Kelly and Selena
Hello! We are Kelly and Selena.
We met in 2011 at the zoo, where Kelly worked and Selena had just started a job. Our shared love of animals, being in nature, and working with kids was the foundation for our love story. We’ve both since moved on from the zoo, but now we have a small zoo at home made up of two super smart cats, Sahale and Posey, and one incredibly loving and silly dog, Kona. We knew from the beginning of our relationship that if we were lucky enough to end up together, that we wanted to have children.
In 2013, Selena started working as a teacher at an arts-infused elementary school. She’s taught every grade from 2nd to 5th and absolutely loves her job. Kelly left the zoo in 2016 to work for a non-profit that is more focused on locally based environmental education. She feels really lucky to be able to spend a lot of time outside for work, doing things like teaching kids how to observe nature and plant trees. We found the right house for us in 2015, just outside Seattle and surrounded by trees.
Selena is an extreme people person who loves to make up songs and be loud and silly (which our dog loves and our cats are not so sure about). Kelly admires the way Selena connects with others, naturally lifting them up and making them glow by making sure that they feel heard, cared for, and appreciated. Kelly loves to learn about everything she can, and enjoys answering questions about and identifying unusual birds people see, or the animal tracks found while hiking. If she’s not exploring outside, Kelly loves to create in the kitchen by trying out recipes from all around the world. Selena loves that Kelly is always an optimist, finding the best in people and situations. Together, we bring out the best in each other, and have a joyful, easy, down-to-earth relationship.
We married twice in 2017 (we’d love to tell you the story), and have been taking steps to start our family since then. While we tried through a fertility clinic at the beginning, it didn’t feel right and we agreed that growing our family through open adoption strongly felt like the right path for us. Kelly’s father and maternal grandmother were both adopted as infants through closed adoptions. We strongly see the value in open adoption so our child can know their origin story, and stay connected to their birth family, both through a relationship and maintaining culture and traditions. We hope to have a strong relationship with our child’s birth family, celebrating milestones and old and new traditions together.
As parents, we are excited to share the magic of reading, creating, exploring, learning about the nature around us, playing games, and cooking and enjoying family dinners. We will seek out experiences to build empathy for and connections to the natural world and to the amazing cultures around us. To be honest, there may also be some Seahawks football in our lives as well! We’re grateful to you for taking this time to learn more about us.
With warm regards,
Kelly and Selena