Kaitlin and Jonathan
Hello! We are Kaitlin and Jonathan. We met as students at college in upstate New York over 17 years ago. We were friends first and quickly became more than friends.
We now live in the Pacific Northwest near Jonathan’s family in Seattle. We remain each other’s biggest fans and supporters, and consider each other the person we most love to travel, learn, and love with.
Jonathan is a thoughtful, kind, and generous partner. Keeping our family happy and healthy is his biggest motivator and greatest achievement. He grew up doing sports of every kind and loves to cook, complete woodworking and house projects, and meticulously plan vacations (complete with spreadsheets).
Kaitlin is a creative, vibrant spark who brings joy and passion to our family, friends, and everyone who loves her. She is an artist and paints, sews, makes music, writes, and bakes—whatever her latest artistic obsession is. She also enjoys Jonathan’s carefully curated vacations.
We spend a lot of time together working on shared pursuits. We work together on renovating our house, cook elaborate meals while listening to music, play video games, and go to museums and the symphony. We spend many weekends throughout the year at our cabin, where we swim in the lake in the summer and go mushroom hunting in the fall while our dog Dexter (unsuccessfully) chases the local wildlife.
We started dating just as Kaitlin was diagnosed with a genetic heart condition, so we knew from the beginning that we would take a different path toward building our family. Jonathan’s brother and sister-in-law, who also live in Seattle, recently adopted a child through OA&FS. Having him as our godson and nephew has been one of our greatest delights and allowed us to see firsthand the openness, communication, and understanding needed to live in an open adoption.
We are lucky to have families that love us unconditionally and have given us the confidence to chase our passions. It will be a privilege to welcome our child’s birth family into our lives and we will offer the same compassion and love that our own families have given to us. We want to make our child’s birth family feel welcome, safe, and seen, and look forward to sharing the excitement that comes with a new family member. We know that openness will enhance our child’s life and allow them to feel loved and supported from all directions.
As we write this letter, we can only imagine what our future will look like. Every family has a unique story, but we know that we have created a foundation that is full of love, passion, and support, and are ready to expand our family with kindness and understanding.
A small note: we are very private people and want to share our story while protecting the privacy of our friends and family. If you are interested in learning more about us, please contact the folks at OA&FS for a link to our photo book.
Kaitlin and Jonathan