Hello, and thank you for taking a moment to get to know us. We're Nicole and Paul, from Ontario, Canada. We recognize this may be an emotional time for you, and we want you to know how much respect and compassion we have for the path that has led you here. At the heart of it all, we share the same dream, to give a baby a safe and loving home filled with laughter, joy, hugs, and unconditional love. We are truly ready for this chapter in our lives, and it is our greatest wish to create a home where a child feels safe, secure, celebrated, and deeply loved every single day.

From the start, we always knew we wanted to grow our family, and adoption was a path we felt connected to early on. While we did try to conceive, we have never viewed adoption as a second option, only a different path that leads to the very same dream of becoming parents.

We met at work in 2008 and quickly became friends, and soon after, something more. What initially brought us together was our shared passion for food. We both loved trying new things, creating new recipes, and spending as much time in the kitchen as possible, and we still do.

We grew together quickly, building a life we are proud of, buying our first home, adopting our kittens, and eventually moving to our forever home: a 1.5-acre piece of paradise complete with a barn. It’s the perfect space for a large garden, some chickens, and plenty of room to run around, play, and enjoy sunny days together.

I was raised in Toronto with my older sister and younger brother in a close-knit family surrounded by a large, loving extended family. Growing up in such a diverse city shaped my compassion, empathy, and appreciation for others. As someone who is Portuguese, Italian, and Argentinian, family traditions and food were at the center of my childhood. Meals created a deep sense of belonging, something I hope to pass down to my children one day. My love of gardening came from my late father, and tending to my garden keeps me connected to him while reminding me of the beauty in nurturing something as it grows. I’m grateful for friends who feel like family, and being called “Tia” (Aunt) brings me so much joy. I feel most at peace in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, whether it be going on a hike or curled up with a good book enjoying the views. I’m a bit of a kid at heart and love all things magical, dragons, adventure, and stories that spark the imagination.

Nicole is the most unconditionally caring and nurturing person I have ever met. She will go to greater lengths to help a complete stranger, or even a wild animal, than most people would to help their own family member. At any family event or group dinner, the children naturally gravitate toward her. She’s become the unofficial favorite aunt among the children of our friends and, as a result, attends more kid’s birthday parties than most adults do. Nicole sees the world as a place of wonder and finds excitement in the little things. I can’t wait to see her explore the world through that same perspective with our child.

Nicole sees the world as a place of wonder and finds excitement in the little things. I can’t wait to see her explore the world through that same perspective with our future child. She loves to cook and spend time in her garden, and she always finds fun ways to include any children visiting our home in both activities. Nicole is also an incredibly talented makeup artist, especially when it comes to movie and special-effects makeup. I know this will translate into some pretty incredible Halloween costumes each year.

I grew up in a blue-collar family with three siblings in the east end of Toronto, in a very community-minded neighborhood. My father was the sole breadwinner so my mom could stay home with us, and that’s something I’ve always hoped to be able to provide for my own children. It’s one of the reasons I first started my own meat business, which now allows Nicole to be home full time. I’ve always pictured myself as a parent, sharing my experiences, skills, and passions the way my dad did with me, while also helping a child discover their own. I’ve spent my entire life in the food and meat industry. It’s where my passion lies, it’s how Nicole and I met, and it will always be both a profession and a hobby of mine. Outside of food, I love to travel, explore new places, and work on old cars. More recently, I’ve also become increasingly interested in health and wellness, learning as much as I can about lifestyle changes I can work into my daily life to support energy, longevity, and overall well-being.

Paul is everything I aspire to be, disciplined, steady, and capable of just about anything. He’s the person you call in a crisis, the one you look to for advice and a calm, logical perspective when the world feels loud.

That might make him sound stoic, and in many ways he is strong and sure-footed. But I’ve also watched him nurse our cats back to health, trailing behind them just to make sure they’re okay. He once fashioned a makeshift bandage for our rooster’s injured foot without a second thought. Another time, he climbed up to help me rescue a baby bird from a tree. His nurturing side may not always be obvious to those who don’t know him well, but it’s there, steady, quiet, and unwavering. He is my rock, our family’s provider, and everything I could hope for in a husband and partner.

