Hello, we are Irina and John

We welcome you to learn more about us!

We have wanted to have a family and become parents since very early on in our now 20-year relationship. We both feel that our life is not complete without a child. We have a lot of love, kindness and understanding to give and want to give it to a child as we strongly believe that the child is the one who needs it the most. Even our difficult years of unsuccessful infertility treatments did not sway us from building a family which is why we now wish to make that dream a reality by adopting a child.

It is very meaningful to us that the child we adopt come from a Jewish background as we both respect that lineage and are well-suited to foster that respect and connection for a child also born Jewish. We feel that sharing that religious bond from birth connects the child and his/her birth family with Irina and her extended family through the ages.

about us

Our faith is important to us

Irina was born and raised Jewish – Jewish culture and values have been a part of her life always. John began life as a Protestant from a not very religious family, converted to Catholicism and now holds the same values and appreciates the Jewish culture that Irina brought into his life.

We are not a devoutly religious couple, but we belong to a synagogue, attend services for the Jewish holidays, and have many friends with children who are part of our community and with whom we celebrate the holidays. Also, we have family in Israel and Massachusetts with young children and look forward to building this network of support and love to our child. John strongly believes based on his studies of both cultures that there are a lot of similarities between them and they have the same core values. We did not feel that John needed to convert to Judaism in order to have a meaningful relationship with Irina and raise a child with the same goals and ideas in mind.

“Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace.”

—Mother Teresa

our home

Our home is in a quiet neighborhood in San Francisco Bay Area that is an excellent school district.

We always enjoy and feel very safe walking and exploring nature in the area.

We are members of a conservative synagogue that is within 5 miles from our house. We are very fortunate to be part of a very supportive and welcoming community. It offers education for all ages including a wonderful preschool. At the synagogue, we have been involved in various activities and we have taken very interesting classes.

Our school: whiteoaks.scsdk8.org
Our synagogue: bethjacobrwc.org

“It is never too late to be what we might have been.”

—George Eliot

Fun facts

We are a loving and devoted couple with kindness, loyalty and understanding.

Our privacy is very important to us but we really enjoy spending meaningful time with our friends and family.

Irina enjoys relaxing at home, watching cooking shows on PBS, cooking, reading and taking walks.

John likes riding his bike and listening to a variety of music.

Together we enjoy going to art museums, music venues, and antique roadshows. We also enjoy watching classic movies.

in closing

Thank you again for learning about us

We look forward to having the opportunity to give all of the love and care we have to a child in a loving home where she/he can feel safe and secure and where Jewish traditions are acknowledged, celebrated and carried on.

We’d love to hear from you

Email: susanmeisellevinpa@gmail.com
Phone: (305) 549-5037