Choose A Family : Parent Profile

Chris and Shana

Dear Birth Mother,
Hello and welcome to our lives. There is no way for us to know what you are going through and want to thank you for making this selfless and loving decision. We wish you nothing but the best and we very much appreciate you taking the time to get to know a little bit about us. We hope our letter gives you a better idea of who we are, what our lives are like and the kind of parents we will be. We believe that our ability to love is great, and that our lives are full, rich and happy. We learned early in our marriage that we would not be able to have children but have held on to our dream of becoming parents. We cannot wait to become parents through the miracle of adoption and to share our lives with a child. 

About Us

Our names are Christopher and Shana. We live in Gray, Maine with our dogs, Aja and Prince. When we first moved to Maine from Key West, FL, we fell in love with our house and property in the woods. We even got married in our backyard, Chris’ best friend performing the ceremony. We envisioned our kids growing up and running around the house with the pine wood floors, wood stove, owls hooting outside and exploring the woods with our dogs, learning about nature first hand.

We love to do outdoor activities, particularly kayaking, canoeing and hiking. Chris was a river guide for years (end of high school and into college) and has always maintained a love of the water. Although we have both moved many times in our lives, we have always lived either on a coast or an island. Proximity to the water is important for both of us; it makes us feel grounded.

We also love to spend time in our comfy home with the dogs. In the summers, we work on our garden (we have beautiful flowers and a lovely vegetable garden that Chris made for Shana out of birch tree logs). In the winters, we go for long walks in the woods and come home to warm ourselves by the wood stove. Chris is an amazing cook (at least Shana thinks so), so we spend a lot of time at home cooking together. Shana does all of the grunt work, like chopping the garlic, and Chris gets all the glory. Chris looks forward to passing down that love of cooking (and Shana,her love of eating) to our child.

We adopted Aja and Prince from the animal shelter in Key west. They are both very good around kids. Shana’s niece and nephew have spent a lot of time with them, as well as all of our friends’ kids. No matter how much they get followed around the house and tails get pulled, they have never once snapped or growled at a child (or adult). They are extremely respectful and gentle.

Shana Talks About Chris

This is a difficult task: to try to put into a few short words how I feel about my husband. My first inclination is to start with what he means to me. He is my best friend and I love him passionately. But what does this mean to you? What does that say about his ability to raise a child and be a good father? Well, I can write a book about the many ways that I know that Chris will make an amazing father. Let me first tell you a little bit about who Chris as a person because this will ultimately define the father that he becomes.

The first thing that I noticed about Chris was his infectious laugh. As silly as it was it drew me to him because I felt that anyone that could laugh that heartily must really understand how to be truly happy. I soon began to notice deeper, more profound things about his character. He is truly a good person to the core. He is respectful and actually refers to his elders as “Sir and “Ma’am”. He takes no credit for this, though, and always tells me that it is because that is who his mom and dad raised him to be, and this is true.

I have seen him on many occasions go out of his way to help people that he does not even know. For example, during a hurricane evacuation when we lived in the Florida Keys he helped a disabled veteran bathe himself so that the bus driver would allow him on the bus to return home. As uncomfortable as this was for him, he did it with absolutely no complaint or need for recognition. He is good because that’s just who he is. Because that’s who his mom and dad raised him to be.

As for his ability to be a good father, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be incredible. He will not only teach our baby how to be a respectful and good person, he will also pass along his love of nature. He will show our child how to identify the birds that come to the many feeders that he faithfully maintains. He will take our child on canoe trips and show him or her how to paddle correctly. And he will pass on his love of cooking. From what I have seen of Chris with his nieces (who argue over who gets to have Chris sleep in their room when we visit) and with my niece and nephew, who always brush by me when they come to visit and quickly ask “where’s Chris?”,I know in my heart that he will make one lucky child a most attentive, loyal, loving and fun father.

