Scott and Sharon

You know that one house on the block where the grownups had the best costumes and the house was decorated so much it looked like a movie set? That’s us.

Remember that one mom that was always around growing up and you told her things you wouldn’t even tell your own mom? Those are the kind of parents we want to be.

And there was always the one dad that was still “cool” when other dads were more into “channel surfing” instead of regular surfing. Yeah, that’s definitely us.

There were always parents who went “all out” for holidays, and had sleepovers all the time and even chaperoned all the field trips. That’s us too.

We can’t wait to make those dreams into reality, and we thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to begin this journey with you. We trust that things happen in their own time, and we really want this choice to be the right one for you. We hope you enjoy getting to know us here in this little snapshot of our lives. We hope you feel a
connection to us and the life we look forward to creating. Your inner voice will lead you to the right couple, and we encourage you to listen to it. Whether it is us or another lucky couple we know you will make the right choice for YOU, and that is the most important thing.

Bringing Love Full Circle
Scott is adopted and his mom has been our “mentor” in this process. She has guided us through this process and understands all of our hopes and fears. We’ve always been open to adoption—and excited about it too. It’s really love that makes a family. Scott has a younger brother that he has a great relationship with. Sharon has an older brother, a half sister, and two stepbrothers and has great relationships with all of them. Our family is blended and loving, and most importantly we don’t have boundaries or traditional definitions of what we think a family “should be.” Our adoption is the perfect way of celebrating all those different kinds of love and bringing it all full circle.

SCOTT INTRODUCES SHARON
Sharon is an explosion of gestures and laughter and loves to tell a good story—just an update on her day becomes a big, loud adventure when she tells it. She brings in details into her descriptions that make her better than a camera. She is a great combination of exuberance and stability. She is a person who is silly, loves to laugh, and have a good time. She is such a strong person and full of conviction. She is outgoing, excited, and enthusiastic about her work and the things she does. She is able to set goals and accomplish those things… education, career, and personal. She has a very strong character, unwavering values, and is completely dependable. I am crazy about her!

Sharon has some silly quirks I love— she likes to organize things, very often leading to things moving into new, very reasonable, but very new places in the house. She likes to fill her glass to the top, so that moving the glass just seems impossible to me… but she does it. She loves to get up much earlier than necessary to do her crosswords while carefully drinking her two (very full, of course) cups of coffee!

A NOTE FROM SHARON: One of my favorite things to do is paint. I am an artist at heart and always have been. I still have poems and paintings from 3rd grade! I even have a poem from 4th grade that I wrote about my mom getting up and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I mostly paint with acrylics and many of my friends and family have my paintings hanging in their homes.

SHARON INTRODUCES SCOTT
There are many qualities that I respect about Scott. In fact, I aspire to be more like him in many ways. Some of his best qualities are loyalty, integrity, humor and his intelligence. When I say loyalty, I mean that Scott will trust you 100%, unless you show him reason not to. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt, as well as second chances when they falter. He has a special place in his heart for the underdog. Why else would someone pick the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their favorite team for over 20 years!?

Scott’s humor and intelligence go hand in hand. He has such a unique way of looking at things that he often sees the funny side. He is always up on current events and we often debate politics. I find him so stimulating and infinitely fascinating. However, his light heartedness never allows him to be too serious in our discussions, as he would never want to offend. He’ll often shut down a heated discussion by letting you know “That none of this will matter when the zombie apocalypse happens!” just to lighten the mood. Lastly, Scott’s affection towards me is endless. He is always telling me how beautiful I am or how great I look. That has never waned in the almost 20 years that we have been together. He writes me beautiful love notes and calls me silly pet names (because we hate pet names) like “babychop.” When we visit Scott’s mom, he is always hugging her and holding on to her, maybe because he’s a real Italian mama’s boy! I love their relationship, as I think he has most of her wonderful qualities.

A NOTE FROM SCOTT: I like music, and have been lucky to have music be a part of my career. I like everything about music, and almost every style, with a large collection of old records. I like to exercise and swim regularly, something I have done my entire life. I like to sail, recently getting a charter captain’s license. I work with artists, designers and
directors and most of my friends come from this group of people.

Our Home
Our home is located in a suburban community above a very large metropolitan area. Our neighborhood is so diverse! When we first moved in, our new neighbors said, “Welcome to the United Nations.” Our home was custom built in 1956 with only one prior owner—an animal trainer for Hollywood movies. One of her most famous clients was Rin-Tin-Tin, who actually lived in our home. They were apparently big into entertaining and were known in the neighborhood to have big names, “coming and going”. We know that they were close friends with Stan Laurel, of Laurel and Hardy fame. Because the househas so much history, we try to maintain the kitschy 1950s feel, with a few modern updates. Our home borders a California state park—we literally go through our gate and are in the park. The park has many playgrounds, ponds, family BBQ pits and tables, running paths and hiking trails. Sharon runs marathons, so she often trains on the trails. Every time we go, it seems like we discover something new!

