Krystal's family has a tradition of gardening, and she hopes to share the joy of gardening with your child. Recently, Krystal planted a prairie garden in our front yard. The native wildflowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and bumblebees. It a lot of work: starting plants from seeds in milk jug containers, spreading mulch, planting baby plants, weeding and watering. Once established, the gardens are less work. Krystal is ready to take a break from planting to nurture a human baby instead of plant babies- and will be excited to take out the gardening gloves and shovels again when your child is interested in planting their own seeds.

Megan's family has a tradition of playing and singing music, which her mother passed to her and she has passed along to our daughter. This includes folk music, camp songs, lullabies, pop music, and made up songs. Megan sometimes writes funny songs for the family, sings songs around the campfire with a guitar and as part of bedtime routine (when Bahati was younger) and has taught Bahati to play some of her favorite hit songs on the guitar as well as helping her learn to play some basic fun piano songs. We would love to share this love of music with your child as well.

Our family came together 8 years ago when Megan and Krystal were married. Our daughter, Bahati, was 5 years old at the time. She is Megan's biological child. Her father lives in East Africa and we stay in regular contact with him and our daughter’s grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Our daughter, Bahati, keeps a busy schedule with theatre, ice skating, ultimate frisbee, swimming, softball and choir. She is a kind, responsible, ambitious, fun teen.

Megan previously worked for a nonprofit supporting small farmers and cooperatives in Africa and Asia before joining the State Arts Board, where she manages arts grants. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon and competitive whitewater kayak racer, she now enjoys hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, music, and songwriting. She sings, plays guitar, performs at open mics, and has written songs including “Tricked You that I Tricked You” and “Tuna Cheza Tennisi Meza,” a Swahili practice song. Krystal grew up on a hobby farm in a Twin Cities suburb. Her dad was a union roofer, and her mom stayed home with the kids. She worked at Perkins in high school and was the first in her family to attend college. Motivated by concerns about homelessness, she became a union organizer. Today, she enjoys nature, gardening, cooking, dog parks, reading, and most of all, being a mom.

Our dog, Odin, loves daily trips to the dog park, relaxing in the backyard, hiking nearby wooded trails, and keeping watch from his favorite couch by the living room window.

Almost every summer we drive "up North" with a canoe strapped to our car and enter the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. We canoe across beautiful lakes where the water reflects the ski, loons call and beavers slap their tails. We camp in a tent on islands and eat shelf-stable foods. It is wonderful to be in nature for a few days. Yes, the mosquitos bite, the sun burns, and our legs and arms get tired- but breathing in the fresh air, swimming in the cool clear water, and seeing a baby moose makes it all worth it. It is a very special place, a healing place.

Bahati went to the Boundary Waters for the first time when she was 5 years old, and she is eager to return each summer. We hope this is something we can share with another child.

We live in Minnesota, where the weather is always changing and neighbors care for each other. We live in the city across the street from a park with oak trees, hiking & bike trails, a sledding hill, and playground. Our triple lot backyard has gardens, a climbing tree and a trampoline. Krystal planted a wildflower garden in our front yard, and Megan has kayaks in our garage.

Our house is a two-story home built in the early 1900’s with wood floors. There is a large, cartwheel friendly open space in the living room and a bay window where sun pours in and our dog Odin keeps an eye on the neighborhood. Upstairs we have three bedrooms. The basement, sorta-finished, has evolved over the years: a kid's theatre, an escape room, inventor's workshop, a special reading nook-- currently it's Bahati's sewing room.

We grew very close to our neighbors during the pandemic, practically raising each other’s kids as they went from house to house everyday during distance learning. Our "pod" was featured on Minnesota Public Radio!

Bahati attended a public Montessori elementary school and is lucky to have gotten into an excellent, small innovative middle/high school.

We appreciate our diverse community. It has a lot to offer multi-racial families like ours. Including programs like Brownbody.org (the ice skating group Bahati belongs to), cultural events and celebrations, neighbors who speak many languages, libraries, museums, and more.

