Hi! We're Zach & Chad from Los Angeles, California. We're very excited to introduce ourselves to you, and we're so grateful that you're considering us to be a part of your journey and parents to your child. We are a happily married couple and we've been together for 11 years. We both feel very fortunate that we were blessed with loving, supportive families, as well as friends that have become our family, and we're thrilled to finally start a family of our own. We have loved building our home in Los Angeles, where it's a quick walk to the farmer's market on Sundays, a short ride to the beach, and where we are surrounded by great food, art and culture. We want to thank you for getting to know us, and we would love to get to know you too!

We have always planned to start a family of our own and it’s been something that we have discussed since the start of our relationship. Adoption has always been the path that we’ve envisioned and we are so excited to finally start our family. We’re fortunate to have a lot of love between the two of us, and our families, and we want to enrich all of our lives by growing our family and sharing that love with a kid (or kids if we’re lucky!). We hope for an open adoption to enhance our child’s life, and to develop the strongest support system possible. We are committed to building a strong and lasting relationship with you and your family, to the extent that you’re comfortable, because we want our child to be surrounded by as much love as possible.

When we met 11 years ago, we weren't looking or expecting to fall in love. Zach had recently moved to Los Angeles from Boston and Chad was more established in the city, enjoying his job as a TV producer and spending his free time traveling and enjoying family and friends. We were, and remain, very different people, and yet something about being together just felt right on the day we first met, and on our second date, our third, and on every day since. We’re happier together than we are apart. We make each other laugh, we learn from each other, and we balance each other out in a way that makes life better (for example, Chad is an incredible cook but tends to use most of the dishes and leave scraps of food in his wake when preparing a meal; Zach struggles with cooking to put it mildly but leaves the kitchen sparkling after he has cleaned; together we make great food and a tidy home!)

We make a good team, for each other and for our future children.

Zach is an attorney and he practices in the field of health care. His work centers primarily around nonprofit hospitals and negotiating transactions which, in part, preserve access to health care for communities that may otherwise lose such access. His work is challenging, but rewarding, and his job offers him some remote flexibility and lots of parental leave when the time comes! Prior to his career in the law, Zach was both a substitute teacher and a gymnastics coach. Working with kids has always been his passion and those were hands down his favorite jobs, and he expects to ultimately return to a profession which will involve working with kids (hopefully as an educator).

Outside of work, Zach loves to travel (especially with Chad), spend time at the beach, exercise while listening to his favorite podcasts, and he loves to write whenever he gets the chance. He also has a weakness for a chocolate chip cookies and loves that he and Chad are within walking distance to an amazing bakery, a walk he knows he’ll be taking with his future kids.

When I first met Zach, I was instantly captivated by his kindness, calmness and wisdom beyond his years. He may not be the loudest voice in the room, but he always seems to draw people in with his warmth and humor. People meet Zach and it's like they know him, there’s a trust and a comfort that is establishes so quickly with him, it's disarming. His innate confidence is a quality I find both intriguing and uplifting. He’s also one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. He’s able to envision himself achieving a goal, and work until he’s made it a reality, and I’ve had the great fortune of watching it happen several times just in the 11 years that I’ve known him.

He’s also got more patience than anyone I’ve met. My favorite thing about him might be the way he makes me laugh. He’s talented and driven but never takes himself too seriously, which is a refreshing quality that I love. I cannot envision a better partner to co-parent with.

Chad is a supervising producer for network television shows and his work is almost always fast-paced and interesting. He’s been fortunate to have a steady job with the same company in Los Angeles for many years, but he’s also had the opportunity to travel for short-term producing gigs throughout his career. His work has brought him from filming on a glacier in Alaska to the beautiful beaches in Cuba, and he loves that his career enables him to meet new people and be creative. While his job does occasionally require Chad to travel for short-term periods, the vast majority of his work is done from our home, which will allow more flexibility (and less time sitting in traffic) once a baby arrives. When he’s not working, Chad loves to create art either with ceramics or painting, he cooks amazing meals and is constantly hunting for a great new recipe, and he also loves to travel (especially with Zach, although Chad has Zach beat with his world travels). He very much looks forward to bringing our future children on lots of adventures around the world!

When I first met Chad, I was struck by two things: first, his confidence. Chad is assured of himself, and rightfully so, but it never comes across as arrogance. It’s a quality I was instantly drawn to and something I hope our children will emulate. Second, his passion. Chad oozes with passion and excitement when discussing the people and things he cares about and it makes the people around him lean in and want to know more. He’s someone people are usually happy to be stuck chatting with at a party or a dinner table because he always keeps things interesting. The third thing I love most about Chad took a little longer to fully appreciate, but it's his positive attitude. No one can be happy all of the time, but I think Chad comes close. He brightens every room he walks into, and his happiness is infectious, people just want to be around him. I’m so lucky that I get to spend my life with him, and I cannot wait to see how these qualities rub off on our future kids.

Larchmont is mostly residential, with lots of families and kids around, and it's a very walkable neighborhood. We walk to our “downtown” often for dinners, ice cream, cookies and shopping. Our neighborhood is filled with friends, both old and new. And our apartment complex has half an acre of green grass. We also live in a great school district! We expect to buy a larger home in the near future, and we’ve looked at a few in our neighborhood recently, but we are not in a hurry and have frequently discussed the many perks of starting our family in our current apartment. It’s a cozy home in a great neighborhood, with room for at least one more! We are also part owners of a house in Montana, close to Glacier National Park and where Chad’s sister and niece live. We visit Montana often in the summer to spend time hiking, kayaking and enjoying the fresh air.

Zach grew up with his mom, dad and older brother just outside of Boston. They are a very tight knit group and talk every day (either on the phone or on a family text chain that Chad is now very much a part of). Zach has an enormous extended family, with a grandmother, 22 aunts and uncles, and 33 first cousins. Despite the size of Zach’s family, they all remain very close. Most are in the northeast, but they all gather at least a few times per year for holidays and weddings. We also visit with them often for vacations, smaller family events or just to see them! Zach’s brother recently had his first child, and Zach’s adorable niece has proven to be good reason to travel back east quite frequently.

Chad may have a smaller family, but they are just as close and also spend lots of time together. Chad grew up with his mom and dad, and his older brother and sister in northern Minnesota. They now spend much of their time together in Montana, where his sister and parents live, hiking through Glacier National Park. Chad also has a niece, a 12 year old, 3-sport athlete who LOVES her uncle Chad! In addition to our families who we see often, We also have a close network of friends in Los Angeles that have become our family. These are the most frequent guests at our dinner parties, and people we fully expect to be ever present in the lives of our future children.

Each of our families have a tradition to take an annual vacation. Zach’s family always vacations in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. A beautiful New England town which draws families to the gorgeous beach and historic pier. Chad’s family often changes the location of their family vacations, from Brazil, to Puerto Rico, to Argentina, and beyond. We’re so excited to keep these traditions alive and bring our child along for the fun!

Thank you so much for considering us! We have spent years considering and looking forward to the day that we become parents and we do not take the decision to step into parenthood lightly.

We will devote the rest of our lives to caring for, supporting and loving your child. We will work diligently to keep learning about parenting, including the nuances that come with parenting an adopted child. We hope to form a relationship with you that works for all of us, including our future child, and one that will last a lifetime, should you so choose. We would love the opportunity to introduce ourselves to you, and get to know you better too! We cannot thank you enough, and we very much hope to hear from you soon!