Christy & Dan

OUR HOME

All are welcome here. We focus on creating an atmosphere of peace and playfulness in our home, and we’ve designed everything to support those values — from the neighborhood selection down to the patterns on our textiles.

Our neighborhood has multiple playgrounds, one of which is just around the corner from us in walking distance. Our foster kids enjoyed many afternoons playing here and met friends of multiple races at playtime. Our HOA also has a clubhouse with a splash pad, soccer field, tennis courts, and does a great job at offering events like a trick-or-treat at Halloween, movies under the stars in the pool in the summer, science experiment days, and many other child-friendly events. There is even an elementary school planned for the neighborhood.

HOBBIES

We are avid sports fans and outdoors people. Most recently we have enrolled in sailing classes to become certified by the American Sailing Association. We recently purchased a sailboat and are excited about teaching our little one to sail one day.

We also love Formula 1 and attend the race at Circuit of the Americas each year here in Austin. Christy is a Mercedes team fan, while Dan cheers for the McLaren team. We’ll see which team our kid likes best and probably even see if they enjoy racing go karts.

Christy was a soccer goalie for 15 years, so we were so excited when Austin FC came along, and we catch a game anytime we can. Listos!

We also enjoy going to movies at Alamo Drafthouse — we’ve been to over 300 movies there together!

Other Children

While we don’t have children yet, our lives have been blessed with many relationships with others’ children. We were foster parents of four boys whom we loved and learned from during that season of our lives. We’re also very proud aunt and uncle to four nephews and four nieces. We look forward to seeing our child enter loving relationships with these built-in amazing cousins and their eagerly hopeful grandparents, aunts, and uncles!

Our Parenting Philosophy

For us, parenting is about understanding who your child is designed by God to be, and helping them along the way to a full expression of identity. We envision doing that through broad exposure, hands-on experiences, and solid education. We will engage them in activities like sports, music, theater, new languages, many cultural events and perspectives, teaching critical thinking, and traveling around the world to ensure they have really broad opportunities. We’ll watch for what lights up their countenance, and go forward in the directions the child leads us as they respond to these opportunities and develop their unique preferences. This approach requires intentionality and effort — and also a village — of which you’ll be more than welcome to be a part.

Our Time as Foster Parents and a Multi-cultural Family

We had the honor and privilege of fostering four boys from two separate families, age 3, 5, 8, and 10. We truly learned we love parenting, and saw each other in a wonderful new light (in good moments and challenging ones) that gives us confidence in our future as parents of our own child.

Our 3 and 5 year old boys were African-American brothers who taught us how to navigate the beautiful responsibility of being a multicultural family. We were even able to develop a relationship with their biological mom to remain in their lives for a period of time and help her transition back into full-time childcare. During this time we learned how to care for hair, how to answer questions about different skin colors, and to rely on relationships within our community with people of color who could serve as additional mentors and adult figures in their lives.

We spent time engaging the boys in ways that brought out their love of life, educated them, and made sure they knew they are loved. They equally educated us, and each one inspired us in unique ways. Our time as foster parents has ended, and we cannot wait to enrich our lives with this kind of love as our family grows.