Nick & Kate
Hello! We’re Kate and Nick. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn more about our family. We have a biological son, Jack and daughter Nora who we adopted as an infant. We have always wanted to expand our family through adoption and have had wonderful experience on our adoption journey with Nora. We look forward to sharing our love with a new baby soon. If you choose our family, you will know with certainty that we will provide for every aspect of the baby’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being each and every day. We are so in love with Jack and Nora and cannot wait to embrace a new little one into our caring family.
In the Beginning
We met during college while we were participating in Dance Marathon, a charity that raises money for children with cancer. We had an instant connection that continued to grow while we dated for several years. We moved to North Carolina in 2000 when Nick took a job with a large computer company and Kate began law school. In 2002, we went to California and Nick proposed on a sunny day outside during a picnic lunch at a winery in Napa Valley. We were married in 2003 in the church where Kate’s grandparents and parents were also married.
About Us
Nick’s words about Kate:
Kate is a wonderful mom to Jack and Nora and a supportive wife to me. She works part time as an attorney. Most days she spends time playing with Nora and Jack. They love to go to the park, music class at the library or just playing at home. Jack and Nora love their Mama and I could never do what I do without Kate’s unwavering support. She is the most positive person I have ever met and I am honored to be her partner.
Kate’s words about Nick:
Nick is such an amazing dad. His favorite part of the day is the time that he spends with his son. Nick’s the kind of dad who goes to every pediatrician appointment, preschool recital and takes time to play and love Jack and Nora each day. Even if Nick is helping Jack brush his teeth they’re also singing a song and being silly. He spends so much time each day holding Nora and cuddling with her. As a result, he has an incredible bond with the children. Jack roars with laughter as soon as he sees Nick and Nora’s face lights up. I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful partner in Nick. He truly is my best friend and strongest supporter.
Big Brother, Jack writes to the new baby:
Hi, I’m Jack. I am almost four. My baby sister, Nora can’t talk yet. So, I’m going to write for both of us. For my birthday, mom and dad are hosting a fun, pajama party for me and my friends. Mama and Daddy always make a big deal out of our birthdays with balloons and friends and they bake special cupcakes. One year, Mama even made some that looked like little monkeys. Everyone always comments about how happy we are. We laugh and smile most of the time. I am so excited to be a big brother. It is the best! I love, love, love my baby sister, Nora. My favorite thing to do as her big brother is to hug and kiss Nora. I plan to teach her lots of fun things like how to ride a bike and play soccer.
During the week, I spend 3 hours a day, three days a week at this super fun preschool near our home. My teachers are so great and I have met tons of new friends. We have so much fun playing musical instruments. On the 3 days per week that both of my parents are at work, Nora and I spend time with Marcie (Kate’s mom). We read books, feed the ducks at the lake and go to the library for song time. She loves us so much and we feel like the luckiest little boy and girl in the world when we’re with her. If you pick our Mama and Daddy, I know our baby sibling will be just as happy as we are.
Our Family
Family is our most important priority. We have so many fun family, holiday and seasonal traditions that we have created over the past ten years. At Halloween we host a pumpkin carving party every year with our friends. Everyone dresses up and we drink hot apple cider and eat caramel apples. Each year, we host Thanksgiving at our home and invite family, neighbors and friends to enjoy an outdoor movie on a screen in our backyard.
We dress warmly, make s‘mores and gather around an outdoor fire. Every Christmas, we load up the car and drive to Pennsylvania to visit our extended families. The past two years we were lucky to get tons of snow. Jack thought snowball throwing was really cool! We head to Pennsylvania each Easter for a huge Easter egg hunt with our sister in law Natasha’s family. Last year they had 20 children searching the back yard for eggs – how fun!
In addition to the holidays, we enjoy celebrating birthdays with family and friends. We have cake, colorful balloons and a festive party for each of our birthdays – including our dogs! Kate makes our favorite dinner and we enjoy creating special birthday memories together as a family. When Kate was studying for the bar exam, Nick amazed her with a surprise birthday party. She was studying so hard that she didn’t notice all the behind-the scenes planning that he did.
Fun Times
We love, love, love to travel. Over the ten years that we’ve been together, we have visited Italy, England, Curacao, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, California, Mexico and many other places. Kate’s mom owns a place on the Carolina Coast so we spend almost every weekend at the beach during the summer season. Since we spend a lot of time at the beach in the summer, we have many family members visit to spend time with us. Nora and Jack loved spending time at the beach again this year. Playing in the sand, relaxing on the beach or swimming in the waves are some of our favorite things to do. The whole family enjoyed a Caribbean Cruise to celebrate New Year’s Eve one year. Jack loved the huge ship and everyone had a great time.
