church and Johannah is a member and attends her Presbyterian church; we rotate attending services on weekends.
Holidays: Johannah’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving and Matt’s is Christmas
Traveling: We love to travel and some of our favorite places are Turks and Caicos, Spain, Costa Rica and the Rocky Mountains. We recently took a family vacation to Iceland and Isaiah loved the black sand beaches.
Activities: Johannah loves to ski and Matt enjoys riding his bike; both of us like playing soccer, camping, and hosting BBQs at our home. Most of all, we enjoy playing with our son Isaiah and watching as he grows up!
Our Family
We were both raised in loving and supportive families. Johannah’s parents live in Wyoming and have been married for 45 years. She has an older sister and three younger brothers. Johannah maintains close contact with all of her family members, even though they live in varied places. One brother is in the Air Force and moves every few years with his wife and three children. While we don’t get to see them as often as we would like, we regularly video chat. Her youngest brother is a genuine cowboy who trains horses for a living and her oldest brother is a lawyer and recently had his second child. Johannah’s sister now lives in Wyoming and we stay in close contact with her and our niece and nephew (who are twins). We travel to spend time with her parents and siblings over major holidays and on family vacations.
Matt’s parents live in Florida and have been married for more than 50 years. His younger brother is married, has two daughters, and also lives in Florida. Matt’s parents visit us every winter and bring both of his nieces. We all have a great time skiing, building snowmen, and having snowball fights.
While we do live remotely from our immediate families, we both have extended family close to our home in Massachusetts. We have multiple cousins, aunts, and uncles who live in MA and southern New Hampshire. We get together regularly for holidays and birthday parties.
Closing Thoughts
We sincerely thank you for considering our profile. We pray you are getting the support and care you need during this challenging time. While we cannot know how difficult this time is for you, we promise we will provide your child with a loving and caring family. We are also prepared to provide whatever level of openness is comfortable for you. In our previous adoption, we maintained regular photo updates for our son’s birthmother as per her request. We want to ensure that our children’s birthparents can be a part of their lives, too. We are genuinely grateful for this decision you are making, and are excited to welcome another child to share in the love and joy in our lives.
Sincerely,