I grew up with my sister in the San Fernando Valley in California, a typically sunny suburban childhood. My parents were very focused on the two of us, and my mother was able to stay home full-time with us, taking us to gymnastics, Girl Scouts and every sort of art lesson you can imagine! My dad, who sold insurance, spent long hours making sales calls -- but he never missed family dinnertime. We always took a family vacation or two together in the summer, many to a family camp in Big Bear, and others all around the U.S. and Canada.

Growing up, I thought my parents were really strict. They set limits on things like how much television I watched. They cared about who my friends were and where I was going, and when I'd be back. They also spent a great deal of time with us, always showed they cared, and let us know that learning was important. Now that I'm a mom myself, I find much of what they did is the model for how I parent Evan -- with love, reasonable limits, and lots of laughs and learning from each other.

I have a large extended family and grew up with lots of cousins nearby to play with and big family parties. My family includes five adopted cousins, so to me adoption was just a normal part of life. It seems really right to me to be adopting, and carrying on this family tradition into another generation.

I struck out on my own by going off to UC Santa Barbara, where I met Larry the very first week! We used to spend night after night sitting up late in our dorm rooms, talking about life. I've never met anybody who can make a person feel as loved and listened to as Larry. He is my inspiration in so many ways - he's so patient, a great improviser, funny, warm, and just super-considerate of people, even strangers.

When I was a teenager, my big dream was to be a singer/songwriter. I studied music in college and played in bands for years, back in Los Angeles. Eventually, I felt that I wasn't enjoying it anymore, and when a newspaper asked me to write an article, I was hooked. Now I love working as a reporter -- I find it very creative and always interesting.

In my free time, I enjoy baking bread, gardening and quilting. The past two years, I have devoted most of my free time to volunteering at my son's Sunday school program. It's important to me that Evan knows there is a God who loves him, and that he grows up with values that will help him live a rewarding and fulfilling life.

Six years ago, looking for a better environment for Evan, we moved to the Northwest. We love the trees, the seasons, the semi-rural town where we live, and the many recreational/outdoor opportunities the area has to offer. We have camped all over Washington and Oregon, and there's so much left to explore!

Because we were so young when we met, Larry and I dated a long time before we got married. We also waited a long time after we got married to have Evan. We vacationed in Colorado, in London and Mexico, saw movies two or three at a time, and just plain had fun. Evan was a very long-awaited child, and we're happy to focus all our energy on children now. I can't remember the last time we hired a nighttime babysitter -- Evan comes with us, or goes on a sleepover with a friend, or we stay home.

Evan is a very big part of our adoption plan -- we wouldn't pursue adoption if he was anything but 100% enthusiastic about it. He was born to be a big brother! He likes loads of kids around -- his favorite friends right now are a set of triplets. My favorite moments are watching him laugh and play with Larry, and with his friends.

Carol