Chris Talks About Shana

Shana and I met through work. I remember the first time I met her; I was waiting for my interview and she walked past where I was sitting, stopped, turned around and asked if I was waiting for an interview (we worked at the Orange County Vector Control District in California, the Red Imported Fire Ant Program, we even made it on TV a couple of times) and wished me good luck. I’ll always remember that little bit of generosity (not to mention how attractive I thought she was) and after the years we’ve been together, I’ve seen her extend that same generosity to so many people. We were friends at first, and then one day (St. Patrick’s Day) we fell in love. I followed her to New York City, she followed me to Key West and here we are in snowy Maine.

There are so many things I admire about Shana; her sense of fairness, her loyalty, her empathy and her natural ability to teach. When we first started working together, everyone was impressed with her work ethic and her knowledge of unusual insect facts. For instance, did you know that Fire Ants mate hundreds of feet up in the air? Neither did we. But it was these little snippets of information and her ability to work with people of diverse backgrounds that helped bring our little group of coworkers together into more of a family then your normal work environments.. Her desk was like the kitchen, it was where everyone would come together.

What allowed for this is that Shana has a unique way of not only understanding what a person is going through, but I think she feels what that person is feeling. People feel better around her and with her empathy, she is able to offer advice and give solace to people. She is a great listener, and has an amazing capacity for kindness. I watch her with her niece and nephew, the patience she shows, her willingness to help them learn, to challenge them and teach them right and wrong, to give them information and let them make their own judgments. But of all her traits, I believe it is her unending capacity to give unconditional love that will make her an amazing mother. I can’t wait to watch her be a mother to our child.

Since that first day we met, I’ve fallen more and more in love with her as we’ve grown together. She is my best friend, through the good and the bad; she is always there for me.

And, she always laughs at my corny jokes.

Meet Chris’ Friends and Family

I am from a family of five (3 boys, 2 girls) and grew up in a small town in Maryland, on the Potomac River, which influenced my appreciation for the outdoors. I played soccer and tennis in high school and college and worked as a raft guide on the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers in the summer to help pay college tuition. The time spent on the river led me to a Biology degree and over the years, all of my jobs have been in the environmental, health and safety fields.

I’m pretty sure that I was the accident of the family. I’m the youngest of five, Marty, Cyndi, Ted, Kelley and myself. My parent’s made many sacrifices for us. My Dad worked two jobs and helped put my sister Cyndi and me through college. My Mom brought up the five kids and worked part time. Throw in a couple of dogs and cats and only one bathroom in the house I grew up in and it’s amazing we didn’t kill each other. From my Mom I learned to love to cook, and from my Dad, I learned how to grow the things we love to cook. From the both of them, my love for music. Most importantly, I learned from them what unconditional love means.

I feel fortunate that I’ve had a core group of friends since the third grade. Chris, Dennis, Mike and I have grown up together and as cliché as it sounds; we are as close as brothers. My friend Kelly and I met when we were both graduating from High School and worked for River & Trail Outfitters. We have literally and figuratively put our lives into each other’s hands on the river and I trust him implicitly.

During our college years, we all went our separate ways to get out of the small towns we grew up in, but we’d always catch back up again in the summer. After we all graduated we continued to have a “Guys Weekend” every summer where we would relive our past successes (and failures) mountain biking, Frisbee Golf and shooting each other with paint balls. When Shana and I got married, all of the guys and their families came up to help us celebrate. Kelly flew in early from Colorado to keep me calm leading up to the big day. Mike actually married us and helped us develop a beautiful ceremony in our yard to celebrate with family and friends. Through the years, we’ve all married, and my buddies have started families of their own, who will act as big brothers and sisters to our child.

Meet Shana’s Friends and Family

I have a very loving and close family. My sister, Jenn, is my best friend. Second only to Chris, she is the person that I have the most love and respect for. Jenn married her high school boyfriend, so I have known Dave for over 20 years. He is as much a brother to me as Jenn is a sister. Jenn and Dave have two kids, Jeremy and Olivia, who are the sweetest, most beautiful, intelligent kids I know (but I am not biased!). My sister has been a great support system throughout this process and wants to share the following words with you.