Many of our closest friends live within walking distance of our home. Almost all of our couple friends had a child in the past year, so Jack and Nora have many friends to play with. We are members of our neighborhood swimming pool; when we are not at the beach we spend our weeknights at the pool swimming and grilling out with friends.
We also love the outdoors and are a very active family. We like to take Jack and Nora on hikes with our two dogs, Ernie and Lucy. They are both friendly and love Jack and Nora to pieces. Nick and I have done triathlons and look forward to continued walks, races, swimming and activities with Jack, Nora and the new baby. Jack is really getting the hang of his bike. We have a special stroller for Nora to enjoy outside time while Jack is riding his bike. Soon we will be able to go on rides together as a family.
We are blessed to have Kate’s mom Martha (Jack calls her Marcie) live across the street from us. She is an incredible person who taught kindergarten for almost thirty years before she retired. Martha is a tremendous support to our family. We enjoy hiking with her on the weekends, going to church together every Sunday, and are generally in and out of each other’s homes on a daily basis. Kate and Martha have an incredibly close bond. Nick and Martha also have a wonderful relationship and get along more as friends than as mother and son-in-law. Marcie is thrilled to have another grandchild to love as much as Jack and Nora.
Eight years ago, Kate’s dad Marlin was diagnosed with Cancer. He was very young and we were all shocked, but we rallied as a family to support his treatment. Kate’s family is very close-knit. Her brother was deployed in the military that year-so it was very tough. Martha and Marlin moved in with Kate and Nick for support and to spend time together while Marlin underwent chemotherapy. Kate and her mom went to every single doctor’s appointment, chemo and radiation appointment with Marlin. After a valiant fight of nearly a year Marlin passed away two weeks after we were married. His passing was a tragedy but his loving memory remains vivid in our family. He was an incredible man; we intend to teach Jack and Nora all about his Grampa Marlin as he grows.
Nick is an only child and his parents (Gran and Pappy as Jack calls them) love Nora and Jack very much. They’re both down on the floor playing with the kids as soon they see them. They were elementary school teachers for over 35 years and naturally love children. Both are still involved in volunteering with kids at a community center near where they live. Gran and Pappy love Nora and Jack like no other and cannot wait to embrace the new baby into the family.
Kate’s brother Sean is one of Jack’s favorite people. Sean calls Jack and Nora almost every day, and leaves them silly answering machine messages pretending to be Bob the Builder, Curious George, or a pretend robot that Jack loves, “Ron Robot”. Sean and his wife Natasha visit so often that Jack was convinced they lived at the Carolina beach. Sean and “Tash” and are a great influence in Jack’s and Nora’s life and look forward to meeting the new baby.
Our Home
We have a warm and welcoming home that is full of colors, interesting souvenirs from our vacations and usually friends and family. We are very social and love to invite our friends and neighbors to share meals and have fun. Our home is spacious with plenty of room for children. There is a large swing set in the backyard with a tree house style fort, three swings (one for Nora), a fire pole, a rope ladder and a large slide that Jack loves. We live near several shopping areas (we often walk to the grocery store with Jack), parks and excellent schools. Our neighborhood is safe, family-friendly and full of kids.
Our Faith
We are Christian and belong to an ethnically diverse church that fosters a spirit of community and helping others. We volunteer at the local food bank regularly in addition to a local women’s shelter. Our parents taught us to have a kind and generous spirit and share our blessings with others. We treat others with respect and dignity and strive to teach Jack to do the same. Jack has three Godparents – Kate has two cousins (they’re more like sisters) who are his godmothers and Kate’s only brother, Sean, is Jack’s godfather. He adores Jack and visits often with his wife Natasha. Nick is an only child, and his best friend from childhood, Rob, is sort of like a brother. We were honored when he and his wife, Jess, asked us to be the Godparents of their son, Leo. Rob and Natasha are Nora’s Godparents. They are thrilled to play this important role in her life and have shown her so much love and kindness.
About Adoption
We always felt a calling to welcome a baby into our loving family through adoption and we would be honored to be selected by you. Our family will shower your baby with love and happiness. We look forward to joyfully welcoming a baby of any race into our family. If you choose us, you can know with certainty that he or she will be raised in a safe, healthy, warm, stable and fun environment. We have so much respect for you and the difficult choice that you are selflessly making on behalf of your baby. We hope that you will find peace and comfort about your decision. Thank you so much for taking the time to consider our family.
If you’d like to learn more about this family contact us by either calling our birthmother hotline operator at 1-877-890-4673 (HOPE) or by e-mailing us.