INTRODUCTION

Hi! I’m Lisa!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about me!

I imagine this feels kind of strange on your end – it does on mine anyway. Making this book about my life and the home I would give your child has not been some easy, casual project - I’ve worked on this for months. It’s made me laugh, looking through pictures with my friends and remembering old stories, but it’s also been pretty emotional — it feels like pouring my heart out onto a page and wondering who will read it.

But here you are, reading about me, and for that I am immensely grateful. You are doing an amazingly brave and courageous thing in considering adoption for your child. By the time you finish reading this I will not be a stranger to you, because I will have shown you my heart. I have an enormous amount of love to share with a child, and I humbly thank you for considering me as a mother to your child.

the life of lisa

I am a busy, happy, active single woman grateful to have good health, close friends and family, and an abiding love for life’s adventures.

My days are filled with working a job I am passionate about and my nights and weekends are for taking care of myself and spending time with the people I love. I am at home in New Orleans, where I work, Austin, where I am from, and Antigua, Guatemala, where my parents have a little house on the side of a mountain. I am a nurturer and caretaker by nature and I believe in showing up for people, even when it is hard or inconvenient, because that’s what real commitment is about. I also believe love is what makes a family, and mine includes blood kin, an unofficial foster sister, a special cousin adopted from Russia, and dear friends and relatives all over the country.

My parents, brother and his wife and two kids, my aunt and two cousins I helped raise—they are the foundation. My heart loves to wander to far away places, but my family is my touchstone and my home base. I speak to my parents and my brother almost daily and we get together for every single holiday. 

For fun I like to cook for other people. I get inspired wandering around the grocery store. I am a die-hard New Orleans Saints fan. I do not miss a game during football season! I love shopping, especially for presents for other people, and I like making things—I am an enthusiastic if not particularly successful crafter, with a current focus on knitting during ‘stitch and bitch’ sessions with my girlfriends, where we partly knit and mostly gossip about celebrities.

“I would say that my life is full, but that’s not true. It has a heart-sized space for a child to share more adventures, learning, gift-buying, and world-saving. ”

my home

My heart has two and a half homes

I have homes in both Austin, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana, and I love them both for different reasons. 

I live and work most of the year in New Orleans. I love the musical culture here and the incredible diversity of this town. The nearby elementary school is award-winning and the biggest park in New Orleans is just a few blocks away.

My extended family lives in Texas and I have a beautiful home in Austin where we gather for holidays and birthdays. People say everything is big in Texas and I agree – big hearts, big smiles, and big sunshine all year round. 

Finally, my parents have a little house on the side of a mountain in Guatemala. It is a place I go to retreat and restore my sense of balance. It is incredibly peaceful, surrounded by flowers with a view of the town below. I look forward to showing my child a different culture and teaching him or her to speak Spanish, which I also speak.

work life

As a civil rights lawyer, I have clients and causes that the rest of the world has mostly given up on: incarcerated people suffering in solitary confinement; people harassed by the police; children ensnared in the juvenile justice system; and immigrants seeking refuge from persecution.

I love what I do—my work gives my life a deep sense of meaning and purpose. There is nothing as satisfying as seeing the look on someone’s face who never thought they’d see justice when they win.

Many of my work colleagues have young children and our work environment is flexible. My job has a wonderful parental leave policy and excellent benefits. As a strong, professional woman, I want to show my child that he or she can be anything they want when they grow up if they work hard. I will teach this child about justice, how to stand up for him or herself, and how to show compassion for others.

fun facts

Things I love to do

Travel
Traveling is my absolute favorite thing to do because I LOVE the adventure of visiting new places, meeting new people, practicing another language, and trying new food. 

The outdoors
I am happiest outside. The Rocky Mountains in Colorado make my heart sing. I love sitting by a fire with a snowy mountain view drinking spicy hot cocoa.

Yoga
I’ve done yoga for many years as a way of staying fit and calming my mind.

Gardening
I inherited a green thumb from my father and my grandfather before him. My house is filled with plants. Some people might reasonably call it an obsession.

Giving gifts!
I am a great gift-giver! I love choosing just the right thing for a present and seeing the other person’s face light up with joy. I also love making things for other people and baking special treats. 

My Family

Meet my village

This child will be welcomed into a huge circle of love and support. This is my village and we are so ready to welcome and love this baby.

My family loves hard, laughs hard, and sometimes argues but always forgives. We have each other’s back no matter what. First, my parents and I are extremely close and they will be terrific grandparents. My dad is a retired doctor and my mother was a high school English teacher. They still live half the year in the house I grew up in, and the other half they live in Guatemala where my dad does volunteer medical work and grows orchids and my mom reads and practices her Spanish. 

My little brother is a college professor with a wife and two kids. My 16 year-old niece and an 11 year-old nephew think I am the greatest aunt on the planet. They are really excited about having a baby cousin but predictably disagree as to whether a boy or a girl would be better.

My favorite uncle died suddenly a few years ago, and our whole family was devastated. After he died my aunt and my two little cousins moved in with me and ended up staying for two years. Helping my aunt raise them is how I realized I wanted to be a mother myself. I went to their band concerts, helped them with their homework, and went to parent- teacher nights at their schools. I loved it. I am super proud of the young men they have become, and in a way they’ve helped me on my path to motherhood! 

“I know I am ready with my whole heart, and so excited to start this journey into parenthood. ”

My promise

to you and this child

I promise you that this child will know as much or as little about you as you choose, but will always know about the incredible gift you gave both of us by allowing us to become a family.

• Your child will be my greatest priority and I will focus my life decisions around creating the best environment I can so they can grow to be healthy, safe, confident, and secure.

• I will teach your child about her/his heritage so the child understands where they come from and has strong roots to grow. I will show this child how amazing and complex and beautiful our world is, through books, and art, and music, and travel. I cannot wait to explore the natural world with your child. 

• I have a deep goofy streak I will share with your child, so she learns not to take me or herself or the world too seriously. I will knit this child into my family and my community, so she or he will always have a cousin or an auntie or a grandparent to turn to and a community to be held by. 

• I will make sure this child has the very best education and health care. I will surround the child with books, encourage the child to try different sports or instruments, and teach the child to cook and eat healthy food (including dessert of course). 

• Most of all, I promise to share my joy with this child. I want to impart that energy, excitement, and curiosity to this child, and equally importantly, I can’t wait to see what the world looks like from his or her eyes.

in closing

Thank you for reading this and getting to know me.

If I were there in person, you would be able to see the joy on my face at knowing you are considering me as a parent for this child.

You would see in my eyes the light and love I have to share with this child, and you would hear me laugh as I told you some of the stories behind the pictures I have chosen. I would tell you how I excited I am to introduce this baby to grandparents, uncle and aunts, and cousins, and the dear friends who are the same as family to me, and you’d probably meet some of them. I would admit to you I am a little scared, because I know raising a child is an enormous, life-changing responsibility.