Greetings to You!
Hello!
Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little more as you decide on the next steps in your adoption journey. We understand that you have many things to consider right now and that this is the biggest decision of your life. Our hearts are with you, while we are also hoping we might be the family you are looking for.
We have something special to offer you, which we want to bring to light. Angela herself is adopted! She has a wonderful adoptive family and is part of an open adoption. That we have a deep understanding of what this situation means for you and your child. In our home, your child’s adoption will be normal, and something shared with Angela.
So let’s continue to share with you the details of our lives, hopes and dreams in this adoption profile, and if we are the right family for you, we look forward to hearing from you!
Tom & Angela
About Us – by us both
Tom is 41 and is a United Church minister, and Angela is 43 and is a Developmental Services worker, working with developmentally challenged individuals. Most of all, we are compassionate people with a desire to make our community a better place to live.
As a couple, we believe it’s important to work together as a team. Every day, we make meals and eat together at the dining room table, where we chat about our days. We also enjoy travelling, whether it be a day trip, a road trip or travelling abroad.
We both come from small but very close-knit families. We enjoy celebrating holidays with our families. We are lucky in that we don’t have to decide which family we are going to see since we get to spend time with both. We enjoy family traditions and big turkey dinners with all the trimmings. We value our time together as it is always filled with fun, laughter and many memory-making moments.
A Happy Marriage – by Tom
We admit it: we are fun-loving and often goofy as a couple, seeing the humour in every day together. We make a great team. We balance each other out with our introverted and extroverted qualities. Hugs, holding hands and doing things for each other are the ways we show that we care about each other.
It’s important to both of us that each other’s feelings are acknowledged, so we make sure we are always open to talking about our feelings. We respect each other’s thoughts and opinions, and we can always find a common ground to agree upon. We both understand that relationships and marriage require commitment, and our marriage is our top priority.
Angela – by Angela
Hello! My name is Angela and I have so much to tell you. Where to start … ☺
I enjoy activities like hiking and being adventurous, often trying new things such as tree-top trekking, rock climbing and taking cooking classes. I also love reading and Jodi Piccoult is my favourite author. I really like board games and have a huge collection of them. We love to host game-night dinners for our friends and their kids on the weekends. Whether it be going to the movies, having dinner out or catching up over a coffee, it’s so important to me to stay connected to those I love. Many of my friends are people I have known since I was in Grade 1. My dad likes to tell people that I collect friends because, wherever I go, I make new ones.
My favourite thing about Tom is that he is playful and easy-going but also chivalrous and caring. He’s also a good listener and very empathetic.
Tom – by Tom
Hey there, it’s Tom. I’m 41 years old, but I have a child-like wonder of the world. I grew up in rural Ontario, spending much of my youth in forests, either camping or just wandering.
While pursuing a university degree in cognitive science, I felt a call to ministry, and with the help of family, friends, and colleagues, I was ordained to the ministry of the United Church in 2018. I really appreciate this calling and this life I have been blessed with.
As hobbies, I enjoy painting miniature figures. Sometimes, I’ll even play tabletop games with them. I enjoy practicing yoga and Capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that focuses on cooperative, playful movement. I love singing and playing instruments. I also quite enjoy gardening.
I admire and love my wife. Angela is always ready to help a friend, she’s very loyal, and she loves supporting other people. She will make an amazing mom; I know it in my heart.
Parenting Views – by us both
We were both raised in loving, child-centred families, and we would like to model our parenting style after our own upbringings. Our parents used logical consequences, talking, and having clear rules and expectations, so we were always able to succeed within a safe and consistent framework.
We believe that good parenting involves loving and nurturing a child fully, exactly as that child is. We believe in open communication, building trust, giving the child a positive upbringing, providing good morals and values, and nurturing their independence along the way.
If discipline is required, we believe in loss of privileges and logical consequences, as well as talking about the incident afterwards and making sure the child ALWAYS feels loved.
We plan to be involved in your child’s learning experiences by reading together, doing homework together, and by exposing them to a wide range of other activities based on their interests.
Our Home – by Tom
Our home was the home of Angela’s grandmother, and in 2009; she purchased it from her grandmother. Talk about history!
Our home is a 3-bedroom bungalow with a finished basement. Our walls are covered with family photos, mementos from our wedding, meaningful pieces from different artisans, and original artwork from our friend’s children.
The backyard is fenced in and has two large trees where we like to hang a hammock in the summer. We also like to have friends and family over for BBQs in the summer and a relaxed evening in our gazebo.
We live close to shopping centres, the YMCA, several libraries, and an Ontario Early Year Centre. As well, our home is within walking distance to the elementary and high school your child would attend.
We also have a small home office for the days when we work from home, so taking care of your little one on sick days is the easiest of tasks for us.
Patches – by Angela
Angela got Patches from the pet store when he was 10 weeks old, and life hasn’t been the same since! We laugh at his daily antics: he finds the most comfortable spots in the house to curl up, and he protects us from the squirrels in the backyard. ☺
Patches has been around babies, toddlers and older children, and he will offer your child many giggles. Tom carries him in his housecoat as if he were a kangaroo! Patches is always the first one to climb into the summer hammock when we hang it in the back yard.
The Beauty of Adoption – by Tom
We always talked about adoption as an option to grow our family. Being adopted and being brought up in a loving home and having such a positive upbringing, Angela knew it was something that she had always wanted to do. Of course we tried to have children on our own first, but that didn’t work out for us. We think this was meant to be. With Angela being adopted, and having such a wonderful life and experience, we believe this is how our family is made to come together.
Angela was adopted on June 1st, and that date was always celebrated as a Special Day. It was like having a second birthday. She got to pick a restaurant, she got a card and a gift, and of course an adoption cake. Her family refers to it as her “gotcha” day. Whether we call it a “special day” or a “gotcha day,” it will be a tradition that we happily pass down to our adopted child.
Thinking of You
Our goal for raising your child is to bring them up with the same values that were instilled in us by our own parents: to treat others with respect, to pursue their own interests, to connect to a faith community that inspires them to live out their faith and to give them a sense of belonging, a sense of their history and to always be open about their adoption story. Most importantly, we will make sure your child always feels loved! Our family life is, and will always be, filled with love, laughter and lots of memory-making adventures.
