Lily & Jesse
Hello out there! We are Lily and Jesse, together since 2012, married since 2015, and now hoping to bring a child into our little family. We love each other and the life we’ve created together, and we are looking forward to loving the child that we’re lucky enough to raise. We have chosen to pursue adoption because we want to share our life with a little one, enjoy big and small moments all together, and raise a citizen of the world. We are opposites in some ways and alike in others: most importantly, our shared values and sense of humor. We both served in the US Peace Corps, Lily in the Dominican Republic and Jesse in Bulgaria. Lily is fluent in Spanish, and Jesse speaks Bulgarian and is learning Spanish too. We live in a cozy, comfy home in Baltimore, Maryland, close to friends and family. Lily works as a school nurse at a nearby school, and Jesse works as an adult educator for the local government.
Things We Can’t Wait to Do as a Family
Eat pierogies and tamales | Travel to Vermont to play in the river and hike in the mountains | Visit family in Germany | Teach him or her how to ride a bike | Cheer on the Baltimore Orioles and Team USA at the Olympics | Sing made-up songs | Bake blueberry banana bread | Make drawings of our pets | Read aloud to each other | Write postcards to friends and family
Our Parenting Philosophy
We want our child to experience joy and love every day, through big events like family trips and holiday celebrations, as well as smaller moments like reading bedtime stories and making new friends. We hope to have fun and laugh as a family, while also learning and growing together. We value acceptance, respect, and gratitude, and we will teach our child to value these things through our words and our actions. We will embrace and nurture our child’s unique potential – artistic, academic, social, sports, or something that we can’t even imagine yet. We will always treat our child, their adoption story, and their birth family with respect and love.
Our Hobbies
We love to spend time outside together, whether we’re hiking, biking, swimming, or just exploring. We put together puzzles on our dining room table, even though our cat Teddy pushes puzzle pieces off the table as we work. We read lots: Lily prefers paper books and Jesse listens to audiobooks. We go to the gym a couple times a week, mostly so we can stay strong and healthy. Jesse is really into music, both listening to it and playing it – he can answer most music trivia questions instantly. He loves the NBA but doesn’t have a favorite team, only favorite players. Lily loves to bake cookies and cakes and she’s recently taken up sewing as a hobby. So far, she’s made lots and lots of pillowcases. She’s looking forward to one day making a baby quilt.
Our Pets
Teddy is our chatty senior cat who loves eating cat grass and lounging in our fenced-in backyard. He is very sweet and purrs while sitting on Jesse’s lap. Lily’s grandmother Eda recommended that we pick the bravest kitten out of the litter, and Teddy has certainly lived up to his reputation.
Bruce is our perma-puppy, who came into our lives in June 2020. He is a homebody who plays fetch, snuggles human friends of all ages, and eats just about anything (including veggies!). We joke that he looks like a big dog that someone shrunk in a dryer.
Our Home
We purchased our first and only home in 2017 and have spent the last seven years updating it to be a cozy, welcoming space. Family pictures, keepsakes, art, and houseplants can be found in every room. We renovated our kitchen in 2019, but we could never get rid of the original 1950’s pink tile and bathtub in the main bathroom! Every day, we relax in our living room while listening to records or watching British TV shows. We love to sit on our back patio and listen to the birds when the weather is nice. Jesse built Lily some beautiful raised beds out back that are filled with herbs, flowers, and berries. Our house is located in a close-knit, diverse neighborhood of Baltimore City where children walk to school every day. We can get to the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Maryland Zoo, and the Orioles baseball stadium within minutes. We’re lucky to have neighbors who are also friends, and they will be delighted to welcome another member of our family to the block.
What Adoption Means to Us
Our dream has always been to create a loving family to explore the world together; we both want to experience the joys and challenges of raising a child. We imagined our family including both biological and adoptive children, so we worked towards that. After going through fertility treatment for years, we decided to stop. We took time to grieve, to think, and to explore our desire to be parents, which led us to pursue adoption now. We’re looking forward to navigating adoption and parenthood together. We also know that our extended family feels excited and ready to love and support our child. Having experienced loss of a different kind, we can only imagine how challenging the adoption process can be for birth families so we hold space in our hearts and minds for you. Openness has always been something we’d want for our child and our family. As much as possible, we want our child to know and to feel proud of their story
Our Promise to You
While preparing for adoption, we heard something in a training that has remained in our minds: a birth parent would not be giving their child to our family, they would be choosing to give our family to their child. Even though we don’t know each other yet, we will always be your family as well. We are committed to an open adoption because we genuinely believe it will be best for all involved. We plan to incorporate our child’s birth family’s culture and traditions into our lives, and ensure our child knows they are loved by many. We’ve had a lot of time to consider our commitment to parenthood, and to accept that in many ways it is a great unknown. Because of the time and effort we’ve spent on the path to become parents, we recognize how monumental this decision will be for you. We are open to your questions and we promise to answer them honestly. We haven’t made the decision to pursue adoption lightly, nor do we expect that you will. We’re honored to be part of your journey
5 Things About
Lily
Lily loves to go hiking. She isn’t the fastest hiker, but she loves how it feels to stand on the top of a mountain and look down to see how far she’s climbed.
Lily loves animals so much, she volunteered to play with kittens as a “nursery nanny” at the animal shelter. These days, she volunteers with a local dog welfare organization.
Lily’s childhood nickname was “bookworm” because she loves to read. She actually got in trouble in elementary school for reading too much. She read 127 books in 2023!
Lily is fluent in Spanish and can speak some French, Italian, and German. She took an American Sign Language class but only remembers the alphabet; she took an Urdu class but only remembers how to say, “my name is Lily”.
Lily was a volunteer coach for the Baltimore City Special Olympics sailing team for many years. She used to say that she’d buy a boat before she bought a house, but that didn’t work out. She still comes up with names for her future sailboat (fingers crossed).
5 Things About
Jesse
Jesse joined his elementary school’s music club and got hooked on music for life. He studied guitar and saxophone, then picked up other instruments. Jesse is now taking a piano course for adults, and he can’t wait to play lullabies for our future child.
Jesse loves Baltimore. He’s worked in local government for more than 10 years and feels very connected to the city. He loves sharing his favorite places and people with friends, family, and anyone who is curious.
Jesse’s mom calls him “The World Traveler”. He has visited 18 different countries. In his late 20s, Jesse embarked on a trip across Russia, Mongolia, and China, only traveling by train, bus, and/or car. Upon his return, Jesse was grateful to finally eat a decent sandwich.
Jesse loves to follow the NBA. He grew up in the era of Michael Jordan, and basketball was a huge part of his childhood. He rediscovered his love of the game during the COVID pandemic. Now, he watches NBA games on split screen – up to 4 games at once!
Jesse’s very first job was working in a veterinary clinic. His favorite aspect of the job was providing weekend animal care. Weekend care should have taken about an hour to complete, but Jesse often spent multiple hours with the animals because he didn’t want them to feel alone.
Get In Touch with Lily and Jesse
If you think we might be the right match for you and your child, we’d love to hear from you! You can send us a message online or call our agency, Adoption Advocates, at (512) 477-1122 / (800) 966-HOPE to get connected.