Our Family
We have a very large and close extended family. Actually, our parents knew each other before we did! They are old friends—you can imagine how fun holidays are when we all get together! We usually end the night with a raucous game of cards. Our mothers are also great cooks, and we look forward to teaching our child all their recipes. We all love the Wii—Sharon’s step-dad gets very into the bowling and would love to play with our child. Both families are very into being active, so we can’t wait to go on family bike rides to the nearby parks.

By Sharon: My oldest niece is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen! She will tell you exactly what she wants or thinks with a twinkle in her eye. My other niece is a perfect little angel. She is only a few months old and I could hold her forever. I am constantly reminding my sister that she can leave her children with me and go away for a “romantic weekend” with her husband if she wants.

By Scott: My closest relationship with children is with my nieces that I adore. My oldest niece loves to play games and instruments so that’s what we spend time doing when she visits. I’ve enjoyed going on trips with Sharon’s students and visiting her classroom to help several times over the years.

Our Lives 9-5
By Sharon: I went to school to be a costume designer and after graduation I did costume work and make-up for videos and commercials. However, something was missing—my heart knew the job wasn’t fulfilling for the long term. I was leaving a car commercial set one night and it donned on me, “No one cares if I put blush on
someone today.” That moment is when I knew I needed to be doing something that was more of a service to the community and the world around me. I’ve been teaching for 13 years now and have never regretted my choice!

I currently teach 3rd grade, and I love my job! I honestly leave many days smiling because I can’t believe I get paid to hang out with kids all day. They are amazing and fun and it never gets boring. One of my favorite moments was when I was teaching special education and I read one of my very favorite books, “Thank You, Mr Falker” about a little girl who is teased because she can’t read. When I finished the book, several of my students were crying. I knew why, but I still asked. It ended up opening up a healing dialogue about being labeled “special ed kid” and we worked on coping strategies. Those moments happen almost every day. I also am very aware of bullying, as I was somewhat bullied and my brother was severely bullied growing up. We talk about it openly in class, and I hope and believe I’m making a difference in my students’ lives.

By Scott: I produce music videos, commercials, and films. Most of my work over the last few years has been in commercials, but I have also produced a few documentary films during that time. My work and personal life cross over because filmmaking is something that I enjoy, even when it’s as simple as to help sell Old Navy clothes or Hot Pockets snacks. Most recently I have been producing documentary films as well, which I like because it is so different from commercials. Recently I served as the Post- Producer on a film which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, which was very exciting. Many of my closest relationships are with people I have met either in college or work, with our mutual love of filmmaking bringing us together.

Looking Forward to Parenting!
We believe in encouraging good behavior and rewarding accomplishments. We want our child to feel “believed in” and supported. We believe that every child wants to be loved and never sets out to purposely disappoint you.
We believe in open communication. We do not believe in threats or physical punishments. It is extremely important to us that our child never “pick on” other children. We want to instill empathy and understanding in them. We want our child to try their best and that will ALWAYS be good enough for us.

We have typical traditions like Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. Scott LOVES Halloween, so our child will definitely get to dress up in cool costumes (and remember, Sharon’s BA is in Costume Design) and help make our house
extra scary. Sharon always makes cupcakes for birthdays and blows up balloons ALL over the house!

We will always tell our child the truth about their adoption, because the truth is pretty wonderful—how many kids have people that loved them SO MUCH that they sacrificed for them so they could have family that could provide the life they wanted for them? We promise to send letters with pictures if you want us to and we promise to give our child any letters or pictures you send us. We would certainly allow our child to contact you when they are older and understand more, if that was their choice and your choice. Every child’s journey through adoption is different and we will always support our child in whatever he or she wants and needs.

We promise to support and guide our child toward whatever it is that makes him or her happy.
We promise to educate—both academically and in life lessons.
We promise to always listen with an open heart and an open mind.
We promise to make cupcakes when needed.
We promise to use funny voices to crack a smile.
We promise to shop for the latest
fashions for that ever so important first day back at school.
We promise to get covered in mud, snow or paint.
We promise to kiss all boo-boos.
We promise to wipe away a first heartbreak’s tears.

But most importantly of all, we promise to love unconditionally.
Sharon & Scott

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