Patrick & Richard
Hello!
We’re Richard, Patrick, and Caleb!
W
e are amazed by the adoption process and can’t wait to go through this process again! It’s a real testimony to the power of love! We are excited to be a part of this and are thrilled you are taking a look at us and our family. Thanks! We think you are a pretty special person for considering adoption and hope you find the right choice for you.
All smiles!
Us at a work banquet
On vacation together
It was a Gray’s Anatomy romance W
e are both doctors – go ahead and gag, it makes us sick sometimes too. We met at the hospital in the same training program and we were dating within the first month of beginning residency.
We got engaged on the rooftop of the hospital on New Year’s Eve, when we were on call. We had a commitment ceremony in Atlanta in 2001 with our friends and of course our families. Neither one of us wore a white dress, but we think we looked pretty good in our tuxedoes!
We have been changed forever through the adoption of our son Caleb, and we are so grateful! Welcome to our home!
O
ur house is a 1920’s Bungalow and sits on the inside of a huge oval, like an island. All the backyards come together to form one huge backyard where all the kids play.
We are a two miles away from the world’s largest aquarium which has a tunnel that runs beneath the aquarium. You walk under the aquarium and can look up and see all the fish, turtles, and even sharks – that’s Caleb’s favorite! We are also two miles away from the zoo, the children’s museum and the natural science center – no city’s complete without their dinosaurs!
A Little About Us
O
ver the years, we have grown into quite an active family. We have an adorable son, Caleb, who we adopted. We feel so honored to have been given this amazing gift. With our two dogs and two cats rounding out our family, you can see there’s never a dull moment in our house. We are nestled in the heart of the city in the fun, young, and we think hip neighborhood of Midtown. It has all the cool fun stuff like the best movie theater in Atlanta with all the artsy films. We can walk to many restaurants and the best part is that we are just a few blocks from Piedmont Park. That’s Atlanta’s Central Park! It’s a huge park with everything you can think
Our bundle of joy!
Favorites
of in it – botanical gardens, a huge community pool with a big slide and fun sprinklers for the kids, jogging paths, tennis courts, soccer and baseball fields, and a pond you can fish in. It’s Atlanta’s backyard where everyone gets together to play when the weather is good. There are even outdoor movies in the spring where you can watch E.T. or Star Wars with hundreds of people sitting on the big lawn. It is also diverse, with people from all over the country and even the world, with many different backgrounds and ethnicities. You can see why many families flock to Midtown.
Jogging with our pups
COMFORT FOOD
All dressed up
KIDS’ BOOK
R:Vanilla ice cream P:Cheeseburgers
R:Where the Wild Things Are P:The Little Engine that Could
KARAOKE SONG
VACATION SPOT
MOVIE / TV SHOW
P + R:Dancing Queen by Abba
R:Ft. Lauderdale P:Any beach!
R:The Matrix P:Mad Men
COLOR
KIDS’ MOVIE
R:Red P:Orange
P + R:Shrek
MUSICAL ARTIST
SPORT TO WATCH
P + R:Rhianna--who else?
R:Figure skating P:Notre Dame football
Meet “Daddy” Richard
I
was born in Seattle, Washington, the very city my parents immigrated to and met each other. My father was in the U.S. Coast Guard, so we moved around fairly frequently but eventually ended up in Washington D.C., where my brother and I spent our childhood years. My childhood passions were music and science, and I spent many hours tending to my pet fish and practicing the piano and the violin.
challenging but extremely rewarding. I meet a lot of interesting people and help them make their lives better.
My brother and I were fortunate to have our grandmother live with us while we were growing up. I remember how nice it was to come home to her every day after school. She was such a loving presence in the family. Both of my parents worked, fueled by the desire to give their children the best life they could have. Following the example of our parents, my brother and I learned early on the importance of hard work, and we both excelled academically. I continued to foster my love of science at the College of William and Mary, and ultimately I chose to become a physician with a strong desire to help others. In 1995, I was accepted to the Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Patrick and I love to garden. Inside, we have a large collection of orchids and we try to always have something in bloom! Outside, we have a shade garden in the front of the house, and a daylily and hydrangea garden in the back. I still have an aquarium, spend time with our dogs, Keiko and Sorsha, and our cats, Pooh-Bear and Sweet-Pea, and enjoy running and training for local races. Riding in our stroller, Caleb has become my new running partner! When the new baby comes, I can’t wait to try out the double stroller and Caleb can’t wait to have a stroller partner. Being together and sharing the fun is cool!
I currently work as a psychiatrist with a specialization in addiction medicine at a nationally-known treatment center. My job is
My job also provides a considerable amount of vacation time and family leave, which I will definitely be using with a new baby!
