Welcome! Meet:

Roderick + Bridget

Project Manager / Administrator

Washington

Caucasian

Christian

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

All About Roderick & Bridget

Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about our fun and tight-knit family.

We have been a team for more than a decade and look forward to growing our family through open adoption. The pillars of our relationship are love, laughter, and friendship. We live with our cat, Izzy.

Bridget grew up singing along to musicals (mostly Disney) when not reading a book. Roderick grew up working with his hands: farming, drawing, and revving engines. Even though we grew up in different environments (Bridget suburban and Roderick rural), we were raised on the same values of honesty, respect, compassion, and the importance of education.

We love hard — we prioritize family time together and enjoy backyard BBQs with friends. We are supportive — going through life’s ups and downs such as a medical scare and losing relatives has brought us closer together. We are active — we enjoy taking bike rides and tending our vegetable garden. We are creative — we take pride in our mid-century modern home and like doing house projects ourselves. We are goofy — there is plenty of laughter and we love to make each other smile.

We enjoy experiencing new places and learning new things about each other while we travel. We've visited Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, and England. We also take at least one ski trip in the Pacific Northwest with friends every year (Roderick skis and Bridget reads).

Why Adoption?

Early on in our relationship, we knew adoption would be the way we would grow our family.

Unfortunately, miscarriages and difficult pregnancies run in Bridget’s family. Conceiving would be unsafe for us so, without hesitation, we quickly turned to adoption.

Family & Home

We live at the end of a cul-de-sac in a diverse suburb. Our neighborhood is vibrant with cherry trees that bloom every spring and families walking around. Kids are always riding their bikes past our house. Our fenced backyard and large basement make our home ideal for entertaining friends and family.

We love the area surrounding our home too. There is a trailhead that follows along a river where we go on bike rides. There are also multiple parks, playgrounds, and beaches nearby. We are close to all necessities, including two public libraries that Bridget goes to on a regular basis. When we want to explore, we are just 30 minutes away from zoos, aquariums, and museums.

Bridget's parents, maternal grandmother, and the majority of her extended family all live nearby! Bridget's sister and her family (including our nephew!) live on the East Coast. Roderick's parents and siblings live 1.5 hours away. His extended family is spread out, including some that live in Oregon and England. Our family is everything to us and not a day goes by that we don't call, text, or video chat with each other, especially those that live a little farther away. We visit each other as much as we can, especially for holidays and special occasions.

When it comes to friendships, we have a tight-knit group of local and non-local friends that we consider family. Bridget gets together with her friends at least once a month for dinner, shopping, and movie nights. Roderick's group of friends gets together to play Pathfinder (like Dungeons & Dragons) or Xbox live frequently.

We have friends we visit and chat with often in Texas and Arizona. We also have friends who live in Germany! Roderick's family hosted a German exchange student in high school and they have been friends ever since. We video chat on a regular basis and look forward to future travels together.

How others describe me

What Roderick Loves About Bridget

"Bridget is organized, thoughtful, and adventurous. One of Bridget's many nicknames is kickstand (bicycle reference) because she is so supportive. She has many great qualities but her motivation and the unconditional love she shows towards those she cares about is easily the thing I love most about her. She keeps our family ship moving in the right direction and I have no doubt that she will love our child wholeheartedly!"

What Bridget Loves About Roderick

"Roderick is easy-going, humble, and the kindest man I know. He shows his love through his actions. Early in our relationship, I got hit during paintball and did not want to cry in front of him and was able to hold it together until he brought me a donut, Advil, and gave me a hug asking if I was okay. He will be an incredibly patient and supportive father."

How We Met

We met at college in 2009 at a get-together of mutual friends. We started chatting and never stopped! We began officially dating soon after. Our first official date was at a Greek restaurant, which led to us watching the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. This was the start of us watching and critiquing movies together. Roderick proposed on the beach by Bridget's parents' house and we got married in November 2012.

Our favorite date night is still dinner and a movie. No matter how many times Bridget has seen a movie, she will still cry at certain parts. Roderick will always look over at her during those scenes to verify if she is okay or if the waterworks are starting, which causes both of us to laugh. One of our favorite things about each other is the ability to make each other smile - no matter what we are doing.

Advice to Future Child

We believe in equity and inclusion and will raise our child to accept all people, no matter their race, culture, religion, gender, or sexuality. We will inform them about the systematic racism in our society and look forward to raising our child in our culturally diverse neighborhood.

We believe in raising our child in an environment where they feel unconditionally loved, supported, and listened to. It is important to us that our child always feels safe and comfortable to come to us whenever they want to talk about something.

We believe in the importance of literacy and education. We will encourage our child to study and accomplish academically, while also pursuing their passions and talents. We will do everything in our power to help them succeed in achieving their dreams.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

Open adoption appeals to us because knowing our personal story is vital to forming our identity as we grow up. A relationship with our child’s birth family will enable our child, and us, to know their history firsthand. We recognize that the open adoption relationship is ever-changing and look forward to connecting at whatever level our child’s birth family is comfortable.

We are so very excited about the possibility of sharing our lives, hearts, and love with our child and their birth family. We hope to build a relationship with our child's birth family that is natural, honest, and respectful. If our child's birth family is comfortable, we hope that they want to be a part of our child's life. We will support our child throughout their life, including building a relationship with their birth family. We will see our child's birth family as an extension of our family and hope that our child can view their birth family as part of their support system.

Favorites

Roderick

Favorite Movie: Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas because we spend time with friends and family and it is the start of ski season.
Hobbies/Interests: skiing, long distance cycling, video games
Dream Vacation: skiing in Japan
If I Could Choose a Superpower: flying

Bridget

Favorite Movie: Moulin Rouge
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas because we spend time with family and friends baking cookies, listening to holiday music, playing games, and watching holiday movies.
Hobbies/Interests: reading, journaling, singing, musical theater
Dream Vacation: Greece
If I Could Choose a Superpower: teleportation