Wendy & Peter
This is Us
Our story begins online. A girl from Queens and a guy from Brooklyn were paired together on Match.com in the summer of 2013. We met up for tapas a week later and had a long walk on the Highline. In those hours, we clicked instantly. It felt so comfortable, like we had known each other for years. We shared many laughs, adventures of our past, and visions of our futures while simultaneously wondering if this was too good to be true. Well, the smiles continue to this day.
On our first anniversary, we returned to the same Spanish restaurant where we first met. We then enjoyed the summer night amongst the gardens on the Highline. This was where Peter was planning to propose, but a random event messed up that plan. (Long story… we’ll tell you if you want when we see you.) Peter eventually proposed later that evening when things calmed down, and we were married a year later.
Everything in our relationship seemed so fast but also so natural. It’s easy to put on a smile when everything is going in your favor. Still, when things don’t go as planned, we are lucky to have each other to cry with, feel defeated with, and ultimately support each other. Our marriage has grown stronger with time, and we both have wanted to start a family since marriage. This was when our adoption story began.
We started our adoption journey and found Friends in Adoption through one of our friends. We like that Friends in Adoption focuses on open adoption, and their “mantra” is about the families — the child, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Two and a half years later, on a Tuesday afternoon, we received a call from a Vermont area code. Our hearts were pounding, and we were overjoyed because it was the call we had been waiting for.
We left our house within two hours as Peter’s brother, Michael, drove us as we made our way to New Hampshire to meet baby Jude. Words cannot express how excited, hopeful, and happy we felt when we finally met Jude the following morning. He was so tiny then, and as we held him, there was such a rush of emotions of love, a slight disbelief, and most of all, gratefulness. A month later, we came home from New Hampshire as a family of three.
Jude is a toddler now, and we will always be immensely grateful to his birth mother for her courage, generosity, and compassion. We’re thankful for our family, friends, doctors and nurses, Friends In Adoption, and those who helped us realize our dream.
Our journey continues as we look forward to the opportunity to grow our family and adopt again. We are patiently waiting and praying for this gift.
