Christmas with Our Moms

We are both very close to our extended families and place a great deal of importance on these relationships. We live within easy driving distance of all of our family members and enjoy spending time with them on holidays, special occasions, and fun spontaneous get togethers. Rachel grew up as an only child with a very active and involved stay-at-home Mom and a Dad who worked hard to support his family. Her Mom taxied her to many sporting, music, and academic activities throughout the years (all while earning her Bachelor of Arts and PhD degrees in Psychology), and continues to be her best friend and confidant. Rachel's maternal grandparents have been very important throughout her life and her grandfather continues to be one of her biggest inspirations and supporters. Affectionately known as "Dumpy" (so named by Rachel's older cousin Chris who couldn't say "Grampy" as a toddler!), he worked as a veterinarian until "semi retiring" at age 82! Rachel's aunts, uncles, and cousins are also very important in her life.

Our Wedding: Parents and Grandparents

Josh has one younger brother and was also fortunate to have a Mom who was able to stay home while her children were young. Josh's Dad was very involved in his kids' lives, coaching them in their many sporting activities and attending all of their activities along with his Mom. Josh worked with his maternal grandfather farming for many years during his childhood, developing a close relationship with both of his grandparents. He is also close to his cousins, many of who lived within walking distance of his childhood home. One of Josh's cousins is currently in the process of adopting a child from Africa and would be thrilled to have another adopted child in our extended family.

We have many family traditions that are important to us and that we look forward to each year. One of the main ones is Thanksgiving dinner at Rachel's aunt's house, when the entire family comes together to visit and share an amazing meal. We joke about having to sit at the "kiddie table"- a fold out table placed beside the main table to accommodate all of the guests. At 30, Rachel is the "youngest kiddie" at the table, as none of her cousins have children yet! We are always scheming about how to graduate to the "big table" the following year.

Another important time for traditions is Christmas. In keeping with Rachel's grandmother's routine, we always have spaghetti and meatballs with home made rolls on Christmas Eve Night. Josh's Mom makes the most amazing apple crumble with "more crumble than apples", as Josh likes to say. We always share the holiday with family and try to invite several friends who don't have family living close by to join us for meals and celebration.

Our Home

We live in a small city in New Brunswick, Canada, about 2 hours away from where we both grew up. The city has a large French-English bilingual population, providing children who live here the wonderful opportunity to learn both languages. Our city is big enough to have all of the amenities that we value such as good schools, a university, ethnic diversity, many sports and cultural activities, while still being small enough to be very safe and friendly. Our city is a very physically active city, with walkers, runners, skaters and cyclists to be seen around every corner, and many beautiful trails and paths along the river and through the woods surrounding the residential areas. The university in our city is a French language school, attracting many students from various geographical locations such as Congo and Sierra Leone, many of who decide to make their place of study home after graduation. There are many parks, sporting facilities and family-friendly events such as the many excellent child and family programs organized by our wonderful new YMCA/YWCA. Our city is also home to many families who have been blessed with children through the gift of adoption. We have several families in our small subdivision who have adopted children from China, Ethiopia, and the United States, as well as a family who recently adopted three young boys after having been foster parents for several years.

Our Local Cycling/Triathlon Club at Our House before a Group Ride

Our home is a four-bedroom split entry style house in a new subdivision. We have a large backyard with a greenbelt behind the house, making it a very private property. We have vegetable and flower gardens that are fun to maintain. There are several parks with playgrounds as well as an elementary/middle school within a two-minute walk from our house. We have a wonderful baby grand piano that we enjoy playing and would love to share with a child learning to play. There are many young children who live and play in the neighborhood and our neighbors are very friendly and helpful to each other. Ours is a safe, friendly, family-oriented community that is perfectly suited to supporting a child as they grow and develop.