Joel and Amanda
Hello! We are Joel and Amanda (and dogs Frankenstein and Nemo). Joel grew up in Washington and Amanda in Southern California. We met in 2005 at Amanda’s college when Joel sold her an iPod as a college graduation gift from her dad. We married in 2008 on a rainy day in May.
We both work from home. Amanda works as a lawyer at a law firm that she started with her mentor. She can work from anywhere as long as she has internet and has been known to take conference calls on the side of a country road with nothing in sight for miles. Joel manages e-commerce for a company that sells high-end audio equipment. As a classic over performer, he has become the guy that everyone goes to when there’s a problem.
Amanda is naturally extroverted and loves surrounding herself with as many people as possible. She has the terrible habit of thinking she can fit 10 things into a day when really only two or three are possible. Joel is naturally introverted and recharges alone but loves to spend time with close friends. For him, a busy weekend includes exactly one social activity paired with home improvement. Navigating our social life as a couple has been a challenge, but we have found a good balance. Joel has become more extroverted and Amanda has learned to enjoy the downtime. She is an avid reader and loves watching TV and movies. Her latest obsession is Survivor.
After spending most of our adult lives in Los Angeles, we moved to Washington in 2022 to be closer to friends and family. We also bought our first house. Joel loves fixing it up (there is endless wallpaper and paint removal), mowing the lawn and thinking of new ways to improve our space. We love being able to walk most places, spontaneous dinner dates and trivia nights with our neighbors, and board game weekends with old and new friends.
We find great contentment in this new life we’ve created. We’ve wanted to grow our family for a long time but have struggled with infertility and the grief it created in our marriage. After several difficult years, we found healing and acceptance of that which we cannot change. We are excited to be parents. We value authenticity, honesty, integrity, laughter, compassion, justice and grace. We want to impart these values to our children.
We love spending time together, we love exploring, meeting new people, and nurturing relationships with friends and family. We believe you can never have too many family or friends and are excited to grow our family with a kid and a birth family. We envision backyard BBQs, boat rides, hikes, evenings spent laughing and participating in those traditions and experiences that are of value to our kid’s birth parents. Our hope is that our kid knows their roots and has a full understanding of their story. We want to create a nurturing space for our child to become their authentic and whole self.
