Welcome! Meet:

Zac + Elena

Paramedic/Clinical Educator / Public Health Consultant

California

Multi-Ethnic

Christian

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

All About Zac & Elena

Greetings from California!

We are Elena and Zac, and we are excited to expand our family through open adoption. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area with our child, K, and our dog, Maple, just a few miles from where Zac grew up. Elena grew up in Oregon as a child of immigrant parents. Travel to visit family in the U.S. and abroad is a big part of our family life!

Zac works as a Paramedic/Clinical Educator and Elena works as a Public Health Consultant. K attends a nearby elementary school and Maple spends her days relaxing contentedly, greeting the postal worker, and catching up with the canine neighbors (what exactly they discuss is still a mystery).

Note: We are centering our child’s well-being by obscuring their face in photos. We believe maintaining family privacy online makes space for our child’s growth on their own unique trajectory.

Why Adoption?

Before we married, we talked about the family we hoped to have together, and that included family formation through both biology and adoption. We are drawn to open adoption as it resonates with our values. Our parenting philosophy is to focus on supporting our children to develop into who they are, not to shape them into extensions of ourselves or otherwise markers of our lives. Open adoption centers the child and their well-being, expanding family ties in a unique way.

Family & Home

Our home is a friendly, welcoming space, with lots of child art on the walls as well as books and other reading material in every available space. We live in a terrific urban neighborhood. Within walking distance, we have a modern library branch (we are heavy users!), a public swimming pool (ditto!) and several parks, as well as stores, restaurants, and performance venues. Zac’s sisters and their families live a block over, and our block is full of families with children ranging from toddler to high school. It is a wonderful place to raise children.

How others describe me

Elena describes Zac as funny, caring, kind, super-smart, and interested in the people and world around him. And a great dad!

Zac describes Elena as brilliant, empathetic, committed to her beliefs, a fantastic mom and an amazing life partner!

How We Met

We met in a strength training class at a university gym, and immediately appreciated each other’s wit, sense of humor, and intelligence. This was in 2004, so we are celebrating our 20th year of knowing one another! We became friends through the class, and would occasionally get coffee or lunch when we ran into each other on campus. Our relationship took a turn to the romantic some years later, when due to changes in our schedules, we couldn’t meet for lunch and instead met for dinner. Not sure if it was the dim light or the yummy Indian food, but we talked for hours and felt the spark of romance. After many more dinners and adventures, we married in 2010, and K was born a few years later. Maple joined our family in the Spring of 2021 (yes, she is a pandemic puppy)!

Advice to Future Child

We look forward to getting to know you, the unique person you already are and will become over time. You will be immediately welcomed into our cozy home, spending the early days in walks, cuddles, and, of course, reading! There is a tradition to take a new child to church at 40 days for a blessing, so you will quickly be welcomed into our church community. You will be enveloped into our network of family, friends, and neighbors, and also travel to embrace our connections with loved ones who live farther away. We hope you feel loved and cared for, and know that we are here to support you, always!

Perspectives on Open Adoption

The child-centered focus of open adoption is key. We are committed to supporting our child in knowing where they came from, and to building connections with their birth family so our child will know who they are as they grow into adulthood. In our dream scenario, we and the birth family become an extended family who have as our center of focus our spectacular child!

Favorites

Zac

Favorite Movie: There are so many amazing movies! I really enjoyed The Matrix, Sneakers, Toy Story 4, and Inside Out.
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Going with our friends every year to cut down our own Christmas trees
Hobbies/Interests: skiing, sailing, mountain biking and backpacking; reading; being politically and socially informed, spending time with family and friends; and cooking
Dream Vacation: A sailing trip on the British Columbia coast
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Telekinesis would be an amazing time saver!

Elena

Favorite Movie: Family-friendly movies that I have really enjoyed are “Turning Red” and “Penguins of Madagascar”--both were so original, hilarious, and surprising!
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Greek Orthodox Easter is my favorite holiday–the services and the Greek traditions around Easter are very meaningful.
Hobbies/Interests: hiking and swimming; traveling; reading; baking; seeing live performances; languages and culture; social justice
Dream Vacation: A river cruise down the Mississippi River–to see a part of the country I have never visited.
If I Could Choose a Superpower: It would be amazing to be able to fly–to get a different perspective on the world and check out what the birds are doing!