Hello, Thank you for taking the time to get to know us and for considering our family. We respect your courage and strength to choose this selfless

Transcription

1 Brenda & Brian

2 Hello, Thank you for taking the time to get to know us and for considering our family. We respect your courage and strength to choose this selfless path for your child. Our hearts and prayers have led us to pursue adoption as a beautiful way in which to grow our family and we hope that we will be able to speak to your heart. We are Brenda and Brian and have been married for eleven years. We have twin daughters, Maeve and Mairead, who are almost five years old and are anxiously awaiting the day they become big sisters. We have built our lives around our faith, strong values, and family. We would like to tell you about ourselves, our life, and what we have to offer to a child. Our home is in a suburban neighborhood in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. When we bought our house, we immediately fell in love with it as we knew it was the perfect home to raise a family. It is nestled in a private, gated community, surrounded by towering trees, ponds, parks, and most importantly kids. Our home has a big family room, a great children s playroom, plenty of bedrooms, a huge backyard with a swing set, and a beautiful pool. We both have stable careers with successful, local companies providing our family with financial stability. Brian has a master s degree in business and has been vice president at a major, local financial institution for nine years. He enjoys the work he does and especially enjoys that he rarely has to travel and has the flexibility to sneak out early to attend family events. Brenda is a registered nurse working part-time at one of the top cancer hospitals in the country. She has been there for nine years. Brenda loves taking care of her patients, but caring for our family is her number one priority. She has flexibility in scheduling which enables at least one of us to be home with our children at all times, not having to rely on childcare. We both come from large, Catholic families where we were taught and valued respect, integrity, hard work, education, honesty, charity, and above all unconditional love and support for each other. These values are the guiding principles we apply in our lives and in raising our own family. It is that unwavering support, trusting and nurturing environment, safety, emphasis on Catholic values, encouragement to follow your dreams, and unconditional love that your baby will experience as a member of our family. We are family that loves and values traditions, having fun, laughing, traveling, trying new things, getting together for parties as often possible, and most importantly taking care of and supporting each other. Family is the center of our lives and we want to welcome a new baby to be a member of our loving family. We truly admire your strength, courage, and selfless act of love in choosing this path of adoption for your baby. We wish you support, love, and most importantly peace of mind and heart on you journey and in deciding what is best for your child. The following pages and pictures tell the story of us we hope that it speaks to your heart.

3 BRIAN & BRENDA, THE BEGINNING Having both grown up in different parts of New York, our lives took different yet similar paths until our paths finally crossed in the spring of 1999 when we met in an Irish pub on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. When Brian asked Brenda Have we met before? it was more than just a pick-line; in fact it was likely very true. After talking and laughing for hours, we discovered that not only had we gone to the same college, but that Brenda grew up across the street from Brian s aunt, uncle and cousins, and that that we have many friends and experiences in common. Our friendship and love for each grew quickly and we married two years later. We enjoyed living and working in New York City for our first several years of marriage. Together, we took advantage of and enjoyed all that the City had to offer including taking the subway to baseball games, seeing Broadway shows, museums, restaurants, concerts, cooking classes at culinary schools, wine tastings, walks across the Brooklyn Bridge, and biking in Central Park. One of our favorite things was to simply walk the streets of the different neighborhoods observing and absorbing the cultural diversity around us. On the weekends, we would make trips to the area beaches in the summer and to the mountains of Vermont for skiing in the winter with family and friends. For vacation we traveled to Europe and Florida to visit Brenda s family. Starting a family was a dream that we both shared and we envisioned our dream coming to fruition here in Florida. The close proximity to Brenda s family and the opportunity to provide ourselves and our children with the best life possible led us to plant our roots in this beautiful area. While the unexpected challenges of infertility temporarily altered our plans, we were blessed with the birth of our twin daughters in Now, as we grow our family, our hearts and our prayers have led us down this path to the beautiful gift of adoption.

4 ABOUT BRIAN.. Age: 38 Profession: Brian has a master s degree in business and is a Vice President at an investment banking firm in St. Pete, FL Background: Brian grew-up in Brooklyn, New York with a brother and two sisters. His parents emphasized family traditions, a strong work ethic, and Christian values. Growing up, Brian loved to play sports his favorite was rugby, which he played through high school, college, and up until a few years ago. Brian had the opportunity to travel around the world playing on a championship rugby team. What people say about Brian: Brian is easy going, even tempered, patient, smart and kind. He loves to tell stories (especially little Brian stories to our daughters) and make people laugh with his jokes and good sense of humor. Brian is very artistic and handy around the house. He can usually fix just about anything! At a first glance one might be intimidated by the 6 6 former world champion rugby and football player, but once you get to know him, it is obvious that while he might look big and tough, he is really a big, gentle teddy bear! He truly has the biggest heart and his capacity to love, provide for and protect those he loves has no bounds. His father always says that no one gives a hug like Brian does and his daughters and wife will attest to that. There is no question that when you are in his arms, that you are safe and loved.

