About Us

We took the day off and went to the beach at Half Moon Bay.	We have been together in a loving, committed relationship for seven years. As soon as we met, we had an immediate connection: We have many of the same interests, we constantly make each other laugh, and our lives are filled with mutual love and respect. We both strongly believe in social justice, caring for the environment, and giving back to the community. We are so lucky to have found each other, and we cannot wait to share our love with a child. And we got married in 2008 as soon as we were able to! We have always wanted children, and we believe that open adoption is the perfect answer for us.
We got legally married at San Francisco City Hall!!!
Jess and friend at the Pittsburgh Zoo.	Steph about Jess: "Jessica is smart, sincere, loving, and she makes me laugh every day. She recently got her Ph.D. in Education at UC, Berkeley, and I am proud to say she is now a professor at Sonoma State University where she teaches others to be good educators. She is an amazing athlete who excelled on the softball team at UC, Berkeley. One of the reasons I love her so much is how much she cares about fighting injustices in the world, and how much she believes in teaching others to look at the world with an eye towards social justice. She truly inspires me, and I know she will be a great role model for our child." "Jess loves to work in the garden, cook organic foods, and go camping. She looks forward to taking our child to the farmers' market, teaching them to care for the environment, and helping them to grow a garden. She can't wait to take our child to the zoo, the Oakland A's baseball games, and the local swimming pool."

Steph holding her next meal in Bald Head Island, S.C. We go to Bald Head every so often with Steph's family. It is this beautiful, small, secluded island that makes for a great vacation spot.	Jess about Steph: "Steph is one of the kindest people I have ever met. She is patient, loyal, extremely loving and an exceptional partner. She graduated from Princeton University as one of two women in the Computer Science program and has enjoyed a successful career as a software developer since. She will love showing our child all about computers and technology." "Steph loves playing sports, doing crosswords, going for hikes, and relaxing on the hammock in the backyard. I can picture her spending hours on end teaching them to play catch, showing them all sorts of games, and helping to teach them math and science."
Jess with niece, Charley	Short Bio on Jess: I grew up in a small town in Northern California called Sonoma. Everyone knew everyone in Sonoma so my family consisted of my mom, dad, brother and a handful of friends I had known for years. I played soocer, basketball and softball growing up and it was softball that gave me an opportunity to attend UC Berkeley. Once at Berkeley and on the softball team, I was exposed to so many different things: the big city, diversity and all these different subjects I could study. I fell in love with learning and decided to want to be a teacher. I taught both high school and middle school but found myself wanting to teach at the college level and this meant returning to Berkeley to earn my Ph.D. I recently finished my doctorate in Education and am now excited to be a professor at Sonoma State University. It's been a long process, but it is worth every ounce of effort. I feel so lucky to be able to live in the Bay Area, enjoying everything that it has to offer in terms of culture, weather and people, but also being able to live only an hour away from my mom and dad who still live in the town I grew up in.
Steph petting an alpaca in Peru	Short Bio on Steph: I grew up in St. Louis, MO, with my older sister, Jennifer, and my younger sister, Abby. I was really into sports: softball, soccer, basketball, and table tennis. I used to travel around the country with my Dad to play in table tennis tournaments, which was an amazing experience. I went to Princeton University where I majored in Computer Science. I was one of two women in the CS department, and I am very proud of myself for working hard and doing well. I played on the softball team at Princeton which was such a great time of my life. Some of my best friends still today are from my softball team. I worked as a software developer after college, although I took a couple of years off to become the head softball coach at Eastern Illinois University. I loved helping the players on my team to become better softball players and better people. Most of my years in the computer science workforce were spent with MentorNet, which is a nonprofit organization that matches students in college in the engineering and sciences with people working in those fields. They then have a one-on-one mentoring relationship. It was very rewarding to know that what I did really made a difference.