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

Hi, we are Melanie and Trent! Since we met 18 years ago, we’ve been two peas in a pod. Along with our two tuxedo cats, we are excited to grow our family and welcome another little pea into our pod. For more information, see melanieandtrentadopt.com.

About Us…

We met online in Toronto, Canada. Our first phone conversation was 6 hours, and our first date was at a used bookstore. After that, we were together almost every day and moved in with each other a few months later.

Unconditional love, support, and communication has pulled us through tough times and made us a strong team. Because Melanie did graduate school abroad and research in Mexico, we have lived apart at different points. That time apart taught us that we truly enjoy each other’s company and not to take time together for granted. We even enjoy doing groceries or errands together because we end up laughing and having fun. We are so excited to have created roots in Minneapolis and to be able to offer a stable and loving home to a little one.

We have a big, green home built in 1911 that is filled with sunlight, bright colors and lots of plants. The cats, Ella and Levi, are often rocketing across the house or sleeping on the cat tree on our porch. We are so thankful to enjoy having a cozy space filled with love, music, and creative expression.

Here are some fun facts about us:

• The theme of our wedding was “two peas in a pod,” so we have an eclectic collection of peapods throughout our house
• We currently have 36 plants in our house and the collection is ever growing
• Our house is filled with hundreds of books, from novels and cookbooks to children’s books and art books.
• We really enjoy travelling, whether it’s road trips home to Canada, to other states, or to other countries. Our favorite overseas trips together have been to Mexico and Ireland.
• We jointly made our living room curtains, which are velvet and brightly colored. Trent did the measuring and Melanie did the sewing.

Meet Melanie

According to Trent: “Melanie is the most exuberant person I have ever met. Her passion for life and new experiences is truly infectious, and she continuously inspires me to be a better person. Her enthusiasm and intellect comes through in her love for learning, and she is equally at home presenting at academic conferences on the importance of Mexican popular culture, taking online classes with her mother on Canadian First Nations rights and issues, or learning about all of the different ways you can build with LEGO from my best friend Joanne’s boys. She is very empathetic, and her interest, concern and care for others comes through in her relationships with friends, family, co-workers and students. Social justice is very important to her, which is reflected not only by her choice of social work as a career path, but also in the way she has lived her life since childhood. She loves learning new things, and always has a crafting project (or three) on the go.”

Occupation: Clinical Social Worker (therapist), former professor of Latin American history

Interests:

• Latin American history and culture (esp. Mexico, where she lived for 1.5 years)
• Gardening and caring for plants
• Crafting: weaving, sewing, knitting, pottery, watercolor, jewelry making
• Cooking (esp. dishes that can be “freestyled”)
• Hanging out with kiddos and making stuff (including messes)
• Reading (esp. Fiction. Favorites are García Márquez, Winterson, Gyasi)
• Good TV and documentaries (some bad TV too)

Meet Trent

According to Melanie: “Trent is an exceptional human being, and I’m so lucky that he is my partner in life. He is thoughtful, supportive, smart and caring. He is one of those people who is good at everything. He has studied theatre, English literature, and computer programming. This makes family projects so fun and productive. Trent is a funny guy and is a champion at making Dad jokes. We regularly babysit Rosie, the daughter of our friends, and seeing him play and interact with her has been so heartwarming. I’m so excited to witness him getting to be a dad to a very lucky little one.”

Occupation: Software Engineer, former book sales representative

Interests:

• Indie music and electronica, especially going to live shows
• Vegetarian cooking, grilling and baking
• Going out for brunch
• Video games, especially indie games
• Trying different craft beers from local breweries
• Going on family bike rides
• Making and building things, and DIY home improvement projects

Thoughts on education, parenting, and family …

We both love learning and we can’t wait to share that love of learning with our kiddo. We will also support them in trying out sports, music, dance or whatever they chose. Our biggest hope is that they will be confident in themselves to try new things and be willing to make mistakes, knowing they always have our love and support. We will set up a college fund so that our child can attend community college or university, and we will also support them if they choose another path.

Our Goals as Parents

We hope our child:

• Has the security of unconditional love
• Treats others with respect and compassion and helps others when they’re able
• Embraces difference in gender, sexuality, culture, race, and ethnicity
• Feels safe asking questions about you and their origins
• Feels pride in their cultural origins
• Feels loved and protected enough to have the confidence to try new things and make mistakes

We can’t wait to …

• Bake cookies
• Put together a “tickle trunk” of dress-up clothes for imaginative fun
• Play with the dollhouse Trent’s grandpa built
• Make nighttime routines that involve splashing in the bath and reading bedtime stories
• Make family costumes and go trick-or-treating together
• Get dirty in the garden
• Encourage gentle play with our cats
• Help with homework
• See who this little one becomes with lots of love and support.

Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to learn about and consider us as you contemplate an adoption plan. We are committed to raising a child who understands their birth story and heritage. We plan to talk openly about adoption and hope to forge a positive relationship with you and your family. The nature of that relationship is up to you, but we will be sure that our child understands that your decision was based on love. We’ve done our best to convey who we are and who we hope to be as parents. We appreciate the important and challenging decisions you are making. If you have any questions for us, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Melanie and Trent

Contact Us Directly: [email protected]

Follow Us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/melanieandtrentadopt

Contact Our Adoption Social Worker: Carly Kidd, [email protected]