We have retired Grandparents on both sides. Krystal’s parents live nearby on a hobby farm with vegetable gardens, chickens, and space for a child to explore. Megan’s mom is a retired nurse, her dad a retired veterinarian. They spend quality time with Bahati: teaching her how to ski, bake, cook, play piano, sew, and garden. They are eager and willing to invest in another grandchild.

Megan’s sister lives in Norway on a small sheep farm. She is a Montessori teacher and is married with two teenage children. Krystal’s brother, chef and lover of dogs and rollerblading, passed away in 2017. He is greatly missed. Krystal’s “little sister” through Big Brothers Big Sisters has been in her life since she was 7 and Krystal was 25. Now she is 26, recently married and still part of our lives.

We recognize how important it is for Bahati to know her family members in East Africa, and her father wants to maintain a connection too. We have been able to have an ongoing positive relationship and have traveled every 3-4 years to visit. We receive a warm welcome from the whole family- her father, and also grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. Our last trip had Krystal in tears a few times — happy tears because our daughter’s family was so generous and sweet to us. They would welcome your child with open arms, and be happy that Bahati has a sibling.

Thank you for checking out our profile. We are seeking an open adoption where you would be an important part of our extended family and your child's life. We would love to get to know you.

We are Krystal and Megan. We have been married since 2018 and we have a teenage daughter, Bahati. She is Megan's biological child and was 3 years old when we met. Her father lives in East Africa and we stay in regular contact with him and Bahati's grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. We love being Bahati's moms and we have wanted to grow our family since we got married. Bahati was 5 years old then, and she still very much wants to be a big sister. We originally hoped to adopt a baby locally in our state so that they would be close to their birth family, but we have been waiting a long time and have now decided to put ourselves out there nationwide.

We live in Minnesota, in one of the Twin Cities. Our home in the city is surrounded by nature. We live across the street from a beautiful park with big oak trees, a playground, hiking and bike trails, picnic pavilions and a sledding hill. We feel lucky to have found such a nice spot in a diverse neighborhood, with great neighbors who stand up for each other, many options for schools, and plenty to do.

Megan recently started a new job at the State Arts Board, after working for many years in international development where she provided grants and training to small farmers and cooperatives in Africa and Asia. Krystal works as a union organizer, helping healthcare workers fight for better pay and benefits. Bahati keeps a busy schedule- with ice skating, theatre, ultimate frisbee, swimming, softball, history day projects, singing in her school's choir, and working in the nursery at the Unitarian Universalist church we recently started attending. She also loves to do her hair and nails and go thrifting. All of us enjoy camping and being in nature. We also dote on our dog, Odin. Megan plays guitar and kayaks. Krystal cooks and gardens.

We are not perfect people or a perfect family. We are human like everyone else. We have faced our own losses, hardships and challenges in life. Our hope is that those experiences make us better parents.

If you choose adoption for your child and choose our family, we want to welcome you to become part of our extended family. You are and always will be an incredibly important person in your child's life. You are the reason they exist and their connection to their ancestors. Ideally, we would love for your child to see you regularly. We hope they would also be able to know other members of their family (grandparents, aunties & uncles, cousins & siblings). We can imagine welcoming you into our home if you are able to visit, sitting next to you at sports games or a school play, and talking with you at family get-togethers. We can imagine calling you when your child wants to hear your voice or ask for your opinion. We imagine sometimes one of us will make a mistake and we’ll need to talk about it and change some of our plans or expectations and try again. We know that building this type of relationship is not easy and is only possible when everyone wants it. We are open to and hoping for this kind of relationship with you. At a minimum, of course we will send letters and pictures.

In our home, your child would be deeply loved. We would nurture them in all the ways we can. We would ensure they are provided with opportunities to learn, grow and thrive-- and belong to communities of people who accept and appreciate them for all of who they are.

Thank you for reading our letter. We would love to get to know you.

Sincerely,

Krystal & Megan