Connect How did your love story begin?

Met in the UK, where Mark (a professional chef at the time) was spending a year working in a top restaurant. Mark is from Illinois. I had just moved to the UK from France for work. We met in the middle of the town’s picturesque draw bridge over the River Thames. That first day we met, we clicked & stayed together for 12 hours straight. Magical! Within less than a month, we were separated. Mark moved back to the US. 18 months appart until I moved to Oregon for work and Mark moved to be with me.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

Adopting and the birth of our kids is #1 but finding our perfect house to purchase in 02 after being rejected by a prejudiced landlord who refused to rent to us was huge. That house called our name & is still our nest! We added a second floor in 06 and lifted it to add a basement in 2013. It grew with us!! We got married in it. We now have 3 children on earth and 2 in heaven. We traveled a lot and had so many adventures, but our house is our sanctuary and she’s the backdrop of so many memories

What would you do with $20,000?

We would take a family trip to Ethiopia to go see our daughter’s twin brother. Our middle daughter was adopted as a baby and we since found out she has a twin. We went back to Ethiopia in 2018 to meet him and reunite with her birth family but have not been able to go since because instead of using our money to travel, we used it to help her family and her whole village (fix school, repair water well, build library, food support during covid and much more…) traveling back as a family is a dream