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

Thank you for visiting our site, we are excited to share our adoption journey with you! We have always wanted to be dads, bringing up a child in our vibrant community of family and friends. We are hoping to match with a birth family and child. If you or someone you know is considering an adoption plan, we would love to get to know you!

Our Guiding Principles in Adoption and Building a Family

• Love and gratitude
• Open adoption
• Family and community interrelationships
• Honoring heritage
• Celebrating and sharing talents and gifts
• Lifelong learning from one another

Above all, we approach adoption and raising a family with love, compassion, and hope in our hearts. “True love is made of four elements: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. If your love contains these elements, it will be healing and transforming, and it will have the element of holiness in it. True love has the power to heal and transform any situation and bring deep meaning to our lives.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Our Values & Vision

We want you to be aware of the following commitments in our adoption journey:

• Open adoption: We believe open adoption is often beneficial for children and families, and can provide grounding and support. We are eager to collaborate on an openness plan that respects all parties’ wishes and comfort level.
• Honoring heritage: We strongly believe that connection to heritage and culture help children grow into their identity and provide meaning and guidance throughout life. We are committed to actively facilitating the identity development of our future child, in accordance with whatever culture, tradition, and communities they identify with.
• Family and community systems: Our vision of “family” is a cooperative, interconnected, and mutually supportive community that extends beyond the immediate household. We look forward to ensuring our child is cared for and loved by ourselves in partnership with a diverse and eclectic community of both kinship and “chosen” family relations.

Get to Know Matt

I am a husband, relative, friend, and co-worker. I practice spirituality and do my best to treat people and the land with respect. My job is with the Hennepin County Self-Help Center. In this role, I provide legal information and resources to people who are representing themselves in family court cases.

I love doing activities outside, being with our dog Rusty, cooking, watching TV, and reading. Spending quality time with family and friends makes me feel connected and whole. My ancestors were from western Europe, primarily Norway and Germany. I learn from and enjoy art and teachings from many cultures: Native spirituality, Asian film, Gospel music, Irish literature, Nordic crime drama, and more.

I am most excited about adoption for the opportunity to create a deep human connection with a young person. I look forward to caring for a child from the vulnerability of infancy and helping them grow into an adult who cultivates healthy relationships with others.

From Zach’s perspective: Matt is a thoughtful, kind, and spiritual person, who naturally cares for those around him. He is insightful, a skilled listener, and makes decisions carefully. Matt’s greatest joys are quality time with his nieces and nephews, building community, and enjoying delicious food!

Get to Know Zach

I am an artist and Advanced Practice Nurse working with people with diabetes. I love making art, spending time outdoors, exercising, gardening, meditating, learning languages and exploring culture. I come from a Scandinavian and Mdewakantonwan Dakota background. Family history, traditions and culture are important to me. I speak English, French, some Spanish, and am learning Dakhotiapi (Dakota language). I see myself as a lifelong learner, and I spend a lot of time thinking about the healing journey we are on as human beings in a challenging world.

In adoption, I am most excited to be a caregiver, mentor and guide for a child, helping them see the beauty of our world, supporting their learning, and facilitating their development into a unique, capable and joyful adolescent and adult.

From Matt’s perspective: Zach is driven and humorous. He uses his energy to set and meet goals, incorporating play and goofy antics along the way. Zach cares deeply about his relationships. He initiates communication and makes social plans. To unwind, Zach enjoys video games, podcasts, and art.

Our Story Together

We first met in October of 2015, and have been together ever since! Due to the pandemic’s gathering restrictions, we had two wedding dates! We were married in October of 2020, then had a larger ceremony and reception in October 2021. We adopted our “fur-baby” Rusty in 2019. Rusty is a medium-sized, terrier/labrador/chow mix. He is energetic, playful, and cuddly. We have enjoyed many adventures together. Together, we love travel, camping, hiking, cooking, seeing friends and often just relaxing at home. We are excited to add to our family’s story through open adoption!

Our Home & Community

We live in south Minneapolis near Mnihaha (Minnehaha Falls) in a cozy bungalow of stucco. We enjoy improving our home and hosting gatherings. We especially love yard and garden activities – every year our vegetable garden provides produce for the growing season.

Community is our greatest asset. Our neighborhood has schools, parks, and childcare options. We intentionally maintain existing relationships and cultivate new ones. Friends and family members live nearby, and we are always looking for opportunities to connect with neighbors and our wider Minneapolis community.

Some of our favorite family and community activities:

• Holiday celebrations: Halloween crafting, Thanksgiving, annual Norwegian lefse party, Christmas, New Years, Easter, etc.
• Seasonal observations: solstice and equinox, planting and harvest celebrations
• Summer reunions in familial spaces: Family farm near Owatonna, MN; Family cabin in the Swan Valley in northwestern Montana; Hunting grounds near Park Rapids, MN
• Out of town getaways for quality time with our “chosen family” of close friends
• National Night Out and other neighborhood social events
• Community and cultural events, such as wacipi (powwows), Cinco de Mayo, Friday Fish Fries, Open Streets, etc.
• Weekly Lutheran church services and backyard hangouts with our church community

We are eager to share the fun, variety and experiences in our lives with a child through open adoption!

A Day in Our Life

Monday through Friday, we work during the day and spend evenings cooking, relaxing, activities with Rusty, reading and watching television. Once we have an adoption plan, we anticipate changes to our work schedules to have more time at home and/or utilize daycare.

On weekends, we enjoy a mix of social time and relaxation at home. We are likely to be joining friends or family for a meal or celebration. Other weekend activities often include traveling, passion projects and household work. We also cherish our “down time,” allowing ourselves to rest and recharge from the week.

Our Parenting Philosophy

As parents, we will prioritize love, exploration, play and learning. We intend to help create healthy boundaries and teach responsibility for people and planet. We are committed to lifelong learning, and we are eager to guide as well as learn from our adopted child. We will also lead by example to encourage care for the needs of others.

With Gratitude…

Thank you for visiting our site and learning more about our adoption journey. If you or someone in your circle is ready to make an adoption plan, we hope you will consider us!

– Zach & Matt

Enjoying fall colors. We love being outdoors!

Matt taking care of baby plants in our garden.

Hiking in the Grand Canyon. It is awe-inspiring!

When the weather is nice, we love biking to work.

We celebrate our Scandinavian roots by making lefse (potato flatbread) every year!