Hello!
Hello from Karen and Andy in Orange County, California. After reading our profile, we hope you’ll get to know us better and consider us as adoptive parents.

Our greatest joy will be to love and nurture a child, and help them reach their full potential.

If we are fortunate enough to be chosen, your child will have a life filled with unconditional love, laughter, support, and encouragement. We have so much love ready and waiting for a child. We can’t wait to be parents! Thanks so much for considering us.

Getting to Know Us

Our story:

Our story began 13 years ago when we met online.  One of Karen’s friends was on an online dating service and suggested that Karen try it.  Karen looked at various profiles and was drawn to Andy’s profile. We wrote emails to one another to get to know more about each other. There was definitely chemistry between us and our first phone call lasted over 3 hours! We would have talked longer if we didn’t have to get up for work the next day.

After a few phone calls we decided to meet in person.  Our first date was at Disneyland.

We met in front of what used to be the C in front of California Adventure. It was a truly magical day.

Over the next year, our relationship blossomed and we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

In June of 2004, we were married in a beautiful garden with our family and friends present. We even had a Mickey and Minnie cake topper to remind us of the magical first date we had at Disneyland.

Even before we were married, we knew we wanted to have a family together. We also knew we wanted to adopt children even before we knew that  we were unable to have children biologically. We have several family members and friends who have adopted children or were adopted themselves. We are looking forward to becoming parents.

Fun Facts About Us:

• Chocolate is a must in our household.
• We both love Disneyland: We have annual passes and go frequently.
• We both love animals: We enjoy watching and photographing the local wildlife and going to places like the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.
• We both love to travel: We have traveled to places throughout America, Europe, and Asia.
• We both enjoy looking through Pinterest for new ideas.
• We both love fireworks.
• We both loved the movie Young Frankenstein before we met. It was a common bond that we had early in our relationship.

Karen

I was born and raised in North San Diego County. My mom was a stay at home mom and my dad was in the Marine Corps. When I was in the third grade, he was transferred to Quantico, Virginia. My parents didn’t want to disrupt their children’s school year and decided to wait for summer vacation to move the entire family there. Since it was summer we were able to take our time traveling cross country in a car.  We were able to make many stops along the way and see many of the sights of our beautiful country.  I have many fond memories of this time spent together as we had so much fun.

While living in Virginia, I developed a love for music.  I sang in the elementary school choir and learned to play the violin.  When my family returned to California, I started to play the flute since the school did not have an orchestra. I continue to play and have had many wonderful opportunities to perform and travel to places throughout America and Europe (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).

I am currently a middle school music teacher and love sharing my passion for music with my students.  I have a great relationship with them and they fondly refer to me as “Mama K.”  I can’t wait to share my love for music with a child.  My teaching schedule gives me extended periods of time off (Thanksgiving break, Winter Break, Spring Break, and Summers off) and fixed hours I have to spend at school which works great with Andy’s work schedule.  He works from home and would be able to care for a child in the mornings and I would be there afternoons and evenings.

What makes me happy:

• My wonderful husband Andy
• Our cats, Walle and Dash
• Teaching
• Music
• Spending time with family and friends

My favorite things:

TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy and Jeopardy

Food: Mexican

Store: Kohl’s

Holiday: Thanksgiving and Christmas

Movie: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Elf, and Young Frankenstein

Children’s Movie: Toy Story

Color: Blue

Vacation Spot: Alaska, Hawaii, and Chicago

Sports: Football and baseball

Hobby: Baking/decorating cakes/cupcakes (I can’t wait to make birthday cakes for a child.)

 Things Andy Loves about Karen

• She’s an awesome wife! I love her so much.
• She’s great with kids. She’s taught elementary and middle school.
• She’s a warm, loving, passionate person.
• Her generosity and caring for others.

Andy

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in a very close knit family.  My dad was a mechanic and my mom stayed home with me and my sister.  My great aunts and uncles were like grandparents to me, and my cousins like siblings.  This made holidays and birthdays extra fun!  We still are very close and love to get together for any occasion.

I was very active in the music program in High school.  I played trumpet in the Jazz band, Marching band, Pep band, and Wind Ensemble.  My interest in music was one of the things that I had in common with Karen when we first met. I still enjoy going to concerts with her and helping her when she has a school concert. I set up the sound system and video the performances.  Her students love to see and hear themselves.

My family moved to Southern California where I graduated college with a Bachelor of Science in electronics. My love for technology and electronics was a result of reading and watching science fiction when I was a young boy. This all lead to careers in the technology industry. I finally got the opportunity to work from home. I currently work for an online photo company as a help desk technician. It’s the best job ever! My schedule gives me lots of flexibility to care for a child at home.

What makes me happy:

• Living and laughing with Karen
• Trying new things
• Playing with our cats
• Photography/Videography
• Computers

My Favorite things:

TV Show: Star Trek (Original series) and Jeopardy

Food: Thanksgiving meal

Dessert: Anything Chocolate.

Store: Amazon (I like to shop online)

Holiday: Fourth of July

Movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Blues Brothers, Rocky

Children’s Movie: Any Pixar Movie

Vacation Spot: Chicago, Alaska, and Hawaii

Sport: Baseball

Hobby: Photography/videography

Things Karen loves about Andy:

• He is a loving and devoted husband = I can’t believe how lucky I am!
• He is kind, caring, and helpful = He has great compassion for people and always willing to help them when needed.
• He has a great sense of humor = He always tries to make me laugh.
• He is great with children = Children are drawn to him and love to spend time with him.

Our home

We live in a two story, 4 bedroom home in Orange County, California. Our home is in a quiet and friendly neighborhood near parks and top rated schools. There are many activities in the community for children to enjoy like sports, arts, or whatever their interests are. Our community also hosts many “hometown” events that include parades, Easter egg hunts, and Halloween trick-or-treating for families to have fun and mingle. We can go on many different family adventures as we live within a short drive to the beach, mountains, and deserts. We are also close to great museums (Los Angeles and San Diego), theme parks (Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm), Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach), and sports venues (Angels, Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers, and Ducks).

We share our comfortable home with two adorable cats, Walle and Dash. They are both very lovable, easy going cats.

Family gatherings are a must and they are made easier by the fact that we are centrally located to many of our family members. We have family in San Diego, Long Beach, Simi Valley, Torrance, and Anaheim. We also love traveling to Hawaii and Illinois for family gatherings as well.

Family and friends (People we love)

We cherish the time we get to spend with our family and friends. It’s fun to meet at an amusement park, museum, sports venue, restaurant, or just hang out at one of our homes. We like to play board games, karaoke, barbecue, or simply talk and catch up.

We have several family members and friends who have adopted children or were adopted themselves.

Our friends and family are really excited that we are going to adopt and are eagerly waiting for us to become parents.

Thank you

Thank you so much for reading our profile and getting to know us.

We admire your courage and strength facing this decision. If we are selected, we want you to take comfort in knowing that your child will be loved unconditionally. We will stress the importance of a good education and good family values. We will encourage and support them in every aspect of their life.

Sincerely,

Andy and Karen

If you would like to speak with us about adopting your child or have any questions for us, please contact your caseworker at AdoptHelp by calling 800-637-7999, toll free.