Welcome! Meet:

Noel + Ana

Software Developer / Clinical Social Worker

Minnesota

Caucasian

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

All About Noel & Ana

Hi there! We are Ana and Noel. We wish we could be meeting you in person! Hopefully this will give you a sense of who we are, and if we may be a good fit for you and your baby. We are an adventurous, fun-loving couple in our mid-30s who live in Minneapolis, MN. We love all the beautiful parks & lakes that Minneapolis offers us and our dog, Shaya, as we love spending lots of time outside biking, hiking, kayaking, camping, skiing, & gardening—all things that we would love to share with our adoptive child and with you (if you are open to it). We dream of biking as a family to the bakery on a sunny Saturday morning to get a sprinkle donut before heading to the park.

One other important thing to know about us is that we are avid world travelers. Collectively we have been to over 30 countries! Showing the world to our child and immersing them in other cultures and languages is very important to us. We have known for many years now that if we ever decided to grow our family, adoption would be our first choice, and now is the right time. Thank you for considering us.

Why Adoption?

We have known since we were 27 years old (almost 10 years ago now) that we could not have our own biological children. Noel was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and although he is healthy and cancer-free (and never even needed chemotherapy, so lucky!) he lost the ability to produce sperm. This was sad for us, but we have had many years to make peace with it. Ultimately, adoption aligns with our ethical values, and Ana has multiple adoptees in her extended family, so we know first hand how meaningful adoption can be.

Family & Home

We moved to Minneapolis 2 years ago, after living for a decade in Chicago. We miss Chicago, but we knew that Minnesota would offer better quality of life for a child to grow up in because of all the parks, lakes, safe bike trails, great schools, and most importantly the proximity to both our families. We live within an hour of both our parents now, and they are so excited to spend lots of time with their future grandchild! Many of our friends also live nearby, and most of them have young kids, so our child will have lots of playmates. We are lucky to live just 2 blocks from a beach and a cute playground where our kiddo can play to their heart’s content. In addition to all the biking, hiking, kayaking, sailing, skiing, and camping we can easily do now, Minneapolis also has a ton of cultural festivals that we love going to every year. We love Japan Fest, India Fest, and Hmong Fest in the summer, and in the winter the St. Paul Winter Carnival is so fun—there is a massive ice castle! When it’s too cold for skiing, skating or sledding in the winter, we love to cozy up by our fireplace with some books, games, homemade soup and hot cocoa. We also look forward to family outings to the nearby Children’s Theater, Science Museum, Children’s Museum, zoo, and apple orchard.

We each have 1 sibling: Ana’s brother, Erik, and Noel’s sister, Corissa. Erik will absolutely be the “funcle” (fun uncle), as he is basically a hippie who currently lives in a yurt in the Pacific Northwest and runs a successful coffee business out of an old VW van. He’s also a talented artist and musician. Corissa, her husband Luke and their daughter, Poppy (2 y/o), are very goofy, spontaneous and loving, and we’ve enjoyed visiting them overseas in Taiwan. Soon they will be moving to Denver, CO, and we can’t wait to go hiking with them there and for our child to spend quality time with their cousin. Ana’s parents, Gary and Sylvia, love to take walks in the woods with us, barbecue in the summer and bake an absurd amount of cookies at Christmas. They also enjoy challenging us to old school card games. Noel’s parents, John and Val, help us keep in touch with Noel’s Hong Kong roots—they raised him there—and love going out for dim sum or hot pot and spoiling our dog Shaya. Both sets of grandparents-to-be are lifelong Christians. In fact, Noel’s parents are both pastors. All of them have offered to help provide childcare for us until our child starts school, and we can’t wait for them to grow up surrounded by so much family love. Like us, our families really love traveling, too. Ana loves joining Noel’s family on trips to Asia, and Noel really enjoys Ana’s family tradition of renting a lake house on Lake Superior every Spring. Everyone in the family is overjoyed that we are pursuing adoption!

