We fill our leisure time with fun, happiness, and laughter. Our days are rich with experiences for our children so they can appreciate the world around them.

We often travel around our community, including hitting the beach at our local lake, feeding goats at nearby farms, or going to seasonal festivals. Other times, we trek out in search of jousting knights or head up to the mountains to enjoy some outdoor activities. Last weekend we had museum day where we visited the wacky Dr. Seuss museum, dinosaur world, and a trolley museum. We keep some spontaneity in our excursions, such as setting off on a road trip for the weekend if the weather looks good somewhere. Whatever the chosen activity, we ensure it is enriching, educational, and entertaining.

Living in New England, we are lucky to have activities for each season, including building snowmen in the winter and paddle boating in the summer. If the weather’s bad that doesn’t stop us from finding things to enjoy. We may splash in puddles, build forts out of cardboard boxes, do arts & crafts, pick out new library books, and have jam sessions. (Despite limited musical talent, it’s still a blast!) Finally, we love cuddling and reading stories, hanging out with family and friends, and trying out new recipes at dinner parties.

It was Mary’s laughter that first caught Andy’s attention. Over 8 years ago, an educational software company was expanding its operations in Dublin, Ireland. Andy decided to move from his home country of England to work as an engineer making science games for elementary students. At the same time, Mary went over from the US to work there managing the research and development of new educational products. As luck would have it, our desks were right next to each other. Mary made her team bring her jokes to start off the meetings, which she shared with Andy. We quickly bonded over lots of laughs and we spent the next couple of years in Ireland exploring castles, running through the green hills in the rain, and seeing lots of sheep. Then, we worked in England and hung out with nieces and nephews. Finally, we decided to settle in the US, where Mary was excited to be able to drive on the right side of the road.

We’ve been blessed with two creative and loving boys. Tyler, who just turned two, is always happy and quite the chatterbox telling long stories, most of which involve diggers, tractor rides, or what he and his brother have been up to that day. He is an excellent imitator of his brother, even if he doesn’t know what he’s doing or why.

Myles is a very confident three-year-old. He has quick wits, loves to talk, and has an active imagination. You’ll often find him re-enacting plays, puppet shows or circuses he has gone to see, and trying to gather anyone he can to be in his audience. Even though he’s active, he also loves snuggling up on the couch to enjoy a good book, or five.

Not only do the two of them play together amazingly well, building lego castles, creating characters in their own ‘plays’, and doing arts and crafts, they also love to play with others. A highlight for them is visiting with their cousins or friends. It’s inspiring to see how sweet they are with friends’ babies, especially Myles who always asks, “Why are there still just two kids? When are there going to be more?”

We are blessed with an extremely close-knit, rather funny, and adventurous extended family. About twice a year, there is an international trip with Andy’s side of the family. This past summer, the 18 of us spent 10 days staying in a large villa in Italy together. The cousins enjoyed swimming together, performing made up plays, learning to make pasta, eating gelato, and just hanging out. The entire family spent days exploring Italian cities and nights playing games such as Who’s in the Bag, a silly variation of charades. We don’t really notice the distance between the family, as we stay in touch with frequent Skype chats and visits, but there is something special about the times when we can all get together.

Mary’s side of the family is mostly in the New England area, which means lots of visits and trips with relatives. Just this summer, we enjoyed listening to an outdoor music concert, being amazed at the circus, running around museums, celebrating birthdays, eating many meals (our family likes food), climbing in playgrounds, playing and singing music, attending weddings, going to fairs, and otherwise just enjoying special time with each other.

All of the extended family is beyond excited with our plans for welcoming a child to join in the fun and laughter!

We live in a spacious home in a wonderful, family-oriented neighborhood in Massachusetts. Our home is walking distance to excellent schools, multiple playgrounds, ponds, walking paths, and coffee shops. The best part is that just down the street is our town beach on a big lake where the children love to build sand castles while watching the boats.

With such an active family and very flexible work schedules, we are lucky that our area has so many family-centered adventures to offer. You will find us feeding animals at the local farm, apple picking in the fall, going to strawberry festivals, checking out the latest exhibits at the various children’s museums, reading books at the local library, taking the train to Boston to attend cultural events, jumping around at the indoor play centers, or just eating at the local farmer’s markets.

When we are home, most of our time is spent in the backyard with the boys playing on the swing set or in the sand box while we barbecue or entertain family and friends. Our favorite room inside is definitely our comfy basement playroom where the children build lego structures, read books, make forts, solve puzzles, play with train sets, or dance. Otherwise, we will be busy doing arts and crafts, cooking, or acting out a play in our large living room. We are blessed to have such a perfect place to live and raise a family.

It’s so nice to ‘meet’ you! We can’t wait to share with you the stories, adventures, maybe even a few shenanigans, and other excitement that our family gets into. We hope that our profile allows you to see that being parents is the greatest blessing we have ever been given, and we are truly looking forward to watching all our children experience the love, joy, and laughter in our home together.

One thing you will notice about us is that we love to travel. Eight years ago we met in Dublin, Ireland, having both moved there for work. Mary moved over from the US, and Andy left his home in England, both in search of leprechauns and their pot of gold. We didn’t find that, but we did find each other. We instantly made each other laugh, and we became soul mates, best friends, and then husband and wife. As we travelled the world, it became apparent that we wanted a big family and that we thought the other would make an amazing parent. Luckily, we were right!

We’ve been blessed with two hilarious kids, Myles and Tyler, who bring us and each other a lot of happiness. With them, our days are filled with laughter, silliness, curiosity, learning, patience, and spontaneity. We know that more children will be a dream come true for our family. The newest member will benefit from our parenting experience and two older brothers to watch over them, dote on them, and share a lifelong bond with. A big family means more festive gatherings, more kids to participate in our Christmas nativity performance, and more chance someone will laugh at our jokes. Your child will never have a shortage of siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, or friends to be there for them in good times, and in bad.

We have settled into a wonderful, family-oriented suburb outside of Boston. There’s much exploration for us to do locally, with a gorgeous beach within walking distance of our house, as well as multiple playgrounds and swimming pools. We chose the town for its top-rated schools to ensure that we can give our children the best education we can provide, and also because of the strong community filled with museums, parks, and cultural events.

If you decide you want to move forward, we are open to communication with you now and later. At a minimum, if you place with us you will receive pictures and letters. We would be honored to give you insight into the fun and joys of growing up, constantly reassuring you that you made the right decision for your child. Furthermore, we can figure out what other type of contact you are comfortable with and we completely respect that these needs may change over time.

Take comfort in knowing your child will be unconditionally loved in a nurturing home, filled with humor, compassion, a great education, funny older brothers, and a mom and dad always ready to support, encourage, and cherish them. We’ll lovingly share their adoption story with them, and your child will be told how truly wonderful and blessed you were to make the tough decision for them.

Our life has been a great journey. We pray that it will be enriched by another child to love and care for. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for considering us as you make your decision.

With much love,

Andrew & Mary