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

[email protected]

ABOUT US

Thank you for reading about us! We have been together since 2010 and have always known that we’ve wanted to grow our family through adoption. We so appreciate you taking the time to learn more about us and the life that we share together.

While we met on the East Coast, we have called the Twin Cities home for the past decade. Zoe is the Artistic Director of a Ballet company, and Martha is an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience. Our community of friends and family is comprised of diverse backgrounds and interests. We love traveling and doing house projects together and enjoy spending time with our family, friends, and our three cats.

Open adoption – our first choice for growing our family.

We’ve always known that we’ve wanted a family, and as a queer couple surrounded by first and chosen family alike, adoption has always felt like the best fit for us. We also know the power of celebrating a full sense of one’s identity, which is why we are committed to open adoption.  We honor and respect whatever has led you to consider making an adoption plan, and we would love to have the opportunity to let you learn more about us.

About Zoé by Martha

Zoé and I have been married since 2017, but we’ve known each other for almost 1.5 decades, so I feel pretty qualified to tell you a little bit about her. One thing you should know about Zoé is that she is one of the most empathetic people out there. She works with kids of all ages through her job, and I always find myself in awe of how she engages with and supports all of her students from toddlers to high school students and beyond. She is kind, protective, calming, and quietly reassuring – all while still giving the guidance that her students need. Unsurprisingly, her students adore her, as evidenced by the fact that they followed her from one studio to another when she left her previous job and started her own ballet school.

Zoé is she is a constant innovator. Whether it be finding solutions to our house projects, to divining new ways to entertain and enrich the lives of the gaggle of kids she teaches every week, or even sewing a new tablecloth when more Thanksgiving guests turned up than we expected, Zoé looks at anything and thinks: “I can figure this out.” She sews, she crafts, she caulks (as evidenced by the photo here), she comes up with a solution to any problem, and it always leads to us both learning something. Her consummate attitude of innovation inspires creativity in everyone around her.

Simply put, Zoé is an amazing partner. She has been my biggest cheerleader over all of our years together, and I’m sure she will continue to be for our growing family. She’s my favorite person, and I know she is going to be an incredible parent.

About Martha by Zoé

Martha is my best friend. We became friends because we felt connected through our similarities – a love for science, cats, and Mount Holyoke College – but I fell in love with Martha because she inspires me to be my best self. She is a dedicated mentor, a fierce friend, and a passionate ally to all those she surrounds herself with.

Martha never gives up. Ever since college she has had a dream of being a professor of Neuroscience. Although she faced multiple challenges in her pursuit of this dream, she was steadfast in her determination. In November of 2023, she was hired as a tenure track professor on the same day we finished our home study with CH/LSS! Martha is a compassionate and curious mentor, always asking questions, collaboratively problem solving, and volunteering her time on multiple committees to ensure an equitable and sustainable future for students and staff. I have no doubt she will continue to succeed in her career and inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

Martha is my adventure buddy for life. We love traveling together, we’ve taken on some house projects that we thought were impossible, we enjoy foods from around the world (even trying to cook them ourselves!), and we love bringing friends into the fold of our chosen family with bonfires in the back yard, dinners, and yard game parties. We can’t wait to embark on our next adventure. Adding to our family has been our dream for many years and we look forward to beginning our next chapter as parents together.

Our Home & Our Life

We bought our dream home from a family that owned it for almost 50 years. Making it our own while restoring the historic charm has been an absolute labor of love! We’ve painted every room, remodeled a bathroom, installed light fixtures, pulled up carpet, refinished flooring, and even renovated the kitchen (see below), all by ourselves!

We live in the Macalester Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul. Our house is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, on a corner lot with a huge, fenced in yard. We love our block full of friendly neighbors, many with young kids and pets. We are a few blocks from the Mississippi river, parks, and great public schools.

We love our cats Fredrick, Bradley, and Milou. We adopted them from a local animal rescue agency, and they get along great. Each has a very distinct personality: Fredrick is always getting into trouble but loves to love, Bradley pretends he is displeased but enjoys being pet and pampered, and Milou is the queen of the household (in her opinion).

Martha’s job includes regular conference travel, which has given us many opportunities to explore the world. Our favorite experiences to date have been traveling to Japan, Spain, and the Netherlands. Zoé also has extended family in France, Belgium, and Italy, and we take every opportunity we can to visit.

Chosen Family

As members of the queer community, we know that family is defined first and foremost by love and support, not just genetics, and our network of loved ones encapsulates that. Our family lives both near and far. Martha’s mom and Zoé’s dad live in the Twin Cities and are both retired but keep very busy with hobbies. Martha’s sister, brother-in-law and niece live a short drive away in Milwaukee, and we enjoy visiting Zoé’s sister and her partner in San Francisco. We have several close friends who live in the Twin Cities and have helped us with numerous house projects to get our home ready for our growing family. Everyone is very excited and supportive about our choice to adopt.

Open adoption has always been our first choice in growing our family. Being researchers at heart, we explored several different organizations and were drawn toward CH/LSS because of their support of open, local adoptions. We have a close-knit community of loved ones comprised of both blood relatives and chosen family and want to raise our family within a community that reflects the same for them. We are committed to working with you as the birth parent to develop an open adoption plan that honors and respects everyone.

We want nothing more than to help raise a child who moves through the world with empathy, respect, and an appreciation for their responsibilities to their community and place in the world. We know that as a birth parent, this is likely a complex and emotional time, and we both thank you for taking the time to get to know us through our profile. We hope that you feel empowered to make a decision that is best for you.

Thank you!

Zoé & Martha

 

We’ve been married since 2017…

…but we’ve been together since we met in college in 2010!

We live in St. Paul and love spending time with our chosen family and friends, including hosting everyone for Thanksgiving.