Dear Birthmom

We can't imagine the mix of emotions running through your mind right now. There must be fear. You're wondering if you're making the right decision, picking the right family. We're scared too. In these moments, we remind ourselves to make our faith bigger than our fear. Something bigger than all of us brought us to this moment.

We're parents to a beautiful three-year-old, Penelope. We call her Poppy. We know the worry that comes with loving a tiny soul this much, Morgan's mom told her it never stops. That worry is the club we're joining together, no matter what path brought you here. We want that same fierce, endless love for your baby.

Bringing another baby into our family hasn't been easy. After Poppy, we've had five failed embryo transfers - our own eggs, adopted embryos, adopted eggs. Each loss broke our hearts a little more and made our resolve a little stronger. That's how we know how much we want this.

Between us, we've built companies, written music, climbed mountains, trained in French Cooking!, and shown up for the people we love in every way we know how. Yet of everything we've done, the only thing that has ever truly mattered is raising the souls in our care and loving them with everything we have.

Whatever you decide, we hope you feel seen and at peace. Trust your gut, that female instinct doesn't lie. And if it leads you to our family, we will spend every day making sure you never doubt that choice.

Our Story

We met at CrossFit in 2013 — mutual friends, same sense of humor, both married to other people. Life had other plans. By the time we were both single, I looked at him one day and realized I felt safe, seen, and genuinely happy. Then, like a ton of bricks, completely head over heels.

What I noticed first wasn't romance, it was Dan's hugs. Not the one-arm shoulder hug or the butt-out hug. The kind where someone truly cares about your wellbeing. The kind that says you've got this. He changed the way I hug.

We built a blended family and I poured my whole heart into it; birthday parties, Halloween costumes, themed Christmas Eves. One year I dressed as Mary in a costume Dan ordered without realizing 40 inches meant width, not length. Four people could have fit inside it.
Then came Poppy and everything got brighter. Dan is the light switch that illuminates the whole room. Poppy is the sun, you don't even need the lights when she's around. And this new baby? They're the music that's about to start playing.

 Our Extended Family

Our family has had a home in the Adirondacks since 1887. Every summer, every generation gathers. We hike, pick wild blueberries on the peaks, and hop rocks up and down the stream. On Monday nights, fifty kids play capture-the-flag while the adults watch from the sidelines, swapping stories of the same games they played in the same place as children. Back at our family's home, we gather around a long table lit only by candles, every generation together. The kids debate whose turn it is to blow them out before heading inside to make s'mores and fall asleep listening to the stream. This will be your baby's place too.

The people around that table: Dan's twins, Kalvin and Grace, both 14 — one a skier and world-curious, the other a bookworm obsessed with horses. When they leave after visits, Poppy cries. My parents Peggy and Rick, who planted this whole life - my mom baking muffins and tending her garden, my dad fly fishing and looking proud at the dinner table. My brother Dunham, whose kids always have matching pajamas with Poppy at Christmas. My best friend Kitty, fifteen years of spin class, travel, and the same jokes. And Lily, the silly aunt with colorful hair who brings joy into every room.

 Our Home

Home is where our family is. No matter the house, it's the three of us that makes every place feel special.

Our primary home is in Florida, at the end of a sandy little road, sitting on a private bayou. Mornings mean snuggles watching ospreys fish from the nest outside. Evenings are Danny Boy playing guitar on the lanai while dolphins swim into the bay. And every night, twenty minutes before sunset, we load up, Poppy in her Hot Wheels car and pajamas, Dan and I holding hands, walking to the ocean to watch the sun go down.

In Utah, Poppy is the resident baby, greeted by name everywhere, handed bowls of cherries, and invited into the club's kitchens. Her favorite things are golf cart rides for ice cream and playing drums on Daddy's stage.

 Our Journey to Adoption

Last summer, we took six friends, including two other three-year-olds, to a fishing lodge in Alaska. Dan was skeptical. He came around the moment the lodge greeted us with tiny wellies for the girls. Nobody can resist tiny rain boots.
The kids had one job on the boat: tell the first mate when they spotted a fish. They did so with GLEE. "FISHY!" When puddles formed on the dock, they jumped in them for an hour straight. The crew surprised them with handmade coloring books and let them take the wheel. Pure joy.

Poppy has a passport. She hiked the Cliffs of Moher when she was five months old in a front pack. We don't travel to check boxes. We travel because the world builds curious, compassionate, perspective-rich humans.

 Fun Facts

About Morgan

Education
AOS - Classical French Cooking, BA - International Hospitality
Favorite Hobby
Trail Running, Painting nails with Poppy
Favorite Sport
Ice Skating! I skated on the Jr. World team for 4 years!
Favorite Music Group
HUGE SWIFTIE
Favorite TV Show
Whatever I’m watching next - currently Age of Attraction
Favorite Subject in School
Sociology
Favorite Tradition
Annual Ski in Shorts Day

About Daniel

Education
BA - Economics, Master’s - Finance and Economics
Favorite Hobby
Playing guitar at Poppy’s school and for non-profits
Favorite Sport
Pickelball
Favorite Music Group
Anything you can sing along to. Beatles, John Denver
Favorite TV Show
Yellowstone
Favorite Subject in School
Finance
Favorite Tradition
Themed Christmas Eve Parties - in costume of course.

Contact Morgan & Daniel

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