Welcome! Meet:

Jessie + Will

Biologist / Marine Biologist

Maryland

Caucasian

None

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

All About Jessie & Will

Thank you for reading our letter.

We are a couple of outdoor-loving, music-making biologists. We love going on adventures big and small, from traveling across the country to visit family to walking and poking around at the local nature park. In our jobs as research scientists, we study plants and animals in their natural habitats (Jessie is all about plants and insects, Will loves sea creatures). We also teach biology classes for college students. Our home is a place of humor, creative projects, and playtime with our dog (Tito) and cat (Luna).

We are excited to bring a child into our family. We have a lot of love to give and look forward to helping a child have a safe and happy place to grow. We know that we will be able to provide a caring and stable home with enough resources, time, and attention to help our child feel secure – plus, a gaggle of grandparents, aunts, cousins, and friends, as well as a big dog and a tiny cat – all ready to welcome a child into our family.

Why Adoption?

We have always wanted to build a family through adoption. Even before meeting one another, we had both decided adoption would be the way we would like to build a family when the time came. Since Will is a transgender man (assigned female at birth, medically and socially transitioned starting at age 28) we are unable to have our own children together, so adoption is also a logical route for us to build our family.

As people in the LGBTQ+ community, we have both thought a lot about what it means to belong in a family. Because of our experiences, we are especially committed to helping our child feel a sense of belonging in our family. From the first day, our child will be surrounded by the strong community of our family and friends who have embraced many pathways to parenthood. For example, among the people who will be most visible and important in our child’s life will be examples of step-parents, half-siblings, adoptive parents and children, and friends who have conceived with donor assistance. Because of the community we have cultivated in our lives, we know that our child will grow up surrounded by people who embrace a broad definition of “family” and that our child will always know that they belong with us.

Family & Home

We live in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom split-level home near Baltimore, Maryland. Our house is on a quiet street in a diverse neighborhood, with a mix of people of different ages – from young families to retirees – and from all different cultural backgrounds and income levels. We specifically chose this neighborhood so that no matter who our child is, they will have friends and neighbors down the street that look like them. The house includes a room for the child, an office/music room, a guest room for frequent grandma visits, and lots of room outside to play. Our neighborhood is close to parks and schools. We often take a short drive to visit the coast or into Baltimore to check out museums, concerts, and theater performances.

Many of our local friends are fellow scientists who have young kids, so our everyday community is rich with interesting people to learn from and a built-in community of kids to grow up with.

We are also close with both sides of our family, which includes several eager grandparents, step-grandparents, and many young nieces and nephews excited for a new cousin.

How others describe me

Will (as described by Jessie): Will is a good egg. He is kind, generous, and endlessly supportive to anyone and everyone, but especially to his family and friends. Will loves exploring the world and dreaming up big new ideas. He is a hard worker: after discovering science, he worked jobs all through college and became the first in his family to earn a college degree. He makes beautiful, silly drawings and writes sad songs and bakes my favorite clementine cake.

Jessie (as described by Will): Jessie is brilliant, kind, and funny. She is responsible and reliable, but also playful and appreciative of the deep silliness that kids are best at. She is remarkably creative and curious, which is best demonstrated by the fact that she pursued a career in theater before changing course to earn a PhD in science. I am excited about building our family, but I am most excited about seeing Jessie become a parent. We have handled so many unexpected twists and turns in our decade together - I know that we will be a good team as parents, no matter what life brings.

How We Met

We met in 2014 as graduate students at the same university and have been building a life together ever since. Our partnership has spanned periods of long distance - living in different states and different countries, traveling around the world together for our jobs, and several moves among states. Now that we have found our permanent home in Baltimore, we are excited to become partners in parenthood, too.

Advice to Future Child

We hope you know that you are always worthy of love and happiness. We can help you figure out the rest.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We are committed to helping our child grow up with a healthy sense of who they are and their place in the world. As part of that commitment, we are open to building a relationship with you and anyone from your family who wants to help this child grow up feeling loved and connected to their roots. We understand that such a relationship can take many forms and can develop over time, and we are committed to the process of figuring out what that looks like at each step with you.

Favorites

Jessie

Favorite Movie: Ocean’s 11 or any good heist movie
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Homemade birthday hats!
Hobbies/Interests: gardening, reading, hiking, yoga
Dream Vacation: Alaska hiking, dog sledding, and whale watching
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Teleportation to go all the places

Will

Favorite Movie: I’m torn between the original Muppet Movie and Thunder Force
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Making costumes for Halloween
Hobbies/Interests: playing guitar, taking pictures, art of all kinds
Dream Vacation: diving on the Great Barrier Reef
If I Could Choose a Superpower: breathing underwater