Welcome! Meet:

Collin + Kat

Web Developer / VP at Education Non-Profit

Washington

Caucasian

Christian / Other

All About Collin & Kat
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Collin & Kat

Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know our family to see if we might be a good fit with you. No matter if you choose us or not, we wish you peace, comfort, confidence and pride as you go along this journey. We know this is a really important decision and have so much respect and admiration for you.

As a couple, we've always talked about adopting. We were lucky to get pregnant with our 3-year-old son Benji. He has filled every day with joy, wonder and love and we are so grateful we get to be his parents. We have always wanted to have 2 kids and feel that now is the time to grow our family and fulfill Benji's wish to have a little sister or brother he could 'be a Mommy to.' We have learned a lot about parenting and feel confident in adding to our family.

Our parenting style starts with FUN. We love laughing with Benji, who is a ham, and we love doing what makes him happy. That means we read a lot, vroom trucks, dig holes, hang out with neighbors and go on day trips to beaches around Seattle. We are both very intentional about always creating a safe space for Benji to feel his emotions. We believe in positive, gentle parenting and are constantly reading and learning about how to be the best parents we can be. It's the best job in the world and we take it seriously. We are lucky to both work from home and get to spend so much quality time as a family.

Having been a teacher, I know how easy it is to deeply, unconditionally and fully love all children, regardless of biology. We will love all children in our life with our whole hearts. We'd love to get to know you more and welcome you to our family as well if you're interested. We also completely respect any other choice you might make. We appreciate your time and consideration so much and wish you all the best on your incredible journey.

Why Adoption?

We want to adopt because we feel that is the best way to grow our family. We are eager to welcome another child into our life and are eager to learn about where they come from so we can honor and celebrate their background. We have built a village around our first child and think having our next child’s birth mother as a part of the village would be incredible. Since Kat was a teacher she has wanted to adopt because she knew her love for all kids, no matter if they were biologically related or not, was immense. Kat was so happy to know that Collin was interested in adoption since the beginning as well. It’s been something we both have wanted to do to grow our family in a meaningful way.

Family & Home

Before Benji was born we remodeled our home and made a great big kitchen/dining/living room so we can maximize our time together. We have a cozy sunroom (turned train/truck room) where Benji creates, builds and plays.

We know it's important for kids to feel independent and see how much pride he gets from being able to take care of himself so we have designed our spaces to enable Benji to be Mr. Independent and it's awesome! He has his own little kitchen with a working sink, his own bathroom and is able to get his own healthy snacks. He’s great at helping us bake “benji bread” from scratch and loves to work alongside us in the kitchen.

We spend tons of time in our yard playing & chatting with neighbors. Since Benji has nut allergies we make most food from scratch and all eat healthier because of it. The most important part of our home is that it's surrounded by incredible neighbors who have become like family to us.

We are so lucky to live in a cul-de-sac with the nicest, most caring neighbors. All the kids are older so we get cool hand-me-downs and have an incredible village of extended family who love and care for Benji. We learn so much from our handy, artistic, musically gifted, garden-pro, jam-making, neighbor-friends. They are all thrilled for us to adopt so they can LOVE another child just as much!

We live a few blocks from Kat's sister & parents who are amazing. We are lucky to have such an involved family and support system. Nonnie & Boppa watch all the grandkids multiple times a week and have so much fun. Benji spends tons of time with his big and little cousins so he's ready to help take care of a sibling of his own. Our extended family can't wait to have another child to love.

How others describe me

Kat describes Collin as: an incredibly loving and caring Dad who lights up with joy every time he sees his child. He was the most patient caretaker of his Mom when she was battling lung cancer for 2.5 years and he dropped everything to move home to help her. He is a big Kansas City Chiefs fan who loves BBQ and cooking new recipes all the time. He comes up with fun stories at bedtime and uses silly accents and goofy nicknames for Benji all the time.

Collin describes Kat as: the kindest and biggest hearted person I have ever met. SHe puts all that she has into raising our son and loves everything about being a mom. She is a successful business-woman but always makes sure she gets to spend a ton of time with Benji, our son. She is very thoughtful about how we raise our son and is very research and plan-oriented. She sets our family up for success and always creates fun adventures and makes all the holidays really special.

How We Met

We met at college in Colorado in 2003 and became friends... 13 years later we became 'us'. Collin knew Kat would be an incredible mom one day and was amazed when he saw how well she handled a whole classroom full of 6-year-olds when she was teaching in San Francisco.

We had a long-distance relationship while Collin moved back to Kansas City to take care of his mom who was battling lung cancer. Kat fell in love with the amazing care-taker Collin was and was so grateful for the time they both got to spend with his mom. We became a strong, long-distance team during a really hard time which built a strong foundation for us.

We lived together in Denver for a few years, got married, adventured around the world and then moved to Seattle when Kat's sister was pregnant because kids are a team sport!

Becoming an Aunt and Uncle was so much fun and filled our hearts with love. Becoming parents made our already full hearts burst with love for Benji. We are eager and excited to bring another child into our home and hearts because we are SO ready to love them too!

Advice to Future Child

Enjoy being who you are because you are perfectly you. Feel confident in life because you know you have a family who will support you. Know you are set up for success because your family intentionally made sure you had as many opportunities as possible. Be kind and appreciative to others. Be assertive for yourself, your rights, your body and your space. You matter SO much. You can make the world a better place and we will always be here to help you and cheer you on.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We think it’s amazing - we lean into having a large village to help us raise our son and are excited to add more people - especially a birth mother - to the mix. We think it’s important that our child knows where they came from, how loved they are by everyone involved and that they can stay connected with their heritage and cultural backgrounds. We are eager to learn about wherever they are from and are lucky to live in a diverse city where we can find people who look like them, come from where they might have come from, etc so that we can make sure they have authentic and meaningful connections to their culture. The idea of having the birth mother as a part of our village is humbling and heartwarming and would be a real honor and joy for our family.

Favorites

Collin

Favorite Movie: Idiocracy
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas stockings
Hobbies/Interests: mountain biking, video games, poker, cooking healthy meals, roasting coffee beans, riding bikes with my son
Dream Vacation: Tropical Islands
If I Could Choose a Superpower: time travel

Kat

Favorite Movie: Grease!
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: All of them! We LOVE holidays. Decorating for Halloween and Christmas with our 3 year old is so fun, we do easter egg hunts the whole month of Easter, we do 4th of July parades, and always make cool costumes for our kid (turned stroller into an excavator and Santa’s sleigh one year, and we are making a wear-able blue angel jet this year).
Hobbies/Interests: soccer, tennis, being crafty, clean products, early childhood education, healthy-ish baking recipes
Dream Vacation: Disney cruise
If I Could Choose a Superpower: heal people who are sick