Choose A Family : Parent Profile
Mag and Joe
Dear Birth Mother,
We are Joe and Mag, and we are so happy you're taking the time to learn about us. Our dream is to become parents and only you can help us make our dream come true and for this we will be eternally grateful to you. We hope that by sharing our story with you, you will feel confident in your decision to choose adoption knowing that we will provide your child with endless, unconditional love and the brightest future possible.
About us
We met on Poipu Beach on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. What put us on this island on June 21st 2000? Mag's dad, who is a Polish scientist, was invited to a conference in Hawaii and asked Mag to accompany him. The conference was pretty dry for Mag, so she spent most of her time on the beautiful beaches of Kauai. Joe was with his family. Kauai was pretty familiar to him as his parents would take him and the family there for vacations every few years. But – he had never seen such a sight as Mag's smile.
The first time we met it was love at first sight! After meeting on the beach, we went out on our first date that evening. Our first date was magical but also bittersweet for this was also our last evening in Kauai! Although we knew the future was uncertain– Joe, from San Diego, and Mag, from Krakow, Poland – we decided to exchange emails and keep in touch. Well, keeping “in touch” turned out to be every evening at the computer. Fast forward three years full of instant messenger chats, Christmas, and summer visits, we got married on August 23rd 2003. That special event took placed in a 16th century Baroque church in Krakow, along with a reception in the city's oldest restaurant (est. 1364) that ran into the early morning hours. It was truly a fairy tale wedding. Two week after our wedding we returned to San Diego, California where we've lived ever since.
Today our fairy tale continues – except for the lack of children in our lives. We have been trying to have children for about 6 years. This has been the greatest challenge of our lives thus far, and we have grown even closer together because of it. We are confident that our experience has groomed us for overcoming future life obstacles. We really feel that our personalities complement each other: Mag is a real doer and always offers help to others in need while Joe is very easy going and laid back, always seeing good in others. He has a strong moral backbone. We both have a very silly sense of humor and always enjoy our time together. We truly are best friends!
One of our favorite activities is travelling. So far we have been to Hawaii, Mexico, the Bahamas, Czech Republic, Thailand, but most of all we visit Mag's family in Poland (about once per year). Mag's family also visits us as often as possible, and we always try to do some sightseeing together.
About Joe
Joe was born and raised in San Diego. He has been a senior account manager for a large office equipment manufacturer for the past 11 years. The job requires a great deal of people skills, tenacity, humor, and positive outlook which are qualities that will also make him a great father. Joe is an avid health nut who enjoys staying active through gym workouts, yoga, swimming, and the outdoors. His other hobbies are gardening, yardwork, landscape design, cooking (while Mag does most of the cooking, Joe enjoys preparing unusual dishes from what's in the fridge at the moment), and board games. He not only has a passion for playing board games (especially ones from Europe), but also inventing his own for future publishing. Yes, he has a bit of a geek streak as well.
Joe's favorites:
Activities – playing with his niece and nephews, dinners with close friends
Books – Lord of the Rings, early American history
Movies/Series – Arrested Development, and tasteful sci-fi (geek streak)
Food – Polish cooking, Thai, Greek, Mediterranean, and anything exotic
Music – classical for serious listening
Hobby – Boardgames, landscape design, traveling!
Travel – loves Krakow, Ireland, Thailand, Kauai
About Mag
Mag (her full name is Magdalena, a popular Polish name) was born in Krakow, Poland. As a mischievous child, her mom encouraged her to try different hobbies. Mag attended classes in ice-skating, horseback riding, tennis, painting, swimming, judo, classical guitar, and basketball. Today she excels at watercolor botanical painting, sewing, knitting, and cooking (especially baking homemade desserts!). She was an excellent student and started learning English when she was 12 and German when she was 15. Today she is perfectly fluent in English and her native Polish, but don't ask about her German. Joe thinks she has a gorgeous accent.
Before they were married, Mag completed her Master's Degree in Law in Krakow at one of Europe's oldest Universities (Jagielloinian University). She used to work as a Director of Finance at a local nonprofit organization, and as a freelance Bookkeeper. Currently Mag is a homemaker (very tidy!) that works part time from home as a property manager for our rental properties. She has an incredibly flexible schedule that will allow her primary focus to be our baby.
Every Wednesday afternoon Mag volunteers as a math (algebra) tutor at a local middle school for disadvantaged inner-city kids. She also loves animals and is a member of the Humane Society and the San Diego Zoological Society. She dreams of taking our baby on stroller trips to the world famous zoo!
Mag's Favorites
Activities – helping kids in math, playing with our cats
Books – British & French historical novels
Movies/Series – Arrested Development, will tolerate Joe's geeky sci-fi choices
Food – anything Thai
Music – today's hits
Hobby – Painting watercolors, handicrafts, home decorating and improvement projects
Travel – Tropical islands, Thailand
Our Home
We live in the San Diego suburbs. San Diego is pretty unique in that we are minutes from beaches, foothills, mountains, and desert. Five years ago we moved into our house and since the very first day we have been working on various home improvement projects. The job is never really done! Mag loves interior decorating and enjoys making curtains and pillows to make our home cozier. Our neighborhood is very safe – we live in a very private development on a cul-du-sac. The local public and private schools are excellent.
We both love gardening and have built three raised vegetable beds in our backyard. They are always full of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. In the summer, we have the biggest crop of strawberries!
We love animals and we share our home with three rescue cats: Boris, Olaf, and Pandora. Each of them has a different personality, but they are all very gentle and friendly. They are very smart and they have learned to respect the forbidden areas of the house – countertops, tables, etc.
We also have a home away from home with Mag's family in Krakow!
Family and Friends
We are a very close-knit family and we live about 5 minutes from Joe's parents. Joe has 3 siblings. His oldest brother and his wife have two sons and a beautiful adopted daughter, Madeleine, who is also our goddaughter! We both love taking her to the zoo and playing board games with the boys. Joe's sister often visits for dinners and heart-to-heart talks.
Mag is an only child, and she is very close with her four first-cousins. They are almost like brothers and sisters to her. Mag, being the eldest of them, has always been the one to watch over them since childhood. We are always very happy when they come for summer visits. Who wouldn't love San Diego? Mag is also very close to her grandma. They share the same personality and you have a hard time telling the difference between photos of Mag and her grandma's photos from her youth. Whenever we visit her, Joe is amazed about how many pierogis she can make in a day!
We are very lucky to have a group of close, wonderful friends, most of whom are married couples. Our weekends usually consist of meeting with friends over a dinner along with heartfelt chats. One of these couples recently had a baby, Benjamin, and they honored us by asking us to be his godparents. Benjamin is such a joy to be around – we have showered him with love and Mag's handcrafted blankets and teddy bear.
Our Promise and Values
We believe that the best way to pass on our values is by example. Through these values, we promise to raise your Baby to:
This decision must be difficult and life-changing for you. We hope that we have painted a picture of who we truly are to help give you peace of mind with your decision. Thank you again for considering us to be your child's adoptive parents!
Sincerely,
Mag and Joe
If you have any questions for us, or would like to talk to us about adopting your child, please contact an AdoptHelp advisor by Calling 1-800-637-7999 or clicking the "Contact Us" button below.
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