Letter
Dear Expectant Parent,
For us, adoption is a way to share our blessings and be blessed in return by making our family a safe place for someone new to join.
We would like the opportunity to shape a child’s future on a permanent basis.
Excited and honored are the very first things we would like you to think of now that you’ve met us. We’re excited because we can’t wait to go on this journey with you. It will be an adventure for sure and we’re excited to experience it with someone who cares enough about their child to be willing to share this gift. We’re honored because you are willing to consider sharing this huge responsibility with us. We can’t imagine the path that brought you to us, but we’re so happy that your road has led to ours. We hope that you will share your journey with us so we can better understand the honor that we already feel and together we can go forward as a family.
Adoption for us stems from our passion for adventure. We’re having so much fun with each other and we feel that it’s important to share these experiences, and more importantly this spirit within us, with someone new to the world. We feel that the experience of life should be shared and growing our family from two to three is a big step towards that goal.
Our other inspirations for adoption come from our community. We have worked hard for and received amazing opportunities in life. Up until now we have tried to share our fortunate circumstances in any way we can. Nicola helps run a children's charity here in New York and Ben serves as a mentor for our friends’ kids. However, we realize that we would like the opportunity to shape a child’s future on a permanent basis.
Finally, our New York family and our nuclear families are additional sources of inspiration for our decision. Nicola has a large number of cousins (56 first cousins!), 4 of whom are adopted. Her grandmother was also adopted over to Northern Ireland after the Dublin fires. Our chosen family in NYC also includes many adoptees. The standout among them is Mike, Ben’s friend for over 15 years, who also happens to be married to Nicola’s best friend of over 20 years, Jenn. Mike and Jenn are the reason there is a “Nic and Ben.” We couldn’t ask for a better chosen family. Mike’s wonderful lifelong relationship with his adoptive parents has always stood out as a great example of what adoption could mean for our family.
For us, adoption is a way to share our blessings and be blessed in return by making our family a safe place for someone new to join.
Our Story
Our relationship is an adventure. We surprise each other every day and keep exploring the world together.
Our relationship began as an adventure.
Adventure: that is how we always describe our relationship. Our relationship began as an adventure. Nicola promised to take Ben out for poutine (delicious, we must try together). She was in San Francisco for work one Thursday and we were talking on the phone. Ben asked if she had plans for the next night. She joked that she would take him out for poutine if they were in the same city. Ben told her he’d see her the next day. He hopped on a plane, met her at her hotel, and they went out for poutine. It was a perfect first date.
We’ve been adventuring ever since. When Nic changed jobs and had two months off in between we went on an around-the-world adventure. We experienced diving the Great Barrier Reef, going on safari in South Africa, and swimming with giant manta rays in the Maldives.
Not all of our adventures are big ones. When Nic travels for work, we’ll often go together and explore a city. London is a favorite because of the food, theater and museums. Other high points were Abu Dubai, UAE, Madrid, Spain, and Marrakesh, Morocco.
Our wedding in 2018 came about because of a little adventure. We stopped in Iceland on our way to London and fell in love with it. Although we’d planned on a wedding in Brooklyn, we moved the party to Iceland and invited all our friends. 90 of them came and we spent a magical week surrounded by family and friends, exploring caves, waterfalls, indoor tomato farms and hiking across the continental divide.
Our relationship is an adventure. We surprise each other every day and keep exploring the world together.
We’ve been adventuring ever since. When Nic changed jobs and had two months off in between we went on an around-the-world adventure. We experienced diving the Great Barrier Reef, going on safari in South Africa, and swimming with giant manta rays in the Maldives.
Not all of our adventures are big ones. When Nic travels for work, we’ll often go together and explore a city. London is a favorite because of the food, theater and museums. Other high points were Abu Dubai, UAE, Madrid, Spain, and Marrakesh, Morocco.
Our wedding in 2018 came about because of a little adventure. We stopped in Iceland on our way to London and fell in love with it. Although we’d planned on a wedding in Brooklyn, we moved the party to Iceland and invited all our friends. 90 of them came and we spent a magical week surrounded by family and friends, exploring caves, waterfalls, indoor tomato farms and hiking across the continental divide.
Our relationship is an adventure. We surprise each other every day and keep exploring the world together.
Our Traditions
We‘d love to add another member to our family traditions.
Big families have big traditions, and we have a lot of both.
Big families have big traditions, and we have a lot of both. Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas are times that our extended families always celebrate together. The benefit of Nic being Canadian is that we have two thanksgivings (did you know Canadian thanksgiving is in October?!?!). When we get together with our family and friends, we often stuff ourselves with traditional food (Irish, Brazilian, Scandinavian and American), play games, and go on some sort of adventure. Sometimes we decorate a tree in the woods in Canada, hiking up a mountain in Wisconsin.
We also like to make a big deal of birthdays! Sometimes we take a trip up to Canada in the summer to celebrate Granny, Nora, and Owen on their birthdays, and this year Gary and Susan are coming to NYC to celebrate Ben and Susan’s birthdays in October.
Our traditions don’t have a lot of pomp and ceremony, but what they do have is a lot of family, food, fun, and most importantly being together. We‘d love to add another member to our family traditions.
We also like to make a big deal of birthdays! Sometimes we take a trip up to Canada in the summer to celebrate Granny, Nora, and Owen on their birthdays, and this year Gary and Susan are coming to NYC to celebrate Ben and Susan’s birthdays in October.
Our traditions don’t have a lot of pomp and ceremony, but what they do have is a lot of family, food, fun, and most importantly being together. We‘d love to add another member to our family traditions.
Thank You!
We like to run, hike, bike, lift weights, golf, and work out with friends.
. Our dream is to retire together, run a vineyard, and meet people from around the world, offering wine and tasty homemade baked goods.
We are a very active family and are always on the move. Nic is a collegiate runner and a big part of our life together is working out and staying healthy. We like to run, hike, bike, lift weights, golf, and work out with friends.
Nic is a master baker and many of our friends’ kids get a masterpiece of cake sculpture for their birthday. Sometimes that cake is a favorite cartoon character, or a theme cake on their newest obsession, and once it was even a cake carved to look like our friend. Nic also loves baking for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Canadian Thanksgiving, so we are usually up to our eyeballs in delicious treats.
Nicola is also an expert in wine and beer making and has completed all the courses required to become a sommelier. Our dream is to retire together, run a vineyard, and meet people from around the world, offering wine and tasty homemade baked goods. We even have a dream name, NicNac Snacks!
Ben loves woodworking and recently he’s been busily filling the house with handmade furniture to welcome our new arrival. Kids’ bunk beds coming soon!
Nic is a master baker and many of our friends’ kids get a masterpiece of cake sculpture for their birthday. Sometimes that cake is a favorite cartoon character, or a theme cake on their newest obsession, and once it was even a cake carved to look like our friend. Nic also loves baking for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Canadian Thanksgiving, so we are usually up to our eyeballs in delicious treats.
Nicola is also an expert in wine and beer making and has completed all the courses required to become a sommelier. Our dream is to retire together, run a vineyard, and meet people from around the world, offering wine and tasty homemade baked goods. We even have a dream name, NicNac Snacks!
Ben loves woodworking and recently he’s been busily filling the house with handmade furniture to welcome our new arrival. Kids’ bunk beds coming soon!