RJ and Caroline

About RJ (written by Caroline)

How to describe RJ… He is extraordinarily passionate about his interests. He enjoys building things – e.g. a computer, arcade machine, whatever he is excited about at the time (very unsurprising he became an engineer). He loves Philadelphia sports so much, it’s probably bad for his health. When we traveled to Italy, he was so in love with spaghetti carbonara he ate it every day for 5 days. He remembers every “fun fact” he has ever heard, and brings them up at opportune times to make someone smile.

This enthusiasm is the energy he will bring to being a dad. He cares so deeply for his friends, his nieces and nephews, and the dog that he absolutely did not want. He has an amazing sense of humor, and is always making people (mostly me) laugh. He balances out my ‘Type A’ tendencies in the best possible way, which is why I feel that we make a great team. He is the adult that the kids are always dragging onto the floor to play, or inviting into their make-believe house. He is hands-on and invested in everything he does. I am so excited to expand our family, and his future child will be so lucky and unconditionally loved.

About Caroline (written by RJ)

Caroline is the love of my life, and that makes this particularly hard to write since I don’t want this letter to be 10 pages long.  She has lived almost her entire life in the Pittsburgh area, she attended Oakland Catholic High School where she excelled in the classroom as well as on the diving board. She decided that she didn’t want to go far for college and moved just down the street to the University of Pittsburgh. It is at Pitt that she met RJ (the author of this section) and after a year of friendship (and nagging from our friends) they began to date. She graduated with a degree in Accounting and would follow that up a few years later with an MBA. Those are all the facts but it doesn’t describe who she really is.

Caroline is the most organized person I know. There is no situation that couldn’t be improved through some sort of spreadsheet in her eyes. She is always on top of things and never misses a deadline, an appointment, or any other special date (she has to remind me to text my own siblings on their birthdays, because she always remembers). She is also one of the most loving and caring people in the world, always there for her friends and family – remembering to call just to talk, or to stop by to say hi and chit-chat. She is close with her family, and is constantly on the phone with her mom or dad or one of her siblings. Just about every Sunday night is family dinner at her parents’ house, usually some big Italian style dinner made mostly by her and her dad with homemade dessert from her mom. She would make an amazing mother – our nieces and nephews always love seeing her and run around asking “Aunt Car” to read them a book or play with their dinos. Caroline is also an extremely fun and funny person, always able to make her family smile (and it should be mentioned that the dog likes her best).

About Us

We both come from amazing and loving families, which is the environment we hope to create for our family. Caroline’s family is all in the Pittsburgh area, while RJ’s family is spread out between Philadelphia, Buffalo, DC area, and Boston. We are both middle children and each have a brother and sister. We have four young nieces and nephews who we love to spend time with. Family is very important to us, and our child will have close relationships with their grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins. We have amazing friend groups and know that our child will be blessed with many honorary aunts and uncles who can’t wait to spoil them.

We met in college, became friends, started dating and have been together ever since. We love spending time with friends, playing board games, investing our time and energy into losing at fantasy football, reading, rooting on our favorite teams, cooking, and spending time together. We have a dog, a 2 year-old sassy Havanese, named Joel. Joel loves playing, walks, treats, and snuggles.

We live north of Pittsburgh, in a one-street neighborhood with fields and woods around us. We live in a highly rated school district and will ensure our child has a great education. We both expect to take active roles in parenting. We are members at our local Catholic church and attend church weekly.

We have always wanted a family. We discussed that we were both open to adoption, prior to experiencing infertility. Infertility was a difficult and complicated journey for us, but we are both so excited to be on the path that we are on now, in looking to grow our family through adoption.  We are open to a child of any race – and will work to embrace our child’s cultural background if different from our own. We support an open adoption, and are willing to work with the birth parents to figure out what this looks like.

Thank You

Thank you for considering adoption and taking the time to learn a little bit about us.

If you would like to reach out, please email us at rjandcarolineadopt@gmail.com, check out rjandcarolineadopt.com or follow us on Instagram @rjandcarolineadopt. You can also reach out to The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh by calling or texting  (412) 736-2908 or by email at birthparentspecialist@chomepgh.org  and ask to speak with a Birthparent Specialist who will support you and help you to explore your options.

RJ and Caroline