5 In his free time: Brian continues to enjoy rugby, but now as a spectator and hopefully as a coach in the future. He enjoys playing golf with friends, mastering the art of grilling for family and friends, taking our dogs along with him for bike rides, going to our favorite teams sporting events, membership in the Knights of Columbus, and mentoring a child with special needs at local elementary school. Spending time with his wife and daughters are above all his most favorite and special of times. Brian has almost mastered the art of hair-braiding and naming all of the Disney princesses while he finds the most joy in the quite family activities such as reading bedtime stories, playing old maid, finger painting, and night time prayers. Being a Husband and a Father: Brian s most cherished roles are as a husband to his wonderful wife, Brenda, and father to his two beautiful daughters. Brian considers the gift of his family to be the greatest and most wonderful blessing of his life. The joy and fulfillment he receives from this gift is unparalleled. Brian takes the responsibility and challenges that come with this role very seriously. He has been blessed with innate qualities and gifts that make him a wonderful husband, father and provider. It is with great enthusiasm, joy and anticipation that he longs for the day that he can meet his next son or daughter.

6 ABOUT BRENDA.. Age: 39 Profession: Brenda has a bachelor s degree in nursing and is a Registered Nurse at a top cancer and research hospital in Tampa, FL. Background: Brenda grew up in Long Island, New York with a younger brother and five younger sisters. As the older sister to six siblings, from an early age she has always been a care-giver, nurturer and referee. Brenda s Irish and Italian heritage has always been an important part of her life and identity and has helped shape the person she is today. Her Catholic faith and strong family values have been the cornerstone of her family life and upbringing. What do people say about Brenda: Brenda is kind, smart, creative, loving and her family and friends biggest supporter. She is patient, compassionate and listens to others with a nonjudgmental and honest heart. Brenda is a genuine and generous person who always tries to see the best in people and in any situation. Her innate qualities paired with her experiences as a nurse make her well-equipped to handle a crisis or emergency. She always remains calm and rational in the face of chaos or turmoil. Brenda is very passionate about her beliefs and about providing for and protecting those she loves.

7 In her free time: First and foremost, Brenda s time is spent being a caring, supportive wife and mother providing a loving and stable home for her family. Quiet family time and family activities are what bring joy to her life every day and she would not change that for the world. Some other activities that she enjoys are getting together with her friends or sisters for a girls night. Whether that is going out for some good food and good wine, shopping, getting some pampering done (or self- preservation as it s sometimes called!) or just getting together to chat and laugh. Brenda loves playing tennis, taking long walks on the beach, and listening to and dancing around to her favorite music. Brenda enjoys hosting parties and cooking, especially recreating her Italian family s traditional meals. Brenda spends much time volunteering in our parish and in our daughter s school doing fund raising events and helping out in the classroom, music or art classes. Being a Wife and Mother: Brenda is a lot of things to a lot of people in her life and for this she is forever grateful and blessed. A compassionate, caring nurse, a trustworthy friend, the oldest (and wisest!) sister of seven, a devoted daughter, Godmother of three, and above all a wife and mother. There is no greater blessing in the world and no greater calling than that of being a wife and mother. Her heart is full of joy, hope and love and is waiting for the chance to share that with another child.

8 OUR CHILDREN.. We have been blessed with twin daughters, Maeve and Mairead, who are now four and half years old. They are happy, healthy and well-adjusted. They are tall for their age and amazingly intelligent, creative, imaginative and kind children. Their school principal just today described them as never having a bad day, always smiling and full of joy. Maeve is fiercely independent, generous and intelligent. She enjoys meeting new people and making new friends. Maeve loves learning about and exploring nature, playing outside, and getting messy in the dirt while planting flowers and trying to catch bugs. She has an amazing memory, has great critical thinking skills and is very artistic. She excels at drawing and writing. She loves to play games, dress up and put on shows with her sister. Mairead is tender, caring and compassionate. She is boisterous, can strike up a conversation with both children and adults alike, and loves trying new activities. She tends to jump right into things and always makes an effort to include everyone in activities. Mairead is very good at following directions and loves to be helpful around the house. She loves to sing, dance, and play sports with the boys. One of her favorite activities is choreographing shows with her sister and dressing up fancy. Brian and Brenda both attended Catholic school and value the importance of a Catholic education. All of our children will also attend Catholic school. As parents we value the importance of giving our children opportunities to explore different activities and foster their individual talents. Our daughters participate in music, art, and dance classes, swimming lessons, and play on a soccer team. These are opportunities we would like to give to another child. Having grown up in large families and having younger siblings ourselves, we know about the importance of being loving, supporting, role models for younger siblings. We see those important and innate qualities in our daughters and it warms our hearts. We are confident that Maeve and Mairead will be the very best big sisters to a new baby in our lives. We have been praying as a family daily that God will send us a new baby. We know that they will be overjoyed when that day comes, as will we.

