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

Hello!

Thank you for taking the time to read about us and for considering us! Feel free to reach out in whichever way you’d prefer:

• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithAndRyanAdopt
• Instagram: @KeithAndRyanAdopt

About Us

Hi there! We are Keith and Ryan, a couple of 15 years living in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. We met at the University of Minnesota in 2008 through mutual friends and fell in love while exploring the beautiful Twin Cities together. After a decade of adventures, we got married in 2017 surrounded by our loved ones. We are now excited to start our journey as parents through adoption.

We have always had strong paternal instincts and have always known that we wanted to be fathers someday.

Ryan works remotely from home as an engineer for a Bay Area tech company and Keith is a leader at the corporate office of a large Twin Cities based retailer. We are very lucky to have employers that are family-focused and encourage a strong work-life balance that will allow us to be present for our child’s important milestones and moments.

When we’re not busy with work, you can usually find us exploring the great outdoors, making home-cooked meals, or relaxing at home with our dog.

We’re avid runners and cyclists and love to spend our weekends training for marathons, kayaking on one of Minnesota’s many beautiful lakes, or riding our road bikes around the Twin Cities.

Ryan’s family owned a restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis for many decades, and his family instilled a passion and appreciation for cooking in him when he was very young. A lot of free time in our house is spent working together in our kitchen researching and cooking healthy and delicious meals.

On a more relaxed day, you’ll usually find us barbecuing with friends and family, walking through our local nature center, or just watching the wildlife on our lake from our deck.

We’re also big fans of traveling and try to take at least one big trip each year. Some of our favorite adventures have included hiking in the Rocky Mountains, snorkeling in Hawaii, and biking over the canals in Amsterdam. We can’t wait to add a little adventure buddy to our crew so we can all share new experiences and explore the world together.

Keith Describes Ryan

Ryan isn’t amazing because he is intelligent, hard-working, and creative– he is all of those things, but I love him because he understands what it is like to live in the real world. He knows he doesn’t have all the answers, but seeks to understand. He has experienced grief but chooses to thrive vs. fall down. Ryan is often the lighthouse when others can’t find a path forward. People can underestimate his abilities because he is modest and a bit of a dork (in the best way) and he constantly proves them wrong. He lives with a positive energy that makes you want to try harder and be better. Ryan is that one reasonable and reliable friend we all need. He was born to be a father.

Ryan Describes Keith

Keith is one of the most responsible, intelligent, and passionate people I know. He is committed and has a reputation for exceeding expectations and being the hardest worker you’ve ever known. Keith has always challenged me to reach beyond my own expectations I set for myself, and his encouragement helps me see past my own limitations to find success in whatever I do. Keith is supportive of my nerdy hobbies of composing and recording my own music and enjoying retro video games (even if he does not share the same enthusiasm) and is always willing to step out of his comfort zone to go on new adventures and try new experiences with me. His strengths complement my weaknesses, and I know when we work as a team we can accomplish anything together. I cannot wait to experience fatherhood with him.

Our Family

We both come from large, close-knit, multi-cultural families. Ryan’s family lives throughout the Northern Metro, and Keith’s family spans across many states. We all get together frequently throughout the year to celebrate the holidays and other special events. Our support network also extends to many of our close friends and their children as well. Our child’s future grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all very excited for us to become the dads we’ve always wanted to be, and they can’t wait to be a part of our child’s life!

We are very much a dog household. We were fortunate to spend 12 years together with our amazing first dog, Todd, who we adopted from a local rescue. We recently rescued an Australian Shepherd puppy named Avogadro. He’s an energetic pup who loves to play fetch, go for long walks, and snuggle. We know he’ll be an amazing big brother when the time comes.

Our Home

We recently purchased our forever home on a lake in a diverse and up-and-coming neighborhood. We picked out our new house specifically with our growing family in mind. We now have enough room for our kid to grow up and have their own space and our backyard has lots of space and wilderness to explore and will help us create fun experiences all year round. From treehouses, canoeing, and outdoor movie nights in the summer, to sledding and snowshoeing in the winter, we have big plans to make many great memories with our child here.

The school system here was also a huge factor in where we chose to live. Our school district is home to some of the best schools in the state. Not only is the education top-notch; the schools have a very diverse student body comprised of mixed families from various ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds, just like our family.

We strive to have our child receive not only a great education academically, but also have the opportunity to be raised in a community where where they can develop an appreciation of everybody’s differences by being surrounded by people with different upbringings and their own unique perspectives on life. We are thrilled to be able to grow our unique family in a place that will not only accept us, but will embrace us.

Our Parenting Philosophy

We believe in creating a nurturing and supportive environment for our future child where they can grow, learn, and thrive while also experiencing unconditional love and support. We are excited to show them how fun and exciting the world can be while also making sure they learn all the important life skills needed to become worldly, intelligent, independent, and self-sufficient. On top of that, we aim to raise our child to approach the world with an empathetic lens so they can become a kind, caring, and compassionate person that can put positive energy into the world.

We strongly believe in the value of open adoption and wish to create an environment where our future child can grow up with a clear understanding of their birth story and a sense of connection to their birth family. By maintaining open communication and involvement with our child’s birth family, we hope to provide our child with a sense of identity, belonging, and a deeper understanding of their own story. We hope that by embracing open adoption, we can create a loving and supportive community for our child where they can feel secure in their sense of self and their place in the world. Our goal is to raise our child with empathy and respect for all involved in the adoption process, including their birth family.

Thank you!

We understand that the decision to place a child for adoption is a difficult and selfless one, and we have the utmost respect for birth parents and their unique journey. It is our hope to honor and respect our future child’s birth family by maintaining open communication and a positive relationship, should that be something that they are comfortable with. We believe that keeping the lines of communication open can help create a sense of community and mutual respect between all parties involved, and can ultimately benefit our child’s well-being. Again, thank you for considering us as potential adoptive parents. We are grateful for the opportunity to love and cherish a child with all of our hearts.

Thank you so much for considering us as potential adoptive parents! We can’t wait to welcome a new little one into our lives and create a beautiful and loving family together.

Keith & Ryan

Adoption Worker: Erin Nelson / Email: [email protected] / Phone: (651) 255-2209

 

Family camping trip at Lake Itasca with Todd

Our wonderful Warehouse Winery wedding

Todd soaking up the sun in our backyard

Christmas means matching family pajamas!

Family photo on our dock when we welcomed Avogadro to his forever home

Post-hike from the summit of Piestewa Peak in Arizona