Welcome! Meet:

Kristofer + Melanie

IT Manager / Mental Health Therapist / Manager

North Carolina

Caucasian

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

All About Kristofer & Melanie

Kris is originally from Sweden and has spent his whole life with dual citizenship, spending time in both countries. His mother’s side of the family is from Sweden, and he primarily lived there until graduating high school, spending summers in the US with his dad. Mel grew up in central Florida - on farmland and as the oldest of four children.

We married in 2020, right as Covid started, which unfortunately meant our wedding plans were tossed aside. We ended up getting married at the one place open during Covid that had a magistrate: The County Detention Center, with some of our friends standing in as witnesses. They were convinced we were pranking them when we told them where to go.

We are very outdoorsy as a family and love exploring new places - especially National and State parks. We also share a joint interest in off-roading, which has us frequently exploring mountains and dirt trails - trying to find the next fun challenge. We are surrounded by lakes, hiking trails, and some beautiful state parks within a short drive or walk and often spend weekends on the lake boating, kayaking, camping, mountain biking, or walking the trails with our pup, Sir Charles (also known as Charlie). We have a wonderful backyard with a garden, a fire pit for relaxing evenings, and space for a playground. It is our shared favorite spot in our house - from spending time gardening or sitting around the fire when the weather allows, to relaxing on the porch with a book or to watch a TV show - we generally find ourselves outside for most of the evening when the weather is nice.

Why Adoption?

We were initially ready to grow our family after marrying in 2020, but experienced a few years of infertility and two miscarriages. When considering how we wanted to add to our family, we knew there were many options available to us - including IVF, surrogacy, adoption or choosing to be childfree.
After working with a therapist to address our experience with infertility and miscarriages, we both felt that we wanted to learn more about adoption. When learning about adoption, we both felt it was something that we wanted to move forward with - under the condition that we approach adoption with the intention of an open adoption. We have neighbors and friends who are adoptive parents and adoptees and were able to learn from adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents as we moved forward with Open Adoption and Family Services.

Family & Home

We have lived in our home in North Carolina since the end of 2018, although we have been in the state longer. We live in a single family home in a well established neighborhood, in the suburb of a large city. We enjoy the small town feel of our town, while having an international airport and two major cities within 20-300 minutes of driving.

Our neighborhood is filled with a variety of families - individuals who have been here since the neighborhood was established (in the 1990s) to newer families with young children. We have access to an extensive greenway-walking space that leads to 2 parks within ½ a mile, as well as a pool and tennis courts in our neighborhood. Our house is in a cul de sac and we are very fortunate to be extremely close with our neighbors, we all frequently spend free time together, at home, in town and on vacation!

We live in an area that allows for diversity - which continues to grow. Our town has a variety of celebrations and holidays observed across many cultures, religions and countries, and the two major cities near us often hold even larger festivals to celebrate these as well - we love to take advantage of them as much as possible.

Kris’s family mostly lives close by - his mother is currently staying with us as she moved to the USA after successfully getting her green card in 2024. She is currently preparing to move into her own apartment, staying within 15 minutes of us. Kris’s brother and sister-in-law live 20 minutes from us, and we are extremely close - traveling and often celebrating holidays together. Kris’s dad and stepmother live in Tennessee and his sister lives in Florida - allowing us to easily visit.

Mel’s family lives a bit further away as a whole. Her mother and youngest brother live in Maryland, and her father, younger sister / brother-in-law / niece, and younger brother live in Florida. However, we stay in frequent communication over video calls and visit as often as we can.

We also have an extremely close group of friends (which includes Kris’s brother and sister-in-law) who we often spend time with, celebrate holidays with, and travel with. It is a mixed group of family types, some with kids and some without, and we always have a good time together - and we always know that we can count on each other if something is needed.

How others describe me

Kris describes Mel as sweet, caring and very empathetic – someone who loves going on adventures but also loves having a strong home base to return to.

Mel describes Kris as someone who is always there to offer moral support and encouragement - in the good times and bad. He is also always ready to offer practical support - through his mechanical or IT skills, or just being there so you don’t have to be alone during a tough time. He is the kindest and most genuine person she has ever met.

