Hello,

We are Jonathan and Christie. We were both born in Houston, Texas. Jonathan is the sixth of eight children in his family and they are all very close in age.  His brothers reside in Texas, Hawaii and California and all of his sisters live in Texas. Christie is one of two daughters in her family.  Her younger sister, Valerie, is engaged, has 3 children, is a homemaker and resides in Texas as well.

We met through mutual friends a year after high school.  We dated 16 months prior to getting married on August 13, 2005, in Katy, Texas.  Since that time, we have lived in Houston, Texas; San Diego, California; and Washington State.  We own a jiu-jitsu business together in which we are both instructors. 

After our days, in the evenings we enjoy cooking together, eating together, and enjoy relaxation time together. We love spending time in nature. On the weekends we like to hike, spend time outdoors, and go for long drives through beautiful Washington.  We believe our lifestyle is very conducive to parenting. 

We both enjoy our loving and supportive marriage and are super excited about adopting a child and becoming parents.

Jonathan had always thought about being a teacher and chose to pursue a degree in 2009.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities with a teacher certification in 2014, and has worked in education since then.  He has worked at elementary, middle and high schools at some point in his career. Currently, Jonathan is an art teacher at an elementary school and loves his work.  His teaching schedule is very compatible with raising children as he has weekends, holidays and summers off.

Christie is bilingual and speaks both English and Spanish. She has worked as a developmental preschool paraeducator and a PE teacher for 2 years at elementary school. During Covid, Christie went back to college and earned her master’s degree in elementary education from Western Governors University.  Christie has worked as a children’s jiu-jitsu coach at our small business since 2023.  She loves her work and believes it allows for an excellent work-life balance which will be wonderful when they adopt a child.

Jonathan is passionate, compassionate and driven.  He is an artist and also loves to play guitar and has done so for over 25 years.  Besides art, he loves to train jiu-jitsu, teach and coach jiu-jitsu, hike, camp, boat, and lift weights.  His lifestyle and interests align with his talents and hobbies.  He teaches art everyday as his day job, and in the afternoons, he and Christie exercise, train and instruct jiu-jitsu.

Christie loves to stay active and healthy.  She enjoys making her friends laugh, is a deep thinker and loves learning something new every day.  She loves listening to podcasts about jiu-jitsu and mysteries.  She loves to teach and train jiu-jitsu with her husband.  Christie loves reading, drawing, hiking, working out, lifting weights and teaching kids’ jiu-jitsu.  She also enjoys going on long drives and exploring Washington with her husband. 

Thank you for considering us.

Sincerely, Christie and Johnathan