Brianna and Hans
We are Hans and Brianna. We were set up on a blind date in 2010, married at a local historic Rancho in 2013 and diagnosed infertile in 2016. Our son, Rhys, was born in 2018 via in vitro fertilization (IVF). Although we have two cats and eventually plan to have dogs again (our two 15 year old dogs passed away three years ago), we firmly believe our human family is not yet complete and our pathway includes adoption. We live in Long Beach, California in a diverse historic neighborhood. We bought our home in February of 2020 (just in the knick of time); it is a 1915 craftsman bungalow with three bedrooms and original woodwork (love it so much!). Our home and neighborhood have an abundance of character and charm that we have fallen in love with over the past 18 months. Some of our best friends and favorite people are our closest neighbors (and Rhys’ buddies as well).
Hans is an aerospace engineer at The Boeing Company. He was born and grew up in Portland, Oregon and moved to California for college and then earned his MBA at USC. His parents and little sister still live in the pacific northwest and, under non-pandemic circumstances, we visit at least once a year. For now, we video chat with them weekly. Most people are impressed by Hans’ unusual height (he’s 6’9”!) and quickly grow to love his down to earth, even-keeled nature. He’s of course an athlete. He plays in two different basketball leagues (occasionally alongside retired NBA players!). He has also run eight half marathons, is a former Eagle Scout, and is a fabulous cook (Brianna has been a vegetarian for 20 years and as a family we eat mostly meat-free).
Brianna is a small animal veterinarian who practices conventional Western medicine as well as traditional Chinese veterinary medicine including acupuncture and the use of herbs. She grew up on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California, went to high school in Long Beach and moved to Kansas for medical school. Her parents, brother, and his family all live within five miles of our home (Rhys is very close with his two older cousins). Although Brianna was an athlete in her younger years (water polo and swimming), nowadays exercise typically revolves around our son (chasing, biking, roller skates, etc). She is Rhys’ primary caregiver; she has cut back her work schedule in order to focus on parenting our children. She is a healer at heart and will fight for those she cares for with amazing passion. If given free time you may find her reading a good book, snuggling our kitties, or organizing photos from a lifetime as a hobby photographer.
As a family we love the great outdoors. Both of us are SCUBA certified and have dove in South America, southern California and Hawaii together (Brianna also has Australia, Thailand and Florida under her belt!). We love to travel and can’t wait to get back to it when we are ready (we honeymooned in Ecuador, saw the total solar eclipse while in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru). Brianna’s family has a 100 year old cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that we regularly visit. Camping is our go-to weekend away (hello Joshua Tree National Park).
Closer to home, we regularly take advantage of the entertainment Los Angeles has to offer. We are members of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific and love to visit often. We’ve had season tickets to the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for years and this year we splurged for tickets to the Ahmanson Theatre in LA as well. Hans has had season tickets to Clippers Basketball for the past 18 seasons! We hope to raise our children by exposing them to a variety of activities.
We believe a family is made with love and a lot of work. Instilling a strong sense of community, compassion and hard work is important to us. We hope to teach our family the importance of caring for our planet and all of its inhabitants. But most of all we hope to create an honest, open relationship with our children and their birth family.