Patrick LOVES Richard He’s so cute, I want to wrap my arms around him and squeeze him. OK, check this story out: Richard is the sweetest man I know. He was walking to his car after work when he passed a storm drain and heard a little “Meow!” coming from the drain. He looked down and lo-and-behold there was a tiny kitten trapped down there. He tried to get the drain open but couldn’t. Everyone in the hospital was talking about the little kitten trapped in the drain, but no one was doing anything about it. So Richard calls up security, who refused to help. He then calls up the hospital maintenance team, who also refused to help. Finally, the animal control truck came out, opened the drain to get the kitten out. Weighing one pound, covered in fleas, and with one ear bitten off, she was still absolutely adorable! Our family got bigger and grew stronger because I was even more in love with Richard for being such a sweetheart.
Richard LOVES Patrick When I first met Patrick, I knew immediately that he was really special. He had a great personality: friendly, outgoing, happy, with bellowing laugh that was irresistibly infectious. He is fun and really easy to be with. He has such a positive energy and it is so palpable when you are with him. We waited over two years to have our commitment ceremony, but I knew early on he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I remember thinking that it was highly unlikely I would ever meet someone like him, and to this day I can still say the same. I’m so fortunate that he has chosen to spend the rest of his life with me.
Patrick has so much love to give, and I know he will be just as excited for our second child as our first! He’s such an involved and dedicated father.
Meet “Papa” Patrick
I
was born 7 minutes after my twin sister in Cleveland, Ohio. Growing up she would tease me and say that I was her younger brother. My mother prided herself on being a stay-at-home mom and my dad worked as a scientist for NASA. Our family did everything together. We would make cookies at Christmas, they would read us bedtime stories, and we always sat down at the dinner table as a family. My mom was one of those PTA moms that knew everyone. I have a younger brother too, who is very athletic. He was captain of the football team, the basketball team, and the baseball team and student body president. My sister was also the starting varsity pitcher for the softball team. We had a warm loving family and we were encouraged to excel. My family is Irish Catholic so naturally I attended Notre Dame for college. I really came into my own during that time of my life. I felt more confident about myself and discovered my own voice. I went to medical school and knew I wanted to be a psychiatrist after the first day in gross anatomy. Gross is right! It was too much
for me, plus I really like getting to know people and appreciate people and their life story. I love being a psychiatrist! It is very meaningful to help someone grow as a person and feel happier with their life.
When Caleb came along, I became a stay-at-home dad – I guess I am a Mr. Mom at heart! Both of us really appreciated how involved our parents were, especially our mothers and we want to provide that for our children. I’ll go back to psychiatry when the kids are in school. It’s so cool to be there for every milestone that our son makes. I love spending the day with him, and it will be even better when we can share the fun with a new baby!
R + P’s FAVORITE PHOTOS
Family dancing at our wedding Caleb is all smiles!
With our niece
Dressed up for his 1st Halloween
Happy boy! Hugs from grandma!
Patrick’s side of the family
Silly & happy boy
Richard’s family Discovering with friends
F Richard & Caleb Caleb & our nephew
A day at the beach Patrick & his twin sister
Our close friends
Helping grandpa play the piano
or us, parenting means going to the zoo to see the tigers, dancing around the room until we giggle, playing peek-a-boo, and going for long walks at the end of the day. During the week, we go on play dates and belong to several Meetup groups of at-home parents and their little ones. We bang on drums in music class, play at Gymboree class, splash and laugh in swim class, and take naps on long strolls with neighbors. We try to fill our day so that our son will know what a beautiful, full, and exciting world this is and have every opportunity available to explore and be part of it. We are thrilled to be parents and we fully accept our son into our lives, appreciate him for who he is, and love him completely. All these ways of describing our relationship with our son don’t capture the depth of our feeling. Frankly, we are head-over-heals in love with him. We melt when Caleb smiles and giggles. We text and send pictures to our family and friends when he does something new. We have devoted our lives to being parents and celebrate our family whenever we can. We want to open our hearts and accept a new baby into our family – falling in love all over again. We both appreciate having brothers and sisters and being part of a large family. Grow up together and having built-in playmates along the way, added so much to our family experience. We would like Caleb and our next child to have that too. Sharing the fun makes all the difference!
Our Promise W
e take parenting very seriously. We waited a long time to adopt children because we really wanted to make sure we were ready for something like this. We want to give your child the best possible experience. Patrick is going to continue to be a stay-at-home dad until the children are in school. We both feel it is so important to be very involved parents because we were very fortunate to have had such involved and dedicated parents ourselves. Of course, Caleb can’t wait to have a little brother or sister and share the fun of being a family with them. We promise to fall in love with your child and be devoted to him or her. We promise to teach them how special being adopted is. They will know what a loving person
you are and how giving you were to both your child and to us, if you were to have us as adopted parents. We cannot complete our dream as a family without you.
Many people refer to this as the miracle of adoption. We think it is a beautiful way that one human being can love another – mother to child and mother to two dads. We will always be grateful. Warmly,
Patrick and Richard and Caleb too! ;-)
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