Staying active is important to us, it keeps us grounded, energized, and ready to fully show up for our family. Nicole’s love of cooking goes beyond the meal itself. She makes her own pickles, ketchup, sourdough, mayonnaise, pasta, and broth, the ingredients that make the food. It’s her way of turning simple things into something meaningful and nourishing.

Paul’s favourite form of meditation is mowing his lawn every Saturday. Without fail, he puts on his “mowing overalls,” starts up the riding mower, plays his favourite song, and gets to work. For him, it’s quiet time to think, reset, and care for the home he’s so proud of.

Nicole’s love of cooking goes beyond the meal itself. She makes her own pickles, ketchup, sourdough, mayonnaise, pasta, and broth, the ingredients that make the food. It’s her way of turning simple things into something meaningful and nourishing.

Paul’s favourite form of meditation is mowing his lawn every Saturday. Without fail, he puts on his “mowing overalls,” starts up the riding mower, plays his favourite song, and gets to work. For him, it’s quiet time to think, reset, and care for the home he’s so proud of.

A year ago we were done with the disconnected feeling of the big city life and bought our dream home in a small town, just 20 minutes outside of a large city yet it feels like a different country. Our property is just over 1 and a half acres, we have a ranch style 3 bedroom house with a wrap around porch, private yard that includes a pool and a barn that has been on the property since 1832. Our town is a fantastic family community, like a step back in time in some ways. It has small local shops with owners who know your name, friendly people who stop you on the street to say hello even if you’ve never met and constant community events for people of all ages.

Our cats, Michael and Bill, have been with us since we first moved in together and are a special part of our family. Michael loves steak and deli meat and is happiest curled up on Mom’s lap while she reads under a fluffy blanket. Bill is Dad’s shadow, never far from Paul’s side, and at night he settles into the crook of his arm to sleep.

They bring so much comfort and joy to our home, and we look forward to seeing them grow with our child.

We both grew up in large, close-knit families where aunts and uncles felt like parents, and cousins felt like siblings. Holidays were loud, joyful, and always spent together, and they still are. When you combine aunts, cousins, and second cousins, our family reunions often include 40 or more people. It’s chaotic and lovely all at the same time. It’s one of the many reasons we long to grow our family. We are surrounded by an entire community ready to love and cherish a child as their own. We truly have a village, and our village will always show up.

We’ve also built a large community of friends that feel like family. With our friends now having families of their own, our weekends are often spent celebrating their milestones and playing with their kids. Our lives are already so full of love, and we can’t wait to welcome a child into this community that is ready to embrace and support them completely.

Parenting is a privilege we will never take for granted. Our goal is to nurture, guide, and be a steady presence so that when our future child steps into the world as an adult, they do so confident, compassionate, strong-willed, and capable of deep love and joy. We hope that one day, when we are old and grey, they will look back and remember two parents who loved them unconditionally, two steady pillars who held them up when they needed support and stood beside them as they found their own footing. We want their memories to be filled with laughter in the kitchen, dirt from the garden, and evenings spent in the neighbourhood. Parents who didn’t just watch from the sidelines, but flew down the hill with them on a sled, played catch or soccer, went for walks, splashed in puddles, and picked out groceries together to cook something special. Just as importantly, we want our future child to know themselves, their story, and where they came from. You will always be spoken about openly in our home. We will share your story and how we become a family again and again, a story rooted in love and intention.

Since starting this journey, even though we don’t know you yet, we have thought about you every single day, your courage, your self-awareness, and most of all your love. This child will know that it will be part of who they are, and one of the most important things we can pass on to them as parents. We are so ready for this, more so with every passing day, and we hope you can feel that too.

We are so excited to meet you, a little nervous, but even more filled with joy knowing that you exist and that perhaps we are meant to find one another, and together we could become a family.

We look forward to meeting you.
Paul and Nicole