So, in the Pacific North West it has been snowing and snowing and snowing. We’ve actually only gotten about 5 inches out where we live, but this area of the world is unprepared for conditions like these, so everything shuts down like the schools because we don’t have many snow plows or cars with 4 wheel drive.
Since Alan is in SF for work, I’ve been holding down things at home. I actually shoveled by hand our really long driveway by myself today thinking I would need to in order to drive into town. It took about 90 minutes in
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Although this process is a mystery and sometimes it feels like it will take forever until we are matched, we are grateful for our lives and the love we have for one another and for each day.
Here’s to all blessings and beings in this beautiful world! We accept your gifts and are in gratitude. We are grateful to you for who you are,
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Today we were touched to see that on our Facebook page our friend Claudia who lives in Santiago, Chile wrote the kindest message in response to the photo we posted there today (of us after eating a nice breakfast together). We were so touched by her words and are thankful to have so many loving friends and family in our lives.
Beautiful people
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I did not come to teach you.
I came to love you.
Love will teach you.
I saw these words today while scrolling through Instagram from one of the accounts that I follow featuring the words and wisdom of Dr. Wayne Dyer.
Although these words were not his and I don’t think many people know who originally said them, I find that they really
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This is Kristina writing.
After a really fun weekend hosting friends and celebrating my birthday, I am glad to be at home with some down time. Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning up the house and then went into town to do a couple of work meetings. It’s nice to have our friends and to enjoy a lot of social time as we did—singing
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This is Kristina writing.
Tomorrow I turn another page on the calendar and another year older. Some friends of ours will be joining us here for the weekend to celebrate with us, and I’m looking forward to cooking and eating with them, and taking walks in the woods if the weather is dry. I just want a quiet, lazy weekend where we giggle
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On Saturday we went to a ball in honor of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. organized by our friends and colleagues. It was the first of its kind in our city and felt like a really important and absolute;y joyous occasion. There was a lot of music, dance, poetry, and every kind of person was represented. We felt so proud of everyone who
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This weekend we are excited to take part in a number of community activities honoring and celebrating the work and life of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Junior. One of the community groups that we belong to is organizing a conference and a formal ball, and we are happy to participate. We have been making some posters for the ball and cannot
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We are very excited to begin discussions with our friend and architect about the expansion and renovation of our house. Today we had a Google Hangout meeting with me at home and Alan at the office. We have already seen some sketches, but we are stepping even closer to this vision we have in our minds about what our future family home will look
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Just reminiscing tonight on last summer and this gorgeous walk we took with friends (shown in the picture). Just beyond the trees there is a quiet beach that opens onto the miraculous theater for the ocean. It feels like we’re on a similar path now and just beyond us is the miraculous theater of parenthood. Little one, we await your
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Periodically, we have friends as well as artists and writers stay with us on our property in our guest yurt. Since we live in the woods just outside of town, this is a way to create a social life according to our unique living situation.
This week we’ve been hosting a curator from the United Kingdom who is working on some fascinating
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After ringing in the new year, I got a pretty loud message from my inner voice—time to clean and declutter in order to make our home the most beautiful and serene space for our future family. So, I’ve been going through every closet and drawer and asking myself if everything there is needed and, according to the Japanese organizing
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Last night we spent a beautiful evening with our old friends Jodi and Rina as well as Alan’s aunt dining on a delicious dinner featuring a rib roast, beet and hazelnut salad, mashed turnips, sauteed kale, and Yorkshire puddings! Our friend Rina is a serious cook and she made most of the dishes, but I managed to pull together the dessert
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This is Kristina writing from Phoenix where we drove yesterday after A LOVELY WEEK IN PALM SPRINGS with my family. My parents have the good fortune to spend their winters there and every other year we join them to enjoy some sun after we get tired of the cloudy winter skies we have in Washington state.
This year my brother and his partner
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A couple of days ago I was fortunate enough to be able to support some of the women in the women of color group that I belong to who are organizing a fashion show. They used our office space to teach young models how to walk a runway and how to show off the clothes and accessories, which will be from African designers. It was exciting to see
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This is a reference for Kristina from her friend Jessica:
Kristina is one of the people I’m extremely thankful to have had in my life this past year. While I was going through some of the toughest experiences I’ve ever had, I chose to go to Kristina for advice because I admire and trust her wisdom and compassion. Kristina and Alan
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This is a reference from our friend Dena:
I couldn’t imagine two more brilliant, generous, and compassionate people to become adoptive parents!
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This is another review from our dear friend Francisco:
Two brilliantly caring and kind people who I’ve been lucky to have in my life for the past ten years. I have learned so much and become better than I could have imagined through their friendship and mentorship. I am so excited for this journey they are embarking on, and so moved by
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This is a reference from our friend Albana who left a review for us on our Facebook page.
Alan and Kristina make the world a better place. A kinder more loving one, a challenging and more interesting one, a giving and more hopeful one. Their love for others knows no definitions. I wish and recommend with all my heart them as adoptive
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(Photo: Alan with Marnie’s son)
Here’s another reference from a friend:
Please describe how they act towards children:
They are excited to spend time with our children! They speak to them respectfully, ask them questions about their interests, and plan activities for them (hikes, art projects, cooking). They support our decisions
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Some expectant mothers might like to know about what our friends say about us as parents, so we are sharing one of our references here from our friends Lauren & Jay.
Please describe how they act towards children:
Kristina and Alan love children. We have a ten month old and it is a genuine pleasure to see them interact with him. Kristina
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We hosted a cool poetry reading at our office yesterday, plus some fun video art…
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We just created a Facebook page for our adoption journey. Follow us and send us a message! You can find us here: http://facebook.com/akadopt
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Yesterday, Kristina opened her holiday pop up shop featuring really beautiful kids books. She has always been a book person, but now she is drawn to the stories for younger readers as we prepare our home for our future kiddo(s). Each book opens our hearts and minds into a world of imagination and wonder.
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Since we came back from Hawaii, both of us have been FEELING UNDER THE WEATHER but Kristina was put flat out and had to cancel everything this week. She has been surviving on a “diet” of TEA & TISSUES and spending a lot of time with our cats. Because we had a great time in Hawaii last week, we are really missing LA VIDA ALOHA.
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After a really BEAUTIFUL VACATION IN HAWAII, we are back at home. We are both fighting a cold, so that is not too fun, but I get TO BE COZY with our two cats, Pua and Noodles. While unpacking, we found these two cute little STUFFED ANIMALS that we bought for OUR FUTURE LITTLE ONES. Looking forward to when we can put these in their arms one
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We are a bit sad that we are now on our LAST NIGHT IN PARADISE, but we are also so GRATEFUL for the wonderful warmth, hospitality, sunshine, and surf we’ve had here in the ALOHA STATE. We’ll be returning again soon. We hope to CONTINUE OUR EXPLORATIONS and learning about this very beautiful and special place, and every place we
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Once a month, I have the honor of HOSTING A WOMEN OF COLOR gathering in our office space and tonight is this month’s meeting, which makes me smile. I always look forward to seeing who shows up, who is new, and who is returning. Sometimes some of the children of my friends tag along, too, and I like to see them play or draw in the space
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It’s APPLE SEASON in the northwest, so it’s time to make homemade PIE! These are apples we grew in OUR FRONT YARD that we learned are called NORTHERN SPY. We have more to share!
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thoughts • moments • references
