Brenna and Daniel
Hello!
We’re thankful you’re here and hope you’re finding all the strength and support you need at this time. We hope these words and images express our commitment to providing the loving and enriching environment you want for your child.
Thank you for taking the time to read about us!
Our Relationship!
Our adventure together began in 2007 at Western Michigan University where we quickly became best friends. Daniel knew Brenna was the one when he realized he would rather spend time with her than be with anyone else. Brenna knew Daniel was the one when she could imagine building a family only with him. We moved to California when we got married in 2013. Brenna has always wanted to adopt, and this desire was solidified for both of us when we learned about her pregnancy risks. In January 2023, we welcomed Dylan home, and we’ve never been happier!
Our Home!
We bought our home in 2018 with building a family in mind. We eat dinners on our backyard patio, and have personalized bedrooms for each child. We love living in East Palo Alto, a largely Latinx and culturally rich community. Our neighborhood has a small park a block away and is close to the San Francisco Bay Trail. We are committed to staying in this community with people who share Dylan’s ethnicity, as well as staying close to Dylan’s birth mom.
Brenna is...
Until Dylan came home, Brenna was a special education teacher and now loves being a stay-at-home mom. Brenna is the most empathetic person Daniel knows. He loves how Brenna challenges him, her humor, and he is thrilled that he gets to spend the rest of his life with her.
Brenna has been teaching self-defense since 2015, and she loves playing flute, soccer, and snowboarding. She also used to work in construction, so she is a great at-home fix-it gal!
Brenna grows out and donates her hair to
Wigs for Kids Charity every 3-4 years!
BAAITS Powwow
Brenna’s favorite part about being a mom is the pure joy of being a part of our child experiencing the world for the first time. She’s been called the party parent: encouraging play and exploration, while still ensuring protection from harm. Brenna makes Dylan’s Latinx cultural background a priority in our daily lives and exclusively speaks Spanish with Dylan. Brenna grew up camping and can’t wait to carry on the tradition when the kids are a little older. Brenna is so excited to travel around the world with our children, show them how to advocate for themselves and others, and be their number one fan at all of their activities.
Daniel is...
Since 2013, Daniel has had a rewarding career at Google as a software engineer. He loves solving problems at work and at home. Daniel is the most generous person Brenna has met, and she admires Daniel’s compassionate, generous, and hardworking nature.
Daniel has a great sense of humor and loves to have fun. He makes it a priority to regularly play board games with family and friends. Daniel is a very creative person - even making video games for a living at one point! He finds joy in computer coding, music, cooking, and hiking. Daniel also makes it a priority to donate to important causes and charities in need every year.
Teaching Dylan how to take care of our garden
Daniel’s favorite part about being a dad is seeing Dylan grow, laugh, and to watch light bulbs turn on. He’s been called the chill parent: nurturing, patient, and kind. His focus on routine and consistency helps build a strong foundation for the household. He’s dedicated to family over work: blocking off time each week during the workday to spend with Dylan, take care of a sick family member, or just take an adventure with the family! Daniel loves introducing Dylan to new things, like building LEGO structures or cooking family meals. Daniel is very excited to do puzzles with our children, build creative projects, broaden critical thinking skills, and grow together.
Dylan is...
Dylan is an extremely friendly bundle of energy! Dylan loves to laugh and cuddle with our two cats, as well as to simply observe the world around us. An adventurous and curious toddler, Dylan is often the first to take on a challenge or try something new at our local Spanish immersion preschool. With a bilingual vocabulary, some of Dylan’s favorite things to chatter about are: books, birds, and big machines!
Dylan loves to help out with chores!
Dylan has many opportunities to socialize, grow, and learn. Through playdates at the park or library, or bilingual music, gymnastics, and swim classes - we share a variety of experiences with our kiddo and are excited to get involved with our next child’s interests as well. We hope our kids will be close in age, and we can already imagine them reading books together, or Dylan teaching them to climb and do somersaults.
Dylan copying Mama's
self-defense techniques
We kept Dylan's name to honor the birth family connection.
Dylan loves all things water!
Our family is...
We are close to both of our families, who live in Michigan. We stay connected frequently on the phone and visit each other several times a year. We each have one sibling, who we love traveling with and would love that for Dylan, too. Our parents are incredibly supportive of us - they love every second they spend with Dylan, and they are all eager to meet their next grandchild!
Daniel's favorite childhood memory is spending summers swimming and tubing at his grandma's lake house in South Dakota!
Brenna's favorite childhood memory is spending summers road tripping and camping in National Parks all over the United States!
Boating at Grandpa's lake house
Making Great-Grandma's recipes
Our friends are...
We have a wonderful network of friends around the country and the world! Those who are local are great babysitters, many of which have little ones of their own and were created in nontraditional ways. Our children will be loved by many "aunties" and "uncles" not related to us. It takes a village to raise a child, and our village is waiting in anticipation to welcome a new baby into our family.
We try to never miss an opportunity to support our friends, even if it means trekking across the globe to their wedding! We love watching our friends' kids and Dylan play together, and we look forward to Dylan sharing these friends with a little sibling as they grow up together!
1st birthday party
Playdate with Dylan's godparents' kids
At a cousin's wedding in Mexico
Our activities are...
From board games to zip-lining, we love to do just about anything together! On the weekends, we enjoy exploring the outdoors, local events, shopping at Farmers' Markets, taking cooking classes, doing escape rooms, and visiting the nature center near our home.
We look forward to our puzzle nights, as well as local cultural celebrations. Our children will have the opportunity to experience all that the San Francisco Bay Area has to offer! We will share adventures to inspire curiosity, joy, and fun in them.
A family friend's quinceñera
Celebrating Dia de los Muertos
At TEDx with our family of choice
Our adventures are...
Travel is so important to us. We love learning about the world and exploring new places. Every trip brings us closer to each other, or to our family and friends. Some of our favorites before becoming parents have been Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, France, and India.
Trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Hiking the Mighty 5 National Parks in Utah
Dylan's 1st Eclipse in Mexico
We’ve already traveled often with Dylan, both around the US and internationally. It brings joy to our hearts to think about visiting fantastical places with our children and seeing the world through their eyes. We are committed to being lifelong learners and would love to instill that in our children, too, as we make new memories together.
Cave tubing in Guatemala
Winter sports in Tahoe
Glacier mountaineering in Alaska
Hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain
Our promise to you...
Your child will grow up with unconditional love and support. Our goal as parents is to raise children who are happy, empathetic, honest, and kind. We are so ready to adopt again to welcome another incredible person into our lives and hearts.
Your child will always grow up knowing their adoption story and birth family heritage. You will hold a special place in our hearts, and we hope to share your child’s life with you. We treasure our relationship with Dylan’s birth mom - once you make an adoption plan with us, you’re family.
Contact
Thank you for considering us. We'd love an opportunity to answer your questions and learn about you and your dreams for your baby.
If you think we are the right family for your baby, please contact us anytime.