The Chittisters:
A Web Site
Featuring Max, Robyn, & Jack!
Jack,

Robyn, and Max Chittister

(photo by JC Penney Portrait Studios, October 2007)

Greetings! We're Max, Robyn, and Jack Chittister. Welcome to our web site!

Jack's Page	Our House
Our Adoption Journey	Our Wedding
Related Links	Robyn's World

Special Report

Robyn updated the site in October 2007 and again for the New Year! Jinxy has her own page, and we've added pictures of Sassy. Check out the new pictures of our house and our wedding. We've created a links page to be like all of our friends. Robyn added some resources to the adoption portion of the site: in-depth information about our problems with ANLC, a list of agencies and adoption professionals that have come recommended from others, information about the adoption tax credit, and a list of questions to ask regarding what happens in the hospital. Robyn has also updated her section of the site, including her resume .

News

Our son Jackson Louis Chittister was born on January 17, 2006. Jack is 2 years old!
Jack is growing bigger, smarter, more mobile, and more talkative every day! Jack impressed family and friends in May 2007, when we traveled to the east coast, to attend the memorial service for Robyn's Aunt Lynn. Summer was full of going "kick kick" and "ow-side" (outside). We also entertained a few guests, Chris Connell from MA and Kellie Walsh from NJ.
Robyn is slowly starting her own business. Meant to Be: Adoption Profiles, Lifebooks, & More, will hopefully be operational at the end of 2008. In the mean time, she is looking to go back into writing. She specifically hopes to work for Google, should she be a technical writer again. She's also looking into non-profit organizations, to use her skills in marketing communications.
In January 2007, we adopted another cat. Jinxy, is now 2-1/2. She is a black tortoiseshell who belonged to our neighbors. Jinxy is outdoors as Sassy rules the indoors. They're getting used to each other enough that Jinxy can come inside occasionally, and she stays indoors at night.
Also, in the realm of pets, Max came home with a Betta fish, whom Jack named Okajima. Sadly, Max killed Okajima the first time he cleaned his bowl by using a conventional kitchen sponge. Not wanting to explain death to a not-quite-two-year-old, Robyn scoured Petco for a replacement. Okajima II has been alive for 4 weeks now. We hope he'll see many, many more seasons with us.

About Us

Max is a technical writer working for Expert Support. Robyn resigned her job as a technical writer in January 2005, and is now a stay-at-home Mom. We adopted our newborn baby boy, Jack in January 2006, and are having a lot of fun (and, yes, some frustration) being parents. We have two cats, Sassy and Jinxy. (Our lovely Nigel fish was buried at sea after dying on Friday, October 14.) We have one fish, Okajima II.

We met at Carnegie Mellon University. Max was a freshman and Robyn was a sophomore, both involved with Scotch 'n' Soda, CMU's student-run theatre organization. We became friends, and, on October 16, 1994, we became more than friends. Robyn graduated in 1997 and headed back to California, where she was a tech writer for Netscape, then Hotmail.

While at CMU, Max was one of the founding members of the improvisational troupe, The No Parking Players. We enjoyed our NPP reunions here every summer in New Hampshire. This year, due to my sister Ann's wedding, the reunion will be over New Year's. Max graduated in 1998 and moved to New Hampshire, where he became a technical writer for Oracle.

Robyn decided that she'd had enough smog and high rent, and moved to New Hampshire to be with Max in October 1998. Robyn worked for E-Travel for awhile, then Oracle bought E-Travel, and she transferred to DocTools. (In an interesting turn of events, not long after her transfer, Oracle spun off E-Travel.)

Max and Robyn were married on July 27, 2002!

In 2003, Robyn was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Due to her medical condition, we decide to move back to California. On August 4, 2004, our offer on a house in Antioch, CA was accepted! We moved to California on August 23, 2004.

The move was tough on our 7 year old cat, Katchoo. She died of complications due to liver disease early on Labor Day morning, 2004. We continue to miss her terribly. In November, we decided that we again wanted to be a two-cat household, and adopted Giles, an 8 month old kitten, from a local shelter. The vet failed to notice that he had a virus known as FIP. He died on February 11, 2005.

The year 2005 was spent organizing the house and pursuing adoption. We were matched with a courageous young woman in October 2005, and were present for the birth of our son, Jackson, on January 17, 2006. Sadly, Robyn's grandfather did not get to see his 9th great-granchild. He died on December 30, 2005; a great loss for all who knew and loved him.

Parenthood took up 2006! We were able to go to several weddings, and Robyn was in one. As 2007 began, we noticed that Robyn should probably go back to work. However, she had an idea: Adoption-related scrapbooking. We talked it over, and Robyn is starting her own business. Meant to Be: Adoption Profiles, Lifebooks, & More, will hopefully be online and operational at the end of 2008. As a part of that business, Robyn is now technically a Top Line Creations consultant (ID # 432770, if you'd like to purchase anything). Finances are such that Robyn will be going back to work for another company or organization in 2008. She is looking to pursue technical writing, with her background of 9 years in the field. She is also looking into non-profit organizations who may be looking for a communications writer. To help in her pursuits, Robyn has joined LinkedIn. It should be noted that Max also has a LinkedIn profile. Robyn and Max both write at LiveJournal, as rredhead and nppyinzer, respectively.

We are often asked if we still do theatre. We have not performed since moving. In 2003, Max played a young Albert Einstein in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, for which he earned an award nomination. Robyn was involved with the Nashua Theatre Guild, and directed the fabulous Talk Radio in spring 2002. She last had two lines (and a scream) as The Other Woman in NTG's production of Agatha Christie's The Witness for the Prosecution in April 2004. Further theatrical pursuits will depend on our parenting schedule.

Before We Were Max and Robyn

Max was born and raised in Pittsburgh (Pleasant Hills), PA. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, and was active in sports, band, and, of course, drama. He went on to CMU, where he majored in Professional Writing and Creative Writing. He has been a technical editor, newspaper columnist, and reporter.

Robyn was born and raised in Pleasant Hill, CA. She attended Christ the King School, then College Park High School . Never much for sports (though Max is teaching her the rules), she was quite active in drama and literary clubs. She chose CMU, mostly because her grandfather Joe Matoney went there when it was Carnegie Tech. She majored in Professional Writing and Performance Studies. She has spent almost 10 years being a technical writer, and is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom. She is currently looking for employment, and hoping to start a small business on the side.

Created and maintained by Max and Robyn
robyn@alumni.carnegiemellon.edu