Hey!
We are Mary Cullen, Dave, and Leo. We so appreciate you taking the time to get to know us a little bit. We are sure you have so many questions about who we are as a family and who we are as parents.
We have been together for almost 13 years and actually met on the very first day of college. From that day, we became fast friends and that’s developed into lifelong relationship. We are each other’s best friend, champion, encourager, supporter, cheerleader, and shoulder to lean on. We have so loved getting to watch each other become parents and are committed to continue supporting each other on this journey.
Being Leo’s parents has been the greatest joy of our life. He came to our family through domestic infant adoption September of 2018. We are a transracial adoptive family and strive to raise him in a way that connects him to his culture and all parts of his racial identity. He has the best laugh, a complete adoration for music, and the sweetest spirit of anyone we’ve ever met. Dave and Leo love to make breakfast together on the weekends while jamming out to music. Mary Cullen and Leo spend most of their days together outside blowing bubbles, drawing on the sidewalk, and sneaking treats to our German Shepherd, Bruce.
Dave is from New Jersey and is the oldest of three kids. Mary Cullen is from Kentucky and is the middle of five kids. To us, family is everything – it’s the way we do life. Our families love us deeply, cheer us on in the high moments, cry with us in the tough moments, and always show up for us. We do the same for them. We are blessed to have extremely close and supportive relationships with all of our siblings and parents. They have been nothing short of amazing grandparents, aunts, and uncles!
Today, we live in Nashville and have fallen in love with its culture, its people, and its diversity. We love that this is home for our family and look forward to raising our children in this amazing city. After living in a few different places (Virginia, New York City, and Washington, D.C.) across the country and exploring different career paths, we’ve both found our dream jobs. Mary Cullen is pursuing her career as a mental health counselor, while Dave works in marketing for a startup healthcare company he loves. Our careers have become extensions of who we are as individuals. Mary Cullen gets to support, love, and help others on a daily basis; Dave gets to build deep relationships, be creative, and tell amazing stories.
We look forward to the possibility of growing our family. From our earliest conversations, we both always dreamed of the day when we could be parents together. We have loved the journey that is parenthood – the joys, the trials, the laughter, the tears, and the open + honest conversations we will get to have with Leo and each other. We are fiercely committed to Leo and any future siblings, and our goal is to ensure our kids feel safe, loved, and supported in all things.
We always knew we wanted to be parents, but we didn’t know exactly how that would happen. Adoption has brought so much richness into our lives, not only in raising Leo but through our relationship his birth mom and siblings. We do not take the honor of being adoptive parents lightly and are committed not only to our possible future child but to you as well.
Thanks again for taking the time to get to know us a little bit. We truly appreciate and love you and your baby exactly as you are. We hope to meet you soon!
–Mary Cullen, Dave + Leo