How others describe me

About Ana, by Noel: Ana is a deeply caring and compassionate person, and I’m so excited for her to be able to share her endless love with a child. Her deep well of empathy, curious nature, and strong sense of justice fuel her desire to make the world a better place. I am constantly inspired by the fearlessness and determination she demonstrates in her job as a Social Worker, providing advocacy and therapy for cancer patients. She will certainly be a powerful advocate for our child’s needs, too. Ana is always willing to lend her wisdom and listening ear when friends or family need support, and is equally generous volunteering her time. The kitchen is always filled with the aroma of fresh-baked treats as she experiments with new recipes—baking is her love language. Our family’s physical and mental health is one of her main priorities; she’s always making sure we are getting enough exercise and eating healthy food, including fresh veggies from her garden! She loves to laugh and is goofy at home, and can often be found dancing to a catchy song when she thinks no one is watching—or even when they are! She is very affectionate, outgoing, and enjoys planning adventures with our family and friends. She is so comfortable and natural with the children in our lives, and especially loves reading books to them and encouraging their curiosity about animals, outer space, etc. So I have seen glimpses of how phenomenal a mother she will be.

About Noel, by Ana: Noel is deeply kind, incredibly considerate, level-headed, generous, humble, and has so much integrity. I think the qualities that he possesses which will be especially important for parenting are that he is very creative (both artistically and as a problem-solver), a good teacher, slow to anger, loves to tell a good joke or pun, organized, and detail oriented. Although he is definitely an introvert, and can be quiet at times, you would never suspect that from how he interacts with our friends’ kids and our niece. He immediately becomes silly and playful, and it brings me so much joy to watch him make goofy faces, play along with imaginative games, and run around playing tag with the kids. Noel is also whip-smart, which is why he has been so successful in his career as a software developer, focusing on digital map creation (I bet you’ve used a product he designed and don’t even know it!). His love of technology extends beyond the office as he enjoys playing video games and skillfully editing the beautiful photos of nature that he takes with his camera. He also likes long distance running, and ran a half marathon a few years ago. Having grown up in Hong Kong, he loves to re-create all his favorite Cantonese dishes in our kitchen and I can’t wait for him to teach our child how to make dumplings on Lunar New Year. He will be an amazing hands-on dad!

How We Met

Imagine driving 32 hours straight in a 12 passenger van from Minnesota all the way down to Juarez, Mexico. Sound like a nightmare? Hah! Well, it might have been if fate had not sat Ana next to Noel in that backseat. We both signed up on a whim to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity during our college spring break, and the rest is history. We got to know each other so well in those first 32 hours, and really never stopped talking, laughing & spending time together after that. 17 years later, we are still happily sharing our lives and adventures with each other.

Advice to Future Child

A question that will always help you gain clarity is: Imagine you are 90 years old and looking back on your life – will you regret doing this thing, or will you regret NOT doing it? Also, you can never go wrong by acting out of kindness, empathy and humility.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We are committed to an open adoption if that is your preference, not only would we be a loving family for your baby, but for you as well—because you would BE our family. Or, if you prefer a closed or semi-open adoption, we are also okay with that. Above all, we just want you to feel respected, valued, and like you’ve made the right choice for your current life circumstances and your baby’s future. No matter how much or how little contact we have in the future, we promise to tell our child about their birth family and how much courage and love it took to trust us with their future.

Favorites

Noel

Favorite Movie: I love so many movies, but a few that I’ll never get sick of are Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and Dazed and Confused
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: I’ve always loved the holidays that involve a lot of cooking and eating; I love cooking a feast on Thanksgiving and (since I grew up in Hong Kong) a ton of dumplings on Lunar New Year
Hobbies/Interests: running, biking, photography, cooking, making maps, watching movies, skiing in the winter
Dream Vacation: Eating my way through Italy and France is currently at the top of my list. My favorite vacation with Ana was a trip to Sri Lanka, involving hiking, beaches, elephants and incredible food.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: I would love the simultaneous thrill and tranquility of being able to fly

Ana

Favorite Movie: Home Alone
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: baking Christmas cookies with my mom
Hobbies/Interests: Biking, hiking, kayaking, sailing, reading for my book club, baking sweet treats, going to concerts, seeing live theater
Dream Vacation: I’ve got my heart set on hiking Machu Picchu in Peru soon. I loved the time Noel and I got to spend in Japan, too.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: I would love to be able to learn new languages overnight!