We want to meet you!

Why We Want To Adopt A Baby

We have been together for nine happy years and were married in the summer of 2005. Our daughter Aspen was born in September 2008 and watching her enter the world was the happiest moment of our lives.

We have an open, loving relationship with her birth mother and are big believers in open adoption. Now we want to grow our family by welcoming another baby in to love. The mother who chooses us to raise her child will be giving us the most precious gift in the world. Thank you for learning more about us.

Where We Live

We live in the Eureka Valley neighborhood in San Francisco, where we are blessed to own a top floor condominium. We chose it because of the views, the spacious living

room and fireplace, and our sunny kitchen where we love having coffee together and cooking. Off the kitchen is our back deck where we enjoy reading the newspaper on sunny days. We are excited to plan and decorate a new baby’s room, and hope to be lucky enough to hear the sweet sound of a newborn in our home once again.

Our neighborhood is full of young children and there is a huge playground just a few blocks from our house! In fact, Jennie’s best friend from childhood and her family, including two baby boys live just a few doors down. And our neighbors across the street brought their daughter home through adoption. They are playmates and she likes to pretend she is Aspen’s big sister. We’re on a first-name basis with the people in the organic grocery store a few blocks away and have many wonderful friends in our neighborhood. In a big, fabulous city like San Francisco our neighborhood feels like small town America.

It would not be “home” without our dog Jackie whom we rescued from an animal shelter. She is friendly and happy, greeting everyone in the family with wet kisses every morning. She is wonderful with children and has taken a serious interest in helping us take care of Aspen.

Our Family

Originally from Ohio, Jonathan’s mom, sister and one of his brothers have all moved to the Bay Area. They are very involved with our growing family and are frequent visitors and babysitters. Jonathan’s other brother Craig and his family live in Texas where we visit as often as we can.

Jennie was raised in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C. Her mom still lives there, and her Dad and stepmother live in Tennessee on a small farm with goats, donkeys, chickens and rabbits all for the delight of the grand children! Jennie has two brothers, each with children of their own, so in addition to an adoring big sister, our new baby will get to have 8 cousins to run around and play with!

We consider our close friends just as important as family and we plan camping trips and lots of California adventure with our friends and their children. There’s nothing like a game of beach Frisbee with a bunch of kids giggling so hard they get the hiccups!

How We Have Fun

Summer is a special time for us because we love long lazy days at the beach, hiking through nearby redwood forests, and pulling out summer recipes from Jennie’s childhood like her homemade Opa’s Crab Cakes (named after her grandfather.) We are big fans of Christmas and love putting up our tree each year. We buy the biggest one that can fit through our door and fill the house with holiday decorations and music. We listen to Christmas music nonstop from Thanksgiving to New Years!

We like traveling to see family in Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee to hang out with our nieces and nephews and have some good southern cooking. We also like traveling to Washington, D.C. to visit Jennie’s mom and the museums (since Jonathan’s a history buff.) We took Aspen to Mexico when she was just three months old and she loved staying in the huge casa right on the ocean with 10 of our best friends.

Jonathan loves to climb mountains and has scaled some of the tallest glacier-covered peaks in the world. Jennie went to Africa and climbed the highest mountain on the continent, Mt. Kilimanjaro. Together we hiked through the Himalayas of Nepal, an experience that changed us both forever. We both love winter sports -- Jennie skis and Jonathan rides his snowboard as often as he can. We hope both of our kids like playing in the snow at least as much as they like snuggling inside with hot chocolate.

We also enjoy being at home just relaxing by our fireplace. On a typical night we make dinner or order from our favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. We make homemade organic baby food for Aspen and so far her favorite dish is avocado. Of course! She’s a California girl! After dinner we read books or watch our favorite comedy shows (after Aspen is asleep of course!) Jennie loves to entertain and when we have our friends over for dinner we usually end with a game of charades. The competition can get pretty heated since Jonathan is definitely the best charades player around. No matter which team wins everyone gets loud and has a lot of laughs.

