Simon & Amy

Dear Birth Mother,

Hello! Our names are Simon & Amy. Thank you from for considering us to be the adoptive parents of your child. We are beyond excited to become parents and have been dreaming about the day we could hold a baby in our arms and provide all the love in our hearts to that child.

We admire you for your strength and courage, and cannot imagine the emotions you must be going through as you pick the right family to raise your child.

We feel very lucky and honored that you have taken the time to learn more about who we are, our home, family, friends, and hopes and dreams of providing a caring and loving home for your child.

We met 16 years ago through mutual friends back on the east coast in New York, where we both grew up. Our first date was dinner at a very quaint restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey and afterwards we saw a really funny movie (American Pie). The date was amazing, and we quickly found ourselves spending all our time together.

Fast forward four years after we met, we were married in the most romantic, picturesque setting in Paradise Valley, Arizona, surrounded by our family and closest friends. It was truly a magical day for both of us.

We are both very close to our families and have an amazing group of friends. We enjoy spending time with both our family and friends as much as we can

We waited a few years to start our family in order to build a strong foundation and support structure for our children’s future, but discovered that we cannot have kids. We have adopted friends, and realized the blessing of being adopted, and knew this is the way we wanted to start our family.

Fun Facts About Simon and Amy

• Amy: Studied abroad in Luxembourg for a school semester
• Simon: Played Soccer competitively abroad for the summer at age 16
• Amy: Learned French and was in Chorus during HS
• Simon: Learned Spanish, Played Trombone was in Chorus in HS
• Amy: Helps run a charity on a monthly basis
• Simon: Enjoys running and has completed several half marathons.
• Amy: Cooks very healthy meals and is extremely passionate about health & nutrition
• Simon: Attended a taping of the Big Bang Theory and met the entire cast.
• Amy: Attended the season finale of American Idol.

 Favorite Activities Together

• Going to the Hollywood bowl and having a picnic
•     Walking the trails by the ocean in Santa Monica
• Going to the Farmers’ markets
• Attending weddings all over the country
• Exploring new cities
• Watching our favorite tv shows together

I grew up in Westchester County about 45 minutes north of New York City. Growing up, I was always a really good student and took pride in doing well in school.

My favorite memories as child were trips to Disney and sleep away camp in Pennsylvania. We also spent our summers boating and our winters ice skating & skiing.

As I got older, I was actively involved in the drama club and music was a big part of my life even though I wasn’t the most talented kid. I took a great interest in immersing myself in other cultures, and my family was actively involved in hosting foreign exchange students. I also had the amazing opportunity to do the same and was hosted by a wonderful family in Finland for a summer.

Amy’s Career

I went to college at Miami University and graduated with a Marketing and International Business degree and had the wonderful opportunity to live abroad in Europe for 6 months.

Over the last several years, I enjoyed my business career working at L’Oreal and then later in Residential Real Estate. Now, I am planning to be at stay at home mom when the baby comes.

Why I love Amy, Written by Simon

I met Amy through one of my close college friends, who grew up with Amy in New York. When I first was introduced to Amy, I knew she was the one for me. She was pretty, outgoing, smart, and glowing!

Amy radiates a very welcoming, warm, and happy energy that is second to none. My first date confirmed this, and after 12 years of marriage – she continues to radiate that same positive, warm, and happy energy that makes everybody around her feel good about themselves, especially me.

Amy is not only a wife to me, but also my best friend. She is always supportive in any thing I do, but is vocal when she needs to be. Amy is an angel and always does the right thing, even when the right thing is hard to do.

She is very caring and loving, and will make a great Mother and friend to any child we have as this behavior is second nature to her.

Amy’s Favorites….

• Vacation Spot:  Italy
• Food: Cold breakfast cereal with fruit
• TV Show: Parenthood and The Voice
• Family Tradition: Fourth of July Fireworks on Grandpa’s boat
• Kid’s Movie: Charlotte’s Web
• Children’s book: Bernstain Bear Books
• Activity with Friends: Board Games
• Favorite Musician: Carrie Underwood

I grew up in a suburb of Long Island, New York with my mom, dad, and sister. My family was small growing up, but my parents moved to great neighborhood with a young and diverse community.

We were very active growing up and were always busy with family, friends, school, and sports or other activities (I had a paper route from ages 13-17). I was a good student and decided to attend College in upstate New York, about four hours from home.

