Welcome! Meet:

Joseph + Jessica

Private Wealth Manager / Stay -at-Home-Mom and spiritual director

New York

Caucasian

Christian

All About Joseph & Jessica
Video
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Joseph & Jessica

Hello! We are Joe and Jessica. We live in New York City, where we met and fell in love. We have been married almost 12 years and have learned so much about life together. We have a son who is five and has great zest for life. He has been hoping for a sibling for years, and is so excited to welcome another child into our family. So are we!

We have been waiting adoptive parents for almost 7 years. We are still waiting, because we believe the child coming is worth the wait. We are individuals, a couple, and a family that has a lot of fun together, and loves to laugh. We are certain that this is not to be kept to ourselves, but there is room in our lives for others who could be part of that as well.

We value relationships, family, nature, discipline, music, activity, and memories that combine all of those things together.

Why Adoption?

We have both come from wonderful families. Jessica’s family has multiple adult adoptees whose stories would have been very challenging otherwise. We believe that when people grow up in strong, healthy families, their ability to approach life and bring love, encouragement, creativity, and benefit to the world vastly increases. It is the support and love of family that produces healthy individuals who make the world better.

We have received such blessing and want to extend it to others as well. While we have not yet had biological children, adoption does not feel like our second best option. We have loved building our family through adoption, and hope that adoption can bring a sense of belonging into children's lives.

We also value the wholeness of adoption, when children not only belong in a family, but also value where they’ve come from. Our hope is to have positive relationships with birth families where possible. We believe it is better for the child, birth families, and adoptive parents as well. We love that unity that adoption can bring in multiple stories.

Family & Home

We live in NYC in a wonderful, safe, family-friendly neighborhood. We live in close walking distance to some of our son’s best friends, both from school and church. We live near many different playgrounds, Central Park, museums, and family-life that we frequent. We love being a part of a city that cultivates wonder and makes learning exciting and fun. The diversity of cultures is also important to us. We are grateful that we live in a community where not everyone looks like us, sounds like us, or thinks like us. It causes us to understand other cultures better, and expose our children to cultures that their friends and classmates may come from. Our building is full of families, is equipped with a playroom and gym where we visit regularly.

Our church is close to us as well, and we have many relationships that feel like extended family in that community. We spend much time in birthday parties, weekend and afternoon playdates, sports communities, and other activities with these families. There are children of all ages in this community, and we are so grateful to be a part of it!

We also have a vacation cabin that we go to regularly in the woods not far from NYC. Not only do we get the benefit of the culture of the city, but we get the beauty and peace of a home in nature, where we can have fun exploring the outdoors, hiking, fishing, and enjoying the simple things of life. There are also wonderful families we know and love out there our children play with in safety and fun.

How others describe me

10 out of 1 million things I love about Jessica, by: Joe

She truly loves God and grows in her relationship with Him.
Jessica considers others’ needs before her own.
She brings joy and happiness to almost any situation.
She works tirelessly to keep our home clean, welcoming, and well-suited for whatever season we are in.
Jessica loves and is extremely good with children. Working with children for over 10 year for families, as a part of the children's ministry at our church, teaching piano lessons, and as a loving aunt, everyone who knows her comments on how gifted she is with love, taking care of, and teaching children.
She loves to be outside. Whether running, walking, skiing, hiking, canoeing, gardening or just playing in the leaves.
She knows the Bible well and has learned a lot from following God and doing ministry her whole life.
She has the strongest gift of mercy and empathy that I have ever seen.
She makes me laugh with funny comments, jokes, or being silly. She loves to make people smile and laugh.
Her resourcefulness can make the most of almost any situation. She is so creative, energetic and determined that she constantly surprises me with how well she can pull things off.

The many sides of Joe, by: Jessica

When I first met Joe, I knew of a serious, devoted, dedicated, disciplined man whose strength of focus and diligence inspired me. Over the years, I have seen the more playful, willing, and servant-hearted sides of him as well. Though he is definitely those first things mentioned, he is willing to help on any house project to love our family (plumbing project at our vacation house), make me feel special on my birthday (cooking for me and planning thoughtful events), and he’s up for any playful adventure (snowball fights, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, camping, etc) and will pull the majority of the weight if needed. Joe also loves the great outdoors, especially times with good friends. This man continually blesses me and I know he will do his best to love and serve his children as well. I look forward to seeing him teach them practical life skills, make them laugh and to share his compassionate heart for those in need. I always know if any of us needs anything, we can count on him to drop what he’s doing and help the ones closest to him.

How We Met

Joe and Jessica met while serving in our church in New York City, about 14 years ago. She was leading groups and he was using his time off work to help carry heavy loads that others couldn’t carry. There was immediate interest in one another, but we did not sense it was the right time, so we began a fun friendship and getting to know one another for two years.

Two years after growing as friends, Joe asked Jessica to consider dating. We realized we were a match for one another, as we both believe in living life to the fullest, and challenged and encouraged one another in that! We knew we could do better in life together than apart, so we got engaged on Valentine’s Day, and were married four months later! Everyone who knows us says we are made for one another. We are both high energy, outgoing, leaders who put our whole hearts into what we do. We love developing people and relationships together, as well as enjoying all that life has to offer together.

Advice to Future Child

Our sincerest advice to you is to not worry. To believe that Truth that you are deeply loved. That your biological parent(s) made a very difficult, but courageous choice to lovingly place you in a home that offered what he/she knew he/she wasn’t able to offer you at that time of life, out of great love for your future good.

We love you so deeply, even before we knew you. This is because we believe God made you and loves you. There is nothing you can ever do or feel that will change that, and out of that place of being loved, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

From that place, we want you to grow in confidence and be brave enough to take on the world. We will support you as you learn skills, and all the things you need to learn in order to be who God made you to be. We encourage you to believe you are who He made you to be! To work hard, put your best foot forward, and bring good into the world around you. Be kind and compassionate to others, and spread love. These are no small things, and will take you so far in life.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We have been educated on the beautiful benefits of open adoption and believe wholeheartedly that it is only helpful to the child. We would love our children to know where they came from, have a deeper understanding of their biology, and a healthy relationship with their birth parents, if possible. We believe this is good for all parties involved in the story of adoption, and will help our children grow and develop a healthy identity of who they are.

We also want to continue to know you and share the child’s life with you. You are giving such a great gift to our family, and we want to honor that forever.

Favorites

Joseph

Favorite Movie: Braveheart
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas. Love the anticipation and gathering with family, celebrating by staying up and laughing, playing games, playing football, eating big meals with special foods, visiting old memories and making new ones. Every Christmas we gather with all my brothers and sister and parents and all the cousins into one house and have endless fun. Have been doing this my whole life and love to pass it on to my children.
Hobbies/Interests: working out, juijitsu, hunting, hiking, playing with my son, playing sports with friends, reading, chess and other strategy games
Dream Vacation: With my wife and kids, going to the Swiss Alps (where I was born and lived as a young child)
If I Could Choose a Superpower: flying

Jessica

Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas, Christmas tree cutting, decorating the tree and home, gathering with family, gift exchanges, Christmas carols, and big meals
Hobbies/Interests: hiking, running/walking in the park, coffee or time with friends, planning gatherings/parties/celebrations, reading, playing piano, water parks and swimming
Dream Vacation: Visiting Israel!
If I Could Choose a Superpower: needing less sleep