Evan and Paige
Hello! We are Paige and Evan and we are grateful for you taking the time to get to know us. We are two lifelong learners living in the Willamette Valley in Oregon who are excited to add to our family through open adoption. We met the good ol’ fashion way, matching on an internet app. We fell in love watching soccer games and exploring our cities, showing each other our personalities by organizing fun and unique dates along the way (i.e. Top Golf while wearing shark onesies). In the past three years, we married each other, and bought our first home. Our wedding ceremony was intimate, with our parents, followed up with two celebrations for our extended family and friends, one in Oregon, the other in St. Louis, Paige’s hometown.
We both consider ourselves very fortunate to love the work we do. Supporting each other in our personal and professional goals, we are able to learn from each other and those we work with. After having been a K-12 public school educator for the last decade, Paige made the change from teaching to providing mental health counseling for children and families in our community. This change came as a result of following her desire to build relationships with the families and students she taught. She recognized that she wanted to be able to provide the support that she wished her family had when she was a child. Paige is now in a position that challenges, encourages, and teaches her something every day. Evan has also recently transitioned in his career, from an instructor to a professor of teaching position at the local university. Coming from a family of educators, Evan cares deeply about education and how to help students learn more efficiently and effectively. The new position allows him to establish his research program which explores what students know as they begin his course, and how their understanding progresses throughout the year. Evan combines this passion with his love of sport, coaching Ultimate (Frisbee) with two of his good friends for the college women’s team.
Though we share much in common, we also enjoy our differences. Coming from a smaller family, being welcomed into a larger extended family was a fun and new experience for Evan. While running through the countryside, Paige is able to envision raising chickens and a vegetable garden, something she used to only dream of when living in concrete jungles. Inheriting a green thumb from his parents, Evan is helping Paige find her own style of gardening. When the weather doesn’t permit being outside, we can be found painting pottery at a local store, being entertained by our three pets Nessie (dachshund-corgi dog), Aries and Vino (tuxedo cats), or enjoying our favorite show, Taskmaster.
After unsuccessfully attempting to conceive, we arrived at adoption as our way to complete our family, though it had always been something we considered for our family’s future. After researching other avenues, Open Adoption and Family Services spoke to both of us and our family values. We see open adoption as the most supportive way to raise a child while providing the space to create an intentional relationship with a child’s birth family. With our enjoyment of hosting gatherings, we would like to welcome our child’s birth family into our community. We understand that this relationship will be one that is ever-evolving. We want to provide a strong foundation upon which our child will grow and explore this world, filling our child’s days with opportunities to be a fearlessly curious learner. To our child, we hope to model our values of treating others the way you want to be treated, communication, and always looking for the good in people. But above all else, we want our child to feel loved and accepted for exactly who they are and who they want to be.
Sincerely,
Paige and Evan