Since I went to a State University, it was very affordable but provided a great education. Unfortunately, the sports teams were not good – so I played intramurals, but that let me focus on my education.

Simon’s Career

After graduation, I had several job offers and decided to accept a position in West Palm Beach, Florida. That is where I started my career, but it was a little nerve racking because I did not know anybody in Florida at that time, but it turned out to be an extremely wonderful experience.

I relocated to New York to further my career, and then eventually to Los Angeles where I am a Vice President of a successful Business Unit.

Why I love Simon, Written By Amy

I was instantly attracted to Simon when I first met him because his smile and adorable dimples could light up a room. As we got to know one another, I could tell he was incredibly smart and worked hard at everything he set his mind to accomplish.

What amazed me even more was the amount of close friends Simon had even from when he was a child, and these friends were not just acquaintances but friends that truly loved and cared for Simon. Everyone that meets Simon wants to be part of his life.

Simon has been an amazing husband to me, and he truly is my best friend. He has sacrificed so much of his own needs and has been so incredibly supportive to me over the years we have been together.

He knows how to make me laugh and loves to play jokes on me. He also challenges me everyday to be the best person I can possibly be. Simon is always there for me to help with anything that is needed. He has even gone to the mall to return shoes for me!

Simon’s Favorites….

• Vacation Spot:  Barcelona, Spain
• Food: Chicken Parmesan
• TV Show: Celebrity Apprentice
• Family Tradition: Turkey Trot (5k)
• Kid’s Movie: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• Children’s book: John Henry
• Activity with Friends: Soccer
• Favorite Musician: Dave Mathews

Amy: Growing up, my parents lived in a condo complex with many young families, and I had fun playing with all the kids in the neighborhood. My grandparents lived close by, and I was extremely close to my grandmother who helped raise me from when I was a baby.

My parents ended up divorcing when I was 6 years old, but my mother re-married a wonderful man with an amazing family, and I gained a sister and a brother. My father also re-married and had a son and daughter, so my small family turned into a very large and loving family!

One of the most wonderful aspects of gaining all this new family were all the opportunities I was given that I’m eternally grateful for.

Simon:  My parents were hard working and very accepting of everybody, which led to a lot of strong long lasting relationships. My parents loved sports and were focused on good grades.

We played a lot of sports growing up, and I played soccer on multiple competitive leagues (travel leagues in US and Europe) when I was younger. My sister played both Soccer and Volleyball (she was a better athlete!). We also both were in band and took on other extracurricular activities.

Today my family lives all over the country with my father in Las Vegas and my sister in Dallas. My sister and her significant other have one daughter who is 4 years old, and she is the most adorable and good-natured child. Amy and I love to visit the family, and we enjoy taking our niece to do fun things!

Our Dog Sadie: We have an adorable little dog named Sadie who has been a great asset to our family since the day we adopted her 2 years ago.  We enjoy taking Sadie out for walks and to socialize with her doggy friends. Sadie even has a best friend, Zoey  which is Amy’s mom’s dog!

Our Home

We live in a beautiful town outside of Los Angeles, California. We love living here because we are centrally located to all the wonderful things Los Angeles has to offer from the beaches to the theatre to all the diverse neighborhoods.

What we love even more is that we live right next door to Amy’s mom. That is actually one of the reasons we moved here to be closer to family. We know so many people in the neighborhood, and we often spend time outside talking with all the neighbors.

It’s such a friendly community. There is also a great elementary school 5 minutes away from where we live. We also love that we can walk to so many places.

Closing:

We always knew we wanted to start a family, but decided to wait a few years to concentrate on our careers and building a strong marriage. When we decided the time was right, we found we could not have children of our own and quickly started researching adoption.

Adoption was already close to our hearts, as we have close friends who were adopted and family who also had adopted children. We witnessed the beautiful miracle adoption had created for these families, and we then knew this was the way we wanted to start our family.

We are so excited to begin the journey of parenthood and can’t thank you enough for considering us to be adoptive parents of your child.

We look forward to raising your child and providing him or her with endless amounts of opportunities and more importantly a home filled with love.

Our Commitment to You and to Our Family

• Provide a nurturing and loving environment to your child
• Instill family values, teach him/her right from wrong, and responsibility
• Give our child every opportunity to learn, grow, and excel in life
• Always be there for support no matter what happens
• Learn how to deal with life and life’s challenges while having fun