Our Love Story:
Tony:
When Kimberley and I met, we knew we were blessed with something special. Both of us are Christ followers and we love to spend time serving others. Early in our relationship we spent a week as camp counselors for foster children. That's when I really saw my future wife's heart for caring for others. She spent hours playing dress up with her camper, Sarah. Sarah liked putting on high heels and "big girl" dresses and there was my wife dressed in pumps way too big and a lacey dress from the dress up bin. They were side by side the entire week with glowing smiles. It warmed my heart to know that my wife would someday be a sweet-loving mother to our children. Now I watch her nurture our son Jake and it is obvious that she loves being "Mommy." She spends time teaching him to read and write, draw and paint, and to enjoy learning. My wife has made friendships with other moms and their children and they all enjoy having play dates at local parks and adventuring out to places like children's museums, theme parks, and tours of our local fire and police stations. She is patient and kind.
Kimberley:
During our first date, Tony and I talked and talked until the restaurant had cleared out, but I didn't even realize everybody had gone. Tony described his passion for helping the orphans, sick and poor people of India and shared how he was helping drill water wells for villages without safe water. In addition to that, he spoke of mentoring the children at Minnie Street in Santa Ana. I listened with admiring ears. I was attracted to his smile, long eyelashes, and warm heart. It wasn't the kind of attraction like looking at a model in a magazine, but the kind that comes from your heart and makes your stomach flutter. He was secure and direct with his intentions for us, and I finally fell in love with the "nice guy." We traveled to India shortly after our first wedding anniversary and served the people by sharing our faith in Jesus, distributing medicine to the sick, and bringing gifts to the orphans. Now, eight years later, I fell in love with him all over again, seeing him make our son a priority in his life. Every Saturday morning, Tony gets up before everyone and makes us a pancake breakfast. He loves teaching Jake how to play golf, baseball, and soccer, and takes him to building classes to make toys out of wood and nails. He is a loving husband and father who spends quality time with his family.
Our Adoption Story:
Among the many passions and desires that Tony and I share, it has always been our goal to adopt children and provide them with a loving, nurturing, accepting family and love a birthmother. We shared this desire with each other, one night talking, while we were dating, but little did we know God was preparing our hearts for what would be our only way of building a family. We have bonded closer together through our infertility treatments, and the rollercoaster of our emotions that went along with that. We now have a fun-loving son who we adopted from birth. And we are praying for another baby to adopt into our family.
We are now ready for God's will and pray for Him to connect us with a birthmother that we can cherish and another baby who we can love forever. Tony and I are compassionate about the decision you are facing. We hope that this information has helped you get to know us better and that in your heart you will know that we are the loving parents you are searching for to embrace you and provide a lifelong commitment to raising your child. We have trust that God will answer our prayers.
Openness to Birth Parents:
We are open to having a relationship and share photos when requested. We maintain a family blog that we are happy to share, too. When your child has questions we will answer them honestly, and will share with them the positive traits you have and how you made a selfless decision out of your love for them. While we don't know all that God has planned, we know his will is for good. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. We would be grateful to share more about us with you and answer any questions that you might have. May God bless your life and be with you.
Child:
Our son, Jake, is a fun-loving boy who loves to play outside with his Hot Wheels, Tonka trucks and sand toys. When he says his prayers before bedtime, he always asks God to bring our family a baby brother or sister to play with and love. Jake is happy, kind, energetic, and outgoing.
Childcare Plans:
Kim will be home five days a week to care for our family. Two days a week, our neighbor, who is a loving and licensed day-care provider, will nurture our children. We are fortunate to have many holidays throughout the year to spend together, in addition to our summers. We will take time away from work when the baby is first born. Tony's mom loves being a grandma and often comes to spend time with our son. She will be excited to have a new baby to spend time with too!
Our Home:
When we were looking to buy our house, we wanted to buy a home in an area where our future kids could walk to their school and play at the nearby parks. Our neighborhood school is a Blue Ribbon Award winning school that is just a stroll along the greenbelt at the end of our street. We enjoy playing at the toddler lot, swimming in the pool, and taking bike rides in our neighborhood.
Our home has a great room where the family room connects to the dining room and kitchen and is perfect for times when our nieces, cousins, grandmother, parents, siblings, and aunts & uncles come to be altogether. We enjoy playing in our grassy backyard with friends and our cousins. Jake enjoys blowing bubbles with his friends, playing with the plastic bat & balls, running through the sprinklers and chasing our dog, Rusty in our backyard. We are excited to share the neighborhood parks, swimming, and playground equipment with our family.
We like to share our home with others. During the holidays, we have family over for dinner and spend time together playing games, watching sports, laughing, and telling stories. This past Christmas we shared our adoption plans and our families are so excited about having another adopted child to love. We love carrying on our family traditions of eating way too much food during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tony has a soft spot for pumpkin pie and I love cheese ball with crackers. We often have friends over for backyard barbeques. When our nieces and cousins come over, you will find us in the backyard running around with the dog, playing baseball, or swinging on the swing. Our neighbors are sweet and we have them over for dinners and they invite us over to their homes, too. God has blessed us with a warm house to share with those we love.
Pets:
Rusty, is our friendly, golden retriever, who loves to play with kids, catch the Frisbee, and swim in the ocean. He loves the beach like a child loves Disneyland.
Financial:
We decided to pursue careers based on our passion for helping children. We were both in management positions in our business careers and decided to go back to school to become teachers. We did this before we knew each other. We both love to teach and find it rewarding to have a positive impact on our students. It is an amazing feeling when a parent tells you how much their child enjoys your class and how school has become fun and challenging versus boring and a drag. During Tony's first year teaching second grade, I had a student named Taylor and his younger brother had died from a drowning accident the previous year. He was having a hard time coping. Tony was able to connect with Taylor and help him reach his potential that year. Taylor blossomed and became a successful student in many ways. Later, Taylor's parents told Tony that his year in my class was a "breakout year" for him and that I had a huge impact on his life. There is no way to express how that makes you feel as a teacher and as a human being. Our jobs are secure and stable and provide us with the financial security to raise a family and allow Kim to work part-time. We enjoy our summers off to spend having fun with our family and friends.
