Welcome! Meet:

Elizabeth + Abbey

Middle School Math Teacher / Army Officer

Virginia

Caucasian

Christian / None

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

All About Elizabeth & Abbey

Abbey is an Army officer originally from the Baltimore area. She is 38 years old, and has four sisters and many cousins. Her career as a missile defense officer has taken her all around the world–she has lived in Japan, South Korea, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UK. She anticipates retiring from the Army within the next several years, and is looking forward to the opportunity to be a stay-at-home parent while exploring new career paths. Elizabeth is a 33-year-old math teacher originally from Colorado who has been teaching at the middle school level for over seven years. She has a brother who lives in Michigan and lots of family in Virginia and North Carolina. She has been trained in early childhood education and development and plans to be the stay-at-home parent until Abbey retires from the Army so their child or children can have the best care possible. Both Abbey and Elizabeth love to travel, spend time with their friends, work in their community, and can’t wait to be parents!

Why Adoption?

We’ve decided to adopt because we want to raise children together but have no desire to carry a child ourselves due to our families’ complex medical histories. Additionally, we are interested in being able to share our community and all of the good things in our lives with a child who needs a loving and supportive home. We’re committed to creating a nurturing, stable home in which our child or children are encouraged to explore, learn from their mistakes, and develop emotional maturity at an appropriate rate.

Family & Home

We are currently stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, but own a “forever house” in College Park, Maryland. We plan to move there when Abbey retires.

In Maryland, we have an incredibly loving multi-ethnic neighborhood community filled with people of all walks of life and we are looking forward to the role models, mentorship, and variety of experiences available to our child or children as a consequence of growing up around so many caring adults. We spend our time gardening, hiking, camping, running/weight lifting, reading, visiting museums, cooking for each other and our friends, and are looking forward to spending more time volunteering once we move back home to Maryland. We’re also invested in traveling internationally with our family to give them exposure to and appreciation of other cultures. We plan to send our children to public school as much as is reasonable from K-12 and use Abbey’s GI Bill along with a future college fund to help them attend a college of their choice.

How others describe me

Our relationship is defined by mutual respect and support, listening, and curiosity. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to make each other’s lives easier and more meaningful. Abbey would say that Elizabeth is very good at staying in touch with her friends, is a great cook, and is incredibly thoughtful. Elizabeth would say Abbey is trustworthy and loyal, adventurous, and also very thoughtful. The only thing we disagree on is driving! Abbey would tell you she is sometimes frustrated with Elizabeth’s occasional lapses in attention to detail (for example, not paying attention to clothing labels before putting things in the washing machine or mixing up digits in a bank account number). Elizabeth is sometimes frustrated with how hard Abbey can be on herself and her tendency towards clutter.

How We Met

We met on Hinge in spring 2021. Our first date was DC Pride and Abbey will tell you Elizabeth’s “Gay for Democracy” shirt was a huge relationship green flag. Elizabeth remembers telling a friend that she had never had more interesting conversations with anyone she had dated previously. We started dating and moved in together in January 2022 (Abbey’s furnace died in the middle of the night, she brought her dog over to Elizabeth’s house and never left). We got engaged in March 2022 before the Army sent Abbey to Korea in May. We got married on paper in July 2022 and spent the first two years of our marriage apart, FaceTiming twice a day and meeting up on Elizabeth’s school vacations. One year later we had a beautiful wedding ceremony with all of our friends and family present officiated by our favorite Episcopal priest.

Advice to Future Child

As cheesy as it sounds, BE YOU. You have unique gifts and talents the world needs, and we can’t wait to see how you grow into who you are meant to be. You are loved unconditionally and are part of our family for a reason. Don’t change for the world - let the world change because of you.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

As members of the queer community, we’re experienced in creating “chosen family.” Adoption is an act of choosing family and we plan to incorporate our adoption story into our child’s life in developmentally appropriate ways. This includes any birth parent or family information we have so our child isn’t left wondering about that part of their history. We prefer open adoption because it gives us the opportunity to put those pieces together for our child and honor the gift their birth parents gave us when making their adoption plan. We’re open to healthy and regular communication with birth parents if they would like.

If we find ourselves in the position of adopting a child of a different race, we are committed to seeking experiences/mentors to help us parent them and provide our child opportunities to choose their own expression of their culture and background.

Favorites

Abbey

Favorite Movie: The 1994 Live Action Jungle Book
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas
Hobbies/Interests: Running, gardening, going to the beach, Star Trek
Dream Vacation: Costa Rican Jungle Adventure
If I Could Choose a Superpower: being able to fly

Elizabeth

Favorite Movie: Fast and the Furious Series
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Halloween/fall season activities
Hobbies/Interests: gardening, cooking, sewing, exploring new coffee shops
Dream Vacation: Grand Canyon River Rafting
If I Could Choose a Superpower: being able to walk through walls