9 TOGETHER.. As a family each individual plays an important role and has responsibilities for themselves and to each other. As parents we encourage individuality in our children while we value time together as a family above all. While at home we love spending time reading together, sharing stories about our day, giving thanks at meal times, playing board games, baking together especially around the holidays, doing arts and craft projects, and having family movie nights. We enjoy gardening in our yard, swimming in our pool, playing fetch with our dogs and taking them for walks around the neighborhood. One of our favorite things to do is open our home to friends and family for play dates, Sunday dinners, and celebrations. We enjoy taking outdoor adventures together, going to the beach, traveling, exploring the many parks around us, off-roading in our Jeep, going to amusement parks, outdoor art shows, music concerts, bike riding, playing tennis, and supporting our favorite sports teams. Our Catholic faith is central to our lives and teaching our children about our faith, Catholic values and God is most important to us. We pray together daily, attend mass weekly as a family and participate in parish/ school activities and events as often as possible. We continually teach our children that we are all created in God s image and likeness and to treat others as they would like to be treated themselves.

10 OUR FAMILIES.. Our families have been so supportive of our decision to grow our family through adoption. Our Catholic values and strong belief in protecting unborn children is one the core values that we all share. There is one great grandmother, six grandparents, nine aunts, four (soon to be five) uncles, seven cousins, two big sisters, and a mom and dad who are just waiting with an open mind, open arms, and most importantly open hearts to welcome a baby into our lives and love them unconditionally.

11 While we are fortunate that some of our family lives in close proximity to us here in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, we also have family members living in different parts of the country. We enjoy taking trips to visit our family in these different areas while taking advantage of the activities and experiences that are unique to those locations. Our daughters by the young age of four have experienced snow higher than their heads, traveling through New York City in subway cars and taxi cabs, ferry boats around Massachusetts, museums and monuments in Washington DC, boogie boarding in the Atlantic Ocean, college football games in Texas, and dinner in a castle with the Disney princesses, just to name a few! These enriching, life experiences and memories are helping our children grow and develop into well-rounded individuals while teaching them to appreciate the different wonders of our beautiful and diverse country. We have so many more places to explore, experiences to share, and memories to make as a family and would be overjoyed to be able to share them with another child. We are a family that loves and values traditions, having fun, laughing, traveling, trying new things, getting together for parties as often possible, and most importantly taking care of and supporting each other. Family is the center of our lives and we want to welcome a new baby to be a member of our loving family.

12 OUR HOME.. Two years ago we bought our dream home. It is a spacious, modern, safe, newly renovated, five bedroom, five bathroom, two story home. We bought this home with our children in mind and dreams of filling it with more children. There is also plenty of room to accommodate family who visit throughout the year. Our home has a large, warm, inviting kitchen/ family room where we spend most of our time together as a family. There is a kids playroom that is a safe, fun, sunny place filled with lots of toys, books, games, musical instruments, and arts supplies. Despite having a designated playroom, scooter races, marching bands, character parades and dance parties equipped with a light up disco ball tend to pop up anywhere around the house! We would not have it any other way! One of our favorite things about our home is our beautiful, spacious backyard. We have a large, covered patio that is perfect for bbq s with friends and family. Beyond that area is a large pool surrounded by a safety gate. We have a large, fenced backyard with lots of grass and trees which is perfect for playing hide and seek, soccer and driving around in a kid s power wheels. There is also large swing set that is a favorite among neighbor children.

13 Our promise We thank you again for taking the time to look through our profile and for getting to know our family. We promise to provide your child with unwavering support, a trusting, safe, and nurturing environment, encouragement to follow their dreams, every opportunity to maximize their potential, emphasis on strong Christian values, and above all unconditional love. We admire your strength, courage, and selfless act of love in choosing this path of adoption for your baby. Our prayers are with you and your baby on this journey. We hope that you follow your heart and our prayer is that it leads you to our family.