Welcome! Meet:

Matt + Joanna

Property Officer / Transportation Engineer

Maryland

Caucasian

Christian

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

All About Matt & Joanna

Hello, our names are Matt and Joanna. We are a childless couple who both work, we live in Centreville, MD with our three dogs and two cats. We have been married 11 years now and want to grow our little family. We have been unable to have kids and are looking to adopt to have children. We each have siblings along with nieces and nephews whom we adore. Both of our families are very loving and are active in our lives, most of them are local.

As a couple we enjoy many activities together such as visiting zoos, museums, historical sites, roadtripping to Disney world or other sites worth the drive. We love taking trips with family, friends and just us, usually when we take group trips Matt will do the planning. Having memorable experiences is very important to us whether that be as a couple or with friends and family.

Why Adoption?

Matt and I had always talked about adopting in the future after having kids. At the time we talked about international adoption, but that changed over time. We have always wanted to start a family and have not been able to do so. It seemed like a natural step to seek an infant adoption as a way to start our family. Adoption is a familiar concept to us as we have family members who were adopted. Matt’s mother was adopted into her family and Joanna has adopted cousins on both sides of her family. All of them are wonderful examples of how you can create loving families through adoption. We see it as a natural way to bring in family members and can’t wait to start our family.

Family & Home

Our home is the two of us, three dogs and two cats. One of the cats was actually rescued from our neighborhood after their owners moved. We have a beagle named Jadzia and two pugs named pancake and edgar. The beagle is the oldest, she is nine, Edgar is our black pug he is six, pancake is the puppy and she is one. Our cats are Pepper and Moana. They are about 7 and 8. All the animals get along well, pepper is the most shy and keeps to herself the most. Our home is a Cape Cod, three bedrooms and one bathroom. We plan to renovate in the future and build a second bathroom. It’s a blue house with cream trim and a red front door. Our backyard is a nice size and it’s fenced in.

Our neighborhood is an older one, so the houses are smaller and the yards are larger. It’s quiet and kids often play in the streets. People walk around with their families and their dogs. Halloween is a lot of fun, we have lots of groups come to our neighborhood. The people are friendly and it’s a relaxing atmosphere.

We have wonderful relationships with our families. We live close to both our parents and most of our siblings live within a half hour except for one person. He and his family are in the same state so we see them often. Joanna has seven siblings and Matt has two. One of Matt’s siblings is a twin, his brother, they have an older sister. Joanna is the oldest sibling, she has four sisters and two brothers. Between our siblings we have 5 nieces and 2 nephews, the oldest is seven. Holidays are always hectic, going between two houses and seeing everyone. We always have a great time, both families are loving and fun.

How others describe me

Matt is a smart, funny guy. Matt is my best friend and we love spending time together. He is very thoughtful, he has actually taught me how to be way more thoughtful than I was before. Matt is a talker, he loves to talk, he will talk your ear off, but he doesn’t take it too far, he wants to hear what other people have to say about the subject that is being discussed. Matt enjoys doing civil war reenactments, going to Disney world, planning road trips, reading and decorating for Halloween. Halloween is Matt’s favorite holiday, we spend all of October decorating the inside and out. We usually have a Halloween party and on Halloween night we hand out king size candy bars and toys.

Joanna is a kind and sweet person, she’s probably the sweetest person I know. She makes amazing dinners and is a great baker. One of my favorite things is making her happy, when she’s happy, I’m happy. Joanna loves to spoil the pets. She is a very optimistic person and usually sees the bright side of things. Joanna is a creative person and likes to sew, quilt and cross stitch. Her laugh is what caused me to fall in love with her, it’s contagious and hard not to join in. She enjoys Disney just like I do and can quote the movie Beauty and the Beast and sing like every Disney song.

How We Met

Matt and Joanna met on Halloween in 2011 at a party thrown by her and her sisters. Matt was friends with her sister’s best friend and had brought his friend to the party. Going to Disney parks was brought up and they started talking and ended up talking the whole night. Joanna was smart enough to get Matt's number and he did not realize what she was doing. Sparks were flying for both of them and their lives would never be the same. He told his friend on the way home that he was kicking himself for not getting Joanna’s number. While he was trying to figure out how he was going get her number the next day she texted him referencing something they had been talking about the night before. They talked and made plans and were dating a week later.

Advice to Future Child

I’m sure we will give our future child a lot of advice. If I were to pick one though it would have to be to always keep learning new things. Never stop learning something new from the world around you. Whether it be learning about world events, hearing a lecture, learning an instrument or language, or reading random facts. Your brain needs to be challenged on a regular basis, not only will it keep your mind sharp but it will also help you to understand the world.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

Favorites

Matthew

Favorite Movie: Avatar or Titanic
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Halloween, every year we make a huge display with decorations and animatronics.
Hobbies/Interests: Civil War Reenactment, Mug collecting, Disney memorabilia, metal detecting
Dream Vacation: Travel to Japan
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Teleportation

Joanna

Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas, I love baking cookies for Christmas and wrapping presents!
Hobbies/Interests: Quilting, Reading, Going to the Beach, Cross-stitching, Video Games
Dream Vacation: Disneyland Tokyo
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Flying