"My children love nothing better than when their Aunt Shana comes to visit.  It's not the gifts that she always brings, although they are always exactly what they love.  She has a sixth sense about what a child would like, but I think it is more than that. My sister is the only adult I know that hasn't completely lost the child in herself. She still gets just as excited to watch Mary Poppins now as when she was eight. I think she might even still believe in Santa Claus.  And for that reason, children just love her. Treasure hunts in the snow, fondue with marshmallows, dancing to songs about cheeseburgers, the list is endless.  Shana took care of our two children when we went to Italy for a week.  When we returned, she had made a day by day journal, complete with photographs, of everything they did.  To be a child of hers would be to live a life full of fun, fantasy and joy.  What more could a child want than that?  We all love her so very much.  She is the real thing."
- Jennifer (Shana's sister)

My parents still live in NY (where I grew up), but we manage to see them several times a year. They are retired now, but both worked with troubled kids throughout their careers. My mom was a social worker at a children’s psychiatric center in The Bronx and my dad managed group homes for troubled kids in Queens. I always admired the commitment that they both had to the kids that they worked with. They are proud grandparents and cannot wait for another grandchild to spoil.

Along with my sister, I have a few very close friends. Unfortunately many of them live quite far, but I still manage to see them a few times a year. My friend Jess married a New Zealander and lives on an island off the tip of New Zealand. She returns to Philadelphia each year, where her sister lives. This works out great for me because I get to see my three closest friends all at once. Jessica’s sister, Miranda, and I have been close friends ever since we all lived together in Hawaii. My friend Deb was my college roommate and she, conveniently, ended up marrying Miranda’s brother-in-law.

Chris and I also have a great group of friends in Maine. I met most of my girlfriends through work and Chris has become close with their husbands. My girlfriends and I have a book club, which is as much an excuse to get together and eat good food as it is a chance to discuss the book. They all either have kids or are planning on having kids within the next year or two.

Our Home

We live in a beautiful three bedroom home in Gray, ME (about 20 miles north of Portland). When we were looking at homes to buy, Chris was particularly picky. Not quite able to verbalize what he did not like about the homes that we looked out, he was just waiting for the house that felt right for us. The second we walked in, we both knew this was the one. Two mostly wooded acres for the dogs with access to trails right from the property. Pine wood floors, wood stove, wooden beams and ceilings and lots of windows to allow in the natural light and to view all our wildlife visitors. It felt warm and inviting. When we came back to visit again, Shana’s sister joined us and she started to cry when she walked in because she just fell in love with the place.

We take the dogs for long walks in the trail system that abuts our property. The neighbors use the trails for snowmobiling and cross country skiing, while we have discovered great hills for sledding in the winter.

Gray is a great town to live in and raise a family. It has a very good school system, easy access to amenities, and great people. We have very nice neighbors, who we get together with for dinner a few times a year and take walks with our pack of dogs. It is close enough to the city of Portland for easy access, yet has a real country feel. Portland is a beautiful city. It is much smaller than some of the other cites we have lived, like San Francisco and New York. We like this small size because it is easy to get around and maintains that friendly, Maine attitude.

Final Thoughts

We believe that the more information a child has about his/her birth family, the happier and healthier he/she will be. Because of this, we are interested in developing whatever kind of relationship you (and your family, if possible) are comfortable with, which can include letters, pictures and visits. Please visit our website to see more pictures: http://www.chrisandshanaadopt.com. If you would like to talk to us about adopting your child, or if you have any questions for us, please call an Adoption Advisor at AdoptHelp by calling 1-800-637-7999, toll free.

We wish you all the best in your journey!

Love,

Chris and Shana

If you have an 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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