Waiting Family Profiles

Home Location: Northeast MN

Family Status: Couple with Children

Children in Home: One

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

Hello:

We are the Schnur family. Thank you for taking the time to consider us to be a part of you and your child’s adoption journey. Above all else we want you to know we are ready to love your child and work to keep their connection with you. Family is important to us, and our child’s birth family will become part of our core family as well. We are fortunate to be able to pursue this together with the support of our extended families.

About Us:

We live in Northern MN and have a 5-year-old child, TJ. We met during business school in Ithaca, New York and fell in love during accounting class. After more than a decade in NYC and Boston, we decided that we wanted to raise our family in a smaller city and Duluth was a perfect fit!

Whether we are hiking the north shore, grilling at the lake house, or staying in for a movie night, we love filling our weekends with family activities.

An important part of our lives is making sure that we raise compassionate, confident, and well-rounded kids. We do our best to get involved in the community, sing morning affirmation songs, and create new and exciting experiences as often as possible.

About Madi:

Madi is compassionate, an animal lover, and ambitious.  She is a doctor who loves to give back to the community and goes out of her way to make all of her patients feel cared for and heard.

In her free time, she can be found at the archery range as she trains for competitions around the country. Madi loves bringing the family on weekend adventures, cooking delicious Tex-Mex dishes, and reading romance novels.

About David:

David is funny, patient, and a true snack lover. After working on wall street, David decided to become a stay-at-home dad and has gotten so much joy out of creating magical moments for TJ and seeing him grow. He loves filling his days with TJ exploring the north shore, practicing hockey at the rink, and competing at the arcade.

In the summers, David enjoys spending time on the golf course and going fishing on the lake. His passions involve being a sports dad and building Lego sets with TJ.

About TJ:

Man is this kid full of love! He is sensitive and caring and wants nothing more than a sibling to go on adventures with and build hot wheel cities. He loves to make up dance routines, go on hikes, play hockey, and snuggle. He is outgoing and can make friends anywhere, always eager to include new people in whatever he is doing. He is currently excited about Math, baking, and building legos with Dad.

Our Commitment:

Our family is Mexican American and Italian American and we understand the importance of culture and feeling represented and confident in your skin and identity. If we have a different background than your family, we want to make sure that we keep that strong connection by continuing any traditions, seeking social communities, and media/toys that represent our baby. Our priority is to make sure that we teach our kids to love themselves and where they came from and we will do whatever we can to make sure they are confident and proud of who they are!

Extended Family:

Family means everything to us and we are lucky enough to have extended family that is incredibly involved in our day to day lives. Although they may not live in Minnesota, we have daily Facetimes with Grandma and Grandpa and get to use all of their years of experience to help us raise the most loved children.

• Grandpa was also adopted and has helped us through this process to understand how he felt and to give us more insight into how we can best support our little love when joining our family
• Grandma was an early childhood educator for over 20 years. She has the best crafts, songs, and social emotional learning techniques to help with those big feelings!
• Loli and Pop brave the cold every year and make the trip up from Texas to celebrate special occasions and cook traditional Mexican feasts.
• TJ has lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins who can’t wait to have a new addition to the family. They love to do crafts, sing songs, read together, and do whatever they can to get a good belly laugh!

Family First and Foremost:

We want to thank you for taking the time to get to know us and we hope we get the opportunity to learn more about you. We are committed to creating a safe and open environment for our baby and are willing to do whatever we can to make you feel comfortable and secure as well. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions as we would be grateful to speak with you!