Some of our friends (and references for our agencies) have shared that they would view Kris as: someone who is loyal, has high integrity, is extremely intelligent and is dedicated to friends and family - and is someone who doesn’t hesitate to be at someone’s side when they are going through a tough time. They shared about Mel that she is: warm, outgoing, open, honest, intelligent and very dedicated to family and friends.

How We Met

We met on the first day of orientation at the University of Florida - back in June 2013. We both were starting the Health Sciences Bachelor’s program. Melanie grew up in the area, while Kris was moving there. When walking into orientation, Kris asked Mel for a pencil to take notes (and yes, she absolutely judged him for not coming to orientation with a pencil). We ended up spending the whole orientation together - and then got lost trying to find the Starbucks they had shown us during the tour. Once we found it, we ended up talking for 2 hours. From that point on, we have always been some of each other’s biggest cheerleaders - while it may have started out supporting each other through mid-terms and finals, it continued through the ups and downs of life beyond school.

Advice to Future Child

Be curious. We love to travel - and hope you will too. Take advantage of learning from the places you go and the people you meet. Find your passions, your hobbies - and let them lead you to the most unexpected places.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, to be yourself, or to find a job and hobbies that make you feel fulfilled.

Do your best to be a good friend and surround yourself with good friends. Find your group that cheers each other on, supports each other in the good and bad times, and holds each other accountable for your actions. Friends and family can change the way that you move through the world - you don’t need quantity, but quality matters - so be the friend you would want to have.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

Mel: Open adoption is an ongoing relationship built on family, trust and a willingness to work for something greater than yourself. It lets a child know every part of themselves, and can build lasting and impactful relationships for every individual involved. While this may be a broad brush-stroke definition of open adoption, it is the base that I believe in and what has drawn me to open adoption as we work towards growing our family. This is exactly what we hope to do - not just by adding a child to our family but adding people who are part of the future child’s (and our) life.

Kris: Totally stealing this from a book but, “Being open to being open” sits well with me. There is no one size fits all and there are no guarantees in life, so being open to what may come however that looks is what open adoption means to me.

Favorites

Kristofer

Favorite Movie: The Matrix
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Midsummer is a holiday that is from my Swedish heritage that is still very much celebrated here in the states - by not only our house, but also now extends to neighbors, friends and non-Swedish family! Being able to sing the songs and eat the food that is part of this celebration is a favorite holiday & tradition.
Hobbies/Interests: “I love technology, I’ve always been a computer nerd, so I build computers, work on software projects, and play video games. I love the outdoors, and have always loved fishing, hiking, mountain biking, camping, and more recently offroading. I have a love/hate relationship with yard work and gardening; I love the physical exercise, the results, and seeing things grow, but I hate how I have the opposite of a green thumb. I enjoy working on cars and doing my own maintenance, and working on home renovation projects, even if I usually end up needing help with the details and finishing touches.”
Dream Vacation: Having unlimited time to explore more of the western United States, with all the stops to off-road and race on the various tracks.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Being able to control time.

Melanie

Favorite Movie: Luca (Pixar) and Clue
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: My grandma (who has passed away) used to send all the grandchildren a personalized Christmas stocking. It was the highlight of the holiday for me as a child - and we would always open them on Christmas eve. This is a tradition I have carried on with my family and plan to continue as I have gotten older - my friends always get Christmas stockings for their Christmas gifts (or at least one of them).
Hobbies/Interests: Reading (and book clubs), running, visiting Disney parks, petting dogs and cats, baking bread and making pasta noodles, trying to keep a garden alive and decorating for every holiday. We also have a family hobby of off-roading and camping that we both enjoy.
Dream Vacation: I have a few (they all involve visiting National Parks) - but I think the big one is being able to go to Alaska. Getting to explore the National Parks there and have a chance to see some of the unique landscape and nature there would be a top one for me. The other would be going to Africa and seeing as many of the National Parks there, as well - both of these locations offer such stunning options to be in nature.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Be able to fly - easier to travel to new places without needing an airplane!