| Mother-to-be | Father-to-be | |
| First Names | Kiley | Michael (Mike) |
| Religion | Christian | Agnostic |
| Ethnic Background | English/Irish/German | Chinese |
| Education/Degree | Bachelors, MBA | Bachelors, MBA |
| Profession | Finance Industry | Finance Industry |
Family Video
Our Story
Hi, we’re Mike and Kiley. Thank you so much for taking some time to get to know us!
We met at Rutgers University (both first generation college students) while getting our undergraduate degrees and dated throughout college. Once we both graduated, we were engaged and married within a couple of years. We celebrated our wedding in the woods in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania surrounded by family and all of our friends. We still hold hands everywhere we go, make each other laugh non-stop, and love spending time together. We can’t wait to share our joyful lives with a child.
Mike is the youngest of three kids and has an older brother and sister he is very close with. He is a social butterfly and a peacock — he’s known for his fun fashion sense and fresh haircuts. He’s an extrovert and makes friends everywhere. Mike is always on the go, and often jam packs his weekends with activities like golf, running, hiking, and experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes. He looks forward to picking out fashion forward outfits for a child and maybe golfing together one day.
Kiley is the middle child between two brothers and maintains a close relationship with both. She is often described as the Yin to Mike’s Yang. She is introverted and avoids the limelight, but has no issues speaking her mind. At parties, she will always make friends with the host’s pets and children. Kiley enjoys reading, volunteering, yoga, home improvement projects, putting together Ikea furniture, and has recently gotten into running. She can’t wait to do fun family activities with a child like taking lots of walks and hikes, painting and coloring, and reading lots of stories together.
Family Life
We are from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures, but our families raised us with very similar values and share a lot in common. We each have two siblings, and we have five nieces and nephews ages 1 to 10 who are all super excited to have a new cousin. Mike’s parents live ten minutes away. Mike’s sister and Kiley’s brothers all live an hour or less from us. Mike’s brother’s family live in California but visit each year. Kiley’s parents live in Tennessee but visit several times a year (and will even more once they have another baby to spoil).
We blend the traditions we bring from our families and hope to do the same with a child’s heritage and any family traditions you might want us to continue with him or her.
We host Christmas at our house every year with both our families. While Kiley grew up celebrating a traditional Christmas every year complete with the tree and gifts, Mike did not — but he’s actually more into the music, decorations, and celebrating than anyone! We put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and spend the weekend decorating our house and playing Christmas music. We celebrate Thanksgiving and Easter either at our home or Mike’s sister’s home with our niece and nephew who we’re very close with.
We celebrate every Chinese New Year with Mike’s family, which is a really fun week-long holiday filled with traditional Chinese dinners with family and friends. We exchange red envelopes for good luck. We also have a “One Month Party” tradition to honor Mike’s family’s Chinese heritage. When a baby turns one month old, it is tradition for the baby’s parents to throw a big dinner party to celebrate the child with family and friends. We hope to continue this tradition with a child.
Outside of holidays, we often have dim sum (Chinese brunch) on Sundays with family where Mike’s mom tries to give the grandkids Chinese language lessons. If our niece or nephew has a play or a basketball or soccer game we’ll often attend and cheer them on. We look forward to adding new traditions and family pastimes!
We are animal lovers and share our home with our rescue greyhound, Sarge (who loves kids!), and our two cats: twin brothers Teddy and Goblin. Kiley was raised with lots of pets and we feel like having pets enriches a childhood and teaches children empathy.
Lifestyle
We’ve made our home in a quiet suburb in New Jersey with an excellent school district and lots of parks and activities for families. We have a grassy, fenced-in yard and plenty of room for our family to grow. We know exactly where a swing set will go!
Our home is a single-family colonial within walking distance to schools and parks, with lots of other families with small kids in the neighborhood. We are lucky to have some really great neighbors, and several of our close friends’ families live in our town so we will have a lot of other parents to help support us with their advice and experience.
Though we live in the suburbs, we are located close to more metropolitan areas, namely New York City, where we will have the opportunity to share educational and cultural experiences with our child. We love going into New York or Philadelphia for the day for the food, museums, and events. We can’t wait to take a child to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, Broadway, Central Park, and Chinatown, just to name a few.
We love to travel and try to experience as much of the local food and culture as possible, wherever we go. Some of our favorite trips have been to Hawaii, Galapagos Islands, Mexico, the Caribbean, London, and Paris. We think travel is a really great way to learn to appreciate other cultures and embrace our differences. We hope to instill a love of travel and a curiosity with a child so that they may have an appreciation of other cultures.
At home, we love cooking together and view food as a fun way to re-live our travels. Mike is a great cook, and Kiley does her best to help! We always end up singing and dancing together as we cook.
Adoption
This is a heavy decision to make and we realize you may not be sure what you want yet when it comes to contact. We are sensitive to the level of contact you’re seeking and would like to hear your thoughts on what that may look like.
We'd love to share pictures, texts, emails, phone calls, or FaceTime. We think the annual picnic would be a great time to get together if you’d like to visit with us. We expect that our relationship with you, and your child's relationship with you, will evolve over time, so if you're unsure of what you hope for right now, we can leave the door open to discuss it in the future. Regardless of how much contact we have, your child will know the love you have for them.
Diversity is part of our everyday lives and we speak about race and inclusion in our home frequently. As a transracial couple, we know it is important to educate ourselves about each other’s and our child’s background, and we appreciate what a great responsibility that is.
We will make sure a child will be surrounded with diversity and seek out opportunities for him or her to engage with others from his or her culture. Racial mirrors (people who are the same race as you and your child) will be important if we adopt a child of a different race and we are committed to seeking out racial mirrors and role models for him or her in our daily lives.
From our daily experience as a transracial couple and having biracial nieces and nephews, we understand that being close to your culture means more than food or a cultural festival or even language - so much is in the daily interactions with people from your own background and can’t be learned in books. It’s learned by living and interacting. We will aim to give your child that experience.
Favorites
| Mom | Dad | |
| Genre of Music | 70s rock, R&B, EDM/House, Pop | Pop, Hip Hop, EDM, Classic Rock |
| Childhood memory | My mom reading the Ramona books to me and my brothers. | The Mickey Mouse birthday cake my dad brought home for my 5th birthday. |
| Subject in school | English and Art | Science |
| TV show | Lost, The Office | Lost |
| Movie | Love Actually | Armageddon |
| Holiday | Thanksgiving | July 4th |
| Food | Pizza | Fried chicken |
| Sport to watch or play | Watching football | Golf to play, football to watch |
| Author | James Herriott, J.K. Rowling, Ruth Ware, Gillian Flynn | Michael Crichton, James Patterson, Michael Lewis, Robert Ludlum |
| If your life was a theme song what would it be? | You Don’t Own Me (SayGrace) or The Man (Taylor Swift) | Good as Hell - Lizzo |
Best Wishes
Thank you for reading our profile. Becoming parents is the greatest responsibility and blessing we could ever hope for. If you were to choose us we intend to honor you by showering your child with so much love.
We’re committed to doing whatever a child needs to thrive from infancy to adulthood. He or she will be part of a happy home filled with lots of love, laughs, and home cooked meals. As they get older, whether it’s college, medical school, law school, or starting a new business as an entrepreneur, we’re ready to support your child and their dreams.
We promise to raise your child to be loving, kind, strong, and capable of achieving his or her biggest dreams. Whatever happens, we wish you only the best and wish you peace and confidence in your decision.
With Love,
Mike and Kiley
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