Welcome! Meet:

Ronan + Crystal

Attorney / Legal Assistant

Maryland

Asian / Caucasian

Catholic

All About Ronan & Crystal

Our names are Ronan and Crystal.  We have been married for 9 years.  We live in a suburb of Washington, DC with our loving dog, Proposition Joe.  Ronan has lived in the area for most of his life.  Crystal’s family moved to Maryland when she was 16.  She moved away after college and came back to the state in 2010.  We met in 2012 and have been inseparable ever since.  We both love to travel and see new places, but we are happiest at home together.  We both value family and giving back to our community.

Why Adoption?

We love all of our nieces, nephews, and younger cousins, but have longed to have a child of our own.  We believe love makes a family.  We are grateful for all of the love and support that surrounds us and want to share that with a child.

Family & Home

We love living close to Washington, DC and having access to Baltimore, MD.  There is never a shortage of things to do in the area. We can easily get to the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Museums, live theater, concerts, and sports (particularly the Baltimore Orioles!). We enjoy trying different foods and can find most cuisines in our area. We do like the quiet of our suburban neighborhood when we are home. There are several trails nearby that we walk with our dog or ride our bikes on. We have a community pool where we enjoy spending time with our neighbors during the summer.

Crystal comes from a small family. She has 2 brothers and 1 nephew.  She has 3 cousins who all live in Southern Virginia. Ronan has 2 sisters, 2 nieces, 2 nephews, and a whopping 53 first cousins! All of our siblings live in the greater DC area with our nieces and nephews. Crystal’s parents are still nearby, while Ronan’s have retired to Florida. Ronan’s aunts, uncles, and cousins are scattered across the globe, but there are several local cousins we are close with. We enjoy spending time with our families and try to make plans as often as we can.

How others describe me

The first thing that drew me to Ronan was how engaging speaking to him was. He is curious and interested in what others have to say. He is deeply kind, often going out of his way to help others with little or no credit for his actions. He knows when to be serious and when I need a good laugh. I love cooking with him, volunteering with him, and sitting quietly watching cheesy Christmas movies with him. There is no part of my life that his presence has not enriched.  

Crystal is the most generous person I know. She goes above and beyond for the people (and dogs) that matter most in our lives. She is incredibly intelligent and has challenged my way of thinking about certain aspects in life, all for the better. She has the best sense of humor and gets my dry wit.  She also has taught me the value of patience. I’m often in awe of the amount of patience she has when things don’t necessarily go as we planned. I’m so lucky to have her in my life.

how we met

How We Met

We met in 2012, thanks to an online dating app. We initially bonded over a shared love of the same band and frustration with DC traffic. On our first date, we debated favorite movie directors and authors. As we got to know each other, we found we had more in common than our taste in entertainment. We both greatly value family, faith, and caring for others. We married in 2014 at the church Crystal was working at. We confirmed our vows in the Catholic Church in 2016.

Advice to Future Child

You don’t need to know who you want to be when you are 5, or 15, or even 50.  Try different things and see what makes you happy. We all grow and change over our entire lifetimes so never stop exploring. The most important thing to be is kind, to others, to our planet, and most importantly to yourself.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We believe that an open adoption enriches the lives of the child, the biological family, and the adoptive family. We want our child to have a strong connection to their family of origin. We believe it is important for their identity to know who and where they came from. We believe it will also help us, as parents, to build a healthy relationship with our child’s birth family.  The more people who love and support our child, the better. We will respect the wishes of the birth parents in regard to how open they would like the relationship to be.

Favorites

Ronan
  • Favorite Movie: Heat
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Thanksgiving
  • Hobbies/Interests: cycling, basketball, volunteering with dogs
  • Dream Vacation: food tour of Southeast Asia
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: time traveling
Crystal
  • Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: baking cookies and bread for loved ones at the holidays
  • Hobbies/Interests: baking, reading, writing, cycling, volunteering with dogs
  • Dream Vacation: South of France
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: ability to talk to animals

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