Dear Expectant Parents…
Hello! We’re excited you want to learn a little more about our family to help in making this decision. Currently, we are a family of three: Shannon, LeNita and Ariadne. Adopting is something we’ve wanted for a long time and are excited to go on this journey with you. We believe we can offer a child so much love, warmth and community and this would not be possible without you. We can only try to express the depth of gratitude we have for you making such a difficult choice. Without you it would not be possible for us to share our lives with another child so for that we thank you. We hope that we are able to welcome your child to our family!
Shannon and LeNita…a love story…
Shannon and I met when I was 26 and he, 24. We met in 2008 through a mutual friend who was in law school with Shannon and curiously enough after meeting we discovered we had attended the same high school and college at the same time. We met after striking up a conversation about working in sports and have talked with each other every day since. We were engaged in 2011, married in 2013 and bought our home in 2015. Both Shannon and I come from very close families so having a family of our own has been a wish since we found each other. We have been blessed with one little girl and now one of our greatest hopes is to give our daughter a sibling.
About LeNita
LeNita was born and raised in Chicago but lived in Washington, DC/Maryland for a total of nine years of her life. She grew up in a two-parent household with an older sister and younger brother. She earned degrees in Business and Sports Administration and has had the opportunity to work for interesting employers including WGN and the Chicago Bears. She currently works in the public sector in finance and although work is important, spending time with family is her priority. Her favorite past-times are reading, watching movies and traveling. In the summer, you can often find her sitting outside in the sun and relaxing with a book (when time permits). Her hope is to enrich her children and family in whatever manner she can. She hopes that she can extend this care to your child if you choose our family.
About Shannon
Shannon was also born and raised in Chicago and spent a total of 9+ years living in the Washington, DC area with a year and a half stint in Atlanta, GA in between his time in DC. He received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a law degree and is currently an attorney for a federal government agency. When he is not working he enjoys spending time with his family and painting. Shannon is his mom’s only child but the youngest of 4 by his dad. He also has 7 nieces and 1 nephew. He has a wealth of aunts and uncles around and a multitude of first cousins. Even better, the majority of them that are of age have children themselves. This has provided our daughter with many cousins and playmates. However, no matter how close she is with her cousins, nothing compares to the relationship amongst siblings.
About Ariadne
Our daughter, Ariadne (Arie), is four years old and currently in preschool. She is a very loving and affectionate kid and is full of energy. She is excited to enter Kindergarten in the fall. Arie is probably the busiest person in our household right now. In addition to preschool, she attends Ice Skating, Gymnastics and Spanish lessons throughout the year. She loves drawing, painting, Frozen (I and II) along with other Disney movies, playing board games and being outside. She is VERY excited to have a sibling. She has been talking about it repeatedly for the last few months. She is looking forward to sharing her toys and books with her new sibling and also teaching them things like reading. Arie wanted to add something in her own words too:
We want a new sister or brother!
Our Hobbies
Our favorite past-times are traveling, reading (LeNita), painting (Shannon) and raising our daughter. We also like watching movies, listening to music and exploring our surroundings. When we aren’t attending a family function, we often let our daughter choose our weekend activities which result in watching (a lot of) Disney movies, playing board games, outside water activities (weather permitting) and finding different seasonal activities or festivals/events to attend (i.e. Pumpkin Fest, ChrisKindle Market, Air & Water Show, Auto Show, etc). In the fall, it is very likely you’ll find all of us watching football games on Sundays as we are big sports fans in this house. Although some of these things we did before we had children, we also include our daughter and look forward to including any future members of our family.
Our view on Openness
In starting and continuing our journey to adoption we have learned a great deal about openness. We truly want to give all of our children the best possible opportunity for happiness and success and understand the importance of openness in regards to adopting a child. For that reason, we are committed to the level of openness that works best for all of us. We welcome sharing updates, pictures, videos and memories. We also understand that this relationship can change throughout the years and are dedicated to respecting the level of openness that you are ready for at any given time. We can only imagine the difficult choice that you are making and so we want to ensure that the needs of the child and ultimately you are fulfilled now and as the years progress.
