Kiley & Mike

Hi, we’re Kiley and Mike! Thanks for taking some time to view our profile and get to know us. We’re excited to have the opportunity to share a little bit about ourselves with you!

We met in college where we both went to Rutgers. We still have many college friends with lots of kids who live nearby. We married after college surrounded by our family and friends and we’ve now been married 15 years.

When we decided to try to grow our family it didn’t work out as we initially thought it would. While it was heartbreaking, we chose to take some time for ourselves to establish our careers, finish school, and especially to travel. We’re grateful we spent that time because it really strengthened our relationship.

In 2020 we decided we still wanted to become parents, so we chose adoption to grow our family. In March of 2022 our daughter Zoe was born and we were fortunate enough to be able to meet her birth mom and birth grandparents when she was one day old. We were so grateful to have had that immensely emotional and humbling experience. They met us with kindness, warmth, and genuine curiosity about us, and we got the opportunity to know a little about Zoe’s birth family.  Our lives were forever changed and we’ve been a very happy family of three ever since. Zoe’s adoption was the biggest blessing of our lives so far, and we enjoy being parents so much we hope to have the chance to expand our family again through adoption.

About Kiley (written by Kiley):

I’m basically an open book! While I am an introvert and tend to avoid drawing attention to myself, I’m a pretty open person and I am happy to share just about anything you want to know about me if we get the opportunity to meet.

I am the middle child of three. Because of my upbringing, I have a very strong sense of responsibility and I tend to be very organized and thorough. As a kid I absolutely adored animals (still do) and I enjoy seeing that love passed on to children.

I love reading (fiction, thrillers, murder mysteries), spending time with Mike and Zoe, listening to podcasts while I keep busy around the house, and traveling when we get the chance. I work full time and manage a team of about fifteen people so while that keeps me busy, becoming a mom has taught me how to set boundaries and prioritize my family and personal life.

I absolutely love being a mom and I feel like my strengths (organization, researching, patience, planning) have been an asset. Like I said, I’m an introvert, so being a parent to a very extroverted child like Zoe has been an interesting and fun experience for me! I love that Zoe is so different from me – I would never want our kids to feel like they have to conform to expectations, and I will continue encouraging our kids to be individuals. If we’re lucky enough to be placed with another baby, I’ll continue to prioritize our kids’ needs, education, individuality, and happiness.

About Mike (written by Mike):

I’m an outgoing and ‘go with the flow’ type of person (a true Pisces). I like to say that Kiley is the yin to my yang and I think that makes us true compliments in personalities as well as strengths and weaknesses.  I work in Finance and spend Monday through Thursday in New York City, but have been fortunate enough to work for a company that is giving me much needed work-life balance. The best part of my day is spending some time in the morning and evenings being able to hang out with Zoe.

Like Kiley I’m also one of three kids in my family, but being the youngest made my childhood a lot different than hers.  Being the baby of the family, I got away with a lot and basically could do no wrong.  I love that we both grew up with multiple siblings and we would love for Zoe to be able to experience that joy (and sometimes frustration haha) and we think that Zoe would be an amazing big sister.

I love to stay active – I’m an avid runner and golfer.  Fitness and sports are a stress reliever for me so I try to make that time for myself so that I can be the best husband and father I can be.  Lord knows I need to stay fit to keep up with little ones running around all over the place. In my spare time I am also learning Mandarin (I grew up speaking Cantonese which is the dialect most spoken in Hong Kong) so that I can connect more with my heritage, culture, and parents. We often look to find ways to introduce Zoe’s Korean culture to her and will endeavor to give her opportunities to gain exposure to that part of her background. We will absolutely do the same with your child if their heritage differs from ours.

Fatherhood has been an incredible ride so far and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, even with its ups and downs.  The ups have by far outweighed the downs and I can’t wait to continue this parenting journey with Kiley as she is an amazing mom.

About Zoe:

Zoe is an exceptionally outgoing, bright, happy child. She has a great sense of humor, loves to play and explore, and laughs a LOT. She is biracial of Caucasian and Korean heritage. We talk to her often about her own adoption story, her birth family, and how we all came to be a family. She loves her pets, music, reading, coloring, and playing with friends at school. She can’t wait to become a big sister and give a baby brother or sister lots of hugs and kisses.