INTRODUCTION

Hi! We’re Chris and Daeshawn!

Thank you so much for taking a peek at who we are.

You reading this gives us hope that we will be able to start our family and we cannot begin to express the gratitude we feel in this moment. We are a pair of college sweethearts, passionate educators, solid superhero nerds, and avid travelers who have been together for over 13 years. We cannot wait to become fathers and build a family full of love, laughter, and everlasting memories. We believe in building a family that is healthy and nurturing and makes space for our kids to grow and realize their full potential.

our story (so far!)

We met a few times before falling in love.

First, it was a weekend where Daeshawn visited campus as a prospective student during Chris’ freshman year, then it was as an incoming freshman during Daeshawn’s summer orientation and Chris’ first serious summer job, and finally it was as college friends. We instantly had a connection, often staying up talking about professors, classes, and the state of the world. Not much has changed since then, aside from our ages. We often stay up late at night discussing education, research, love and life, and the state of the world. The difference now is how much we can change it.

Our communication has been and always will be the foundation of our strong relationship. Above all, the only thing that hasn’t changed over the past 13 years is that we are the best and truest of friends—never any lies, egos, or resentments.

Why adoption?

We’ve worked toward building a fulfilling life together, and we have a strong extended and chosen family. Though when it comes to our foundation, we’ve always been a unit of 2, and while we’ve cultivated so much love for each other, we have so much more to give and share. Adoption is how we hope to expand our foundation of two into a family. To have the opportunity to be dads, to share our love and values with our kids, to find our own small traditions.

what makes us tick

Our Hobbies

Movies! We are huge movie buffs and often go to the movie theater once a week. We have a range of movies we like to see, but we mostly enjoy superhero movies and comedies. We also enjoy going out to dinner and trying the wide variety of cuisines that New York has to offer. When we are not having our typical weekly movie and dinner date night, we like to visit friends and family or take in cultural events around the city, like a Broadway show, food festival, museum, or concert. Our future child will hopefully partake in our nerdiness, dress up for Comicon with us, love ridiculously sized sweets in the theater, share our love for ramen spots, and be just as competitive when playing Uno.

a closer look

Daeshawn enjoys…

Cooking (I make amazing tacos and guacamole)
Ceramics (I was a minor in college and have a studio space in queens)
Gardening (I’m currently growing two avocado plants, a pulcot, and many succulents)
Painting (mostly planters)
Listening to music (most people will tell you that I have a strange talent of knowing every word to any song that comes on the radio)
Traveling (I love to traveling to places and always dread the ride back home)

a closer look

Chris enjoys…

Yoga
Reading books of all sorts and genres, whether YA (currently reading Children of Blood and Bone), comics (and reading Magnificent Ms. Marvel), or history (and Stamped From the Beginning) but never quite finishing any one book before moving onto the next
Video games, the occasional Dungeons & Dragons game with friends
Baking (sometimes attempting to recreate favorite things we’ve tried like Dutch Appeltaart) experimenting with vegetarian and vegan recipes
Finding new shows and movies to geek out over
Traveling

fun facts

Where was your first kiss?

Our first kiss was during Bob Saget’s (of Full House fame) stand-up. We were both shocked at his potty mouth and laughed after kissing!

What makes our marriage strong?

Communication!

What connected us?

A passion for social justice and a commitment to supporting one another in order to establish our careers and build a future.

Our life now wouldn’t work without what?

Full, open, honest communication

Home Sweet Home

We both grew up in NYC and can’t imagine ourselves living anything but the city life!

We love the convenience and the hustle and bustle! We are rarely bored and love to take in all that the city has to offer. That was part of the reason we decided to settle in Astoria, Queens. There is so much to do here—movies, restaurants, museums, parks and playgrounds, rock climbing—you name it, we’ve got it! More importantly, it was our top priority to live in a community that valued cultural and economic diversity and Queens is the third most diverse county in the entire U.S.! We look forward to long family strolls through the borough and all of the opportunities for our children to interact with people and communities that are different from their own.

Our Village

Holidays are some of our favorite times to spend with family members because it’s sometimes difficult for everyone to gather in one place at one time.

We are usually very busy around major holidays, jumping from home to home eating lots of food, chatting, and playing board games. On the weekends, we like to have brunch with Chris’ mom and dinner with DaeShawn’s mom. Once a month we venture out to Brooklyn to have a home-cooked meal with DaeShawn’s dad and during the summer we travel to Malta to see Chris’ Father. We also have a very large extended family and friend group that we talk, video chat, vacation with and see on regularly. Our future child will have a village of caring adults and cousins of all ages near and far who will be there as steadfast supports, fun holiday companions, and lifelong friends.