Kirsten and PT
Hi there,
The three of us (Kirsten, PT and our kiddo) hail from Seattle. PT is from a big family which instilled the value of interacting with the world through play. They (PT uses they/them pronouns) grew up playing lots of board games and card games – particularly the fast-paced, cut-throat kind. On more than one occasion, Kirsten has come home to PT playing a four-player board game by themselves, with PT being all four players (PT’s words: “What can I say, I am hard to beat! Gotta keep trying.”)
Kirsten is from a smaller family that prioritized summer hikes in the Cascades and Olympics, heartfelt conversations over dinner, and the occasional dance party. She was inspired by her parents’ careers in mental health to become a family doctor, and particularly enjoys the long-term relationships she forms with her patients. She does join in with PT’s board games and cards at times. We also enjoy camping, hiking, cross-country skiing and playing on the beaches and parks that are abundant around here. Music is a more recent addition to our family culture as we’ve been learning guitar, drums, and singing. Our kiddo frequently talks about having a family band someday.
Kirsten and PT met many years ago while studying Spanish and politics in South America. We will happily regale you with our saga of “will-they-wont-they” over a meal. That saga came to a definitive conclusion eight years ago with our wedding, and we have never looked back. We support each other in our day-to-day, in our careers and in our parenting. We love the giggles and tangents that our kiddo has brought to our lives. Co-parenting has been a very meaningful and relationship-deepening experience for us and we are very excited to expand our family further through open adoption.
Our kiddo is very into art. His medium of choice these days is colorful clay, which he mashes up thoroughly until it becomes a consistent brown color. Yesterday he made a lion which we could best describe as “abstract with lots of teeth”. If you visit our home, you will likely leave with googly eyes and sparkly gemstones stuck to the bottom of your feet – they are favorite additions to his clay sculptures, though quite easily scattered all over the floor by our inquisitive and enthusiastic preschooler.
You have undoubtedly noticed that our letter is a bit different. We don’t include our kiddo’s name, and there is not a direct link to our family book below. This is our attempt to balance sharing about our family with our kiddo’s privacy and internet safety (PT works in cyber security, so this is always top of mind). The good people at OA&FS have a copy of our family book and are happy to provide it to you upon request.
Openness is very important to us in our kiddos’ lives. We are open with our current kiddo about his origins, and we plan to be transparent with future kiddos as well. In an ideal world, adoption would allow us to grow our family not by one but by many, as we are many families on this journey together.
We want to end by saying that we hope you are getting the space and support you need at this time. We’re all doing the best we can. OA&FS is a great resource, definitely take full advantage of the support they can offer. And if adoption is right for you/your family, we’d be happy to be part of that support system too.
Warmly,
PT and Kirsten