About Us

We met and hit it off right away; while teaching at the same elementary school.  Karen claims she knew she was going to marry Chris immediately after their first date!  A year later, Chris surprised Karen with a marriage proposal while traveling in Rome and we were married the following summer.  We dreamed of having a family even before we were married.  Our dream came true in October 2002 with the adoption of our son Jonah.  We are ready and excited to expand our family through adoption once again.  We cannot wait to share our lives with another child.

Karen

Karen, 31, is a warm, loving and creative person. She has a wide range of interests from children's literature, animals, to gardening.  Karen earned a Master's degree in Education of the Deaf.  For five years, Karen taught preschool and Kindergarten deaf children in a special education classroom before becoming a part time first grade teacher.  She now works only two days a week so that she can devote more time to her family.  Karen loves being a mom and delights in every moment she spends with her child. She can often be found hanging out in the children's section of the local bookstores, with Jonah, picking out more children's literature for their already huge collection.  She also loves taking Jonah to the local zoos or just playing with Jonah in their backyard.

Christopher

Christopher is a patient, loving, and hard-working person.  He has been a fourth grade teacher for the past 13 years.  Chris loves his job, can't wait to get to school in the morning, and appreciates the individual learning styles of all his students.  Christopher loves being a dad and treasures his relationship with Jonah.  Chris enjoys gardening, music and antiques.  His favorite summer activity is enjoying picnic dinners, with Karen and Jonah, while attending our city park concerts.   Chris also shares Karen's passion for children's literature and loves reading stories with Jonah.

Jonah

Jonah is a happy, and active toddler.  A few of his favorite pastimes are going to the park to ride his tricycle, and playing with his toy cars. Jonah loves animals and enjoys making trips to the zoo and farm as well as petting our cats, Abbey and Bailey, and our dog, Maple.  Jonah has an engaging personality and likes to make friends with everyone.  He adores babies and we know he will be a loving big brother.  We stay in touch with Jonah's birth family through occasional visits, phone calls, cards, and pictures.  We always speak fondly of Jonah's birth mother and share Jonah's adoption photo album with him regularly.

Our Interests

Our teaching schedules allow us to a have a lot of free time as a family.  We enjoy traveling and Jonah is the only toddler we know who has made seven trips to Disneyland!   We also love taking day trips to beaches, museums, and aquariums.  We also spend time at home with our animals and in the garden.  Our dog, Maple, is crazy about going on walks and playing fetch.  Our two cats, Abbey and Bailey, like having their bellies rubbed and snuggling on our laps.  Our animals love Jonah and other children.  They have all grown incredibly attached to Jonah, and don't even mind when he sometimes forgets to be gentle.  We enjoy reading to Jonah and have been reading to him since we brought him home.  We can't wait to share our love of literature with another child. 

Our Values

We attend church regularly.  As parents, we believe that building a strong Christian faith is an important part of a child's upbringing.  Our church has a very strong Children and Youth program with over 500 children involved.  Karen's family attends the same church, and we enjoy making church an extended family occasion.

Our Home

We live in a cozy house on a quiet street in the lovely city of Palo Alto, which is 45 minutes south of San Francisco.  Our house has been in Christopher's family for three generations.  We love having barbecues during the summer for our friends and their families.  Our annual Halloween pumpkin carving party is always a hit.  There are many families in our neighborhood with small children and we often get together during the summer for block parties.   There are excellent schools in our neighborhood, one of which was ranked number one in all of California.  We feel blessed that our children have a wonderful community to grow up in. 

Our Extended Family

Karen and Christopher have strong family bonds and excellent sibling relationships.  Karen's parents and younger brother live only ten minutes away.  Her grandparents, aunts and uncles also live nearby.  Karen's parents love being grandparents and Karen's brother, Alan, always enjoys making Jonah laugh.  Christopher comes from a family familiar with adoption.  His older brother, Jeff, was adopted a year before Christopher was born.  Christopher has always had a close relationship with his brother.  Now Christopher's parents are retired and live only three hours away in a beautiful rural community.  Christopher's parents love spending time with Jonah.  Both our families are excited about the arrival of another grandchild.

Thank you for considering us as adoptive parents for your baby.  We are ready and able to provide our children with a stable, loving and supportive upbringing.  Our experience, as teachers, makes us confident that our children will receive a positive and nurturing education as well as the understanding and patience needed to express their individuality.  We will welcome you into our family and respect the degree of openness you may desire. We look forward to getting the chance to share more about ourselves with you and answer any additional questions you might have. If you would like more information about us you can visit our website at www.karenandchristopher.com, call us toll free at 1-877-538-9873, access code 0716 or email us at:  ckadopt@aol.com.  You may also contact our adoption attorney Susan Romer at:  1-800-U-ADOPT-US (1800-823-6788) or adamsromer@aol.com.

With lots of love,

Karen and Christopher