On weekends Jennie will take a yoga class, or we’ll go on a beach walk or a woodsy hike together. You’d be amazed how far a baby backpack and good stroller can go! Jonathan plays soccer one night a week and looks forward to returning to softball and sailing when our kids are a little older. Jennie volunteers at an animal shelter and a school volunteers program.

About Jennie (by Jonathan)

Jennie is my best friend and a loving, loyal and good-natured person. She invests a lot in her relationships and she’s the one her friends call when they’re having a crisis. Jennie loves a crowd and can walk into a room and feel completely comfortable no matter what the scene. I find it amazing. And what’s better, she will make everyone else feel at ease.

Jennie is always evolving and gains wisdom through life experience and her spiritual practices every day. I’ve seen her become more playful and creative the longer I have known her and (lucky for me) her creativity comes out in her cooking! She has a great sense of humor and loves a cold beer and rock concerts as much as opera and fine wine. I love watching how much joy she gets from giving love to our dog and daughter both. She is the most loving and happy mother I have ever seen. I can’t wait to see her as a mom of two little ones!

About Jonathan (by Jennie)

Jonathan is a sweet, sensitive man, and a fantastic listener Although he is shy and takes some time to open up around new people, everyone who knows him adores him. The thing I love most about him is how caring he is about other people’s feelings and how humble he is. He truly understands that money and material possessions are a blessing, but not what life is about. He is funny and also very goal-oriented. He takes great pleasure in solving challenges and he has created the greatest systems for all of our parenting tasks – from the best way to dry baby bottles to putting up safety gates -- he is truly the caring, engaged father every kid (and mom) deserves! He has a very silly side and I often find him on the floor growling at Aspen pretending to be a wild animal as she squeals with delight. She is a lucky baby to be getting so much love and attention from her Daddy and she adores him. I can’t wait to see Jonathan and Aspen playing together with her new brother or sister. Maybe by then she’ll be the one growling to make the little one giggle.

Not a leader or a follower, Jonathan is just that, himself. He is guided by his own desires and feels little compunction to conform to anyone else’s plans. He is just as comfortable at the Ritz Carlton as he is camping in the wilderness for a month and to me that makes him so interesting. Plus, I just love to look at him!

About Parenting

We hope to make our children aware of the power they have inside themselves to create whatever kind of life they can dream of having. We are both spiritual people. Jennie has a daily prayer and meditation practice and Jonathan turns to nature to connect with the peace inside him.

We want to raise our children to be open-minded and non-judgmental, loving and respectful toward themselves and others, to value friendships and family, and to get involved in making the world a better place. We will encourage our children to be open-minded, to be accepting of others and to challenge conventional wisdom when they have a different point of view. We want them to trust their intuition as a guide at all times. Education will be a priority and we have already started saving for two college tuitions.

Our Jobs

Jennie has a marketing consulting company that helps nonprofit organizations improve their visibility and effectiveness. She loves her work because she gets to help organization who are making the world a better place reach their goals. She works from home and is happy not to have to go to an office -- so she gets to be with Aspen and our family’s nanny during the day and won’t miss a thing when a new baby joins our family.

Jonathan is a consultant that helps small businesses set up systems to track their progress and manage business operations. He loves solving challenges through creativity and letting his clients focus on doing whatever it is that they do best, while he works behind the scenes to simplify the complexities of running a company.

In Closing
Being parents is the most rewarding experience we have ever shared. The love that we feel for our daughter is so overwhelmingly powerful and we are excited to grow our family by adopting another beautiful soul that we can nurture and love.

Our greatest strength as a couple is our ability to slow down, open up and listen to each other from an honest and loving point of view -- and this has served us well being new parents. We will honor your wishes on the kind of relationship you want to have with us and will always treat you with love and warmth.

If you would like to talk or meet with us please call Jennie’s mobile phone at 415-990-9360 or email us at jenniewinton@yahoo.com.

We want to meet you!

With thanks and love,