Waiting Family Profiles

Home Location: Twin Cities Metro

Family Status: Couple without children

Children in Home: None

Child Ethnicity: African American, Asian, Caucasian, East Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Native American

A peek into our lives…

Hello! We are Ben and Ian; thank you for taking the time to learn more about us! We have built an incredible foundation to expand our family and are looking forward to becoming loving and supporting parents, and hope to form a welcoming and healthy connection with our future birth-family. Our goal is to raise a child that will be supported and loved so they can grow happily and healthily so they can be successful and fulfilled in life as much as possible. As a couple, we believe we have created a welcoming environment and a safe place for our friends and family, and a home built on love.

We met in the summer of 2017, and our first date was a whirlwind of fun. We quickly realized that we had a lot in common and that we were meant to be together. We got married in Minneapolis in the spring of 2023 and celebrated with many friends and family. During our 8 years together, we have continually grown in our careers and have adopted two adorable dogs (Kevin and Penelope). We enjoy traveling the country and world and try to go on at least one fun trip each year. We bought a house in one of Minneapolis’s first-ring suburbs and have enjoyed building an expansive garden and renovating our house into a home. We are very thankful to have many supportive friends, family, and coworkers who cannot wait to welcome another family member into their lives.

Our Ideal Birth Parent Relationship / Openness Plan

We both believe that the birth parent / adoptee relationship is important. We would like our adopted child to have a life-long relationship with their birth parents and with their birth families, as long as it is positive and supportive for the child’s wellbeing. Ideally you (and others in your family, as you deem appropriate) would be like extended aunts and uncles. We are happy to talk about what your expectations and comfort levels are.

All about Ian (by Ben)

From the moment I met Ian, I knew that he was the one I wanted to do life with. Ian is kind, creative, determined, smart, goofy, and very extroverted. He never turns down a challenge, and he loves to learn. He always wants to have fun and looks forward to social gatherings with friends or family. One of my favorite qualities about Ian is his patience. He is very patient with our dogs, teaching our grandparents and parents how to use newer technology, navigating a city we are traveling to, allowing others to express their feelings, and with learning something new.

Ian has worked in the Medical Device industry for his whole career. Currently, he works to make sure that all the medical device products his company designs are proven to be safe for all people, which ensures the devices only help, not harm. Ian has a well-rounded view and experience on the world, and I love that we both share that in common. He is politically active and does his best to absorb as much knowledge about different cultures and history as he can. He loves to travel and experience new things. After college, he spent almost a year living in China learning Chinese and about their culture.

Some of his favorite hobbies include playing video games with friends to unwind from the day and have social time, cooking, watching new TV shows and movies, finding new music, hosting parties, and gardening. Ian enjoys gardening because it allows him to feel connected to nature, transform our yard into something beautiful and make an impactful change for the environment and our pollinators. Currently, his new endeavor is becoming a Master Gardener Volunteer through the University of Minnesota. As a Master Gardener Volunteer, he is working to give back to our community by teaching adults how they can protect pollinators like bees and butterflies and our environment through gardening. He’s also looking forward to helping the Minnesota Arboretum conduct seed trials on new hybrid vegetables so we can better understand how to improve our crops. We both grew up with parents who loved to be outside creating magic in the garden and are looking forward to passing those skills along.

I am looking forward to watching Ian become a dad. The way he deeply cares for others and makes sure that everyone is included is very kind. He loves with his whole heart and wants what is best for everyone. Ian has started to thrift books that he enjoyed reading as a kid. He is very excited to pass along his enthusiasm about all thing’s science, space, and nature.

All about Ben (by Ian)

Ben is a really great guy and a very good friend to have! When we first met, I had a feeling that I had met someone special, and I couldn’t be more right. Ben is very kind and has a caring and empathetic nature, and has a very strong sense of self. These traits come out best when he is hosting friends and family as he prioritizes comfort, safety and joy for everyone. You can count on Ben to come up with a very thoughtful gift for birthdays and other special occasions. While he knows how to provide for others, he can do it all without compromising his own peace, which is one of my favorite qualities of his.

For fun, Ben likes to play video games and to read fantasy books. However, you’ll most likely find him leaning into his creative side. He loves to “junk journal”, which is everything but junk. His journals are an ensemble of collages using pictures, clippings and art, each collected from the activities we do together or with friends. Each page is a glimpse at the things Ben has enjoyed most recently in life. He is an avid interior decorator as well; he’s constantly making small but meaningful tweaks and sometimes large additions to our house that make our home comfortable.

Ben also uses his creativity at his job as a Business Development Manager for an advertising and consulting firm in downtown Minneapolis, where he makes unique business proposals for potential clients designed to draw them in and give them a clear vision of what he and his team can do. He also loves to binge game shows like Survivor, Top Chef, RuPauls Drag Race and reality shows like the Bachelor/Bachelorette, including the funny but sometimes “trashy” shows (his words!) like Love Island, and Real Housewives.

Ben is incredibly excited to be a dad. He has spent a lot of time collecting cute books and toys for the baby and designing a calm and cozy nursery. He hopes to instill in our child how to be a kind and inclusive person, he will support and nurture their creativity and hopefully get them interested in soccer (his favorite sport), tennis and skiing.

Our Home

We live in a diverse neighborhood in a Minneapolis suburb on a quiet cul-de-sac that’s close to several parks, and thankfully not at all far from our favorite places in Minneapolis and St. Paul. We have a large garden in front of grasses and flowers native to Minnesota that is alive with bees and butterflies in summer. We also have a collection of raised beds where we grow raspberries, vegetables, and herbs.

Thank you / Contact us

Once again, we want to thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little bit more. We understand how impactful this process is and want whoever is reading this to know we are here to support you. If you want to learn more about us or have further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us or look at our social media channels that have more information.

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Email: [email protected]

   

From our wedding day! Wearing traditional Hawaiian wedding leis in honor of Ian’s family heritage.

During our family trip to Alaska, we hiked to the top of a mountain to see Denali.

Penelope (Penny) on the left and Kevin on the right taking a proud stance after hiking to the top of this waterfall up north during a family trip.

Last year, from one of our many harvests of fruits/veggies/herbs that we grow.

One of our favorite trips together! Hiking to the top of a terrace in the south of France!