- New York -
Hi, we’re James and Keith and we’re so grateful that you’ve taken the time to learn more about us. We are a loving couple from NYC that met in 2010 and we hope that what you learn about us will help you get a clear sense of who we are, and the type of parents that we’d be.
Here's James's thoughts on Keith: My favorite thing about Keith is his sense of humor; how funny he is. He always makes me laugh, even if we’re in an argument. He has this ability to make life feel light, even when it’s heavy. He’s more adventurous than I am, but he’s still reliable and loyal. My favorite thing that we share together is our love for music - reggaeton and r&b being our favorites. Going to concerts together is one of our favorite things to do whenever we can, and they’ve been some of my most cherished times together. I’m always impressed by how smart he is, and how successful in his career. Every job he’s ever had, his bosses and coworkers love him. He handles stress better than I do. He loves languages and is trying to learn something new - he speaks fluent Portuguese and is taking Spanish classes now. I dream of the day I get to watch him as a dad, because I know he’s going to be a great one. I can see him being the type of dad that’s a good teacher - like teaching his kid how to cook (he’s an excellent chef), how to throw and catch (he played Football in high school), and how to speak Spanish and Portuguese. I can see him being the type of dad to make his kid feel safe and protected, loved and supported, taken care of when they’re feeling sick – because that’s what he does for me now. He’s a natural care-taker and always selfless.
Here's Keith's thoughts on James: It’s easy to take someone for granted after being with them for so long, but I am still constantly amazed by James. He has clarity of mind and a moral compass. He’s been such a force for good in my life. When he sets himself to something, he has such dedication, discipline, and fearlessness that it’s a wonder and inspiration to me. When there’s something that needs to be fixed, he’ll get to it right away. This straight-and-narrow description makes him sound dull, but he’s not. Somehow, he’s always the life of any party and builds time for life’s joys. Always pulling me out of my comfort zone, whether it’s to go to a social event or to jump into the ocean when it’s freezing cold. He is the most magnetic person I know. He has superhuman stores of energy to dedicate to those he loves, and still never tires in meeting and bringing new people into our life. In this way he’ll be an amazing father. There will be more love and energy to pour into a child. There will always be a to-do list of things he’s working on to make sure our house is a home. He’ll teach them how to swim, how to build, how to learn and grow, how to dream big. He’ll keep them on the right course but let them have their freedom. Any kid – whether they’re the sporty, bookish, theatrical, creative, the list goes on and on – would be lucky and supportive to have James as a dad.
Hi, we’re James and Keith and we’re so grateful that you’ve taken the time to learn more about us. We are a loving couple that met in May 2010 and we hope that what you learn about us will help you get a clear sense of who we are and the great parents that we’d be. We’re hopeful to establish a connection, that this is where our paths meet, and like all great stories it seems meant to be.
In deciding our path to parenthood, we talked to many beautiful families that were forged through adoption. While we’ll never know what it’s like to be in your shoes, we know considering adoption can be an enormously difficult decision, one that takes next-level maternal instincts and courage. We have always dreamed of being parents, even though that path to parenthood seemed unsure and sad at certain parts of our life, we want you to know how grateful we are that you are considering making us parents.
After reading about us, please reach out if you have questions or if you’d like to start talking and getting to know us better.
We want to build a family because we believe in our ability to love and raise a child and give him or her a happy, healthy, fulfilling life. We want to put into practice all the things our parents did for us, and watch them grow into their own individual selves with their own passions in life.
We feel so lucky to have built the life we have, and on top of that, we’re healthy and surrounded by the most important people in our lives – our family. Because we’ve been given so much in life, we want to share our lives with a child.
Our parents, teachers, family, and friends gave so much of their time, affection, and knowledge to make us the people we are today, and we want to be able to do that for a child too.
We want to give a child room to dream, make mistakes, learn and grow. We will challenge our child to be the best they can be, but let them take their own path through life. We will encourage an adventurous lifestyle, spending summers at the beach in nature, and the rest of the year in NYC, interacting with people from all walks of like and immersing themselves in all the cultural offerings. With 15 cousins (and counting?) across both our families, almost all of whom are right nearby in NJ and Long Island, our child will be surrounded by family and lifelong friends.
We live in Brooklyn in a neighborhood called Brooklyn Heights. It’s a great neighborhood to raise kids in – there are playgrounds everywhere, good schools, and lots of parks. We’re probably the minority not already having kids living here – everywhere you look are families enjoying the parks, picnicking, playing sports, walking to and from school.
We live in an old house that’s been split up into a few apartments, and we’re close with our neighbors downstairs who have two kids. Our landlord also raised her daughter here and still lives in the building.
We also have a small beach house on Fire Island, and spend our summers living there, working from home. Fire island is about 2 hours outside of the city off of Long Island, and is a beautiful beach that James’s family went to growing up (and still do).
We have a second bedroom in our apartment waiting for a child. Until that time it’s serving as a guest bedroom and office. We recently put in big plush carpet which we’re planning to spend lots of time rolling around and playing with a kid on.
James comes from a blended family, a Brady Bunch type situation. He grew up on Long Island near the beach. Swimming and the ocean was always a big part of his life – he spent the summers working as a lifeguard at the beach and was on the swim team through college. His mom Rita and Stepdad Frank have 7 kids together – Frank’s kids are Lara, Jen, Frankie, Sharon, and Rita’s other kids are Doug and Alexis.
They grew up together in the same house and are lucky, because they loved each other, and grew very close after all moving into the same house, even if Sharon’s bedroom was a hallway. Rita worked at a doctor’s office, and Frank worked as a construction engineer.
We came together every night for dinner, learned what it meant to work hard and provide for your family from watching our parents, and the house was always full of laughter. We hope to create the same vibes in our home as parents.
James’s parents and siblings are all still very close with each other today. He’d never even distinguish who is a step vs blood sibling because to him, they’re one family.
Lara, Jen, Sharon and Doug are married with kids ranging from the ages of infancy to 14, so if you were to help us become parents, your child would have a lot of cousins ready to play with.
All of James’s family, except for Doug (his job has him living overseas), still live out in Long Island a short drive away, and they spend lots of time together – nieces and nephews birthday parties at each others’ houses, holidays together, beach days in the summer.
James’s family is a huge, loving support system that is already raising our nieces and nephews together as one, and they’d be there for James + Keith too. Sharon likes to say “you guys are meant to be parents.”
Keith is the youngest of three and grew up in a quiet town in New Jersey where dinner was always at 6pm. His sister Rebecca, a Spanish teacher, inspired his love of languages early on, practicing her lessons on him and letting him listen to her Shakira’s greatest hits CD. Keith followed in the footsteps of his brother Sean in playing sports in high school. Keith’s dad worked at the post office, opening the office at 5am every morning, he’d finish his shift by 1pm allowing him to be a constant presence at all his sporting events. Alongside his mom, a piano teacher, they’d be the loudest ones, sometime’s to Keith’s embarrassment, cheering him on from the bleachers.
Rebecca and Sean are both married with 2 kids each, ages 3, 8, 12 and 13, and both live in New Jersey not far from where we grew up. When we spend holidays together, it’s usually in NJ at Grandma and Grandpa’s house where Keith grew up.
